hiking — Blog

Cascades waterfall: an icy hike in Pembroke, VA

I do not like winter - whether it is the actual winter season or a neighboring season playing at being winter on any given day. But, I do appreciate the beauty that can be unique to the season in the form of snow and ice. In my mind, a gorgeous snow is winter's crowning achievement. A few years ago in late winter, some friends and I (and a couple of dogs) trekked out to Cascades waterfall in Pembroke, VA on a warm day and discovered that the shade rendered huge chunks of the 4-mile round-trip hike dangerously slick and icy.

Asheville in the Fall: a long weekend

Asheville is a mountain town in two senses of the word: its downtown is hilly and the city is tucked closely against the larger surrounding mountains. Due to this location, there are gorgeous vistas in every direction. Whether it was unique to our visit or seasonal/geographical due to the mountains, each morning started out with low clouds that took several hours to burn off and each evening, low clouds began moving back in and stirring up a bit of a cool breeze.