The Craggy Gardens trail located just off the Blue Ridge Parkway a short distance from the bustling town of Asheville, North Carolina, offers hikers an enormously satisfying view of the Black Mountain range with very little sweat. The visitors center at the trailhead even offers a bathroom. What can be better than that?
On our way from Virginia Beach to Charlotte, we stopped to stretch our legs and take a short hike along the Cole Mill Trail at Eno River State Park in North Carolina. This park offers a wonderful respite for anyone living in the urban areas of Durham and Orange Counties. It was one of our favorite places that we happened upon while in North Carolina. The trails are easy to follow, easy to walk along, and the scenery provides visitors with so much nature to look upon!
We’ve been having some really beautiful and warm fall days this year here in Upstate New York. As a person who tends to hibernate all winter, this extension of summer, as my husband calls it, is allowing us a bit more time to wear shorts and tromp through the woods. We spent a beautiful morning hiking along the Vlomankill Trail at Five Rivers and have some pictures to prove it!
My recent exploration of the Plotter Kill Preserve and Indian Kill Nature Preserve in Schenectady, New York led me to the small, quiet, and very peaceful Great Flats Nature Trail. Walking paths and boardwalks loop visitors throughout a protected wetland habitat, providing close access to flaura and fauna usually reserved for those lucky enough to be venturing in rain or “muck” boots.
If you’re visiting Virginia Beach, just a few minutes up the road along the Chesapeake Bay is the wild and wonderful First Landing State Park. As Virginia’s most visited state park, there is so much to do, from hiking, biking, and camping to swimming and the seashore itself. We enjoyed a nice and quiet afternoon here hiking along the peaceful Osmanthus Trail with our son.
It was a lovely spring day and we decided to celebrate it with a visit to the Hollyhock Hollow Sanctuary in upstate New York. This nature preserve has over 140 acres with plenty of trails for hiking, a babbling creek to calm the soul, a little pond to sit beside, and a diverse mixture of woods that attracts a variety of wildlife. I even saw my first spring flowers popping up.
When traveling through the southwest, one of my favorite national parks by far was the Petrified Forest National Park. This park located in northeastern Arizona is naturally and culturally significant and quite beautiful. This area is strewn with colorful fossilized logs that date back to the Late Triassic Period. About 2,000 years ago, humans settled in and built little communities here.
Meandering trails take you throughout the park, giving you glimpses of trees that look like works of art and pueblos from hundreds to thousands of years ago show you how these prehistoric people lived. There’s even one home that looks like it was made from precious stones, which it kind of is.
One of my bucket list items in life has always been to hike in the Black Forest; the very same forest where Hansel and Gretel got lost. So during our drive through this part of Germany, we spent a few days exploring the area, and hiked the Feldberg Steig trail. We were in the very same woods where Little Red Riding Hood encountered the wolf and my heart couldn’t be happier.
We had a mild winter’s day, and wanted to give our year and a half old son some fresh air. So, we decided to take him for a walk along the boardwalk at the Lewis A. Swyer Preserve. We had a beautiful winter walk that heightened the senses and energized the whole family. Even on a winter’s day, it was a wonderful way to spend some family time together and be closer to the nature that we love so very much.
We’ve been really enjoying our walks at the Mohawk Hudson Land Conservancy, but decided to wander over to the other side of the Hudson River this week. We decided upon the Hand Hollow Conservation Area; a large conservation area with ponds, trails, and a lake. In the title I say “a glimpse” because our hike was cut short by the very strong and cold wind on the day of our visit. It was just not conducive to a small child. No worries! We shall return!
