School House Gap

Took Dad out for a hike in the Smokey Mountains.

Pictures:

Damascus

Lora and I headed to Damascus Virginia to celebrate her birthday. We camped at the Hipcamp Bear Claw Holler. The owners were wonderful and spoiled us. There was a hammock and seats down by the creek that we got to try out. We had us a campfire night one appreciating the cooler weather.

The next morning we headed to Damascus and did a little hiking waiting for our 10:30 start on the Virginia Creeper trail. They hauled us up the  mountain and we rode bikes 17 miles back to town. It is a beautiful bike ride and we really enjoyed it. Afterwards we did some more exploring before heading back to the camper. Got in another campfire.

Wednesday morning we got up and headed to the Grayson Highland State Park. We hiked four different trails, visited with a few folks, and saw the ponies. Another beautiful day. When we got back to the camper, it was raining. Got some reading done.

Thursday we headed home with a quick visit to historic Bristol TN.

Pictures:

Willow Grove Campground

 We headed to Willow Grove Campground on Dale Hollow Lake for a few days to hike, swim and canoe. Arrived there Wednesday evening, set up camp and put the canoe in the water. Made a quick trip to the marina to get bread and ice because Somebody forgot the bread and cooler. Beautiful sunset, lots of stars. Saw one shooting star.

Thursday we hiked the Accordian Bluff Trail to the Bluff.  We got tired of the spiderwebs and heat, then went canoeing. When we flipped the canoe over we found a frog had taken up residence. Craig chased him from one end to the other, jumping in and out until he finally stayed out. Got lots of reading time in, and a couple walks around the campground. When the sun set we did a little night fishing. And Craig caught two. Lora got lots of casting in. 

Friday we hiked on the lakeshore to Accordian Bluff. The lake level was way down which made it easy to go around the inlets. Saw and eagle, a hawk, herons and an osprey. Lora found a nice fishing lure on the rocks at the point. On a walk around the campground and boat dock Lora found a nice fishing lure.  Did some more night fishing and Lora fished with her newly found lure and caught a really nice tree limb.... Saw a shooting star and enjoyed the peaceful night.

Saturday we walked to the marina and admired all the boats, houseboats and cars that carried all the people to get on those boats and houseboats. More reading, and swimming. Then an afternoon thunderstorm brought on a nice nap. Temperature cooled and we got another hike in on the Bluff trail. More night fishing and another beautiful sunset. 

Sunday we walked the campground, loaded up the canoe, went swimming one more time, packed up and headed home. Got there in time to have dinner with Nicholas and Amy, Mitsi and Paul, and Mom, who fixed dinner with banana pudding for dessert.  

Pictures:

Frozen Head TTA

Joan planned a camping trip at Frozen Head camping at Flat Fork Campground. She had some issues come up and missed this trip. The rest of us carried on. I got there and set up my hammock between #6 and #7 campsites. Joe got there, then Sara, the Patty and Chuck. We got our hiking gear and headed to the trailhead to hike the Judge Branch Loop. Just a little way up the trail it started thundering and the sky turned black. I remembered I hadn't set up my tarp over my hammock, so I skedaddled back to the car and campsite to take care of that. We planned for me to come back, hike the opposite way they were going, to meet up with them. I did that but never met up, they hiked the same direction I did. They beat me back to the parking lot...

Nice campfire, didn't wake up to see the meteor shower.

Thursday we hiked from our campsites to the trailhead at the end of the road. It's not too far to the waterfalls which didn't have very much water, but were scenic anyway. Out and back was about three miles. Then we met up with Mark and Bill to hike the Rocky Fork/CT/Chimney Rocks/English Mt trail. Bill had to turn back after we got a little ways up the first climb, so Mark led the rest of the hike. It was hot and humid but we sweated it out anyway. We came up on some trail workers, swinging blades to cut the overgrowth on the trails. We made sure they knew how much we appreciated their hard work. They were excited to see hikers using the trail! The volunteers said they didn't think anybody ever hiked the trail with all the overgrowth along the trail. We let them know it was hiked a lot more in colder temps. When we finished the trail, we drove to Lancing to a really cool brewery out in the country,  Lily Pad Hopyard Brewery   They have a great menu and it's a great atmosphere. I had a 3 cheese Puffin with grapes, others tried the pork tacos. Back at camp, campfire, then me Sara and Joe drove to the Rocky Fork field to watch the meteor shower. We had warm pavement to lay on to see the awesome show in the sky! 

