Summer part IV
Okay, I know I've been behind time on this one, so I am putting two trips up here together. The first is our trip on 6/28. The boy cousin couldn't make it due to a different trip he was on. So, it was me, the kiddos and the girl blond top. I picked a park that was about 1.5-2 hrs away.
Of course, I ended up getting turned about in a little town. I should have just gone the way I thought about. But I had never been either way. So, I followed the directions and ended up on a Main street. Now, the directions said east Main street.. and I was going west on Main street. My common sense said to turn about. Common sense was never consulted when dealing with streets. I should have remembered that. So, the other direction was also marked as west. It took a bit for me to be able to turn about again, and then I went to the way I had thought about. I was right, and it put me on the interstate I was looking for. I did pass an exit for Main street... but opted not to get off to see where it was.
The rest of the way there was uneventful. The way back though... I ended up going North instead of South on the state road... which was also not so perfectly marked. *sighs* When we crossed the state line in about 15-20 minutes, I turned back around and had no problems getting us home.
Now the park was completely worth the turn abouts.Even if it was humid and hot. Actually the morning was a nice comfortable 78-80F (25.5-26.7C), the afternoon was pushing 93F (33.9C) and the humidity was thick enough to wring out of your clothes.
So, if you wish to see, grab your cup of tea, or coke *smiles at Pekeleke* and some cupcakes then click on the link.
This was just a quick access path to the first outlook on the mountain. The kids had the camera for the most of the time. This one was taken by my boy.
This is the outlook. The niece took this one. You can still see the fog on the mountains. *sighs* Isn't it pretty.
Okay, the other path was really short. This one is the first of two longer ones. This one was going up the mountain, and this is the head trail
These pretty stack of rocks were ones we never got to climb on, See that rock on the bottom right? There was a rattlesnake sitting on it. So, we didn't attempt the others.
This one didn't turn out just right. If you look close, you can see the top of the tree forks. And it was in a fork in the path. I tried to get the forked top with the path, but it just didn't happen. Maybe I should have let the boy do it.
Just another picture to show you the path up.
Now this is looking to the right of the path above, looking up the mountain.
This one is looking to the left of the same path, looking down the mountain.
See that tree with the yellow dot? The boulder on the other side of the path from it is where the side trail in the next picture starts.
This is standing next to that boulder. And this trail took us to see a wall.
And we are walking on that wall here...
And this is a side shot of the wall that is not a path. The wall was built who knows when, not even the native american indians know. It has just always been here. In someplaces it is 10feet tall. And it rings a good section of the mountain top.
Now, these aren't that old, but they are the steps we took to get up to the tower on the top of the hill.
Which you can kind of see here. The top is just barely cut off. 4 sides, very simple...
We left the tower and headed down the path to the next observation area. This is a flight of stairs that lead down the the observation area. What you can't see is that this is one set out of three like this. For those who know my son, this would normally be a nightmare and a screaming crying fit. Open stairs like this freaks him out. Normal stairs give him pause. He took these like a champ. Not one tear, fuss or anything I was expecting. Just one tiny look of uncertainty and down he went. To say the least, this Mum was very very proud.
Ah, now onto my fear. For those who don't know, I have a fear of something important to me falling as well as a fear of falling myself. I could not get past the change of wood color of the flooring. I tried, but My Girl looked at me from where she was standing, next to the view scoop, and told me not to try it. I left her in charge of the three kids and went onto a little side path, right next to that bush on the left hand side of the picture. The next set of pictures were taken by my son, right up against the edge of the railing... He did a good job. Mom only panicked every other moment.
This is the little path I was hanging out on while they were on the platform. I could still see and hear them. I just couldn't see how close they were to the railing half the time. After this we headed back down the way we came up.
This is the head of our second long trail. This one was walked in the 90F (32.2C) temps. ^-^ Now the path did get really rocky, and up hill for a lot of it. As we were getting off the path, my daughter pointed out that I took us through it backwards, and all that uphill should have been downhill. *shrugs*
This particular path was beside a stream that had lots of tiny waterfalls one it. So, here is a series of them.
And this is a picture of the stream before heading into the falls. ^-^
Okay, the work shots are here...
This one here is of a snake that my niece almost stepped/jumped on. She luckily spotted him and let me know he was there. I didn't know what he was at the time, just that he was venomous. So, I got the camera from my son and told them to head back up to the main path. Then, using the zoom, I took these of him. He never moved at all. Later I found out that he was a timber rattlesnake. He is about 3 feet long. Pretty fellow... from a distance. Side note... isn't all that lichen just wonderfully encrusted on the rock?
