There were no roads to LeConte. It wasn’t a Mount Mitchell, a Mount Washington, or a Mount Evans with winding, paved roads spewing out passengers for ten-minute photo opportunities with a summit sign. To arrive at LeConte, one must hike. Even the llamas hike, but helicopter pilots got a pass.
Mountains, Malbec, and Men
Noelle Cumberland
My Story
Noelle Cumberland was born and raised in a pre-Katrina New Orleans. She’s never far from a mountain—hiking and running on local trails, paddling lakes and rivers, and gaining confidence with her new love of snowboarding. As an outdoor enthusiast, she’s passionate about encouraging women and People of Color to embrace outdoor spaces. When not living her best mountain life, she works hard for the money in Corporate America, partakes in the lost art of porch sitting, and enjoys a good laugh with the real characters in her life.
My Works
Mountains, Malbec, and Men
Allyn Thompson thrives by setting and accomplishing goals. Engineering degree? Check. Home ownership? Check. Husband? Check and uncheck. Baby? In progress. After another negative pregnancy test following her third IUI (intrauterine insemination) round, Allyn wonders if the universe thinks she’s unfit for motherhood. Given her mom, ex-husband, and ex-boyfriend discouraged pregnancy, maybe she should abandon her quest. Allyn confides in her therapist that she’s spiraling, not knowing if she should continue fighting against her diminishing fertility odds. Her therapist encourages her to take a trekking trip because it has helped Allyn find clarity in the past. Hiking is her haven despite her family’s insistence that a Black woman alone in the woods is weird and dangerous. But then the pandemic closes trails and shutters Allyn’s ability to resolve her baby goals. When the shutdown ends, Allyn is confronted with crowded trails and a culturally changing America. And just when she figures out what her next steps are for motherhood, a close friend asks to be her partner and father her child. Instead of delight, Allyn has gnawing doubts—about him as a partner, about him as a father, and about the America her child would inherit.
Sweet Charlotte
When Vic and her boyfriend Rafe take a trip to his hometown in Southern Georgia, she’s worried that his parents haven’t warmed up to her but believes a marriage proposal is imminent. While visiting, she learns his hometown is obsessed with the origins of a new fruit - black watermelon. She too becomes enthralled as she tries to decipher if its sweetness is sinister.
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