It’s the best (and easiest to use) trail data that is completely free to use and download. You haven’t heard of it? Well allow me to introduce you.
Waymarked Trails – The best free trail data on the web
Another weekend backpacking in Dolly Sods – Blackbird Knob and Red Creek Gorge
Total Distance: 9 miles (plus wandering)
Elevation Gain: ~1,500 feet
It was time for a long overdue hike into the woods. 2020 has been a strange year to say the least. It seemed like something came up every time I tried to make plans for a long-term trip. And at this point “long-term” is anything longer than a weekend.
I thought I would make it here eventually
Exploring the world starts off with an idea: where do I go? What do I want to see? What will I experience? Sometimes it doesn't work out the first time.
Coronavirus Silver Linings
With everyone stuck at home during the COVID-19 outbreak, I see several silver linings to the global "shut-down". All challenges present opportunities. Even being trapped in your neighborhood can lead to an excellent outdoor adventure...maybe in a few months.
Exploring – a stroll through Manassas National Battlefield Park
Suggested hiking route through a Civil War battlefield PLUS a possibly historically inaccurate history lesson
Pearl River Light Show – Guangzhou
Highlights of the light show in Guangzhou, China along the Pearl River
Nara, Japan – a day trip to see the deer (and temples)
Nara Park, only 45 minutes by train from Osaka, is home to hundreds of Sika Deer that roam the city freely.
Arashiyama – The Ryokan Experience and Nature
After a few days in Osaka and Kyoto, we moved outside of the big city to Arashiyama; located on the outskirts of Kyoto. This is more of my kind of town since I’m not a big-city kind of guy. However, the big cities in Japan are remarkably clean, safe, and quiet compared to the rest of the world. In Japan, I didn’t feel as compelled to “escape the city” as I usually do in big cities.
Osaka and Kyoto – cities and temples
It turns out we picked a few temples for the itinerary. I didn’t know what to see in Japan. So when we decided to travel to Japan, my wife did most of the planning. Looking at the map, there are too many temples to see them all, but I suppose we made it to the major temples. Additionally, we saw most of the major attractions and popular street markets in two major cities.
Hong Kong – outside the big city at Big Buddha and Tai O
With one free day in Hong Kong, there is only so much you can do. There are several options for popular tourist attractions. Despite Hong Kong being a rather small area, there is still a lot of ground to cover. Since we were stuck in a city during our previous day in Macau, we opted for some “non-city” attractions while in Hong Kong. That sounds unlikely if you have ever seen a picture of the skyline. However Hong Kong has an amazing countryside outside of the urban areas.
The Macau-Hong Kong Ferry- A snarky review
There are few options when traveling between Macau and Hong Kong. The fastest and most economical method is the ferry (or water jet). It costs the equivalent of $25 USD. There is also an option to take a helicopter, but I assumed that the cost of that ride would cost slightly more than the ferry.
An abbreviated tour of Macau (without gambling)
A few days after arriving in Guangzhou for the start of our trip, we were headed to Macau, a Special Administrative Regions (SAR) of China. Macau is known for it’s casinos and gambling industry. We weren’t there to gamble, just to check it out for the day (half of a day really) before taking a ferry to Hong Kong.
