This weekend we ventured out to hike in the mountains of Western North Carolina following the first winter snow "storm" of the year that blanketed the state in 1-3" of snow. Hiking was not our original plan. Our original plan was a 75 miles, overnight bike packing trip around Linville Gorge. An epic and slightly scary goal for me. As news of the weather reached us earlier in the week, our plans were quickly downgrade to a 40 mile mountain biking day trip, and then scratched again to completely cut out the bikes, and proceed with alternative plans on foot. Our plans continued to change up until Saturday morning as we discovered access to our intended start point was no longer public. 

I was disappointed that our EPIC plans had been reduced to "ordinary" but still excited because our group was composed of some amazing people that I'm lucky to know. During our trek up the snow covered mountain the following conversation occurred. (its not verbatim. my memory is not that precise - but you get the idea)

Roya - "Katie are you going to blog about this trip?"
Me - "Well I was going to when the plan was an overnight bike packing trip around Linville. Now, I'm not so sure."
Roya - "Why not!? This is the perfect example of making do with what you've got (circumstances and weather), and enjoying the company you're with."
Molly - "Roya's got a point."

Too often in life there are lessons that we need to learn, or be reminded of, over and over again. The lesson I have to re-learn over and over again is that "ADVENTURE" does not always have to be "EPIC" to be fun and enjoyable and worthwhile. There can be adventure and joy found in the every day, with people you are inspired by and enjoy spending time with. I realize that it may not be the case for everyone that a 9-mile hike through the snow is something considered common place, but for me, compared to the novel idea of biking what seems like a million miles, with a large amount of elevation change, and carrying all of your camping gear on your bike -- hiking, seems pretty...well, normal. It has become painfully obvious to me of late that I have let my brain spin out of control with wanderlusting and daydreaming of big goals and adventures. Wanderlusting is a pretty common state of being for me but, I have found that spending too much time in my head impedes on my actual productivity and prevents me, in a way, from doing the work toward achieving the [big] goals I've dreamed up. I spend time envisioning the things I want to do and not enough time working to achieve them, and then I feel guilty that I haven't been productive towards my goals, which brings me to a low place mentally and decreases my productivity even more - that terrible cycle. You know the one. Filled with self-doubt, imposter syndrome and self-loathing.  Sometimes all it takes is a comment from a friend to snap you back to reality, allow you to refocus, and get back to the grind. Thanks Roya!

More about our hike, because it was amazing. Our group included Roya, Molly, Greg and I. ((These three people are some of the most inspiring, motivated, passionate, active people I have had the pleasure to meet in North Carolina and I am so lucky to be able to spend time getting to know them and am happy to call them friends. I could seriously write a whole entire post on each of them, and their individual amazingness --- hmm idea?)) Our plan was to hike a loop that linked the Mackey Mountain Trail, Laurel Fork Trail and the Lead Mine Gap trail. This loop is located near Old Fort, NC. If you are interested in doing this loop the best map resource is THIS MAP. I have had a terrible time trying to find a resource that visually outlines the loop's trails in a better way. In addition, this map is made locally and proceeds go towards maintaining trails in Pisgah National Forest! It also just so happens that Greg's business, Rockgeist, sells these maps, so take a look around his website while you're there if you are at all interested in bike packing!!

Because of the snow and our re-route, our access to the loop trails was limited. We parked at the end of Sugar Cove Road and took the Sugar Cove Trail (red) up to the point were Mackey Mountain Trail connects with Lead Mine Gap trail at Curtis Creek Road. This was in total 9 miles. 

Overall the day started out overcast with some light flurries. The entirety of the woods was blanketed in a beautiful layer of crisp, white, twinkling snow. And it was silent. The type of silent that can only be experienced in a snow covered forest. A silence that presses into you from all sides until you suddenly realize you've been holding your breath, so as not to disturb the forest.  The road was covered in about 3" of snow, and was completely an uphill hike. By the time we reached Curtis Creek Road the sun had peaked out and warmed our faces while we ate lunch. We decided to continue down the Mackey Mountain trail a little ways. This part of the trail climbs up to a ridge walk. Some of the views were obscured by trees, but off to our right we caught glimpse of the wondrous layers of the blue ridge mountains before we turned around and headed back the way we came. The trek back, although down hill, was more uncomfortable. The air began to cool quickly as the sun began to set and Roya's knee started causing her pain because of the sliding snow and the downhill. She did not speak a word of complaint. We made all made it down in one piece and we concluded the night at Molly's amazing cabin, Kilbywood Cabin (The cabin will be available for rental starting January 2018. Follow it HERE on Instagram), with a hot meal, tiger balm, drinks and wonderful conversation. It turned out to be a wonderful way for me to reset and refocus, while also proving to be a worthy adventure. My calves are quite sore today from all that uphill snow! For more pictures check out my instagram page. My partners in crime have posted quite a few as well, so check out my tagged photos for EVEN MORE!