Taking a hike - Part Fourteen

I chuckle every time I write the Part in my titles, because it makes me think there are multiple other posts with the same topic... as opposed to this just being Part of the whole month. It's the little things that make me smile.

I'm apologizing ahead of time because I am going to miss day-part sixteen. A friend and I are headed out on a three day backpacking trip, leaving tomorrow and getting back Sunday night. So I'll be able to post before I leave and when I get back, but I doubt I'll be able to find wifi on top of a 5000 foot mountain. 

I had been planning a trip back to the Appalachian Trail with a group of guys, but not a single one of them were able to make it. I was bummed, but still decided to do some hiking. We are fortunate enough to live among some of the highest mountain ranges east of the Rockies. (Mt. Mitchell -the highest mountain on this side of the Mississippi- is only fifteen miles north.) And what goes along with those mountains are lots of hiking opportunities. I called my good friend Andrew who also lives here in Black Mountain, and the two of us planned a hiking trip across the two sides of mountain ranges that surround us. It's going to be a rugged, difficult, long hike, but in the process we'll bag the peaks of around ten mountains, and hit some of the highest points of our country.

I still get sad sometimes thinking back on my failed AT thru-hike, but trips like this sure do help me remember I still got my legs and I can still hike. I'm off to get my gear ready. :)