Month: November 2022

Vacation Day Seven

7/16/22

Family Vacation Day Seven: Angel Falls Overlook Trail- 12.6 miles. Lizzy, Sullivan and I did the hike today. The girls (Luna, Rachel and Patricia relaxed at home).*Total hiking miles so far 55.7 miles.

**We think we are ready for this long hike**

**We got a late start, but It was still relatively cool outside.**

**The river ran next to the trail (John Muir Trail) for about 2.5 miles**.

**As it got warmer outside we made use of the flora.**

This bridge actually didn’t go all the way across. We had to work a little harder to get the rest of the way.

**We finally made it to the Grand Gap Loop for another 6.8 miles.**

**It was beautiful, but no waterfall in sight.**

Time to get back on the trail:

**We decided this rock looked like a spaceship and so Lizzy became the pilot of the spaceship.**

**As usual there are a lot of spider webs. Sullivan has beenbitten twice. We are grateful that he often takes the lead early in the mornings and catches the webs along the path.**

Whose shoes? Can you guess?

**Lizzy and Mom; Dad prefers to not sit on the edge.**

**Plus he was resting his weary bones.**

**While we were sitting here at the top of the mountain a hummingbird came right up to us!**

**She was a little too sweaty to lie down in the dusty dirt!**

**Yes!! We finished the loop! Just a few more miles back.**

**Anything in there? Hopefully no snakes!!!**

**Just happened to catch 9.99** miles on our way back and still going.

Do you see it, because Lizzy and I walked right by him!

**Time to soak our tired feet in the river!**

That was a great hike!

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Vacation Day Six

7/15/22

Family Vacation Day Six: Pioneer Trail, Emery Gap Falls and Debord Falls – 7.5 miles. We drove to our next Airbnb in Huntsville, Tennessee.

We drove an hour and stopped In Cumberland Mountain State Park for a quick 4.8 mile hike:

**The river ran along the side of this trail.**

**It was a loop trail with a couple of bridges.**

We had a contest for best pose here. Do you have a favorite?

**There were a lot of rock formations along this trail.**

**Nice trail! Another hour drive to the next trail.**

We made it to Frozen Head State Park:

Butterflies were attracted to Patricia!

**Rachel was exploring under the waterfall**.

**They hunted crawfish for a long time.**

**We watched and waited for someone to actually catch one.**

**Lizzy got one too. “No thanks!!!” says Patricia!**

**Rachel worked very hard for this one!!**

**Happy Day on the trails. One more hour drive to our next Airbnb.**

We made it to Huntsville, Tennessee!

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Vacation Day Five

7/14/22

Family Vacation Day Five: Savage Gulf Mountain Oak Trail: 10 miles. Our last hike in this area. We are heading to Huntsville, Tennessee area tomorrow.

**Trailhead pic – we are all together again!**

**Wild blueberries are tiny but very yummy**

**The most common pose of this vacation.**

**See. . .even mom and dad got into the pose.**

**Have I mentioned how awesome Luna dog is on hiking trips!?**

**Mushroom called Boletus speciosus which is edible but is very poisonous if it is not cooked well.**

**Have I mentioned Mom really likes bridges.**

**Patricia slept through the whole thing!**

**Pretty meadow with wildflowers near the parking lot.**

Lizzy, Dad and Mom saw a small trail and decided to go check it out while Patricia and Rachel headed down to the car. A little less than a quarter mile in was this outhouse:

Time to head back:

**Happy Day 10 miles. Total hiking miles on vacation so far = 36.6 miles**

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Vacation Day Four

7/13/22

Family Vacation Day Four: Fiery Gizzard Loop Trail, South Cumberland State Park – 10 miles:

Just the three of us today (Patricia and Rachel took a “pass day”).

**The rock formations were already impressive.**

**Little did we know how many rocks and stairs awaited us on this hike!**

**Ready for a lot of adventures today!**

**We were up for the challenge . . .well, we did keep going on the trail, but we took the 9 mile loop.**

**She’s okay, but after countless slips, slides and falls Lizzy got her trail name “Slip, Slide, Splash”.**

**Ugh, a slug! She named him ” Mattachiah”.**

**The rocks were relentless for this 4.5 miles stretch. This really was a challenging hike.**

**I asked her to demonstrate the nature of this hike.**

**We were pretty tired at this point with 4.3 miles left on this trail and another 1.5 miles back to the car.**

**Enjoying the view at Werner’s Point.**

**Chicken Of The Woods and it is edible.**

**We enjoyed a wedding ceremony of our own.**

Time to go check out a coal mine:

Now time to focus on heading back to the waterfalls for a quick swim to cool off.

