Our Asheville Life: Day Hike @ Mt. Pisgah

TANK // SHORTS // SUNGLASSES

For Father's Day we dusted off our old hiking gear and drove up to Mt. Pisgah for a day hike! I let Mike choose our trail and in true Mike style he went for the tallest peak LOL. I thought I had hiked this trail way back in the day and boy was I was wrong! That trail was leisurely and easy with like picnic tables. This trail was so sooooo beautiful but it was a butt burner! Like nothing but rocks and a straight up climb for a good chunk of the hike. I felt very grateful that Mike is so sure-footed because he was wearing Harlow in the Ergobaby and I think I would've frozen with panic trying to negotiate a slope of wet rocks while carrying my child. Thank goodness for trekking poles! Seriously, if you like to hike you should get some -- they make such a difference and make dicey climbs and descents a lot easier to manage.

We found our packs and poles but I couldn't find my hiking boots so I wore an old pair of Nike Frees that had basically lost all of their traction. And yep, I definitely lost my footing on several occasions and went ankle-deep in a mud hole. Twice. Couple that with trying to find a place to pee out of sight of other hikers and not in a poison ivy patch and phew! I was just glad I had bought the Peanut Butter Monster trail mix at Target and could look forward to that treat when me and my muddy feet made it back to the car haha!

Even though it was raining when we got there, the wet conditions were totally worth it when we reached the top and saw a gigantic rainbow shining down on the Blue Ridge mountains! I remember thinking it was the biggest rainbow I'd ever seen but I guess you just see more of it when you're 5,700 feet in the air! Between the rainbow and the tunnel of pink and white flowers along the trail, I felt my inner mountain girl cheesing from ear to ear!

I feel a little silly for waiting this long to go on a family hike when the trails are so close to us, but now I think we've got a new hobby for summer Sundays! It's so hard to fit everything you want/need to do in two days and if I'm being honest we have a bad habit of doing more fun stuff than tending to things that need doing around the house. And that's why my basement is filthy and my yard has weeds taller than I am. (No lie -- our yard is out of control!)

But you don't work on Father's Day! Especially when my baby's daddy works so dang hard all the time. He needed a break and I think he enjoyed the chance to get outside in the fresh air and just be quiet for a little while. He definitely likes to get to it when we go hiking and sometimes I get mad when he leaves me in the dust and I can't see him. One time we were on a six-mile trek and he left me and I was totally alone in this burned out section of woods except for my 3 1/2 legged dog and there were no trail markers and I just about had a panic attack. That was like two months into our relationship so I couldn't get too too mad without scaring him off (LOL ladies you know what I mean?) but still had to get my point across. I remember waking up in our tent and having those early dating butterflies and wanting to kiss him but my teeth felt like they had sweaters on and I got super self-conscious hahahaha! GAHHHHH I'm so glad those awkward early days are behind me!

Anyways, I'm really looking forward to hiking more and camping again when Harlow gets a little older. Where are your favorite trails in the Asheville area? Thinking our next trip might be to Rainbow Falls where we last hiked on our first wedding anniversary!

Thanks for reading along and letting me share this story with you! See you next week!

xxBrooke