| Doughton Park Hiking Review | Cabins, and Salamanders, and Bears- oh my!

Hello!  My name is Paisley, and I have a debilitating phobia of bears.  I started having recurring dreams of being pursued by them about ten years ago.  Really, truly- about once a week, I will have a dream about bears.  Maybe this just means the bear is my spirit guide, but after so many years of these dreams, I’ve been more inclined to conclude that it’s a premonition that I will someday be mauled to death by one.  It’s important that you know this as I proceed with my tale.

The boyfriend and I spent our weekend up in The Enchanted Forest, a.k.a. The Taj Matrout, a.k.a. my mom’s house, as is often the case.  And, as is often the case, adventures ensued.  There was much feasting, and dancing, and star-gazing, and a brutal hike along the Bluff Ridge Primitive Trail.

Salamanders are basically animated jello.

Our weekend began with an encounter with one of the friendlier woodland creatures at the Taj Matrout: a salamander, which we saved from a certain death by the jaws of Charlotte.  We talked about what hike we might choose to go on the next day, and it hit me that I really, really needed some decent hiking shoes if we were going to go on anything strenuous.  That morning I'd tried breaking in the Clarks I'd ordered, which left me with a blister after just 30 minutes of wear, and would be going back to Amazon.  So, onwards to West Jefferson we went to acquire some Keens.

Once we returned to the house, spiffy new hiking shoes in tow, I was very eager to try them out.  The boyfriend consented to walk up the hill through the Christmas tree farm with me, even though it was about 6:30 already and the sun was fading pretty swiftly.  So begins our tale of woe.

It occurred to me that it might be a stupid idea to go out this time of day. In the woods.  After my mom had e-mailed me a picture of the estimated 400ish lb black bear living nearby.  But onwards I went!

We lingered at the top of the hill to take pictures in the sunset before walking back down.  There was hardly any light left once we started walking down the hill, and through the thick, bushy Christmas trees, there was really no visibility to speak of to either side of the trail.  Near the bottom of the hill, I made Andrew stop and listen.  We both heard a low, rumbling animal noise not far off to our right. Three times.  I darted up the hill expecting Andrew and the two dogs to follow, but he lagged behind when we realized Charlotte was missing.  We both called and called for her, but she made no appearance.  We growled and yelled and made as much noise as possible, and I hid behind a tree, feeling like this was it.  The dream bear had finally found me.  I called my mom- for once my phone had signal in the wild- and told her to come get us ASAP, but watch out for Charlotte.  "She's right here," my mom said.  I figured she hadn't been eaten by a bear, but was still afraid she might have been so scared she ran off somewhere in the dark where I'd never find her.  Nope. Turns out she just abandoned us and ran home!

After what seemed an eternity, our hero in shining silver Subaru arrived to collect us.  I'd been yelling in an effort to scare critters away so much that my voice was gone, and I was shaking for the rest of the night. No one else seemed incredibly bothered or worried, but that's all part of my recurring dream, too.  

In nearly every dream, the bears are after myself and other people I know, but I'm always the only one who seems to notice or sense the threat.  So, maybe now that reality has played out the scenario, the dreams will stop?  We'll see, I suppose.

The real tragedy is that this awful picture could have been the last one of us alive.  Probably the last photo of Wolf's butt, too.

After the bear incident, we ventured forth to Laurel Springs' hottest club....which would be the biker bar down the way- Freeborne's Bar & Grill.  Surprisingly, they've got a rather classy and extensive menu, and it is seriously, uh, lively on the weekends.  I just sat there wallowing in my bear phobia on this trip though.

Fast forward to the next morning- we had decided that after our lovely breakfast of pumpkin pancakes and bacon, we would set out on hike to Caudill Cabin in the Doughton Park area.  It's an area I've been exploring since I was a wee thing and my family took trips up to stay at Bluff's Lodge, which I'm still heartbroken is non-operational at the moment.  

One of the frequent stops whilst exploring this area was always the little overlook where, on a clear day, you can see a little cabin down in the valley.  I've wanted to hike down and take a closer look at it for about 20 years now, so I was excited about us having a nice, clear day in which to finally go there.  But, yet again, it was not to be.

The cabin overlook.

You can just barely see the roofline of the cabin near the center of this photo, in the clearing.

I had noticed the Caudill Cabin hike sign posts the last time we hiked in the area, and logged it in my head as "about an 8 mile hike."  What I did not mentally record was that it was about 8 miles one way, using the trails I had spotted.  Too bad I didn't even realize I'd made this mistake until we were about 3 miles in and thought we were "almost there." If we'd gotten an earlier start, maybe it still would have been doable, but setting off after noon didn't give us enough daylight.  

Freshly equipped with bear bells, emergency tools, and paranoia, we started our hike by descending the Bluff Ridge Primitive Trail.

Beautiful/kind of creepy tree at the beginning of the trail.

Immediately I was kind of wary about how steep the hill was on the way down, since, you know, we were going to have to go the opposite direction to get back. Normally I prefer taking the uphill part of a hike first if it's an option, instead of after you've already been slogging for a few hours.  We figured the payoff of getting to see the cabin up close would make the incline worth it though.

About 3 miles in, we reached the bottom of the mountain, and came upon a primitive camping area.  Basin Cove primitive camping, I think?

.....along with a sign near this little waterfall that said "Caudill Cabin: 3.3 miles."

...3.3 more miles??  Oh boy. Abort mission.  No way was I going to be out in the woods that late in the day again.  It turns out that we could have parked near this campsite on Longbottom Road and hiked in 5 miles to the cabin on relatively flat ground, so that will be what we try next time.  For this trip though, we just decided to wander the road for about another mile, eat our lunch, and prepare ourselves for a 2.8 mile relentless uphill journey.

At the campsite, you will also find the grave of Alice Caudill, wife of Famon Caudill.

You might find some weird, fluffy mushrooms, too.

There's a review of the Bluff Ridge Primitive Trail here that says taking the trail uphill is recommended "only if you are in training to climb Mount Everest in the near future," and I do believe my boyfriend would agree.  It was challenging to say the least.  It felt like I was chugging along at a 15 degree incline on the treadmill the whole way up, with no respite.  I've taken to getting at least an hour of exercise every day lately though, and that coupled with the motivation to get the heck off that mountain before the sun started going down propelled me up the trail without much trouble.  My boyfriend, on the other hand, was seriously scaring me with how difficult it was for him, and visions of having the night close in around us with all its wild growly things after he'd passed out and I had to drag him up a mountain were starting to flood my mind.  So, this hike is definitely not recommended for the faint of heart or breath.  As I write this, two days later, I'm still wincing in pain every time I go up the stairs or even sit down.  To classify this hike as a "thigh burner" is putting it mildly.  If you want to test your endurance though, I'd say this is the best trail I've found in the area.

I'm coming for you, Everest!

It really doesn't look that bad here, but photos are deceiving.

2 miles into the uphill portion of the hike, Andrew succumbs to madness and decides to pursue becoming a Swami.

With some determination, we did make it back to the top of the mountain, where I allowed Andrew to collapse since we were now out of what I considered high-risk bear territory (we spotted fresh scat on the way up that was not there on the way down).

And from thence we made our way back across the beautiful meadow to the car.....

....and from there back to the Taj Matrout, where a luscious dinner awaited us.

Build-your-own pasta night!

Nom.

Hopefully we'll get another chance to make it to the cabin soon, but I won't be too upset if we wait until the bears are hibernating.

All roads lead to muddy adventures at the Taj Matrout.

Life Lately- A Little Food, A Little Progress, A Little Thought

Hello, poor, abandoned blog!  I’ve not written in a long time. Why?  For a few reasons.

1. My job has been so demanding that I haven’t had much energy for anything besides getting things done at the office and getting my exercise in.
2. My Post-European Travel Despair has yet to dissipate. Happens every time I come back. Usually lasts until I can start planning my next trip.
3. I’ve been cooking a whole lot less because of the aforementioned things.

Between my bouts of misery and stress, I have, however, still been progressing in living a healthier life and surrounding myself with healthy food.  As I said, I haven’t been whipping up meals on my own as much, but I’ve been seeking out more ready-made or quick to make, no-cook healthy foods.

Oh, and I discovered coffee.  I’m not quite sure how that happened.  For my entire life up until about two months ago, my burgeoning hatred and mistrust for anything coffee-related was a defining aspect of my being, but something changed.  “I think I want to try coffee,” I announced one night after dinner.  My best friend bestowed a few Keurig cups on me, and it was all downhill from there.  At this point, I’ve become enough of a connoisseur to assure you I do hate K-cups, and I’ve developed a preference for medium-bodied varieties brewed in a French press.  Seriously though, I still have barely a clue what I’m doing with coffee.  I just know that our loves deepens with each passing day.

 

My favoritest coffee so far.

I kind of wish I’d discovered it before taking on a healthy lifestyle.  I would have loved to be able to enjoy a pumpkin spice latte in total ignorance of the horrific nutrition facts (even the “skinny” Starbucks version has something like 260 calories for a 12 oz, plus around 4 bajillion carbs and grams of sugar).  Having forever been a pumpkin spice loving, coffee hating creature, I always felt miffed on missing out when pumpkin spice latte season rolled around.  Luckily I found a recipe for a truly “skinny” version, and edited it down into something I could enjoy without guilt!  You can, of course, use real sugar and real maple syrup in this.

Recipe (made in a French press):

2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

3 tbsp coffee (hazelnut coffee tastes best, in my opinion)

2 Tbsp Walden Farms Pancake Syrup (or syrup of choice)

8 oz skim milk

2 tsp sweetener of choice (I like Splenda or Truvia, but whatever works)

-Brew the coffee + pumpkin pie spice with 18 oz of water.

Fill the bottom of your mug with the syrup.

Shake the milk until it's nice and frothy, then heat it in the microwave for about a minute.

Pour the hot coffee and milk into your mug and stir in some sweetener if you prefer.

Enjoy your 80 calorie latte!

Other things I’ve discovered:

Quest bars- holy omg.  These. Things. Are. Amazing!  Especially when you heat them up in the microwave (most of them).  The Quest protein chips are amazing, too (though probably not in the microwave).  I’ve been focusing on a more low-carb/low sugar diet recently, and these things really go above and beyond in that aspect.

And continuing my trend of "What Can I Just Slap Together" meals, we have:

Oatmeal and sliced bananas, with coffee of course . . . 

Toast with cream cheese and apple butter, with coffee . . . 

Mom's homemade banana bread with cream cheese, cinnamon apple butter, and...you guessed it....

Scrambled eggs on toast with Canadian bacon...

Oh, and the delicacy I like to call Bachelorette Pizza. It's toast with a wedge of laughing cow cheese, mini pepperonis, and fresh basil on top.  The basil looks fancy and the pepperonis are cute, which makes it not look as sad.

It's not actually all that sad.  It's actually pretty delicious.  

Which brings me to last night’s dinner- beet and apple salad with balsamic vinaigrette. 

My mom’s single apple tree has proven itself to be a veritable orchard unto itself, and we’ve had to get very creative with ways to use up the plethora of fruit.  I have about four quarts of applesauce tucked in my freezer at the moment, along with three varieties of apple butter, two more quarts of applesauce, a jar of cinnamon apples, and a bowl of raw apples in the fridge. Oh, and two bags of dried apples on top of the fridge.  Needless to say, about every meal these days is accompanied by some sort of apple product.

Anyway, it was simple salads for dinner because yesterday was one heck of a day.  For the sake of being a bright-eyed, positive professional, I won’t hash out details, but my work day was rough.  Don’t get me wrong- I love what I do, find it very rewarding, and feel supremely lucky to have found a position that goes along with my degree and allows me to be creative.  That’s not the problem.

The problem, at its very core, I think, is that I’m not Southern.  By all technical accounts, I am, but by all accounts of my behavior, personality, and soul, I am not.  I had a good heart-to-heart with my mom about it, and she reminded me I am still young, and I am still free to chase my dreams.  There truly is nothing holding me back, besides maybe the necessity of keeping a few fluffballs with me wherever I go.  And what has been my dream forever?  When people ask me, if I could do anything, what would I do, what do I say to them?

I have a few answers to that, but there’s a common thread throughout all of them, and it’s that none of them have anything to do with living in rural North Carolina.  They all have to do with being far, far away from it.  Europe, more specifically.  So, what IS holding me back?  I sometimes feel a bit down about being a nearly-30-year-old woman who has never come close to being in a committed relationship, having no kids, having no home of my own, no grand salary or savings, etc.  Ok . . . maybe “sometimes” is an understatement.  I feel pretty crappy, undesirable, and unaccomplished for the vast majority of my waking hours.  But maybe I’m missing the positive aspect of my lack of ties to anything permanent and lasting: I have complete freedom.  And perhaps I’m squandering it.

I can only hope...

I’m not sure what I’ll do next, or how I’ll make it happen, but I think it’s time to get what I really want out of life back in focus.  There is so much pressure- especially in the South and especially in your late 20s- to be stable and have everything figured out, but that seems to refuse to happen for me.  And maybe if I get back to chasing what I really want, it will finally come together.  

Watermelon + Heirloom Tomato Summer Salad

Beauteous, no?

Most people reading this will know I recently returned from am amazing trip to the United Kingdom, where I enjoyed some especially amazing meals.

For some reason, whenever I travel somewhere new, it's always that first meal that really knocks my socks off and sticks with me.  On this trip, that meal took place at Draper's Hall restaurant in Shrewsbury, Wales, and began with an appetizer of watermelon and heirloom tomatoes.

The original!

When I got home, I knew I wanted to reproduce it!  The flavor combination was unexpectedly complementary and so refreshing on a hot summer's day....not that we experienced any of those in Wales, but back home is another story.

It's also a delightfully easy, no-cook recipe.

What you need:

About 3 cups chopped watermelon

1 large heirloom tomato

About 2 tbsp feta cheese

A sprig of fresh rosemary

6-10 large basil leaves

A dash of salt and black pepper

Makes 4 servings

Just chop it all up, toss together, and serve!

Nutrition Facts:

Calories- 53

Fat- 1.5g

Carbs- 8.7g

Sugar- 6.5g

Protein- 2g

Pretty healthy! Plus it's just pretty to look at. Surprisingly filling, too!

And it paired very well with some prosciutto-wrapped roast asparagus (that recipe shall be shared next).

.....On to things I could not replicate, sadly:

Draper's Hall Restaurant exterior in Shrewsbury.

Boyfriend's lamb dish.

My beer + bernaise sauce dish.

Some sort of chocolate mousse something.

I did have some success with recreating this face!  Boyfriend highly approved of the salad.  No leftovers!

                                     

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Rosemary Parmesan Roast Carrot "Steak Fries"

Roasty toasty!

Last night I had to have some sort of roast veggies in my life.  Nothing else was going to do.  And I had a big ole' bag of carrots in the fridge that needed to be eaten.  As I let this ravenous craving congeal with my longing for balsamic vinegar and parmesan cheese, a lovely idea for roast carrots formed.

They were divine.

Like giant, toasty sweet potato steak fries, lightly charred on one side in the same delightful manner of a roasted marshmallow. We dipped them in roast garlic hummus and devoured the entire plate in no time.  I definitely see more of these in our future...especially since there's already another bag of carrots in my fridge.  And especially since they fulfill my desire to inhale masses of salty french-fry consistency things dipped in sauces.

So simple, so good.

What you need:

1 bag of carrots (mine had 12 ~7" long carrots in it), or about 12 carrots of your choice

1 tsp sea salt

1-2 tsp cracked black pepper

1 tbsp fresh rosemary

4 tsp grated parmesan cheese

4 tbsp balsamic vinegar

2.5 tbsp olive oil (more if you like, but I was trying to cut calories)

Makes 12 servings.

What to do:

Preheat your oven to around 400-450 degrees (the oven in my new place seems to heat up way beyond what I set it to, but I haven't quite figured out how much hotter it is yet). Slice carrots in half lengthwise and spread them out on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Drizzle with the olive oil and balsamic vinegar and flip them around a few times to coat.  Sprinkle your seasonings evenly on top, pop them in the oven, and give them 30-45 minutes to roast, depending on how crispy you'd like them (the crispier the better for me!).

Nutrition Facts (per 2 slice serving):

Calories- 65

Fat- 2.4g

Carbs- 7.5g

Fiber- 1.7g

Sugar- 5.2g

Protein- 1.7g

Vanilla Berry Protein Pancakes

 I think I've finally perfected them, so here is the final recipe!

Mmm...fresh raspberry vanilla.

A few weeks ago I decided I really needed to focus on upping my protein intake in light of how much more I was working out.  I wound up overdoing it and making myself sick, mostly because I was in a frenzy to try all the protein powder recipes I could and gorged myself on the (crazy low calorie) results, but I'll spare everyone the details there.  Since I've been experimenting for weeks though, I can guarantee any protein powder recipes I share here are absolutely delicious, and don't taste like protein powder nastiness at all.  Just beware if you decide to eat a few batches of these a day along with the apple pudding muffins I shall share soon...

I have to say though, I bet none of what I've made would taste as good with another protein powder.  I highly recommend the BodyLogix Natural Whey.  I initially bought it just because it seemed to the the best powder around so far as giving me the most protein for the least calories, and I was shocked that it was also the best tasting I had tried, by far!  The vanilla flavor is like a white chocolate milkshake, even just mixed with water.  Not to mention it is one of the less expensive powders out there, to boot.

My Nana tells me these do not look good and she can't believe they would taste ok with protein powder, but she's wrong, I promise.  They taste different from your average IHOP rendition, for sure, but they're also way, waaaay healthier.

On to the recipe!

What you need:
1 scoop BodyLogix Natural Whey
1.5 tsp Ener-g Egg replacer
1/4 cup King Arthur Organic Whole Wheat Flour (white whole wheat works, too, and is 10 less calories)
1/4 cup low fat 1% cottage cheese
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp Stevia
(optional) handful of your berries of choice
(optional) pancake syrup/toppings (look for Walden Farms 0 calorie syrup- it is a miracle in a bottle!)

Makes 4 medium sized pancakes.

What to do:
Add all ingredients except the optional berries to a blender and blend until everything is nicely combined. Heat a greased skillet over medium heat, pour some batter in, toss in some berries if you like, and cook them like you would any other pancake!

Nutrition facts (without berries or toppings) for the WHOLE stack:
285 calories
2g fat
33g carbs
33.5g protein
4g fiber
2.5g sugar

These turn out pretty moist, so it's not entirely necessary to top them with anything, but it doesn't hurt.  They don't fluff up as much as your average pancake though, so if you toss in something like blueberries, it gets tricky to cook them evenly on both sides (because the blueberries are thicker than the pancakes).  I chopped up some raspberries from my dad's garden for them this morning and that problem was avoided!

You can also substitute plain Greek yogurt for the cottage cheese, but you wind up with a denser pancake.  The cottage cheese is better for fluffing them up, it seems.

Suggestions for making them fluffier without losing nutritional value are welcome!  I like this version a lot, but it's always fun to try more variations and see what I get.

Previous versions:

The very first try.  Not bad, but very dense...

Getting better....more pancake-shaped at least....

Mmm blueberry!

Pancakes, Plane Crashes, and Picnics in the Clouds (Memorial Day Weekend, Part II)

The creek just beyond the Boone Fork parking area.

Day two of our holiday weekend entailed a mountain expedition the likes of which we have never attempted before.  It wasn't the longest hike we've been on, but it was certainly the most strenuous- and I loved it!  I must have been on an adrenaline high though, because I could tell my boyfriend was giving me the "Are you insane?" look when I talked about us doing a much longer hike to the end of the Grandfather Mountain profile trail sometime.  Once I was off the mountain and downing my normal amount of oxygen, I felt a little less confident that it would be a good idea, too, but it's still a goal for someday.

150 calorie stack of pancakes! Om nom nom!

