There are no mountains in Wisconsin where Robert Obst calls home. A summer camp counselor at Falling Creek Boys Camp in Zirconia, North Carolina, Obst spent Wednesday night along the Art Loeb Trail at Black Balsam Bald in Pigsah National Forest. "I woke up early to catch the sunrise," he says, "I had a great, nearly 360 degree view of the area around here.”

It’s so windy on the treeless landscape that most of my recorded interview with Obst is unintelligible. It’s in the mid-60s but the gusts shoving me around make it downright chilly.

North Carolina’s best hike, according to Backpacker Magazine, is heavily influenced by extensive clear-cut logging and locomotive fires in 1925 and 1942. At about 6,000 feet, the bald can be enjoyed with a short hike just off the Blue Ridge Parkway south of Asheville.

Slowly traveling to Philadelphia for work I have budgeted extra days for storytelling adventures, starting in North America’s oldest mountain range. Plans direct me to New York City after Philly and then, I’m really not sure.

So, if you find yourself asking why SodaCitizen is leaving the southeast for a couple weeks, there you go.

All photos made July 27-28 at Black Balsam Bald. All photos Copyright 2022 Sean Rayford. All rights reserved.

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About the author: Sean Rayford is a South Carolina photojournalist, covering the state since 1997.