As I was walking down the Wall trail, I spotted these and the girls groaned. The boy handed me the camera and patiently waited on me to take them. Yes, these flowers were taken with Pekeleke in mind once again.
I can't claim this one. I tried three times to get his picture so you could see his head, and I was just too tall. And the tree was right on the edge of a slope, so you couldn't lean over much. My niece was just the right height as you can see. Click on it... it is a stunning picture.
Another by my Niece. He was eating not two seconds before this.
This one is by my son. Excellent millipede.
This one is by my. This lizard went scampering up the tree really fast after I took his picture. This one was on the way up to the tower.
This lizard was near the first outlook. See, he is regrowing his tail. I can compare this one and the one above...
Another pretty lichen.
The boy took the pretty fern pictures for me. He didn't want to give up the camera.
This was on the platform for the first outlook. *smiles* I wouldn't walk onto it, but I would clamber up the sides just enough to take this picture.
I have for several years hunted down bryophyte pictures that show the gametophyte and sporophyte phase, but this is the first I have ever succeeded in taking. And yes, I took it. I have two others that show more of its area and a top shot of the moss. It was growing on the side of a rock.
And this one was actually taken for Yen.. the tiny white flowers and the lichen made me think of her. Don't know why. ^-~
Okay, we made it back from that safe and sound. The cousins couldn't travel with me the next week, and the girl was/ is gone to Hawaii with Raya, so it for our next trip, we took My Love, and my mother-in-law with us. And it is the furthest park for the summer. It is a tourist trap, but it didn't change that fact that my budding geologist/ photographer loved it and had never seen it. So, we are heading off to Ruby Falls this time. Yes, I am actually telling you the name of this park.
All of these were taken by my ten year old, unless I tell you differently. Enjoy, they turned out really well.
Look closely at this. The top is the ceiling and the bottom is the floor. There is 18" (45.7cm) between them. When this cavern was found while they were blasting down to Look Out Mountain Caverns, this is as wide as the path was. And a small group of explores went in and traveled in and out in 17 hrs through a path this wide. We went there and back again in 1 hr.
The way in and out are basically the same, so I am going to show you some of the pathways All of these were taken by me. If you look into the distance,you can see how dark it really was in here. The flash is what makes everything look bright.
I left the people in here so you could truly tell how narrow it was. My Mother-in-law is claustrophobic... this nearly stopped her. Luckily it wasn't that long of a time in here. They call it weight watchers path.
These are just some features that you could see as you walked by. This is part of the underground water in a small pond. There were places you could see it running underneath tiny bridges and forming larger pools along side the path.
The next two are pictures of the ceiling. I took the first one. I just looked straight up and snapped the picture.
Now, these are pictures of the different rock formations in the cave. They are not in any order.
As you can see this one was called tobacco leaves. It is an example of flow stone
This is the chandelier.
I took this close up of the chandelier. It is really pretty.
Once again, the sign says it all.
I don't remember the names of the next two, but they are pretty. ^-^
This one is the potato chip, if you look just right you can see it on the ceiling.
This one was named Niagara Falls. You might not be able to tell from this picture, but it looks like the horseshoe falls on the Canadian side.
You are going to have to click on this one so that you can see the "Leaning Tower" and the wonderful rocks at the top. The boy worked hard to get those in the shot.
The next three are examples of flowstone and drapery. One of them is supposed to be the "Angels' Wing" But I can't remember which one it is.
*grins* The name says it all.
This one is the elephant foot.
And here is the dragon's foot. You had to walk under this one.
This is the south end of a north bound donkey... the like to call this one Jack according to the guide.
These are the only two of all the ones in this set that you are allowed to touch. If you do not know, the oils on our hands get on the rock and then prevents the minerals in the waters from accumulating, which stops the formations from growing. These two (the candle and the cactus) are already inactive.
This one is called the "Beehive"
I know, I told you that this was called Ruby falls, and you haven't seen any waterfalls yet. Here it is. Ruby Falls is the largest known underground waterfall in the US. It is 145feet tall. That is 44.2 meters We are 1120 feet underground here. That is 341.4 meters. ^-^
I took this picture as we walked into the falls cavern.
My Love or my Son took this one. They were both up next to the railing.
This one my love took for me. It is the ceiling in the antechamber of the falls cavern. I really liked the folds in the rock.
This is a shot of the ceiling and the wall of the antechamber.
When we got out, we went up to the top of the tower to look over the edge. I guess it was all the stone, but I was fine up here.. So, you can see the bend in the Tennessee River here.
And both this one and the above show why these mountains are called the Smokey Mountains.
