Camping
Yesterday, I drove Mary and her friend, Faith, out to Cades Cove in the Smokeys for an overnight camping trip. We tubed down the river in the afternoon, until a giant clap of thunder and a bolt of lightning had us scurry quickly out of the water. Fortunately, we were near our end point anyway, and didn't have to walk too far.
We went back to camp, and hung out inside the tents until the thunderstorm passed; This is our campsite:
We then attempted to start a fire so we could cook dinner. Our wood was dry, but it still would not catch. A very kind gentleman from a few campsites over saw us struggling and came to our rescue. After dinner, we were going to do a night hike with the rangers, but Mary was too tired, so we just hung out, cooked S'mores, and did tarot readings.
This morning, we were going to hike Abrams Falls, but the loop was closed for bikers, so we drove out to Laurel Falls Trail near Gatlinburg. Along the way, we saw this guy:
We enjoyed the cool morning air as we hiked the trail. We missed a mother bear and her 3 cubs by 2 minutes on the trail in front of us. The hikers who'd stopped for her were very lucky to have seen them.
This is a view from about a mile up the trail:
Here are Mary and Faith posing where I am certain no human before them has ever posed ;)
When we got to the waterfall, the battery on our camera ran out. Fortunately, I had my cell phone, so I used it to take the picture:
I saw lots of plants I'd have loved to have for my toxicology project, but one mustn't take any plant life from the park. Mary did, however, find a dead butterfly. Since she collects them, and since it was already dead, I let her take him out of the park:
We headed back to camp, broke down the tents, and were home by 1:30 this afternoon. I bet you didn't even know I was gone. :)
We went back to camp, and hung out inside the tents until the thunderstorm passed; This is our campsite:
We then attempted to start a fire so we could cook dinner. Our wood was dry, but it still would not catch. A very kind gentleman from a few campsites over saw us struggling and came to our rescue. After dinner, we were going to do a night hike with the rangers, but Mary was too tired, so we just hung out, cooked S'mores, and did tarot readings.
This morning, we were going to hike Abrams Falls, but the loop was closed for bikers, so we drove out to Laurel Falls Trail near Gatlinburg. Along the way, we saw this guy:
We enjoyed the cool morning air as we hiked the trail. We missed a mother bear and her 3 cubs by 2 minutes on the trail in front of us. The hikers who'd stopped for her were very lucky to have seen them.
This is a view from about a mile up the trail:
Here are Mary and Faith posing where I am certain no human before them has ever posed ;)
When we got to the waterfall, the battery on our camera ran out. Fortunately, I had my cell phone, so I used it to take the picture:
I saw lots of plants I'd have loved to have for my toxicology project, but one mustn't take any plant life from the park. Mary did, however, find a dead butterfly. Since she collects them, and since it was already dead, I let her take him out of the park:
We headed back to camp, broke down the tents, and were home by 1:30 this afternoon. I bet you didn't even know I was gone. :)