Friday me and Joe went hiking while the Deens went to the Brushy Mountain Prison and Sara headed home. We hiked the North Old Mac trail to Panther Gap, saw the Rockhouse, then to the Lookout Tower, and down Chimney Top to Spicewood Branch Trail where we had a lot of slick rocks and a little trail dancing. Good day of sweating out toxins and swatting gnats. Back at camp everyone was gone, Joe was spending another night, I had lunch then headed home.

Thanks to Joan for a great trip at Frozen Head State Park!

Pictures:

Head of the Sequatchie TTA

 Deb led 22 of us on the Selby Loop, the  Warrior Path Loop to Devil Step Hollow Cave, part of the trail to Brady Mountain, and part of the trail to Stinging Fork. It got a little warm climbing the mountain after lunch. Hiking toward Stinging Fork we found the end of the trail, where the digging had stopped. This is a beautiful segment of trail, the views will be awesome in winter. Coming back down the rock steps I found a slick rock and landed not so gracefully on my butt, managing to whack myself in the back of the head with my hiking pole. At the end of the hike I got in the river and scrubbed the mud off, and cooled off. Saw some pretty flowers and interesting fungi.

Drove out East Valley Road and saw some beautiful views of surrounding mountains. 

Pictures:

Greeter Falls TTA

Marietta led us on the Greeter Falls loop at South Cumberland SP. It was a warm humid day, but beautiful hike. Boardtree Falls to Alum Gap to Greeter Falls to Blue Hole. Not too many folks in the creeks. Our lunch spot was at the Falls where we left two hikers to cool off in the creek.

On to the swimming hole, where Joe and I couldn't resist the refreshing coolness of the creek. Splish splash. 

Thanks Marietta!  

Pictures:

Burnt Mill Bridge TTA

Plateau Chapter, Deb led us on the Burnt Mill Bridge Loop in the Big South Fork. My first time on this trail. The recent flood  here took out part of the old bridge, and had washed the trail clean. It wasn't too hot today, the company was great, and it's a pretty trail. Lots of wildflowers grow here, will have to check it out in springtime. After lunch we drove to Zenith River Access where Bill Harris told a little of the history of this old mining community. Down the roadbed to the older sign for the river access, the sign had been chewed on and scraped by a big ol bear. We saw huge footprints in the sand. Also found some pretty wildflowers growing here. Leather Vasevine and Thimbleweed. 

And Ice Cream after the hike!

Pictures: 

Notchy Creek Campground

Lora and I took Dad and Mom on a camping trip for Fathers Day. We went to Notchy Creek Campground for two nights. They were calling for some bad weather, but we had two beautiful days on the lake. It did rain the last night, but we had just finished grilling.

Pictures:

Roan Mountain SP / Warriors' Path SP

We arrived at Roan Mountain State Park to find two 21' Escapes, one Casita, one Oliver, and one Parkliner. It was like having an Egg rally. After we got set up we did the walk around the campground and tried to meet everyone. Tom and Linda, Bill and Erlene were the two in Escapes. We were invited to join them around the campfire tonight. We contiued our hike around the campground. There are two loops up top and then a camper loop, a tent loop, and a group camp down on the bottom. A lady stopped and told us to look for deer in the evenings in the fields around the pool area. She said that there were around 30 of them. So during our walk we looked for them as well. We hiked the Riverside trail and then joined everyone around the campfire. The excitement for the night was the Synchronous Fireflies along the creek. We thought they were only in the Smoky's.

Tuesday morning we got up and headed up Roan Mountain. We hiked to the Roan High Bluff first for a morning view. Then we hiked to the Roan High Knob Shelter. Just before we got there a large Black bear came down to the trail in front of us and gave us a look before heading down the trail the same way we were going. We soon came across another couple heading towards us and they never saw him. So we went up to the shelter and the high knob itself before returning to our car and lunch. From there we stopped by the gardens that only had a couple of blooms on them and then headed on to Carvers Gap to hike the balds.

On the way up we heard a bass. We found a lady playing the bass with her two daughters singing and playing the mandolin. They were up there for a photo shoot so we got to listen for a couple of songs.  We hiked Round Bald, Janes Bald, and up to Grassy Ridge. There were lots of people out hiking today. We saw Ravens, deer, Azalas, Jacks, Rhododendron, and violets.

