Christina Dulude

I took a trip with my hiking group to the Grayson Highlands area in Virginia. I’d actually been there twice before — the first time with the hiking group two years ago, and last year with Adam (here’s his trip report and photos from that). On Friday, I met up with the other backpackers at REI for carpooling. We drove up to Grayson Highlands and met up at the group campsite with the car-campers.

On Saturday, we left from the backpackers parking lot.

We hiked 12 miles over the course of the day, and got caught in rain twice. The first time was at the Thomas Knob Shelter while we were taking a break.

Five of us made a mad dash up Mt. Rogers because thunder was rolling in and we wanted to finish it in time. That was my third time bagging that high point. After hanging at the shelter for a while, we decided to put on our rain gear and head out. But once we got all geared up, then it stopped raining.

Semi-wild ponies roam Grayson Highlands. Supposedly, there are at least two different breeds, which are separated by fences. But a ranger told us that the ponies are mixed every few years to prevent too much inbreeding, and sometimes they’re sold off by the forest service if their population increases too much. People aren’t supposed to pet them or give them food, but many do anyway. Subsequently, the ponies come right up to people and nudge them or go through backpacks looking for food if they’re not careful. Kind of like big dogs.

We hiked to the Old Orchard Shelter where we planned to stay that night. Torrential downpours started on the way there. We got to the shelter, but there were already seven guys lined up in their sleeping bags inside. They had dragged in a full-sized Coleman stove, regular big kitchen pots and pans, and multiple bow saws (for cutting kindling). Which is really heavy, considering the nearest trailhead is about 4 miles away. They also were not so big on Leave No Trace ethics: they threw cans and food wrappers in the fire, some of which got blown out and landed on the ground nearby, and left cigarette butts on the ground.

So we set up tents (in the rain) in the field near the shelter. I had my GoLite tarp and it worked very well.

I am also proud to say that I conducted my very best bear-bag hanging yet.

The next day, we got up and hiked out, about 7 or 8 miles. We hiked past Scales (a big field where there used to be livestock scales), and then split into groups before meeting up at the end and driving back to Durham.

More pictures here.

A few weeks ago my brother graduated from his masters degree program in astronomy from San Diego State University. I went to California a few days early to see Wendy and Michael (not to be confused with my brother Michael) in Pasadena. We ate some really good Asian food, and I took Cady on a hike at Strawberry Peak in Angeles National Forest.

I met up with my family in San Diego when my parents flew in. It rained on our first day there, so we went to the Birch Aquarium (along with about twenty school groups).

The next day we went to La Jolla.

And the next day we went to Balboa Park.

My brother’s graduation was that weekend. After the graduation we walked around campus and had dinner at PF Chang’s.

We also went to Mt. Laguna to see the telescopes where my brother observes, and then we took a hike nearby.

And on our last day, we hiked at Torrey Pines.

Full photo sets on Flickr: Strawberry Peak, Misc San Diego, Mt. Laguna Hike, Torrey Pines.

My hiking friends and I went on our quasi-annual Asheville cabin trip this past weekend. We had dinner at Salsa’s on Friday night. For once, our wait wasn’t terribly long, nor outside in the really really cold. And we finally had the spliff rolls.

Then we went for dessert at a little cupcake bakery, and then on to the French Broad Chocolate Lounge, where we had “liquid truffles,” which were basically highly concentrated hot chocolate drinks. I only had a sip, because I was still full from my lemon cupcake. So essentially, we went bar-hopping, but for desserts.

On Saturday, we hiked in the Panthertown Valley area. The trail wasn’t marked, and there were many little false side routes, so we added a couple extra miles for a total of around ten miles. Then back for showers, and on to Barley’s Taproom for pizza.

We spent Sunday packing up and eating breakfast at Tupelo Honey, after the usual weekend hour-long wait. But it was worth it, as usual. I spent the early afternoon walking around some of the fun little stores downtown.

Now that I think about it, this particular Asheville cabin trip was more about eating (and waiting to eat) than hiking!

More trip photos on Flickr. And here are Stu’s.

Remember when I blogged about going to the NASPA Conference in Boston last month? I had only one afternoon free over the course of the week, and I spent it walking around the Back Bay area, and over to Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market. I spent a lot of time here when I was younger, so it felt a little weird to be snapping photos.

This is Boston Common:

This is Trinity Church and Faneuil Hall:

A few more pictures on Flickr.

The Full Frame Documentary Film Festival was this weekend in Durham. This was my third time at the festival; every year I tell myself that I’ll get a festival pass the next year, instead of just seeing one or two films. But then I forget. Maybe next year.

This year I saw two films. The Order of Myths was about the Mardi Gras carnival in Mobile, Alabama, and the traditions, pageantry and mystic societies involved. The film examined the racial disparities between the two separate but concurrent celebrations, as well as the conflict between integrating the celebrations and preserving traditions. The film also looked at how the celebrations were economically segregated as well. The key players in both the black and the white celebrations were from the wealthiest families in their respective communities.

The second film I saw was American Teen, which followed four students through their senior year of high school in Warsaw, Indiana. The kids embodied the common stereotypes (the nerd, the popular girl, the jock, the artsy one), but it also talked about other issues they had going on it their lives as well. There weren’t any surprises in the film and everything ends happily (the nerdy kid finally finds a girlfriend; the jock gets a college basketball scholarship and doesn’t have to join the military after all), but the film doesn’t come off as cliched. As an aside, I think it’s kind of interesting that Indiana is so often chosen as the setting for stories about life in small-town America. Why aren’t more stories set in Iowa, for example? or Michigan?