Austin's Wedding

Lora and I went to Knoxville to attend my cousins wedding and spend special time with the family.  We went to the hotel where my Aunt's family was staying and did a lot of visiting before we headed over to the rehearsal dinner.  The dinner was great and then we headed over and stayed the night a Dad and Moms.

The next morning we knocked out a few projects for the folks, had a great lunch and then headed over to the wedding at Castleton Farms.  It was a beautiful wedding with lots of food and dancing.  We had a great time.

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Soddy Lake II

After church, Lora and I headed out to Soddy Lake.  It was another great day for being on the lake.  When we put in another couple said they were impressed with our rig.  We use a trailer for hauling our canoe and they had so much problem putting theirs on the top of their car.

We put in at the Armstrong Road bridge and canoed the slough across the way first and ate lunch there.  We watched a group of boys having fun on a rope swing for a while.  After we came back under Hixson Pike we canoed counterclockwise out to the big river and back.  Once again there were lots and lots of people out on the water.  We did 5.12 miles.

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Soddy Lake I

Lora and I head out with the canoe to Soddy Lake.  It was a beautiful day to be out canoeing.  We put in at the park on Dayton Pike and canoed clockwise around the lake cutting across at the Armstrong Road bridge.  We did 9.1 miles.

There were lots and lots of people out on their boats today.  We did us some swimming to keep cool.  We got to see lots of birds and turtles.

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Oregon Trip 2013- Melanie's Wedding

Well my daughter finally decided to get married.  I am so very proud of her.  Since all the family was going we decided to spend a week in Oregon after the wedding to do some site seeing.

We all gathered in Salem Oregon for the wedding.  We had rehearsal on Friday night and the wedding took place Saturday evening at the Cubanisimo Winery.

Friday morning we headed to Silver Falls State Park where we did a five and a half mile hike and took in:   177' South Falls, 93' Lower south Fall, 30' Lower North Fall, 178' Double Fall, 27' Drake Fall, 106' Middle North Falls, and 134' Winter Fall.  A very beautiful park just Southeast of Salem.

We had the rehearsal that night followed by a dinner and social at Jagon's Dad's house.  The next morning we did the river walk along the Williamette River.  From there we headed off for pictures and then the wedding.  It was a beautiful wedding.

Sunday after church, we did a big family brunch and then we headed out to Pacific City, home of Haystack or "Chief Kiawanda" Rock, to spend a few days on the coast.  There are three Haystack Rocks off the coast of Oregon. The most famous is the one in Cannon Beach, a 235-foot high beauty that you can reach by foot at low tide. The least celebrated, but no less attractive, is one of numerous sea stacks that dot the coastline near Bandon.  In between lies Haystack Rock, the icon of Pacific City and Cape Kiwanda. At around 340 feet, it’s 100 feet taller than its celebrity cousin to the north, but it’s much further from shore. You cannot walk there, even during minus tides, so close inspection must be achieved by kayak or surfboard. Like most of the monoliths, it’s leftover lava. 

We rented a house just off the beach and spent the first full day driving down the coast to see sea lions, lighthouses, and different parks along the way.  That night we met Melanie and Jagon at their place in Sand Lake where we had a campfire and Jagon put on a serious show of fire works.

The next day we went back to Sand Lake and did some four wheeler riding on the dunes.

Wednesday we headed up the coast hitting some good sights in Cape Mears, Tillamook, and Ecola.  Then headed to Mt. Hood where we rented another house for three nights. Mt. Hood stands at 11,249 feet which is the highest point in Oregon and the fourth highest in the Cascade Range. After we got settled in we drove up to the Timberline Lodge on the top of Mt. Hood to check it out.

We got up in the morning and half of us hiked the 8.5 Miles of Sandy river to Ramona Falls while the other half hiked to Zig Zag Falls.  We checked out Trillium lake afterwards and decided to meet here again the next day.

The next day we hiked the Pacific Coast Trail to the Twin Lakes.  Did a loop around the lower lake and then took the Palmeteer Trail with a few overlooks on the way back.  We hiked around 9.5 miles and then met the other half of our crew at Trillium Lake where they had a picnic and rented a Stand Up Kayak for everyone to try.  The water was actually warm enough for swimming.

The next morning we had to head out.  It was a wonderful time for all.

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Sale Creek on Sunday

Even with the scattered showers and storms we headed to the lake after church.  This time we put in at the boat ramp off Lee Pike across from the Sale Creek Marina.

We headed down the West side and went West up stream to where we left off yesterday and then circled to the North side and followed the shoreline East towards the river.  We found a nesting pair of Osprey which they let us know they were guarding young ones.  We stopped at the inlet next to Oakdale road for lunch and listened to quite a commotion going on up in the trees.  After a short swim we headed around the corner and found the noise was coming from three Cranes in a tree that held three different nests.  They were still arguing.  We didn't know what about, but we knew who was wrong.  That would be the male bird.

From there we headed into the river and went North to the first inlet.  We did a little swimming there and then headed South past Sale Creek to view a few homes on the shore.  We then turned back North and entered back up Sale Creek.  We followed the shoreline around back to the boat ramp.  We did go under the bridge on Lee Pike, but not very far as the creek was blocked by trees.

Just before we got to the ramp we saw an Otter swimming back towards us and then went down the shoreline.

Our trip calculated out at 4.6 miles.

