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2020 Vacation Day Nine

July 21, 2020

2020 Vacation Day Nine Adventure: Appalachian Trail – Oliver Hallow Road to Watauga Dam (5.5 miles).

**First hike on the Appalachian Trail.**

Mom has been rather obsessed with the Appalachian Trail for a few years now with plans to someday section hike (not through hike) the entire 2,190 mile trail. She was super excited to be hiking on this trail with it’s iconic white blazes.

**The Watauga lake was visible (and accessible) for a large portion of this hike.**

We suspect there is usually more water in this section. We took the bridge regardless. As I have previously stated, Mom really likes bridges.

**Mom HAD to stop to take a pic at this sign.**

**The girls saw this rope swing on the way up so we had to stop and try it out on the way back. Lizzy was super brave!**

**The swimming area had a clay bottom and Patricia liked this spot for relaxing.**

**We decided to get back on the trail. We stopped along the way back here for a rest break.**

**Super fun adventure and everyone was happy!!**

Off to our AirBnb:

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2020 Vacation Day Eight

July 20, 2020

2020 Vacation Day Eight Adventure: Rattlesnake Ridge Trail to Dick Creek Falls, Cherokee National Forest, TN. – 7 1/2 miles!

**This is our second hike right from our campground! This time we will take Rattlesnake Ridge Trail up to Dick Creek Falls.**

**The creek was a little less present throughout this hike (only a few crossings).**

**Through the mostly quiet woods (buzzing bees).**

**We came upon a campsite that was unfortunately left a mess with trash.**

**It became obvious that some hunters were here previously because there was a board with bullet holes and we found bullet casings.**

**We made it to the top of the second waterfall.**

**We had quite a climb across the edge of the top of the waterfall and down this crevice to get to the waterfall.**

**Lizzy acting out her dramatic experience of nearly falling at the downed tree crossing.**

This was a 7 1/2 mile adventure today! The longest so far.
*Mom and Dad were a little annoyed at one of the girls who decided to go too far ahead on the way down the trail out of eye and earshot (hence a few less smiles).

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2020 Vacation Day Seven

July 19, 2020

2020 Vacation Day Seven Adventure: Rock Creek Falls, Cherokee National Forest, TN.

**Rock Creek Trail. The trail was right in our campground!**

**We had several creek crossings today.**

**This is off trail – she is really enjoying climbing!**

**Sliding down the cascades is fun too.**

**A great place to kick back and relax.**

**A little bit further up the trail to waterfall #2**

**Mom and Dad went off on an adventure and climbed to the top of the waterfall. They said it was quite challenging. Happy parents.**

**We had a good little hike with two nice waterfalls!**

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2020 Vacation Day Six

July 18, 2020

2020 Vacation Day Six Adventure: Sill Branch Falls and Pineridge Falls on the Long Arm Branch Trail Cherokee National Forest, TN.

**Looking forward to a short easy hike to a waterfall**.

**Trailhead was easy to find and the trail looks good so far.**

**Up close and personal with the waterfall.**

**That was a very easy hike and nice little but tall waterfall**.

**Climbing on top of the falls is fun.**

**Swinging vines right at the waterfall.**

**Salamander! We also saw a snake on the trail out (this makes five snakes total so far on our vacation adventures).**

**Easy hikes, nice waterfalls, everyone is happy!**

**We will camp here for the next three nights.**

**Even the rookie camper gave it a whack.**

**So we had time to go to the swimming hole.**

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2020 Vacation Day Five

July 17, 2020

2020 Vacation Day Five Adventure: Conasauga Falls, Bald River Falls and Panther Branch Trail Cherokee National Forest, TN.

**Ready for the 1.3 mile Conasauga Falls trail.**

**These were in the area at the falls.**

**There were plenty of blackberries too!**

We happened upon this place on our drive to the next trail.

**Standing in the sun for our next trail pic**

**The Panther Branch trailhead is across the bridge,**

**and then a short distance down the creek.**

**This 4.1 mile trail had quite a few little creek crossings.**

**We almost gave up on finding the waterfall. We were on our way back when we heard the waterfall but we couldn’t see it and there was no path to it. So we made our own path and found this!**

**Not a huge waterfall, but still nice.**

**We enjoyed the reprieve from the overgrown trail at the waterfall.**

When Mom and Dad went down (before they brought us) to check out the waterfall Dad stepped in a very deep mud bath. We decided to purposely go in the mud!

**We were happy to have actually found a waterfall for all the effort this trail required. That was quite an adventure!**

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2020 Vacation Day Four

July 16, 2020

2020 Vacation Day Four Adventure: Coker Creek Falls, Cherokee National Forest, TN:

**All rested and ready for an adventure!**

This downed tree was a challenge. The trail was narrow with a cliff drop on one side and rock wall on the other for the majority of the hike. With the tree down it was impossible to see the trail. Dad cleared a bit of the debris so we could all climb up and over and then under to the trail on the other side. We all made it safely!

