Appalachian Trail and Beyond

Something that I love about my location on the East Coast is how close we are to the Appalachian Trail. Pretty much anywhere you go along the coast, you can pick up some part of it. It's perfect for an afternoon hike, or an all-day adventure.

For those that don't know, the Appalachian Trail is about 2,200 miles long, beginning in Maine and ending in Georgia. My uncle and I have talked about hiking the whole thing for years, but we're both too out of shape (myself more than him - he used to be a Marine . . . no big) for something like that.

Anyway, on Sunday, Robby and I decided to get out of the house and do hike part of it. We're both a little tight on money, and nature is always free. It was such a beautiful walk. I love summers on the East Coast - everything is green. Thunderstorms roll in and out in the span of 15 minutes. Lightning bugs. The list goes on and on and on. We didn't walk for very long, but we came across a ton of wild red and black raspberries and blackberries. We saw fern groves, a stream, and didn't come across people the whole time. We jumped on the trail at Pen Mar State Park, which apparently used to be a hopping mountain resort in the late 1800s into the mid-1900s. Who knew! People from Washington, DC would come for the weekend to get away from the bustle of city life. Now the resorts are torn down and High Rock is nothing more than an art show in spray paint. But walking along the AT takes you away from all of that and drops you back into a place where human contact is something left far in the future.

Maybe one day I'll hike the whole thing, but for now, it's just fun to make an afternoon of exploring the nature in my backyard. An adventure doesn't have to be an extravagant affair. Rather, an adventure can take place every day if you're doing something you've never experienced before.

Happy adventuring!