jom ke DuPont State Forest plak...

Howdy blogiedy.... Since hiking has made its way to my heart (fuyyoo...) as one of my current 'hobbies'... I decided to look for similar activities here. :D It does feel good to 'struggle', "sweat" and 'smell', to be in touch with nature :-) and bonus point if these places have spectacular views. perfekto!

Hiking kt Malaysia- the weather, Hot and humid, rainy sometimes. So, when u hike, u sweat a lot.... For me, it makes me feel so healthy and bergaya gituh (while hiking and exercising only, hate it when it happens in daily life :P). Having said that, I wouldn't say I dont like it otherwise... (pulak dah :P) Kinabalu climb was superfun because its colder and u dont really sweat as much, until Laban Rata... but it was too cold for my likings from LabanRata to the top, about 2-4celcius I think? gigilllll....

I joined a hiking trip organised by an outdoor group in the campus. They organise trips for small group of people  - usually around 9-11 slots, depending on the activity.

We went to the DuPont State Forest, near a place known as FlatRock village located in Hendersonville N.Carolina. Its about 2-3 hours drive from Charlotte. There were 11 of us. I was worried I might not able to keep up as I have not been in shape or in good stamina lately.... but it was ok since it was a mild hike, not very strenuous kind.

The sceneries are just breathtaking! This place is known for its beautiful waterfalls.
Upper Left: Triple Falls. Upper Right: High Falls.
Lower LEft: getting nearer to the triple falls. Lower Right: The HighFalls upclose.

ashlyn, mallory and i with Highfalls as background.

So Tempting... feel like nak melompat masukkk.... but water was freeezing cold. nehi nehiiii

Kuda breed "Tennesse walker"... cara dia jalan adalah sgt seksi okk
Besides hiking, people come for horseriding, fishing and  mountain biking as well....

Further up: Covered Bridge

After HighFalls, we followed the trail that goes pass covered bridge (which is on top of the HighFalls), and hike to this Lake, known as Lake Dense. Cantekknyee... if only airnya tak sejuk banget.

Ayaq clearrr kaan!

After spending an hour plus here, for lunch, solat (for me) and sunbathing :))... we headed to the next and final falls for our trip that day, the Grassy Creek Falls

Left Upper,Lower: at Lake Dense

Right: Grassy Creek Falls (the final waterfalls)

Then we followed a different trail back to HighFalls. From there, we hiked back using the same trail we came from back to the parking lot!

It was tiring... what more with the bulky camera I brought along... which I'm glad I did :-) Coz the sceneries are too good to pass for shots :P

On way back.... lotsa Farmvilles along the road :D

It was a great experience.

The weather was good dat day, temperature around 10-12 celcius, not too windy and not too sunny... just nice :D

The trail for the day:

Yellow line: trailing forward
Pinky line: trailing back.
Arrows: The stops :-
Triple Falls, High Falls, Covered Bridge, Lake Dense, and Grassy Creek Falls

Side Refences  (Hiking in Penang):
Kerachut Beach
Monkey Beach + Muka Head Light House
Bukit Bendera
Bukit Mertajam Hill / Tokun Hill
Bukit Jambul
Mengkuang Dam (jogging not much of hiking)

Mai pakat- pakat pi Tanjung (penang) :D ngeh  ngeh ngeh

@ Iklan tak berbayar
Sekian...

Holiday on Ice

I had this childhood fantasy of "holiday on ice" talcum powder... haha... I laughed when I figured how relevant it was when Mardhiyah asked me if I wanted to join a skiing trip. Though in present i don't fancy the idea of skiing, (I prefer sports that require less equipment handling), I did it for my childhood memories... plus a little bit of 'new' adventure once a while will be good, rite :P

I joined this program organized by muslim student association of NC unis, to the Beech mountain ski resort,  NC. We can choose between Skiing, Snowboarding, and Tubing. Snowboarding sounds too scary, Tubing sounds too cute, so Ski it is! :P senang tak buat decision?... hohoho.

Look at the crowd... since winter is ending soon, I guess ramai berpusu-pusu to njoy as much as they can :D

and they have ski school for beginners (like me). But I kan berlagak terrer, haha... tak aar, amik syarat dpt ski pun cukup, even dengan gaya ayam itik skalipun :P

kaki terkepak kepak

Apparently, I dont have any inborn talent or superficial powers for skiing! Keep falling which is quite common for beginners... so that's what I happily did for most of my time there. Seriously... it was fun falling on snow coz its soft...but of course later u deal with your muscle ache la kan. Then, knowing me, I even felt when I was not skiing. on earthground, not on snow... passing by the cafetaria when out of sudden, a girl gleefully asked me "Did you have great time?!!" Kedeboom, jatuh!  grrrr... And again knowing me, I am good at 'speed recovery' and got up, gave a bimbotic laugh (cover malu), "yeahh, I guess I did, huhhh"  and kontrol macho... dalam hati, huwaaaa..............why whyyy

so lesson learned... to all of u out there: Toksah dok gempak mami laghu tu noh...  haih...adeh... well hidupku tanpa drama adalah tak sah, kan.....

This is the lift, that goes to the highest trail... erk, tiba-tiba acrophobia looking at this. nehi nehi. There are 'less extreme' trails, and separate lifts for that. Unfortunately (for me), when you hop on this lifts, u have to ski/snowboard down... u can't hve the return ride on this lifts. I really wanted to go on it, but since my skiing is bad, (I can't stop while going down slopes), I can't jeopardize my safety as well as others' on my path.

Anyways, I had fun learning how to ski at less steeper areas. When I got tired, I played around with snow (tindakan refleks bagi org khatulistiwa yang jupe snow kan) and went to check out the snowtube side... oh my, looks fun and cute :P tubies tubies teletubbies cute :D but i heard from those who did it, it was kinda rough as well :P

Last but not least, it was a great experience.

A part of it was also coz I met bunch of new friends, all young and energetic!! They are juz so cool... made my day! Thank girlss ;-)

winter's gonna be over soon... its getting warmer these days..yeahhh!