**A small portion of the hike was out in the open sun and it was hot today!!**

**Then we came to the first set of waterfalls. Beautiful!**

**We played, explored and cooled off in the water!**

**Then it was just a short hike up to this waterfall!!**

**A little further to this waterfall!!!**

**We tackled the down tree again on the way back.**

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2020 Vacation Day Three

July 15, 2020

2020 Vacation Day Three Adventure: Lowery Falls and Gee Creek Falls, Cherokee National Forest, TN.

**We found the trailhead and everybody is happy .**

**This is a short hike (less than a mile) but it is supposed to be steep and rocky.**

**We found a nice rock formation right away.**

**We jumped off the trail onto the little cascades.**

**Lots of little cascades along the way.**

There was a little bit of work here and there with some branches and trees down.

**Luna wasn’t so sure about climbing up here.**

**This hike turned out to be a little challenging with steep climbs and lots of rocks. We made it back down and ready to go for some more adventures.**

**It was a beautiful spot and we had it all to ourselves.**

**I was poised with the camera waiting for a splash .**

**A nice bridge to cross (although we had several river crossing along this trail with no other bridges to assist with crossing).**

**Beautiful cascades along the entire trail.**

**Another beautiful waterfall with an awesome swimming hole (we will go in on our way back).**

**This bug is looking at you! We also saw a baby rattlesnake!**

**Conquering fears crossing the water on a big log.**

**Is that a snake behind you mom?!** Nope false alarm just a stick.

**Lots of rock hopping water crossings.**

**One last look at this beautiful double waterfall!**

**We definitely had adventurous experiences on this hike!**

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2020 Vacation Day Two

July 14, 2020

2020 Vacation Day Two Adventure: Rock Creek Falls and Benton Falls, Cherokee National Forest.

**Ready for the first hike of the day to Rock Creek Falls.**

**We will stick with the 1.7 mile trail.**

**The creek was along the trail at various points.**

**Our first creek crossing! Luna is not so sure about this because she is not a big fan of water .**

**No problem. We didn’t even have to take off our shoes and no one got wet!**

**There was a smaller waterfall down below.**

**We had a bit of a hike so we decided to eat lunch, rest up, and drive to our next hike.**

**Along the way we stopped at an overlook on a (small) mountain. The girls were so excited to have cell service!!**

**A 1.5 mile easy hike brought us here!**

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Due to the pandemic we had to change our vacation plans from flying to California to go to Yosemite National Park to driving to North Carolina to hike in the Cherokee National Forest (and later to Georgia to the Pisgah National Forest):

We loaded up the car and had plenty of travel snacks for the kids:

We stayed in a hotel the first night and headed to our first hiking spot the next morning.

July 13, 2020

2020 Vacation Day One Adventure: Turtletown Creek Falls, Tennessee, Cherokee National Forest.

We had to cross a steam to get to the trailhead. *footnote: on the way out (after the hike) we snagged the bumper on the wood planks (the car was loaded down with all our stuff since we hadn’t made it to our cabin yet) and we hopped out and snapped it back on. It went on easily, but yet another large section of paint came off the car.

**Although it is a moth, not a butterfly, mom thought of her sister Karen as it flew in the car while we prepared for the hike. Aunt Karen is joining us on our hike today .**

**Of course there are blackberries on the trail 😋.**

**Most of the trail went right beside Turtletown Creek.**

**Everyone was happy (FYI- this is day ONE and we have 67 miles of hikes planned over the next 16 days).**

**Blown down trees along the trail made it all that more interesting. The pine tree smelled like Christmas.**

**We made it to the first waterfalls! Waterfall #1.**

**The water was cool, but that didn’t stop her!**

**The other two girls decided to get in too.**

**Sweethearts enjoying the falls together.**

**We headed further along the trail (about a mile) to the next waterfall. We had a bit of a climb down.**

**On our way back we got another view of the first waterfall from the creek.**

**We had a wonderful 4.2 mile hike and we saw three beautiful waterfalls!**

Time to check out our Airbnb Cabin!

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Kittens!

June 18, 2020

This morning we caught the last two from the older litter (six weeks+). We will be taking all the kittens (and hopefully the older mother who is an outside feral cat) to Operation Catnip July 11th to get “fixed”. UPDATE: We were not able to catch the older mother cat so we have to wait and catch her after vacation.

June 27th, 2020

Today’s Update: ONLY FOUR KITTENS need forever homes. We have three 8 week old kittens (2 males & 1 female) and one 6 week old kitten (male). The mamma cat for the older kittens is a feral outside cat and she is also the mother to the mamma of the younger kitten. We have socialized her and she is inside with her kitten. We are working with operation catnip and have a spay/neuter date of July 11th. We are using the Diversion Program for shots as well!

July 6th, 2020

UPDATE: ALL the kittens have been Adopted to Forever Homes. This was not easy, but we did it!