I wanted to share - as a kind of follow up to my last article about journaling and reflection, my actual reflection of the adventure that my partner and I went on. So here it is!

We started our journey around 10 am with coffee and biscuits for breakfast. Down highway 276 and into Pisgah forest where we traveled the green tunnel up the mountain and onto the Blue Ridge Parkway. I knew the parkway well but only going South and back down to PARI (Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute) where I would be headed in just a few days to spend the rest of my summer. Today we would turn North - towards Asheville and on to Little Switzerland.

The green tunnel up made for a beautiful start - the light gleamed though the thick canopy of leaves above and reflected white light and shimmers off the rocks and water on the forest floor below creating a hazey green vibe all through the cool summer air of the rainforest landscape. Our first stop northward on the parkway was at the Forest Service Overlook which opened up a gap in the trees to provide a new view of our beloved Looking Glass Rock. I stared into the reflection and tried to place the many climbing routes I knew existed on this face and remembered the many adventures and near misadventures I'd had there racing the sunrise or thunderstorms to the top. These memories feel like home.

Onward and northward we went through tunnel after tunnel till we reached Craggy Gardens. The tunnel here was the most interesting of all because of the bare and uneven walls on the inside where the bare rock had been scratched and pulled off and out of the heart of the mountain to form a vein of breathe for humans to travel through the cold and dark places hidden and unseen to reach the blue sky on the other side. I bought a pin at the tourist stop and talked to the rangers about the view just to feel a little more like a tourist.

We stopped on the other side of the tunnel and jumped out of the car to climb up the heavily used trail to the top of the bare rock of the mountain whose heart we had just passed through. About halfway up we stopped to admire the resilience of a beautiful tree growing on the rocks. The roots stretched out and away from the base of the tree and over the rock till they found earth to bury themselves in and pull life from the soil below to feed the body and arms that reached up to the sky beckoning the sun to leave a little of her love in its outreached hands and open palms of the few pale green leaves that clung to them.

We moved on up the tunnel of rhododendron and dogwood blooms that brightened up the dark green light that broke through into our path. At the top, the trees opened up to reveal a man-made stone lookout platform where several familes stood in picture-taking-with-an-iphone-tourist-pose and one little girl played tour guide and named all the different mountains and structures within sight on the summit. The view was beautiful and we took a moment to take it in before heading back down the trail. Kyle snapped a picture of me as we walked down the path - my grandmomma would tell me that I needed to straighten my back and shoulders so I wont be hunched over when Im older. I made him retake it so that I could put my shoulders back in good posture and send the edited picture to her later.

On the way down, I noticed a tree whose roots used to wrap around a rock that had since been broken or moved and had left a loop that was just the right size for me to climb through - which I proceeded to do and hang upside down off of while Kyle documented the silliness. Just past the root portal, I noticed a rock whose surface had been cracked in several places from the freeze-thaw cycles the mountains face each winter and spring and ran to climb up it. Barely a foot off the ground I realized I was pulling moss and small plants out of the cracks and jumped back down to prevent causing more damage to the fragile plant life. A trail ran up the side of the rock to the top and led to a small patch of plants with leaves that looked very much like the orchids that my step mom magically keeps alive and blooming back home. I realized that following this trail was not very LNT (Leave No Trace) and hurried back down to the main trail.

On my way down, I met a boy that was climbing up. His parents turned the corner on the trail and called for him to get down. He jumped down the short incline and on to the mossy rock then hit the ground running towards the portal in the roots and jumped down into the land on the other side. I laughed when I realized that he had just traced my line of travel backwards from where I had come. I realized that in those past few minutes I had allowed the child in me to come out. I was curious and excited and free in those moments and allowed myself to explore and discover the life around me with a childlike mindset. People should be allowed to open up their hearts to this side of them more often. I continued down the trail with a new energy and joy for the woods and life that surrounded me.

