Melissa, Oh?

Chris B. asked me last week to write a gear list regarding what I took, should have taken, and shouldn’t have taken on my recent trip to Mount Mitchell for winter camping. So, without further adieu, here it is:
Head to toe
Here’s what I wore on my trip:
Balaclava – I fought against one of these. I [...]

So I thought I’d log my weekly calories during the 6-week calorie burn challenge TrySports is hosting, that I first mentioned here. Week 1 results are here, Week 2 is here, Week 3 here, Week 4 here, and Week 5 here. If you haven’t already, come out and do the challenge with us - all you need [...]

Quotes from the trip:
Me: We saw some tracks that looked like a cat. Would that be a bear? A mountain lion?
Andrew: No, that’d be a cat.
Chris: I’m gonna get one of those at some point (spoken every time someone showed him a piece of gear. Any gear.)
Chadd: I hate rabbits (spoken every time the smoke got in [...]

… about my hiking trip this weekend. I was going to photograph all my new gear and tell you all about it.
However, I packed my gear in my pack last night and hell if I’m going to pull it back out now!
So, I’ll show it to you when I get back.
It’s time again for the [...]

So, I’m a little late on the the whole “look back/look ahead” post that comes at the end of the year, but I was too busy celebrating the holidays to take the time to sit down and think about it! So, better late than never, right?
Last year I wrote about some thoughts on 2008, and [...]

Previously I brought you Day 1 and Day 2 of our hiking trip to Mount Mitchell. Today I bring you Day 3, sadly, the final day this round.
Day 3, Sunday: Do we have to go back to reality?
After leaving the warm campfire Saturday night, I finally fall asleep, warm in my sleeping bag, when Chris [...]

I wrote about Day One of hiking Mount Mitchell yesterday. Today, I bring you:
Day 2, Saturday: We actually hike.
I wake up sometime in the middle of the night, finally warm in my sleeping bag with my puppy. And, drat: I have to pee. Peeing in the woods always sucks for girls, but especially when the [...]

Kevin and I hiked the Black Mountain Trail at Mount Mitchell last year. His goal was to hike the trail during winter. However, we ended up going the first day of spring – a fact that Jeff has never let us forget (although he and Ronnie bailed at the last minute last year; so what if Jeff [...]

So today is the big day: Today is the day I bundle up in the warmest, lightest-weight clothes I have and go sleep in the woods. In the winter. Like a crazy person or a hobo although I am neither (the crazy person part is arguable.)
My fellow crazy persons in crime turned out to be [...]

No, this blog post isn’t as awesome as this one that mentions the song by that same name, but here goes …
 I am going to Mount Mitchell in a week, and I cannot wait! A trip to REI yesterday resulted in a lot of fun. $360 later, I have a new pair of hiking pants, a [...]