Two Weeks in Laurel Springs, NC (5/30/25)

 

Meeting up with good friends Mike and Julie was one of the highlights of our trip east. We haven’t seen them in a couple of years but those hundreds of days melted away in about 2 minutes and then it felt like it was just yesterday- except that we realize how much we miss having them in our daily lives.

Our two weeks with them was busy, but not busy. We explored, we spent time with them, and with their friends, and we took time to just relax and enjoy.

We shared some meals, including a pot luck dinner…

and we shared campfires….

and we even shared meals around the campfire!

One of our adventures was to a local winery that had an event with live music and several vendors, and of course some wine tasting (cider for Paul)…

Being close to the Blue Ridge Parkway, there is tons of great hiking in this area.

One of our hiking days was spent at Grayson Highlands State Park… we first hiked the 1.5 mile  Rock house Ridge loop…

After which we took a break for a picnic lunch...

Our second trail of the day, to Big Pinnacle,  was a little more difficult with some rocky areas, but totally worth the views…

A few days later we combined hiking with music. We headed to the Blue Ridge Music Center where we hiked about 2 miles of the Fisher Peak Loop trail, without finishing the full loop.

As we returned to the music center we could hear the music starting up so we ate our lunch before heading to listen.

We managed to fit in one more day of hiking in our two week stay-

We walked about two miles along Bluff Mountain Trail, then called it done, and found a spot for lunch.

On our days off from hiking Paul and I did some exploring on our own- we found some pottery we liked at the winery and went to the potter’s  store to get more.

Mike and Julie (and other seasonal campers) have a pretty good garden that they tend to in the campground and Paul volunteered some time helping them do some planting.

I had promised myself I would get caught up on my blog ( I think we all know how well that went) but I had so many pictures to go through and organize- at least I got SOME done!

Memorial Day was quite gloomy so an impromptu party in the “barn” kept us all entertained.  Of course Paul and I helped with the quesadillas!

And then it was time to move on-

New River Gorge National Park and Preserve (5/19/25)

 Well, honestly I had this post 99% ready to go and then took another look at my timeline and my pictures and realized I had missed one of our stops completely. Sometimes that doesn’t matter- if nothing of significance happened, I might skip a stop anyway, but this one I needed to write about. So, hope you read the post about Pickett CCC Memorial State Park. It wasn’t exactly on our way to New River Gorge, but it was worth the slight detour.

Moving on:

New River is actually one of the oldest rivers in the world, and is different than most rivers because it flows south to north.

By the 1800s the coal mining here had brought both people and the railroad- all of which had a huge affect on the ecological health of the area. Mining flourished in this area for over 80 years before it came to an end.

For 21 years in the early 1900s there were clashes between miners and the mine owners over working conditions. The miners fought for collective bargaining and for unionizing. Of course, the owners fought against it.  One of the possible origins of the term “red neck” comes from those clashes. Miners who were sympathetic to the pro union movement would wear red bandanas.

Eventually the mines played out and mining stopped, bringing in recreation.

In 1978 the river was designated a national scenic river, it’s first National Park Service designation. In 2020 it was reclassified to New River Gorge National Park and Preserve, making it our nation’s 63rd national park, and the 51st one I have visited.

We only had two days to explore this park and it actually should have been one. I pulled a rookie mistake and double booked us by accident. I thought we were supposed to be in North Carolina on May 15, but we were supposed to be there May 14th. Ooops, Oh well.

Our first day we checked out the visitor center where we learned about the bridge. The New River Gorge bridge was completed in 1977 and alleviated a major traffic problem. Prior to the bridge’s existence, the drive time from one side of the gorge to the other was 45 minutes. Once the bridge was finished, the drive time was cut to about 60 seconds.

The roadway is 876 feet above the river. ..

Our hike of the day was about 2.7 miles along the Endless Wall trail. The map showed several lookouts along the way, but most were overgrown. We did finally come to Diamond Point Overlook, which was worth the walk.

The weather for our second day called for wind and on and off rain. We elected to do the scenic drive, starting from the furthest point and working our way back.

Again we started at a visitor center, and this one had interesting displays about water conservation ( a bit of a pet peeve of mine). The display showed dozens of bottles of water, and wasteful ways we use it….

There are quite a few pull offs and some short hikes along the way.  We started out high above the river, looking down on the water.

