Thursday June 10, 2021
It’s hot! Blazing HOT!
We are up early this morning and headed into the Badlands to hike three short trails and to see prairie dog town as well as drive the scenic loop road before it gets to hot.
My favorite hike today is the Door trail. You are actually walking on and through the rock formations looking for the next numbered marker to find your way. Plus we really beat the crowds on this one.
Friday June 11 2021
We had one hell of a storm come through last night. Winds 30+ mph, lightening and heavy rain.. I love storms, but this one had me nervous. I thought the winds were going to blow the van over. Upon inspection the van looks fine, but man is it filthy. It is covered in sand and dirt blown around by the winds.
Today we were heading into the town of Wall, population 818, to visit the famous Wall Drug. It is a tourist trap, but when you start to see billboards about 160 miles from the town it is hard not to check it out. We only buy 2 donuts. They are pretty famous for them.
While we are in town we also do laundry. At the laundry mat we meet another couple that were camped in the same area as us last night. The wife admitted to being pretty scared also. Then in comes a younger kid that was also in the same area camping in a tent! His outcome was not as good. He decided to ride out the storm in his tent since a couple a nights prior a storm came through and things were fine. Well this storm broke 2 of his tent poles making his tent unusable. So his mission for today was to get that tent replaced.
I wanted to send out Merry Chistmas wishes to all my friends and family and I think it is about time for an update on…well, what I have been up to lately. But first we woke up to a beautiful winter wonderland for Christmas morning. This is a first for me.
Currently I am back doing what I love…hiking. I am in North Carolina spending time with my Mom for the holidays, but more on that later.
Mom and I have been spending the our time together enjoying the outdoors. We have been driving back roads and hiking trails. We set out on our first adventure and of course it involved a dirt road, it seems that most trailheads are deep in the woods. But this dirt road had an added twist. There was a ford involved with some quick moving water flowing over it. As we approached it I thought I would just hop out and make sure it wasn’t to deep and looked ok to cross it in Mom’s truck. But Mom was just chatting away non stop like she usually does (I can assure you it is so hard to get your own words in when she gets going) and before I know it, I realize she is not going to stop. She just barrels right through it like she does this every day!?!? Meanwhile I am sitting next to her with my eyes about to pop out of my head in shock! And she is still chatting away like you can do anything in a truck! Luckly we made it through with out any problems. The dirt road was well graded and the few ice filled pot holes were easily avoided with Mom’s confident truck driving skills.
We arrive at the trailhead around 1pm with blue skies and the temperatures in the mid 40’s. It is a beautiful day, although upon enter the woods with the thick rhododendron trees covering the trail, it seemed really cold and the trail is lined with ice. We carefully make our way down the trail to our destination Big Laural Falls.
While on trail we meet another hiker and she tells us about Mooney Falls, another waterfall just a short ways up the road from the trailhead we are parked at. The waterfall is practally road side so we decide to go see that since we are so close.
Wishing everyone the best for a Happy New Year.“The only thing that stands between you and what you want from life is simply will to pursue it and the faith to believe it is possible.”-unknown author
I picked up my friend, Pat from the Asheville airport on Friday and we drove up the Blue Ridge Parkway(BRP) to Crabtree Falls. The falls were beautiful with lots of water flow and the fall color. The hike to the falls was a very slow trudge behind a long line of slow people. It was really pretty annoying and not enjoyable at all. I felt like I was at Disney World waiting in line for a ride. Luckly it was a loop trail and the trail past the falls was very steep so most of the people were going back the way they came. I made Pat take the steep route so we could escape the crowds. The trip on the way back was much more enjoyable although the steep section was unbelivebly steep. We were grabbing anything we could get our hands on to pull ourselves up. We looked like Spiderman scaling a wall. We both made it up safely and Burkley seemed to have no trouble at all.
I was hoping to grab a first come first serve campsite at Crabtree Meadows Campground but it was closed. So I treated Pat to a parking lot site at Cracker Barrel in Asheville and her first shower in a tiny wetbath.
As I am laying in bed last night I hear something out side. I think to myself that is sounds like a bear getting into someone’s food. When I take Berkley out the next morning the guy in the camp across from me tells me that a bear dragged his cooler off into the woods. He had some food in it and left it outside all night. Everyone of the sites here has a bear box to store your food in it. People are so careless. Pat talked to some other campers and they told her that the bear had also gotten food from other campsites on previous nights. Most likely the bear will have to be killed now because of careless people.
This is all a new experience for Pat. She has never done any hiking before so she is pretty sore today (Sunday). It looks like it is going to be rainy for much of the day so she is going to get a rest day today before I drag her back out on the trails tomorrow.
Today we got to see a couple of very nice waterfalls. I have seen them both before and would view them regularly if I could. The first was a short hike to Skinny Dip Falls. It is located at MM417 on the BRP. You also have a view of Looking Glass Rock from the same parking area.
It was a pleasure exploring the park. The crowds were minimal with plenty of parking. The day was over cast with a cool breeze and the folage was showing its fall colors.
Saw this payphone at a gas station in Gunnison, Colorado. It had a card reader.
Little Bear Stumbles 