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

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Free to Climb! Independence Day at Pilot Mountain

Free to Climb! Independence Day at Pilot Mountain

We decided to take advantage of the fact that we were in Winston-Salem by hitting up Pilot Mountain on Monday before heading back to Raleigh after the 4th of July festivities.  We met up with our friends Danny and Tracey in the summit parking lot at 9, surprised to find that it was virtually empty!  It was quite refreshing to be able to get on the routes we wanted without tripping over any red-helmeted boy scouts!  We didn’t even have to endure any wild rapelling shenanigans from the amphitheater from the meet-up groups! This is what our day looked like!…Read the rest of this entry →

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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 →

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C-Squatch and “The New” Invasion

C-Squatch and “The New” Invasion

After several weekend weather woes, we were finally able to get Canaan up to the New River Gorge for his first multi-day climbing/camping trip.  We decided it would be best to go up during mid-week as to figure out the logistics of bringing a baby to the crag without also having to battle all the crowds of Memorial Day weekend.  We convinced our friend Scott to be our third man/guinea pig under the stipulation that we wouldn’t stick him with the job of baby-watching. So, with as rain-free of a forecast as you can hope for at the New River…Read the rest of this entry →

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Craggin’ with the C-Squatch

Craggin’ with the C-Squatch

So if our hiking trips the past few weekends have improved my mental health dramatically, its probably safe to say that our first day out climbing with Canaan skyrocketed my psyche into the next stratosphere.  A little fresh air, great company, and real rock sure can go a long way – if only there was a way to bottle it for future use during times of injury, sickness, or on rainy weekends! Anyway, after 9 months of “observation” in utero, and 6 weeks of training outside the womb, Canaan was finally ready to participate with Mom and Dad in one…Read the rest of this entry →

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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 →

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