Posted by Amie on Oct 31 2008 | Tagged as: family, hiking, maddy
On Tuesday, we went for a lovely walk up along the Blue Ridge Parkway where we thought we might encounter some snow. We did.  It was a beautiful day romping around in it and Maddy had a blast running everywhere and rolling around in it.
Posted by Amie on Jun 27 2008 | Tagged as: family, hiking
Last year we had a spectacular hike out at Roan Mountain with rhododendron and flaming azalea at their peak color. We decided last year that we should make it an annual trip to see it so amazingly beautiful. Well, June has flown by and we didn’t make it out until this past Tuesday after work. I just looked at our blog from last year and it was about this time we went out, but it bloomed earlier this year than last because there wasn’t much going on bloom-wise. But we still had an amazing time watching the sun set. Maddy loved getting out and running around too. Mat was able to practice exposure settings on his new camera. He is taking pictures at our friends’ wedding in August, so he wants to practice all the different capabilities of the camera before the actual day! Here are some pics, but you can see more on flickr.
I took this photo of Mat in action…it’s a tad dark. But he’s looking good! And Maddy’s exploring in the background.
Posted by Amie on Jun 09 2008 | Tagged as: family, hiking, maddy
It’s been in the 90s the past week here in Asheville. It is way too early for such high temperatures. I hope that it cools down soon. We checked out Laurel Creek near Hot Springs because we had heard there were some good swimming holes. It was a nice trail that was all shaded by the trees.
Maddy had a great time!
My daring jump! As you can see I’m ready for some big cliffs…
It was definitely an enjoyable way to enjoy the hot day! Afterwards, we went and got ice cream cones. Delicious on a hot day…I don’t know how you Arizonians can survive the heat!?!
Posted by Amie on Oct 24 2007 | Tagged as: hiking
This past weekend Mat, Maddy and I were dropped off at Sam’s Gap right off of an interstate. We threw on our backpacks, climbed through a gate and down to another highway, walked along the highway for a minute and then we hit our trail. It was an awesome time of year with the leaves changing.
Here is our trail dog…
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Maddy finally taking a break…
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After hiking for some hours, we arrived at the top of Big Bald Mountain, which had a great 360 degree view of all the mountains. We were hanging out enjoying the view, when a family with little kids came hiking up the trail to enjoy the view. I was thinking hey, that’s cool, they are out for a pretty good walk. Then Mat pointed out that they parked right down below. Maddy and I are on top of Big Bald.
After being on top of Big Bald we hiked up the next hill and we noticed a bunch of nets were set up for catching birds. A few feet more down the trail we ran into one of the volunteers catching the birds and he told us what they were doing. AND that they had caught a sharp shinned hawk (a smaller forest raptor) which they were going to put a band on and take some measurements shortly. Were we interested in watching? Mat and I were like, uh, of course. Turns out that Maddy and I got to walk up and down along the trail while Mat watched them take the measurements and put the band on. They came back out from their research spot behind a rock with the hawk and let Mat release it. I got to see it it up close. It was pretty cool.
Then we continued hiking for another hour or so, set up camp and then the next day we hiked most of the rest of the way, so that we only had a few miles to bust out in the morning to meet Sara by 10 a.m.. It all worked out perfectly. We woke up and hiked for about 15 minutes or so in the dark and then it was a beautiful sunrise to watch while walking out. We ended up arriving at the Nolichucky River trailhead about 1.5 hours early! But it was fine, we hung out at the hostel right near the trailhead and checked out the Nolichucky River.
Independent Thoughts
Posted by Amie on Jun 26 2007 | Tagged as: Uncategorized, hiking
Mat had heard from a co-worker that the rhododendron was suppose to be a big thing out at Roan Mountain in Tennessee. So we decided to go check it out. After a couple hours of driving in the car, we arrived. There was hardly any parking at the trailhead, it was so popular, but we got a spot as someone pulled out. It was a beautiful sunny day to be out for a ridge walk. We definitely hit the catawba rhododendron at peak blooming time and the orange of the flaming azalea was cool to see all mixed into the view.
Not only was this hike very beautiful, but Maddy was a perfect trail dog, even with all the people. She didn’t jump on anyone and she listened to us when we called her. One of our better hiking days with our dog!
This flower is Gray’s Lily which would be listed as Threatened/Endangered if the Fish & Wildlife Service were allowed to add any more species to the Threatened/Endangered list. Roan Mtn is one of the few places to catch a glimpse of this flower.
Look how tall the rhododendron is? As you can tell I am having a ball!
