Cragmama "Not all who wander are lost…" JRR Tolkien

Tag Archives: Hiking

Creating a Cragbaby…

Creating a Cragbaby…

With a new year upon us, I’ve been inspired to do a little more with my blog.  I’ve decided to start a new series of posts, entitled “Creating a Cragbaby.”  What exactly is a Cragbaby, you might ask?  Well, in the rock climbing world, the “crag” is simply another word for a climbing area.  (Examples:  “Which crag are you guys hitting up this weekend?”  “You’ll never guess who I ran into at the crag last week…”).  And hopefully the term “baby” is pretty self-explanatory…  But to me, a cragbaby can also be a moniker for any little guy (or girl) who doesn’t remember his first…Read the rest of this entry →

Share

Mama’s got a brand new bag (and Cragbaby’s packin’!!!)

Mama’s got a brand new bag (and Cragbaby’s packin’!!!)

The past few weekends have been really busy for us, but long weekends with spectacular weather are just too tempting to pass up, so we were off to VA again for some more bouldering fun.  After spending a fun evening with Canaan’s grandparents (both sets!) we were off bright and early the next morning to meet Manbert at Grayson Highlands State Park.  The low humidity and highs in the upper 60’s felt amazing – and I sure was glad that I had bought Canaan some fall clothes right before we left! This was a landmark trip for us, since it was the test run with our…Read the rest of this entry →

Share

When it Rains, it Pours…

When it Rains, it Pours…

Since Canaan did so well a couple of weeks ago at the New, we decided to get up there again this past weekend.  We took our friends Marc and Marie, who are gym regulars that are relatively new to the outdoor scene.  We thought it would be great fun to head a little further north to Summersville Lake, a pristine blue mountain lake that doesn’t feel like it should belong in as benign a place as West Virginia.  The best part about climbing on a hot day in Summersville is the post-climb dip into the lake.  I went out the…Read the rest of this entry →

Share

Falls Lake Trail – Crag Preparation Hike #3

Falls Lake Trail – Crag Preparation Hike #3

So we went on another hike this weekend, this time along a section of the Falls Lake Trail, which is a 23 mile trail that skirts around Falls Lake north of Raleigh.  This trail is also part of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail, which is a collection of connecting trails that extends all the way across the state of North Carolina from, you guessed it, the mountains to  the sea.  We did a 5 mile-ish section that started at Blue Jay Point Park, which is about a 30-40 minute drive from our house.  This was the farthest away from our house that…Read the rest of this entry →

Share

Preparation for Crag – Hike #2

Preparation for Crag – Hike #2

So we have a tentative goal to get Canaan out on a climbing day trip sometime towards the end of May.  To do this, we figure we need to take lots of baby steps (no pun intended…:) ) in order to make sure he is ready for the long haul of a whole day out and about.  We started out by taking a hike with BeBe and Papa Joe last Friday in celebration of his due date.  It was a leisurely3.5ish mile hike along a smooth trail.  It took us a little over an hour – so not really any…Read the rest of this entry →

Share
“Not all who wander are lost.” —JRR TOLKIEN