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Vacation Day Thirteen

7/22/22

Vacation Day Thirteen: Hemlock Falls and Crusher Hole – 7.8 miles. *We talked with a ranger who was at the trailhead about reports we heard of wild boar on this trail. The ranger educated us on boar safety and indicated that he was there today to check on the trail and hunt any wild boar he locates. ⚠️ Warning: The seventh picture has a dead animal (wild boar) shot by a ranger.

This is the last big hike of our vacation. We are heading back to Florida tomorrow. We are planning to make a few fun stops along the way home, but no major hikes.
We are going to Hemlock Falls with a few detours along the way.
Detour #1: Camp’s Gulf Cave.
We can’t go fully into the caves without permit due to white nose syndrome (a disease killing off bats).
We heard a shotgun blast and the girls wanted to go see what the ranger got so we rushed out a little faster.
The ranger caught up with us on the trail and told us about the boar he shot. The girls wanted to try and find it so the ranger actually escorted us to the boar.
He then educated us on how destructive and invasive wild boar are and how much impact the problem has on other aspects of our environment and economy.

Back on the trail:

We found another small cave entrance.
Patricia took the lead on the trail with sticks waving to catch all the spider webs along the trail.
She kept getting bigger sticks because the spider webs were quite prolific.🕸️
Even with the wider sections of trail we were eating webs.
An inchworm Lizzy named “Charlie”.
We finally made it to the last stretch to the falls.
Beautiful 💙.
Happiness ☺️.
The happy couple 💕.
Exploring, climbing and wading.
Watching all the action.
Rachel was the first to really get in the pool.
She even dunked!
Beautiful!
Patricia decided to get into the water too.
Despite how very cold this water is Lizzy went all in the waterfall.
BFF’s
One last look 💙.
The actual end of the trail.
Great hike! Off to Crusher’s Swimming Hole.
Beautiful swimming hole!
Can you spot Lizzy and Rachel?
Dad went for a very cold and brief swim.
Rachel spent the most time in the water.
Lizzy waded but that’s enough for her because that water was really cold!
No way Luna or Patricia are getting in that cold water!
Not sure how Rachel can stay in this cold water!
Pickerel frog, the only poisonous frog native to the United States!
One last look. Time to head back to camp.

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