The discoveries weren't over with yet, however - I noticed a strange colored mushroom growing amongst the rocks and moss that hid behind a small trickle of water from the mountain above. As I leaned in to observe it closer, a strange buzzing sound erupted from the mountainside. I stepped back confused then watched a small bird fly out of the side of the hill and into the trees. A few moments later, she returned and with her, the buzzing sound. She disappeared into the side of the hill and a few moments later, popped back out again. The buzzing sound was coming from a nest of baby birds hidden in the side of the mountain beneath the thick layer of moss and shrub. We stood and watched for a minute until another hiker came gasping up the trail - breaking the magic of the moment and prompting us to continue our journey downward. Almost back to the car, we met the ranger lady that I had talked to in the tourist hut. I asked how she was, and she replied that she was doing much better now that she was outside in the sun. I agreed.

After reading the sign in the parking lot about how the balds in the area were mostly formed from logging but some were maintained by shepards grazing sheep, we hopped back into the Volkswagon and continued our journey North...

I had never been to Mt. Mitchell - the highest point in North Carolina standing at 6,684 feet tall. Past the sign and up the ridge we went all the way to the very top of the mountain. We parked the car and walked over to a snack bar where we ordered a Root Beer and Orange Fanta to enjoy on our trek up the smooth paved pathway that led to the summit and observation deck. After being tourist-y and taking our picture with the sign via iphone video, we walked back down to a small overlook in the shade that looked off the edge and was framed by deep green spruce trees to finish enjoying our cold mountain top sodas. After stopping at the interprative center to interpret the geology and history of the mountain, we started north once again.

We drove through the tiny tourist town of Little Switzerland and turned down into one of the valleys that hid the small town of Emerald Village. Because we were playing tourist for the day, we decided to take a tour of the local mine. We parked in front of a large barn-like building and gave the lady our money to gain access to the dark gouge in the mountain behind the building.

After walking through a small museum of miners lamps through the ages, we walked out into the open air and a small cliff overlooking a pond that dissappeared into the dark wound in the mountain. Lining the walkway down were different types of rail carts used in the mining process - one was called a poop cart.

Once inside the mine, we were able to view the small pockets of feldspar and quartz that the area had originally been mined for. Inside a dark inclosed area, blacklights caused the impurities in the feldspars to glow. All throughout the mine were signs telling of the history of the mine when it was flooded then drained to re-expose the area. Across from the larger cave was a smaller opening to what they called the Hidden Mine.

Inside the hidden mine, the water flows back and down to dephs up to 30 feet deep in some areas. We walked out to the edge of the pond where Kyle pointed out a massive fish swimming right in front of us and down into the gaping mouth of the Hidden Mine. As we hiking back up the hill to the entry barn, I told Kyle how I was impressed with how the locals had taken something historical like this and written the history of the entire valley into the walls and turned it into something that would bring people in and make money for a dying mining town like this. What a cool little hidden gem way back in the mountains of the Blue Ridge.

By this time, the energy from our espresso and biscuits had begun to wear off and we were starving. After driving around for a little while we came upon another hidden gem of the mountains, the Tropical Grill in downtown Spruce Pine. We ordered Jamaican and American burgers with special sauces and discussed shoes and hair dye with the lovely and chatty Columbian lady server. After dinner, we wondered around town for a little bit before retrieving car keys we had left at the diner (oops) and returning to the car to head back to our own little gem in the mountains in Brevard.

On the drive back we listened to music and rolled the windows down - I felt then that my summer had truly begun and my spirit refreshed and ready for the work and passion that the next few weeks of space/nerd camp would bring. We passed a spectacular view of the sunset over the Black Mountains and didnt run over the random guy with no shirt on in the middle of the road taking a picture of an Asian family in front of the sun.

Today was beautiful and I got to experience it all with an even more breathtaking and inspiring person. I do not deserve the love that I am given, but I thank the skies and the mountain air and the blue of the ridges I call home each and every day for what I have here.

My heart is full and my spirit is free - you and the mountains will always be home for me.