Loved hearing your thoughts on last week’s camping post! Looks like we have some other outdoorsy gals in the group :) Like I mentioned in my last post, once you have a basic stock of camping supplies it’s a delightfully cheap hobby, but it can be intimidating and expensive when you’re just starting out! We collected our supplies over several years and learned a few things along the way, so I’m sharing a few tips and favorites today! As a note, many of our supplies were purchased with backpacking in mind, where lightweight items are worth their weight (and more!) in gold. You’ll pay for excellent construction, so if you’re not at all interested in backpacking, you could probably find heavier/less compact versions of many of these items for less money! For each couple or person, you will need: — Sleeping bags. My sleeping bag is by Feathered Friends and I love it! It is extremely lightweight and warm. Also very expensive. John’s bag is by Coleman and is less expensive. Buy a version that comes with a stuff sack for easy packing. I like to bring my own full-size pillow when car camping while John uses this one. — Sleeping pads. For several years I slept directly on the ground and lived to tell the tale, but no more. John and I both have inflatable sleeping pads and they make a HUGE difference in our comfort and ability to fall asleep. Highly recommended if you camp at least once a year. — A tent. Our tent was less than $100 on Amazon and we’ve been happy with it. Unfortunately it doesn’t look like it’s available anymore, but if we were to purchase a new tent, it would absolutely be the Half Dome 2 by REI – it’s legendary for

I did not grow up camping. (I would famously sign up for girl scout camping trips, get all the way to the parking lot, then refuse to get on the bus with everyone else.) NO ONE would mistake me for a tomboy (even though I grew up playing outside most of the time). So when John first started expressing an interest in camping, hiking, and backpacking our junior year of college, my first thought was, oh HECK no. No, thank you. You go do your thing; I’m great right here. However, a hallmark of our relationship has always been quality time together. We do almost EVERYTHING together, minus the eight or so hours per day we’re at our jobs. If John is mowing the lawn, I’m probably out weeding something. If I’m working on stirrers, John is probably researching a trip in the chair beside me. We do have our own interests and hobbies, but we love being together and try to maximize that as much as we can. So this new activity that I was vehemently not interested in caused a tiff between us for awhile… until I eventually gave in :) And gosh, I’m so glad I did! We’ve had some amazing adventures over the last few years and seen so many beautiful things by traveling on foot and sleeping away from civilization. By far the most impressive was our post-graduation hike in the Presidentials, summitting Mount Adams (the second highest peak in the Northeast!) and Mount Jefferson. Yes, that photo is showing you we hiked on our own two feet ABOVE the clouds!! The beautiful thing about camping and hiking, though, is that you can have equally fun, challenging, and inspiring experiences closer to home and without as much time commitment (or sweat!). We’ve had some great

In order to offset all of the eating we did in Asheville, we went on several hikes! Being outside together in beautiful places is one of my and John’s favorite things, and Asheville in the fall certainly fits the bill. This year our hikes were waterfall themed, and as such, they were even lovelier than usual! The first was Catawba Falls in Old Fort, NC, just a few miles outside of Asheville. You can find more info on this hike here and here. This trail is ripe for discovering hidden gems. The little guy above right wasn’t even technically part of Catawba Falls, I don’t think, but was the loveliest tucked-away pool and small cascade! Lower Catawba Falls is above. For most hikers, this is the end of the road. The trail is pretty much flat or gently sloped to this point, so it would be great for kids! Being the adventurous sorts we are, John and I decided to hike the remaining distance to Upper Catawba Falls. And by hike, I pretty much mean rock climb, sans gear. There’s even a rope at one point! We didn’t take pictures the rest of the way up because things got even more precarious. Cue the chorus of angels — Upper Falls! There were two other gals enjoying the view when we arrived, and we were surprised to see a group of six middle-aged people arrive while we were resting. (Because of how challenging the description of the latter part of the hike was, and how challenging our ascent was, we hadn’t expected to see many other hikers.) The late arrivals had entered the pool in a different way than we had, which made us curious, so once we were ready to go, we set off the way they had come. After