I hope that you have enjoyed looking at these, and will let me know what you think.
Now, I still have to decide where we are going Tuesday. ^-^
Of course, I ended up getting turned about in a little town. I should have just gone the way I thought about. But I had never been either way. So, I followed the directions and ended up on a Main street. Now, the directions said east Main street.. and I was going west on Main street. My common sense said to turn about. Common sense was never consulted when dealing with streets. I should have remembered that. So, the other direction was also marked as west. It took a bit for me to be able to turn about again, and then I went to the way I had thought about. I was right, and it put me on the interstate I was looking for. I did pass an exit for Main street... but opted not to get off to see where it was.
The rest of the way there was uneventful. The way back though... I ended up going North instead of South on the state road... which was also not so perfectly marked. *sighs* When we crossed the state line in about 15-20 minutes, I turned back around and had no problems getting us home.
Now the park was completely worth the turn abouts.Even if it was humid and hot. Actually the morning was a nice comfortable 78-80F (25.5-26.7C), the afternoon was pushing 93F (33.9C) and the humidity was thick enough to wring out of your clothes.
So, if you wish to see, grab your cup of tea, or coke *smiles at Pekeleke* and some cupcakes then click on the link.
This was just a quick access path to the first outlook on the mountain. The kids had the camera for the most of the time. This one was taken by my boy.
This is the outlook. The niece took this one. You can still see the fog on the mountains. *sighs* Isn't it pretty.
Okay, the other path was really short. This one is the first of two longer ones. This one was going up the mountain, and this is the head trail
These pretty stack of rocks were ones we never got to climb on, See that rock on the bottom right? There was a rattlesnake sitting on it. So, we didn't attempt the others.
This one didn't turn out just right. If you look close, you can see the top of the tree forks. And it was in a fork in the path. I tried to get the forked top with the path, but it just didn't happen. Maybe I should have let the boy do it.
Just another picture to show you the path up.
Now this is looking to the right of the path above, looking up the mountain.
This one is looking to the left of the same path, looking down the mountain.
See that tree with the yellow dot? The boulder on the other side of the path from it is where the side trail in the next picture starts.
This is standing next to that boulder. And this trail took us to see a wall.
And we are walking on that wall here...
And this is a side shot of the wall that is not a path. The wall was built who knows when, not even the native american indians know. It has just always been here. In someplaces it is 10feet tall. And it rings a good section of the mountain top.
Now, these aren't that old, but they are the steps we took to get up to the tower on the top of the hill.
Which you can kind of see here. The top is just barely cut off. 4 sides, very simple...
We left the tower and headed down the path to the next observation area. This is a flight of stairs that lead down the the observation area. What you can't see is that this is one set out of three like this. For those who know my son, this would normally be a nightmare and a screaming crying fit. Open stairs like this freaks him out. Normal stairs give him pause. He took these like a champ. Not one tear, fuss or anything I was expecting. Just one tiny look of uncertainty and down he went. To say the least, this Mum was very very proud.
Ah, now onto my fear. For those who don't know, I have a fear of something important to me falling as well as a fear of falling myself. I could not get past the change of wood color of the flooring. I tried, but My Girl looked at me from where she was standing, next to the view scoop, and told me not to try it. I left her in charge of the three kids and went onto a little side path, right next to that bush on the left hand side of the picture. The next set of pictures were taken by my son, right up against the edge of the railing... He did a good job. Mom only panicked every other moment.
This is the little path I was hanging out on while they were on the platform. I could still see and hear them. I just couldn't see how close they were to the railing half the time. After this we headed back down the way we came up.
This is the head of our second long trail. This one was walked in the 90F (32.2C) temps. ^-^ Now the path did get really rocky, and up hill for a lot of it. As we were getting off the path, my daughter pointed out that I took us through it backwards, and all that uphill should have been downhill. *shrugs*
This particular path was beside a stream that had lots of tiny waterfalls one it. So, here is a series of them.
And this is a picture of the stream before heading into the falls. ^-^
Okay, the work shots are here...
This one here is of a snake that my niece almost stepped/jumped on. She luckily spotted him and let me know he was there. I didn't know what he was at the time, just that he was venomous. So, I got the camera from my son and told them to head back up to the main path. Then, using the zoom, I took these of him. He never moved at all. Later I found out that he was a timber rattlesnake. He is about 3 feet long. Pretty fellow... from a distance. Side note... isn't all that lichen just wonderfully encrusted on the rock?
As I was walking down the Wall trail, I spotted these and the girls groaned. The boy handed me the camera and patiently waited on me to take them. Yes, these flowers were taken with Pekeleke in mind once again.
I can't claim this one. I tried three times to get his picture so you could see his head, and I was just too tall. And the tree was right on the edge of a slope, so you couldn't lean over much. My niece was just the right height as you can see. Click on it... it is a stunning picture.
Another by my Niece. He was eating not two seconds before this.
This one is by my son. Excellent millipede.
This one is by my. This lizard went scampering up the tree really fast after I took his picture. This one was on the way up to the tower.
This lizard was near the first outlook. See, he is regrowing his tail. I can compare this one and the one above...
Another pretty lichen.
The boy took the pretty fern pictures for me. He didn't want to give up the camera.
This was on the platform for the first outlook. *smiles* I wouldn't walk onto it, but I would clamber up the sides just enough to take this picture.
I have for several years hunted down bryophyte pictures that show the gametophyte and sporophyte phase, but this is the first I have ever succeeded in taking. And yes, I took it. I have two others that show more of its area and a top shot of the moss. It was growing on the side of a rock.
And this one was actually taken for Yen.. the tiny white flowers and the lichen made me think of her. Don't know why. ^-~
Okay, we made it back from that safe and sound. The cousins couldn't travel with me the next week, and the girl was/ is gone to Hawaii with Raya, so it for our next trip, we took My Love, and my mother-in-law with us. And it is the furthest park for the summer. It is a tourist trap, but it didn't change that fact that my budding geologist/ photographer loved it and had never seen it. So, we are heading off to Ruby Falls this time. Yes, I am actually telling you the name of this park.
All of these were taken by my ten year old, unless I tell you differently. Enjoy, they turned out really well.
Look closely at this. The top is the ceiling and the bottom is the floor. There is 18" (45.7cm) between them. When this cavern was found while they were blasting down to Look Out Mountain Caverns, this is as wide as the path was. And a small group of explores went in and traveled in and out in 17 hrs through a path this wide. We went there and back again in 1 hr.
The way in and out are basically the same, so I am going to show you some of the pathways All of these were taken by me. If you look into the distance,you can see how dark it really was in here. The flash is what makes everything look bright.
I left the people in here so you could truly tell how narrow it was. My Mother-in-law is claustrophobic... this nearly stopped her. Luckily it wasn't that long of a time in here. They call it weight watchers path.
These are just some features that you could see as you walked by. This is part of the underground water in a small pond. There were places you could see it running underneath tiny bridges and forming larger pools along side the path.
The next two are pictures of the ceiling. I took the first one. I just looked straight up and snapped the picture.
Now, these are pictures of the different rock formations in the cave. They are not in any order.
As you can see this one was called tobacco leaves. It is an example of flow stone
This is the chandelier.
I took this close up of the chandelier. It is really pretty.
Once again, the sign says it all.
I don't remember the names of the next two, but they are pretty. ^-^
This one is the potato chip, if you look just right you can see it on the ceiling.
This one was named Niagara Falls. You might not be able to tell from this picture, but it looks like the horseshoe falls on the Canadian side.
You are going to have to click on this one so that you can see the "Leaning Tower" and the wonderful rocks at the top. The boy worked hard to get those in the shot.
The next three are examples of flowstone and drapery. One of them is supposed to be the "Angels' Wing" But I can't remember which one it is.
*grins* The name says it all.
This one is the elephant foot.
And here is the dragon's foot. You had to walk under this one.
This is the south end of a north bound donkey... the like to call this one Jack according to the guide.
These are the only two of all the ones in this set that you are allowed to touch. If you do not know, the oils on our hands get on the rock and then prevents the minerals in the waters from accumulating, which stops the formations from growing. These two (the candle and the cactus) are already inactive.
This one is called the "Beehive"
I know, I told you that this was called Ruby falls, and you haven't seen any waterfalls yet. Here it is. Ruby Falls is the largest known underground waterfall in the US. It is 145feet tall. That is 44.2 meters We are 1120 feet underground here. That is 341.4 meters. ^-^
I took this picture as we walked into the falls cavern.
My Love or my Son took this one. They were both up next to the railing.
This one my love took for me. It is the ceiling in the antechamber of the falls cavern. I really liked the folds in the rock.
This is a shot of the ceiling and the wall of the antechamber.
When we got out, we went up to the top of the tower to look over the edge. I guess it was all the stone, but I was fine up here.. So, you can see the bend in the Tennessee River here.
And both this one and the above show why these mountains are called the Smokey Mountains.
I hope that you have enjoyed looking at these, and will let me know what you think.
Now, I still have to decide where we are going Tuesday. ^-^