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A GUIDE TO THE WONDERS AROUND US

by Vicky Dickson

The view out an airplane window changed the trajectory of Joe Miller’s career. Specifically, the view of Umstead State Park. To a visitor from Dallas, that expanse of green in the midst of the Triangle’s urban sprawl looked pretty enticing. So Miller, a business writer for the Dallas Times Herald who had been invited to interview with the News & Observer, spent six hours exploring Umstead on his first full day in the state. That January day was bitterly cold, but sunny, and he says he knew right then he was “gonna like this place.”

Photo by Marcy Smith
Miller took the job he was offered on the N & O’s business desk, then went on to write about the outdoors for the paper’s travel section. His column, Take It Outside, led to two guidebooks, 100 Classic Hikes in North Carolina and Take it Outside: A Guide to Hiking and Backpacking in the Triangle. He started a fitness blog, GetGoingNC.com, after taking a buyout from the newspaper in 2009. His most recent achievement is Backpacking North Carolina, a book he was encouraged to write by the folks at UNC Press.
These days, Miller sees it as his job to get people moving and get them outdoors. He wants to show that backpacking is something more of us can do, and not just do, but enjoy. Noting that many people still think of backpacking as the “sufferfest” it often was back before ultra-light equipment and tasty freeze-dried meals were invented, he says, “If we still backpacked today like we did in the 1970s, someone else would have had to write this book.”
Fortunately, backpacking did change, and Miller was lured into spending a year researching hiking trips in North Carolina. He’s a natural-born writer – one who realized early on that writing “was about the only thing” he could do – and the guidebook that resulted from all that research stands out for both its clarity and ability to inspire and entertain. And even those who never set foot on a trail can profit from the wealth of information Backpacking North Carolina delivers about our state’s natural wonders.
Those wonders range from Bear Island in the east, with 892 acres a hiker can have all to himself in winter, to the rhododendron and mountain laurel jungles of the Joyce Kilmer-Slickrock Wilderness in the west, and 41 equally enticing destinations in between. Miller profiles trips for seasoned hikers as well as those just starting out, and his concise, detailed trail descriptions provide all the information hikers are likely to need.
Even more importantly, he explains the rationale for backpacking – the “why” along with the “how.” If you’re looking for a reason to head outdoors, the ridgeline vista from a grassy bald on a dazzling summer day is pretty compelling, as is the chance to explore, all by yourself, a one-room cabin built in the 1890s, or the silence that descends when you’re on a peak and the world below you is all socked in.
As Miller puts it, “You backpack so you can clear your mind, so you can think, so you can simply be and not have to worry about being something in addition to yourself.”
If that sounds appealing (how could it not?), do yourself a favor and get hold of a copy of Backpacking North Carolina. And then take a hike.

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If Andrea Reusing’s fried okra and hot tomato relish recipe in this month’s Taste of the Town has you salivating for more, head over to Flyleaf Books at 2 p.m. on April 9. The award-winning chef, leader in the sustainable-agriculture movement and mother of two will present and sign copies of her new cookbook, Cooking in the Moment: A Year of Seasonal Recipes. From all indications, it’s a book that Lantern devotees and lovers of fine cooking will surely cherish.
At 7 p.m. on April 5, UNC religion professor Bart Ehrman will be at Flyleaf to discuss his latest book, Forged: Writing in the Name of God – Why the Bible’s Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are. If the title itself doesn’t hook you, the fact that Ehrman has appeared on shows ranging from NBC Dateline to The Daily Show with Jon Stewart certainly should. Come see what all that talk is about.
Allan Gurganus’ legions of fans will welcome the opportunity to spend an evening with the novelist at Flyleaf at 7 p.m. on April 12, when he and photographer Frank Hunter discuss the documentary they collaborated on featuring Gurganus’ home in Hillsborough. This event is co-sponsored by the Brooklyn literary journal A Public Space, and the journal’s founder and editor, Brigid Hughes, will moderate.