Dreaming of Changing Leaves and a New Wardrobe

WE INTERRUPT THIS REGULARLY SCHEDULED BLOG POST 

FOR AN IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT:

I discovered Polyvore today. Be afraid..!

Fall is here! And of course, since its a change of season I must have a new wardrobe. That's the way it works, right?

Right????

Ok, so not so much. A girl can dream though!

These are my fall must haves for an overnight hike. I love the sweater particularly!

Fall Hiking Must Haves by kerry-hiett featuring flower jewelry

Ok, carry on!

Thank you so much for visiting My Journey from High Heels to Hiking Boots! Like me on Facebook and share with a friend - You know you want to ;] Happy Trails! 

Cascade Falls - A Family Hike

Photo Credit: Sarah Maier

As I said in my last post, we had family visiting last week. Momma Cloudy and Fort Cloudy were both in from out of state. We all had a fantastic week visiting together, and ended it off with a 6 mile family hike. After many late nights and lots of extended family get-togethers, it was nice to have a day out enjoying nature with just us. We loaded up the dogs and headed off to hit the trail.

We hit up our favorite haunt, Cascade Falls and Buzzards Rock trails, and enjoyed the first signs of fall heading our way. The weather was perfect - sunny, with just a touch of cool in the air. Momma Cloudy had hiked Cascade Falls with us before, but Fort Cloudy had not. So we all enjoyed leisurely hiking in the cool weather with the dogs. We stopped often to take pictures or to enjoy a particularly nice view. We laughed, we chatted, we spent time together. That's what made this hike so special to me. I was able to spend time with my favorite people doing my favorite thing - hiking.

Too often, family gets caught up in the hectic pace of every day life and we think "Oh, I can just catch up with her later". But when does "later" really come? If your life is like mine, it never seems to. I find myself continually playing catch up with important things, or making phone calls I've been meaning to make forever. Email overflows your inbox, text messages sit unanswered, and feeling overwhelmed is normal. The reality of life is that we don't know if we'll have a later. Stop putting things off for the future. Have you been meaning to call your brother, but just never seem to have time? Stop reading this. Right now. Seriously! Go call him! Let the people in your life who are important to you know that they're important.

I say all this because I think that hiking is a great way to connect with your family. Not only are you away from the distractions of life (TV, phones, email.. yeah you get the picture), but you're working towards a common goal, which builds camaraderie. You don't even have to be a great hiker to enjoy it. There are a plethora of trails available to us in our local parks. It could be 1 mile, it could be 50 miles. The distance doesn't matter. What matters is that you step out with your family and say to them "The most important thing to me right now is to spend time with you". Well meaning words can't take the place of deliberate actions.

So, are you ready to hit the trail with your favorite people yet?

 

Photo credit: Sarah Maier

My next post is going to be about finding local trails, and what you need to take with you for a day hike. There's so many great resources available, and local parks to explore! Join me, and get outdoors!

Thank you so much for visiting My Journey from High Heels to Hiking Boots! Like me on Facebook and share with a friend - You know you want to ;] Happy Trails!   

The High Heels Side of Life: Crab Feasts and Family

No hiking this weekend because my family is in town. But I think having our last crab feast of the season makes up for it.

Just sayin'

Thank you so much for visiting My Journey from High Heels to Hiking Boots! Like me on Facebook - You know you want to ;] Happy Trails!

Big Schloss Overnight Adventure

Labor Day has certainly not been very laborious for Hubs and I. We've been recovering from our first overnight backpacking experience! I'm happy to report that we didn't get lost or attacked by wild animals! And Hubs hung a bear bag! It was a great weekend, but totally exhausting.

A friend recommended we go down to Big Schloss in VA. It's in the George Washington National Forest. After reading the fantastic reviews from multiple places online, we decided to give it a go. I'd been searching for a good place to do a group weekend hike, and this place seemed perfect! So Hubs and I packed up after work on Friday to scout it out for a group hike next month.

We followed a trail guide from MidAtlantic Hikes again. Just like the last one, it did not fail us. It was simple, concise, and clear. On the trail guide, there were many suggestions of places to camp out for the night, which were very handy. Props to MidAtlantic Hikes on another great guide =].

The fun (hah!) background story to this is that Hubs and I were unable to arrive as early as we planned. In fact, we pulled into the park shortly before dark, and rushed to the first camp site to get set up as quickly as possible. Once we had the tent all set up, it dawned on me that we would be doing the entire hike in one day.. 11.5 miles.. with 25lbs+ on our backs.. O..M..G..

But on the plus side, look how cute our tent was!

So the next morning we packed up and hit the trail. The first part of the hike was the hardest, as it was mostly uphill, but overall the hike wasn't too bad. We enjoyed the quiet of the woods together with the dogs. There were very few hikers on the trail, probably because of the clouds that seemed to be threatening rain at any moment. We had some great views, and I'm really proud of us for hiking so far.

The first overlook we came to.

 

Big Schloss (we didn't climb it this time)

So, while everything might not have worked out as planned, it was the perfect trip for our first overnight adventure! We're looking forward to the next one in a month. Next time we'll actually climb up Big Schloss to see the view. I've heard its spectacular!

After 11.5 miles in one day (another record broken!), you can imagine how tired we've been. The pups are still a bit worn out, too. So while the bathroom is calling out to be scrubbed, I must admit that I'm comfortably tucked into my bed snuggling with my doggies. And after such a weekend, I don't feel bad about it for one second.

Been on any hikes recently? What did you do this Labor Day? I'd love to hear all about it =]

Thank you so much for visiting My Journey from High Heels to Hiking Boots! Happy Trails!