**We had to trudge through more rocks. Ugh!**

**Definitely time for a swim after all that!**

Time to keep moving towards the trailhead.

**We took another route back and saw waterfall #5.**

**Two more “friends” named Gerald (the frog) and Jeremy (the fly).**

**This was a 9 hour adventure. We did it!**

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Vacation Day Three

7/12/22

Family Vacation Day Three: Stone Door, Big Creek Gulf, Connector Trail, and Laural Falls – 8 miles.

**Luna ~”I want to drive”. Sorry Luna not this time .**

The park has some awesome views right off the bat!:

This became out trip pose that we did throughout vacation!

Lots of amazing views!

We spent quite some time exploring and enjoying this area!

**Patricia would rather not get close to the edge**!

Everyone is ready now to get on the trail. We have actually been here before when the girls were little, but today we will be venturing much further.

**Lizzy agreed she had a much easier time climbing things like this when she was little.**

Down the stairs to Stone Door:

Exploring where we explored the last time we were here:

**This is where Rachel and Dad saw a rattle snake the last time we were here!**

**Lizzy decided this was a great spot to rest.**

We found berries!

Flowers too:

Mom decided to take a rest break:

Lizzy, Dad and Mom decided to add on to the hike and go see the waterfall. Rachel, Patricia and Luna rested on the boardwalk seats.

Getting ready for the climb back up!

We took the stairs back up!

With a small climb at the end:

End of day two adventures pic!:

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Family Vacation Day Two

7/11/22

Family Vacation Day Two: Walls of Jericho Trail, Estillfork, Alabama- Tennessee – 8 miles:

**We weren’t actually planning to hike in Alabama, but this trailhead had two starting points and we decided on this one (we hiked back into Tennessee).**

**There are supposed to be some caves along this trail.**

**Luna was so happy to be hiking and climbing!**

Look at the size of this trapdoor spider!!!

Cool looking plants we think is called **groundcedar**.

**Daddy Long Legs ~ one of Lizzy’s favorite insects.**

This cave was about 40-50 feet in length and 20 foot high ceilings!

**There were lots of formations (flowstone “bacon rind”).**

Beautiful butterflies were traveling with us:

**Patricia and Rachel loved this view.**

**Someone got really dirty on our adventure.**

**Time to explore…with a little help from Dad!**

**Yes, that is a frog. She named him Georgie.**

One last view!

This guy startled Mom!:

**There was a cemetery way out and just off the trail.**

**Butterflies everywhere. This one decided to hitch a ride.**

**Rest break on the way over the blow down**.

**This was an awesome 8 mile hike with a lot of adventures!!!**

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Family Vacation 2022

7/10/22

We all, including Patricia of course, were very excited for vacation! Family Vacation Day One: Doll head trail in Atlanta, GA (1/2 mile). 7 hour drive to South Pittsburg, TN Airbnb:

**Went to church, came home for Luna dog, and away we go . . .**

I told the girls I had a special experience for them but they had no idea what we were in for at this location:

Here’s a clue:

There were oddities along the way:

A nice little lake:

We arrived!:

The Atlanta, Georgia Doll Head Trail: a trail that was a former dump was cleaned up and fashioned art from the debris:

We don’t want to give everything away by showing picks of all the crazy things on display:

End of trail pic:

**That was an interesting start to our vacation.**

We made it to our South Pittsburg, TN Airbnb:

The fireflies were already out:

Time to rest for day two of vacation!

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Final Warm-Up Hike Before Vacation

Post author By myjoyfulspirit
Post date November 26, 2022
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7/7/22

The girls and I went on another warm-up hike this morning (preparing for vacation) at San Felasco Hammock:

**The plan is 3 miles on the San Falasco Green Cut off trail (yellow, green, R-yellow/blue).**

**We actually spotted flowers even before the trailhead.**

The morning glory were plentiful at the start of the trail.

Wild blackberries too!

Spurred butterfly pea:

Not sure what these are:

When the girls were little they rested in this same spot. We recreate it with Lizzy on the bench and Rachel on the log (see next pic).

This is exactly where Rachel rested on a hike we took several years ago.

May 6th, 2020:

Pretty:

Not much further:

We found a hidden swamp:

End of hike pic:

We were a little tired, but it was a nice Florida hike.

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Fourth Of July Celebrations!

Post author By myjoyfulspirit
Post date November 26, 2022
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7/03/22

The University of Florida puts on a Fireworks display on the 3rd of July every year. We decided to watch it from the top of a parking garage near the fireworks launch. Rachel and Dad played some games while we waited: