There and Back Again- A 10 Mile Challenge

Overlook from the edge of Bluff's Mountain

Recently I made the decision to focus more on bumping up my fitness regime and less on losing pounds.  I set a goal for myself of walking/running/doing something for 3-5 miles per day, or 20 miles per week, and the first week of this went pretty well!  I logged 32.62 miles, 10 of which happened yesterday.  Mostly uphill.  I have some regrets.

The Boyfriend and I decided to spend our weekend at my mom's new house, way up in the nowhere-land of Laurel Springs, NC.  On our way up, we stopped at the Watauga County Farmer's Market intent on picking up a smorgasbord of bread, cheese, and jam to go with our wine.  And organic chicken and carrots.  And flourless chocolate cake.  It was rather indulgent, to say the least, so I was feeling pretty guilty the next day and announced that I had the goal of hiking 10 miles before we went home.

We started out with exploring the area beside my mom's home hitherto known as The Enchanted Forest.  It's a gentle woodland stroll along the river, which I'm told goes for 3 miles.  We went for 1.7 before things started getting too grown up for my comfort level/fear of slithery things in the tall grass.

The raging river right before the trail got seedy.

Char and Boyfriend choosing rocks for skipping.

I picked up a lovely hair accessory from one of the trees without my knowledge.

After walking home and grabbing lunch at the local biker hangout/only restaurant within 45 minutes, we decided to continue our day of hiking at a place very close-by and dear to my heart: Bluff's Lodge.

I have so many wonderful childhood memories of family vacations spent here, and it breaks my heart that the lodge is no longer open.  Apparently this was a result of budget cutbacks to the National Park Service in 2011, which made it difficult for the NPS to employee their regular seasonal workers.  They're seeking someone willing to take over operations of the lodge/restaurant, but so far there have been no takers.  At least we were still able to hike the beautiful trails surrounding the place.

At night, guests would gather around this fireplace to roast marshmallows.

We started our journey across the field up to the peak of Bluff's Mountain....which really doesn't appear to be much of a mountain until you get to the edge and see how high up you are.

A single tree growing out of the field stones.

The overlook before beginning our 0.8 mile descent, which I immediately realized we would have to ascend on the way back...uh-oh.

View of the mountain on our return journey.  The feeling of "Ohmygod what have I done?" really set in about here, as I realized we would have to scale that thing, then travel onwards another 2 miles to get back to the car.

It was definitely a challenge, but I'm proud that we got through it!  I think a lot of people who live in this area never stop to fully appreciate that we truly live in one of the most beautiful places on earth.  Just look at those colors!  It's like a lush, turquoise ocean of mountains.  Maybe doing a good bit of traveling and seeing the world has really made me realize how lucky I am to call this area home.  Very few places have this sort of natural beauty.

I'm even luckier to have these two companions to enjoying taking it all in with.