November 7th. was the last, prettiest Sunday show of autumn color for the year 2021.

We took advantage of the perfect weather to hike a bit in Pisgah Forest on the Woods Mountain Trail and part of the Mountains to Sea Trail in Marion, N.C..

In May 2021 we went to the South Carolina coast. Dennis did well with his new Garrett Sea Hunter Mark II and I found lots of great fossils. Annie had a good time as always!

For a morning that started out at 28 degrees, it sure did warm up nicely. Here are a dozen pictures of our hike around Alexander’s Ford on April 3rd.. There is such a pretty field there that we were wanting to explore before the warm weather bugs get going. Annie had a blast in the tall grass and got herself tangled in the leash ribbon. Dennis straightened it all out. She sure makes us laugh.

This was a short ride on a new, for us, trail in Fletcher. It is a mixed bag of surfaces from dirt single track to pavement and gravel. It was a good test ride for our GoPro 9. These photos are screen grabs of the footage we made with the new camera. The video is up on our YouTube channel ‘Exploring the Carolinas‘.

A nice day in the 60s saw us hiking an old favorite trail near Old Fort. The historic trail passes by the grave of an unknown Confederate soldier. The path follows the creek for it’s length and has several water crossings. Annie braved the ice cold water like a champ.

We are making the most of fine weather every weekend to get in some more miles on our bikes. Here are a few shots of our last couple of rides in various places.

This pretty trail in Polk County follows the path taken by Colonial Militia to a Ford crossing the Green River. A nice walk thru the woods ends in a pasture at the river’s edge. The ford itself is a deep cut in the riverbank.

Here is a collection of photos from a couple of our most recent rides on the Rail Trail in Rutherford County. We vary our starting point and are enjoying exploring the entire trail. It is interesting to see another side of familiar landmarks and rather than the facade we know from the main roads.

It was a beautiful day with clear skies and mild temperatures. Perfect hiking weather. We revisited the Point Lookout Trail in Black Mountain today and enjoyed the autumn leaves and even timed it right to catch a train coming through from the Marion – Old Fort direction.

We spent a week at the coast in mid October. Dennis found some bling and I collected some fossils, photos of which I will add to the paleontology section soon. We enjoyed good weather and lovely scenery as always.