 

I had asked a ranger about bald eagles and she told us where the nest is so we could look for it. Its on an island in the river- great protection for them. The nest, and the parents, are in this picture. I didn’t bring my good camera so I was using my new phone. Interestingly, we shared the location of the eagles with another couple and he immediately got out a huge camera with a huge lens and said he has been taking wildlife pictures for decades. And I thought, me too, but unless I am going to get a really cool unique shot of something, I have hundreds of pictures of bald eagles.

The road eventually led down to river level, giving us a totally different perspective. This river is ripping right now.

A boardwalk takes you out to a good view of Sandstone Falls. There has been so much rain and flooding lately that the falls are not that picturesque.

In fact, the backyards of some of the campsites are completely under water. In the summer, the river is a hub of recreational activity- rafting, and kayaking are popular activities. But not right now.

So, one day late, we headed to North Carolina.

Pickett CCC Memorial State Park (05/18/25)

 Paul and I are both huge fans of the CCC- Civilian Conservation Corp- a group of young men who signed up during the great depression (1930s), to work on building infrastructure in our country. They were young, single, usually illiterate, and poor. In return for their labor they were paid a small wage, and agreed to send most of it home to their parents. A lot of what these men built is still standing today. 

Over 70,000 young men from Tennessee took part in the program, and Pickett State Park was one of their first projects.

The camps were run by the Army, who saw to their basic needs, and more. The boys learned skills, how to read, and how to be a productive member of society.

Most of the buildings in this park were built by the CCC - They also built several of the hiking trails, which we thoroughly enjoyed. We started with a short loop near the visitor center before moving on.

The other trails we chose were all about the arches.

 

Twin Arches trail is a 2.5 mile loop that takes you past two large arches.

The trail included several sets of steep stairs, and of course, what goes down must go up.

The other trail we did in this area was to Needle Arch-

this trail had a bonus though. Just a short distance from the arch  is a waterfall- Slave Falls.

 

Our visit to this state park in Tennessee took us a little bit out of our way on our path east, but it was worth it.

Kissing the Southern Tip of Illinois (5/13/25)

 Looking for new places to explore along the way to North Carolina, the name Cave-In-Rock caught our attention. It’s a state park in the southern part of Illinois with camping. The added bonus is the  nearby park called Garden of the Gods ( not the one in Colorado) where there is also some great hiking.

We booked 3 nights here but the weather forecast was not great. Because of that, when we arrived to dry conditions, we headed out immediately to the cave.  The ranger was happy to tell us that we arrived at a great time- by tomorrow he expected the river to “show up” which would make the cave inaccessible-and since the river had “ just left” he thought that maybe we would be able to get there. We wore our boots for the two mile walk.

Turns out that on the way back the trail passes by a restaurant with homemade pie- so yeah we stopped there and relaxed with some dessert on the way home.

Although damp, we were able to walk down to the river and into the cave.  It was ok, especially if you hadn’t seen a cave like this (we have). It certainly fell into the “ we are easily entertained” category, but that’s fine. The weather was not great so we weren’t really looking for a long hike or anything.

For the first time this summer we set up our new screen tent. It has screen sides but also has solid sides to keep the wind and rain out-We thought maybe the weather would be rainy but fun, so we would sit out there. It was rainy, but not so much fun- so we sat out for a while and then the tent just got wet all by itself.

Taking care of the cave on day one left us two days to explore and hike other areas.

Our first hike was to Mantle Rock. To get there, we had to cross the Ohio River.  There is no bridge but luckily there is free ferry that runs all day.

Of course with all the rain, the trail was a bit of a mess, but we ran into someone who hikes it all the time and he gave us some pointers.

This trail is part of the Trail of Tears- the path that the Cherokee took in 1838-39 when they were forced to leave their ancestral homes in the east for new homes further west. During that winter, thousands of Cherokee camped in this area while they waited for the river to thaw enough for the ferry to take them across. Hundreds of them did not survive the trip.

Mantle Rock itself is the largest free standing arch east of the Mississippi River. You can see there is a tree that has grown up on the other side of the arch. Pretty cool.  It started raining again just as we got back to the truck. For perspective, Paul is in this picture.

Our second day we drove further afield and managed three (short) hikes. The first was a 2 mile loop called the Rim Rock Loop in the Rim Rock National Recreation area. Apparently there were stairs that led to interesting rock formations but they are gone, so there wasn’t much to see.

The second trail was less than a mile long but had Lots to see.

There were plenty of boulders to climb on …

and several pathways that led to pretty good views…

The final trail was just under two miles, called Indian Point trail.

 It had some interesting rock formations but my favorite part was seeing my first ever Summer Tanager..

(corrected from an earlier version which identified it as a Scarlet Tanager- that one is in the next post)