Adam's Wedding

We headed to Michigan for Adam's wedding. We picked up the folks and headed north with the trailer. We camped at Lake Loramie SP in Ohio on the way. Wednesday we arrived at Steve and Kathy's where we dropped the trailer and stayed the night. Thursday we headed North to Manistee and checked in at our B&B. The rest of the family arrived and the visiting began. The wedding was on Saturday so there was a lot of beach time, fishing, talking, and walking. We headed home on Monday staying at East Fork SP near Cincinnati. 

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Honey Creek Plateau TTA

 Deb led 13 hikers on the Honey Creek Loop.  Two went out at the overlook, the rest of us enjoyed the whole loop. One hiker showed us how to tuck and roll, hopefully no lasting injuries. We climbed up rocks, down rocks, thru rocks, crawled, used ropes to go down two different rocks. No water at the waterfalls today and the creek was low. No water shoes required. What a beautiful hike this is. 

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TTA Savage Gulf Day Loop Trail- Will

What a great day for a hike! We gathered at Savage Gulf for a wonderful stroll through the woods. Not much water in the falls, but some great views of the gulch. The weather was beautiful and cool. The lazy designated hike leader coerced several of the hikers to lead portions of the hike and they did a fantastic job. There were ten hikers today which is just about the correct amount. The duration of this hike was two hours and twenty minutes with a distance of 4.3 miles.

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Lora's 60th Birthday Trip

For Lora's birthday she wanted to go to Fort Payne's Boom Days. We had camped in Mentone before at Tranquility Campground so we got reservations there. We headed out Friday for a couple of nights. After we got set up at the campground we hiked around their pond and then over to DeSoto Falls. After dinner we headed over to Ft. Payne and listened to "Chasing Payne" and "Night Moves" doing a tribute to Bob Seger.

Saturday we headed out in a light rain to the Little River Canyon. We hiked to Little River Falls and then took the Little Falls trail down to the river. The water was low so you could walk across the river on the rocks. We went to the Little River Canyon Rim Parkway and had lunch. Afterwards we drove the parkway checking out the overlooks and hiking Beaver Pond. Then we headed back to Fort Payne to see "Boys in the Band" do a tribute to Alabama and then Sammy Kershaw, Aaron Tippin, and Collen Raye.

Sunday we got up and went to DeSoto State Park and hiked to four different dry waterfalls. Lack of rain is a problem.

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Twin Rocks, Piney Falls SNA TTA

 Deb led a great adventure hike on a hot August morning. We had to climb thru and over trees as we hiked toward the Twin Rocks. I managed to gouge a hole in my leg from a stick as I was manuvering thru the limbs. We made it up the steps at the Rocks but the view is not as good in the summer with all the leaves on the trees blocking. We took the other part of the loop down, hoping to avoid downed trees. It was better. 

Then on to Piney Falls. When we reached the lower falls we walked in the creek to reach the upper falls, then swam in the pool at the base of the waterfall. Cold clear water and fish were swimming with us. Lunch and then the climb, cable assisted up the bluff wall. 

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Window Cliffs SNA

Sara Pollard led 8 hikers on the 5 mile round trip to Window Cliffs. It was hot, but the cool stream crossings felt good. Everyone made the 18 crossings without falling in! We met several other hikers on the trail and one hardy trail runner. The abundance of wildflowers were beautiful. There's even an electric charging station in the trailhead parking lot now. Hikers were Jim Barritt, Jay Brain, Joan Hartvigsen, Cheryl Heckler, Lora McBride, Sara Pollard, Marietta Poteet, and J. C. Saunders. 

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Frasier Canoe Trip

 

A quick trip out to Frasier for a canoe trip. Got to see an Eagle!

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Cummins Falls, Washmorgan Hollow, The Boils TTA

 

Deb led another great day of adventures. I met the group at Cummins Falls after my GPS took me on a merry tour of backroads from 111. The new Mack Prichard Visitor Center is really nice. John ID'd several mushrooms, even scoring an old man of the woods. We adventured on to Washmorgan Hollow WMA for a creekbed walk to a waterfall. There are steep slopes 200 to 300 feet that drop to the hollow. The last adventure was swimming at the Boils WMA where the water was refreshing. A spring bubbles up from the ground to feed cold water into the river. We had lunch here. What a beautiful day!

I stopped in Sparta to visit Farmers Storehouse. I got good advise from the miller there. He milled flour for me, and I got a sourdough starter kit. The I stopped at Brockdell Amish Produce, and found beautiful wildflowers by the road there.

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Little Cedar Mountain TTA

 

As you can see from the pics it was quite foggy as we started this 3.8 mile hike. Our hike leader Tammy knew exactly where we were going so the fog was no problem. It quickly cleared and we had a very nice but humid hike. We took a short snack break where we could see thru the trees and see Nickajack Lake. We then continued thru the very lush and green forest with very interesting rocks. It was slippery at times as everything was damp. Randy and I climbed up on a rock to see the lake and bridge, and got to see an eagle!

15 hikers today.

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Michigan 2023

We took Mom and Dad up to Michigan. We had a busy itinerary to work with. We took two days going and coming. Our first stop was Lake Loramie SP in Ohio. This a beautiful and clean park which we enjoyed walking around. The next day was up to Steve's where we celebrated Betty's 93rd birthday. 

Friday we headed to Adam and McKinsey's house in South Haven MI. They have a wonderful place there. On the way back we checked out Saugatuck and Holland MI. 

Saturday we headed over to Grand Blanc where we visited Aunt Micki and celebrated her 90th birthday. It was wonderful getting with our cousins.

Sunday we headed to Elk Lake to see Aunt Janelle and Uncle Greg. We had a wonderful visit with them. Monday we visited friends and relatives in West Branch and then back to the lake. Tuesday was our down day before heading South on Wednesday. 

Wednesday we stopped at the Famcamp in Dayton OH on the AFB. Thursday we made it home.

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