First things first, we started our day by whipping up some pretty delicious coconut flour pancakes, which you can find the recipe for here at Foodie Fiasco (a website I'm having quite a field day with currently).

The goal in mind for our day was to hike into the Grandfather Mountain trails from trailheads outside the park (thus avoiding the rather pricey ticket you need to access the park otherwise.  This isn't frowned upon, fyi- they make it clear that hiking in is an option.  The only drawback is there are areas you won't be allowed to access once you're in the park.)  

I would have liked to hike all the way to the beginning of the profile trail, but for the day I decided that getting to Calloway Peak would suffice.  Also on this hike I got to face my two greatest phobias- heights and snakes!  Hooray!  I am proud of how I did with the heights; maybe not so much with the snake.

We began our ascent up the Craggy Way trail, I believe it was called.  It was appropriately named, for sure, and definitely the hardest trail we could have chosen for getting there.  The views were worth it though!

This is about where we came across the snake lying to the side of the trail....

...the drawback is your most slithery woodland friends enjoy these sunny views as well.  It took me a good minute and earned me a very annoyed boyfriend, but I finally mustered up the courage to walk by the little creature.  Give me a wild mountain lion and I'll get as close as I can, but don't expect me to get within 50 feet of a two foot snake knowingly.  I'm so rugged.

I'm also having fun with HDR toning lately, as you can see.

The end of the Cragway trail brought us to another trailhead where the mountain environment started to change quite a bit with the increased elevation.  The dirt gets darker, the ferns get thicker and greener, and everything becomes more dark, lush, and mossy.  Mountain top woodlands like this are some of my favorite scenery in the area.  They feel so separate from the rest of the world below, and it becomes easy to believe you've traveled much further from home than you actually have.  Fantastic stress relief for when you need to feel far away from your problems.

Some spectacular views started popping up once we hit the top of the tree line!

View from the Linn Cove Viaduct Overlook.

Boyfriend embracing the clouds.  They definitely provided some welcome relief to the sweatiness this hike will cause!

 Close to our destination, we came across the wreckage of a tragic plane crash that happened in 1978 (read a bit about it here).  I couldn't believe how spread out the pieces were across the mountain top.  Very sad and eerie, but morbidly fascinating to walk around.

He walked around looking for the propeller, which he wanted to take home with him if we found.  Because carrying a plane propeller for 4 miles up and down a mountain would have been great fun.

Welcome to Mirkwood Forest.  Please stay on the trails, mind the elves, and report any sightings of SOUS (Spiders of Unusual Size) to the park services. 

Soon after exploring the wreckage, we came upon the ladders and cables I knew we would have to deal with eventually.  Going up these with Charlotte in tow was easy enough, but coming back down was another story.

This is also where I got to deal with my second favorite crippling phobia- heights!  I laid my whole body on that ladder and did not look behind me....

....if I had looked behind me, I would have seen this.  This is nice when you're not dangling over it.

At our destination, we were lucky enough to be approached by someone carrying a Digital SLR camera who asked us to take a photo of her group, and took one of us in turn, so for once we didn't have to settle for a selfie (you'd be surprised by how terrified the average person is of using my very basic Digital SLR, so I normally don't bother asking anymore).

Hiked all this way and of course it's too cloudy to get the view in the photo!

Fellow hikers were so amazed that our little dog made it all this way.  Little dogs can do big things, too, if you let them!

We did get some moments between the clouds rolling across for some excellent views.

Far over the Misty Mountains...

Our wee picnic in the clouds at about 6,000 feet above sea level.

Sammiches were had, but were scarfed down far too quickly to be documented.  I can tell you that simple turkey + provolone sammiches go up approximately 400% in deliciousness after a 3.5 mile uphill hike though.

Storm clouds were rolling in on our descent, but we made it out of the woods safely.

After making our way back to the car, we ventured out to our favorite dog-friendly restaurant in Boone: Cafe Portofino, where Char was fawned over and gleefully worshiped by the locals imbibing on the porch.  We couldn't resist having a hard-earned Crispin cider, too.

We haven't decided on our next hiking challenge yet, but I can't wait for it!