 North Carolina-Based
Outdoor Enthusiast | Adventurer | Author
location Huntersville, NC mobile 704 237 0719
email johnbmarek@gmail.com
twitter @johnbmarek
linkedin /johnbmarek |
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Most weekends, April through October, you can find me kayaking and fishing on Lake Norman and Mountain Island Lake near my home in Huntersville. In September of 2011, I completed a circumnavigation of South Bass Island in Lake Erie with my wife, Janet.Over the past ten years I have kayaked in locales as divergent as the Harraseeket River near Freeport, Maine; the Atlantic Coast near Beaufort, North Carolina; and the Inner Passage near Juneau, Alaska.
In the late Fall and early
Spring, I can typically be found hiking in the mountains of North Carolina. Over the past few years, I have successfully climbed most of the major peaks in the area; Mt. Jefferson, Mt. Pisgah, Crowders Mountain, Fall Mountain, and Mt. Mitchell -- at 6,684 feet, the highest mountain east of the Mississippi River. More about John...
Spring, I can typically be found hiking in the mountains of North Carolina. Over the past few years, I have successfully climbed most of the major peaks in the area; Mt. Jefferson, Mt. Pisgah, Crowders Mountain, Fall Mountain, and Mt. Mitchell -- at 6,684 feet, the highest mountain east of the Mississippi River. More about John... LATEST DISPATCHES
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Ultimate Hike 2012: The Best Laid Plans... I want to start out my final Ultimate Hike 2012 update by thanking CureSearch for putting on such a wonderful event! It was very well-managed from start to finish and I am glad to have been a part of it. Over the past three months, I have met some amazing people, have pushed myself beyond my perceived limits and have developed a new appreciation for what a few truly inspired individuals can accomplish. As of hike day, Charlotte Ultimate Hike had raised over $196,000 for children's cancer research, and that figure is expected to exceed $225,000 when all is said and done. That's nearly a quarter of a million dollars! Thanks to you and the ...
Posted May 22, 2012 7:50 AM by John B. Marek -
Ultimate Hike 2012: It's All Over But the Hiking I completed my last long training hike on Saturday; 25 miles at Latta Nature Preserve. It was set up to be a sort of simulation of the real hike on the 19th, starting at the same time and with the rest stops at the assigned mileage marks. It went about as well as could be expected. Honestly, it was as much about confidence as it was about physical training. I needed some personal reassurance that I can actually hike for 11 hours. This was the first training hike in which I made extensive use of my iPod and it made a BIG difference. A change of socks at the 12 mile mark also seemed to help. Although my feet were ...
Posted May 14, 2012 7:38 AM by John B. Marek -
In The Garden: Finally, Noticeable Growth Mid-May and my garden is finally showing signs of growth. I never did get my hot peppers to germinate, so I wound up buying a plant from the store. Everything else was started from seed. The radishes Lower left) are ready to harvest. The carrots have been a little disappointing. Only half of them came up and the ones that did have not been growing very fast. Everything else looks good. I am growing two different types of tomatoes, a modern hybrid (upper right) and a traditional heirloom (upper left). It is interesting to see how different these two plants have been through their growth cycles. I had 100% germination (5/5) with the hybrids I started, but 60 ...
Posted May 10, 2012 1:32 PM by John B. Marek
