Category fitness/health
Grand Canyon Celebration of Art
Imagine creating a painting of the Grand Canyon. You must decide which section of the massive canyon to paint. You must mix the colors to create the range of hues you need to capture the multi-colored layers of limestone, sandstone and shale and the blues of the sky. Now imagine that you aren’t painting in […]
LeConte Lodge – cabins, llamas & mountaintop views
My recent hike to Mt. Le Conte marked my 51st hike there. I first hiked to Mt. Le Conte with my church youth group when I was in high school. I’ve been fortunate to able to hike Mt. Le Conte almost yearly – and sometimes several times a year – since that first hike. Most […]
Rainy hike to Mt. Le Conte
Clouds, rain and thunderstorms. That wasn’t the weather I would have requested for hiking, but that was the weather we had for hiking Alum Cave Trail to Mt. Le Conte to spend the night at LeConte Lodge. And when hiking in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, rain always is a possibility, especially in the […]
Celebrating running on Global Running Day
I didn’t know it was Global Running Day until hours after I’d run. I’d run because, well, that’s what I do most days. I’ve been running about three or four days a week for more than 30 years. [For years, I was running six days a week, but I’ve incorporated more cross training with cycling, […]
Peacemaking: Cultivating peaceful interactions all the time
Peacemaking That was the title of the class that caught my attention as I looked through the classes being offered at the Florida Earthskills Gathering. Yes, there were other interesting classes – from Natural Dyeing to Knot Tying to Healing with Water. But peacemaking spoke to me. That’s what led to me sitting in a […]
Tree leaves provide different looks for nature trail
What a remarkable day in May for Florida. The weather system that caused the closing of roads in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park due to fallen trees and the possibility of snow on mountain tops brought a beautiful day to Florida. Cool temperatures and enough breeze to mean no insects. A great day to check out […]
Celebrating Earth Day by cycling on Hawthorne Trail
Earth Day was just the day to renew my Florida State Park card and then put it to use by visiting one of the nearby state parks to cycle on the Gainesville-Hawthorne Trail. The trail is a converted railroad track that goes through woods and prairie and includes a few hills. I saw pileated woodpeckers, […]
Running on the Barcelona Olympic track — my goal
“What’s something special you’d like to do in Barcelona?” That was the question I was asked by my travel companions as we planned our time in Barcelona. I remembered watching the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, with a flaming arrow being shot to light the Olympic torch at the Olympic Stadium and the majestic views of […]
Hiking in snow
I had planned to be writing a blog post today for the Friends of the Smokies blog about the March Classic Hike of the Smokies. But the hike was postponed until later in March due to inclement weather – with US Highway 441/Newfound Gap Road closed due to snow and ice and with other roads and […]
De-stress: Run, bike Gainesville-Hawthorne Trail
I just received my Hike 100 Challenge pin in the mail. The pins were sent to the more than 2,300 hikers who completed the Smokies Hike 100 Challenge in 2016 as part of the Centenniel Celebration of the National Park Service. I’m so glad I could be part of that hiking experience. I love hiking […]
Julie Dodd 