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Sale Creek Canoe Trip Saturday

Lora and I headed back to Sale Creek for some more exploring.  We put in at Patterson Road Cemetery boat ramp again and this time headed East towards the river.  Just past the rock bluff wall on the North side of the river we found a natural arch on the side of the creek.  Just before we got to the first lake we got to watch a family of three raccoon and the mother come down for a drink.  When we got to the lake we circled it clockwise.  Here on the North side we found a sunk house boat just off shore and then we stopped for lunch.

After lunch we headed towards the bridge on May Road.  We had a Crane fly out right above us from a tree which got the old pacemaker working.  Right before we went under the bridge we saw another raccoon walking along the side of the lake and road.  Just on the other side of the bridge is another sunk house boat.  We stopped by Sale Creek Recreation Area and did some swimming in their swimming area.  From there we continued around this lake in a clockwise fashion before heading back to the ramp circling the opposite sides of the lakes.  We got to see lots of turtles, Trumpet vines, and all sorts of birds including Hawks, Osprey, Green Herons, Cranes, and Blue Herons.  Our trip calculated out at 7.3 miles.

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Rainy Day Paddle

We decided that while there was a break in the rain, we would do some canoeing. We were not the only crazy ones out there as we saw six other kayaks and three fishing boats. It sprinkled on us on and off with two good rains, but we got 6.7 miles in on Sale Creek.

We put in at Patterson Cemetery boat ramp and went upstream.  Our last trip here we turned around at Hwy 27.  This time we got about 0.8 mile further on.  The water current was getting stronger and the rain getting heavier.  We need to see if there is a place upstream to put in at.

Fall Creek Falls 2013

We had the weekend off, so we took our grand babies and daughter camping at Fall Creek Falls.  This was a car camping trip.  They went over Friday evening and I joined them for the weekend.  We did the Cain Creek falls hike to the overlook and then spent the afternoon at the pool.  The next day we hiked to the bottom of Fall Creek Falls and then spent the afternoon at the Cain Creek swimming hole.  We got a lot of time at the play ground as well.  Great weekend!

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Walls of Jericho TTA

Beautiful day for a hike, 55 degrees this morning starting from home. I drove to the Alabama state line thru lots of farmland going the scenic route. Through the Savage Gulf area, to Hwy 50, through Pelham, Decherd, Winchester. Nice drive. Met up with the folks from Murfreesboro at the trailhead. Roy was our hike leader. We shuttled cars to the AL trailhead then started at the TN trailhead. I asked right away who was the scout for snakes. Someone said the one in the lead. I was the 5th in line and found the snake. Black snake, looked comfortable sleeping. We let him sleep. The trail was a little overgrown in some areas. We did find a few ripe huckleberries...yummmm. We also spotted some wildflowers blooming; Pipsissewa, daisies, Spiderwort, Indian Paintbrush, Ashy Hydrangea. 

All the creeks were dry today so we didn't go to the blowhole. We met Marietta coming up from the walls, she had been planing to meet us and hike out, but she had already spent some time at the walls and was ready to hike out. It was warming up. When we arrived at the walls, there was one hole of water you could swim in, but just a little bit trickling down from the walls. There were plenty of tadpoles in the little pools of water. We found a shady spot and ate lunch. We had to climb on up to inspect the big hole and to see if there was any water coming over the waterfall. There wasn't and the hole was dry too. There was a vine with some blooms on it that were very interesting. I thought it might be Vasevine, not sure. Since I forgot my camera.......

The hike out seemed mostly uphill...hmmm what's up with that. We saw some cool looking centipedes and millipedes on the trail. I knew it was getting close to suppertime and mentioned that to Nabil, who said that we should go for ice cream when we got off the trail. Our hike leader had a cooler filled with ice cold water waiting for us in the parking lot. 

It was a good day of hiking and enjoyed being with Sara, Nabil, Jamie, Wayne, Jan, and Roy.

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Rock Island State Park

Lora and I decided to do an overnight trip to Rock Island State Park.  We headed out Friday evening and got to the park at dinner time.  We found our site in the campground ate dinner and went exploring.  We started on the other side of the river and hiked the 1.6 mile Downstream trail.  It is rated strenuous but we found it quite easy.  It goes by the Twin Falls, the Blue Hole, and does a loop at the bottom.  There is a side trail that leads to a rock house with a creek cascading down a rock formation just in front of the rock house. Pretty neat!

After that we hiked the 0.5 mile Upstream trail also labeled as strenuous.  It goes up to the flat rock bed down from the Great Falls.  After that we drove back to the other side of the river to visit the Great Falls overlook, the Cotton Mill, Castle, and another overlook.  We saw a couple of deer while we were out.  We then headed to the boat launch and beach to check it out.

We got back to camp, set up our camp, and started our campfire.  All was good!

The next morning we got up ate breakfast, broke down camp, and headed off for a fun filled day.  We started with the 1.7 Bluff trail.  It is a lollipop trail which includes a grown up Bluff which probably had views in the winter.  We kicked up a deer on the trail.  From here we went to hike the 3 mile Collins River trail.  It wonders along the Collins River and then cuts up by a cemetery and old home site.

After our hiking, we took our canoe and headed to the boat launch.  There were a lot of people out this morning.  We headed upstream to the Blue Hole and then went down stream as far as Barren Creek.  We saw lots of canoes and kayaks on the water.  We stopped and visited a man at the Horseshoe Bend Marina who told us about a water fall on Barren Creek.  So after you pass the Webb's Camp Road boat ramp you go across the river to Barren Creek.  You go as far as you can by boat and then walk up the creek 100 yards to the falls.  Very pretty area.

After we got back we loaded up and headed home.  It was a beautiful area to visit.

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