After we got back we went to visit the Miller Homestead. A really nice place to see. We went up to the overlook and cemetry as well. From there we went to the Gristmill Visitor center to check it out and get icecream. We hiked the Peg Leg Mine trail. Then we stopped at Cates Hole to see what was there. Nice swimming hole and the trailhead for a couple of trails. Later we visited with fellow Eggers and then went with Park Manager Ranger Monica to see the Synchronous fireflies and Blue Ghost fireflies.

Wednesday we went and hiked the Moonshiners Run and Turkey Trot trails from Cates Hole. After that we relaxed around the campsite as our fellow Eggers stopped and visited us. We walked around the campground again visiting with the Host and saw that another Casita had arrived. We saw a family of 5 groundhogs, and deer today. We went back down to the group campsite to watch the fireflies with our fellow Eggers.

Thursday we got up and headed to Warriors' Path State Park. We were early so hiked the Lakeshore Trail while we waited for our site to open up. We picked up a life jacket from the shore and turned it in at the Camper store. We set up camp, ate lunch, and then headed over to Duck Island to relax in the sun and swim. It appeared that I also took my wallet to swim with me, but it did not come back with me. Bummer. We ate dinner and then walked the park. We saw deer, ducks, geese, turtles, and fish. That night we had our own campfire.

Friday we hiked the Riverbank trail to the bridge and then hiked the Devils Backbone and Fall Creek Loop trails. Really nice views and pretty area to hike. We saw more fish, turtles, and a heron.

Pictures:

South Carolina II

Lora and I got the opportunity to go back to South Carolina for a few days. We started out with a trip to Lake Tobesofkee Recreational Area in Macon GA. We stayed the night at their campground. It was a very nice and clean campground. We enjoyed their beach which was patrolled on a regular basis. Very nice.

On day two we headed back to Camelot  Equestrian Farm in St. Helena Island, South Carolina. We had been here two years ago and were eager to go back. We stayed three nights with some wonderful neighbors. One couple was from North Carolina and the other from Tennessee.

After setting up camp we headed over to the beach. Usually we would just walk, but I messed up my back before leaving TN and was a little on the wimpy side. We came back to camp for dinner and then went back to the beach that night. On the way we checked out the Coffin Plantation, the drive was lined with live oaks, spanish moss hanging all over. The house at the end must have been the plantation mansion.  That night we enjoyed a campfire with the neighbors. Lora was looking at the Big Dipper when she noticed weird lights in the sky, telling everyone LOOK UP! There were what looked like satellites, numerous, all in a row flying low in the sky. Alien Invasion? After hearing the neighbors story about weird driving experience on the road earlier, thinking Aliens had taken over someone's car....well you just never know. Miss Google said Elon Musk satellites. Hmmm. 

Day Three

We got up and headed to Port Royal to check it out. We went to the Cypress Wetlands and did the walk around the wetlands. We saw lots of different birds and a couple of gators. Very nice people that we visited with as we walked. There is a little historic area here too. From there we went to the Port Royal Boardwalk and Obervation Tower. We watched a fisherman catch a shark and sting ray. From there we had lunch in the Lenora Park and then walked a ways on the Spanish Moss Trail. Time to head back to the beach for the afternoon. That evening we enjoyed another campfire with the neighbors.

Day Four

We got up and headed back to Port Royal. We went to the Widgeon Point Preserve. They have some nice trails here. We did the loop and saw lots of trees and swamps. Crabs everywhere and one Eagle nest. From there we went down to the Fishcamp and checked out the fishing boats. Then we checked out the Traveling Buoy Park, and had lunch at the Fort Frederick Cultural Heritage Preserve. We were visited by an eagle and a red tail hawk. By then it was late enough to go back to the beach. Tonight we had the campground to ourselves and just watched the stars and fireflies. We got to see turkeys with babies, and deer.

Day Five

We packed up and headed Northwest to the mountains. We camped at the Cartoogechave Creek Campground in Franklin North Carolina where we had stayed before. It was basicly a day of travel today. We walked the campground and visited with people then watched the stars and fireflies.

Day Six

We got up this morning and headed into the National Forest. We hiked two short hikes to Mooney and Laurel Falls. From there we headed on home.

Pictures: