Fall Creek Falls State Park

After a jam packed week at the Blue Ridge Rally, Grace and I headed to another Tennessee state park for some hiking and downtime -- accompanied by a friend, Judy, and her two border collies.

From the website:  "Fall Creek Falls State Park is Tennessee’s largest and most visited state park. The park encompasses more than 26,000 acres sprawled across the eastern top of the rugged Cumberland Plateau. Laced with cascades, gorges, waterfalls, streams and lush stands of virgin hardwood timber, the park beckons those who enjoy nature at her finest. Fall Creek Falls, at 256 feet, is one of the highest waterfalls in the eastern United States. Other waterfalls within the park include Piney Falls, Cane Creek Falls and Cane Creek Cascades."

The sites were large, with some privacy between them, shady, and I had 3 bars of LTE for work.  We did a bit of hiking, a few scenic drives, some cooking and visiting and lots of relaxing!

Some of the scenery...

Around camp...

Living riveted!

Hey -someone's gotta do it!

Grace - post hike

Hello Spring!

Happy Birthday Breezin'!

Earlier this week, I took a trip to JD Sanders RV in Gainesville

to have annual service done on Breezin'.  It's hard to believe that I've owned her for a year already.

Though we got off to a slow start, we traveled  48 nights and 4,200 miles during the past twelve months.  We visited a couple of local campgrounds (Silver River and Gold Head Branch in FL); Visited Cumberland Island National Seashore and had Thanksgiving in Savannah; Took a trip to visit friends and family near Nashville, Hit the Blue Ridge Rally with T@B friends in Jefferson, NC; watched the fireflies at Elkmont Campground in the Smokey Mountains; Spent a few nights in Kinard, SC working when project deadlines loomed on the way home; and rounded out the year back in SC with a visit to Hunting Island, and a few days on Jekyll Island.

It was a great year - and hopefully a small sampling of the next twelve months!

A blustery day headed to Cumberland Island

Sunrise at the KOA near Nashville

Gold Head Branch (FL) our first outing

Crooked River State Park

Skidaway Island

Hunting Island SC

Elkmont, GSMNP, Tennessee

Raccoon Holler, NC

Synchronizing in the Smokies

After a quick stop in Elko, GA for an overnight--

Does anyone know what these are?  We passed about 10 of them in a row...some type of converted school bus

A quick overnight in Elko - Twin Oaks is a small well-maintained campground we stop at on the way to Nashville.  At $19 (Passport America) it's a great quick stop right off I-75

we were on our way to the GSM National Park to see a phenomenon that occurs only there... the synchronization of thousands of fireflies.    We stayed at Elkmont Campground, in a site with a view that more than made up for having no services.

Our campsite at Elkmont

Room with a view - out the back window of Breezin'

My morning coffee spot!

 I added a second battery to Breezin' before we left and I was pleased that we made it 4 nights and still had most of our battery power left.  We were pretty conservative, using lanterns at night and it was cool enough we didn't need the overhead fan.

Thursday I took Grace and Dillon to a local boarding facility that had a fenced acre to run on, while a friend and I took an impromptu hike to Laurel Falls.  I would show you all the beautiful pictures we took at the falls but we didn't make it all the way there!  About a mile in (and the trail is only 1.3 miles long) the skies turned black and the thunder started to rumble and the lightening started.  Since we were hiking in shorts with no jackets or supplies at all (we hadn't planned on hiking) and I had my camera without a case of any kind, we turned around and headed back down to the car.  Can't believe I just admitted that :-)

Wildflowers along the trail

Early morning in the Smokies

Backpacking bear at NOC

Later in the day we took a quick trip into Gatlinburg, tourist mecca of the Smokies.  Not my kind of place, but we had a great burger and beer and there is a NOC Outdoor Store of Appalachian Trail fame,   which I had to visit (and spend a little money).

 Later that night, we walked to see the fireflies.  I wish I had the photographic skills to show them to you (I don't).  Instead I'll leave you with this link that tells more about it:  Synchronized Fireflies

I went with the idea that this would be nice to see, cute maybe.  I was wrong.  It was completely magical and something you should take the opportunity to see if you get the chance.  It only happens at the Elkmont area of the Smokies and only two weeks a year.  It was incredible!

The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful.  I had a book going to press (no, I'm not the author, just work for the publisher) so I spent a couple of days in Kinards, SC at a campground with 4 bars of 4G Verizon to get the final work on it done and then a night at the KOA just south of Savannah.  Would have loved to stay at Skidaway Island state park again but needed the stronger signal to finish up.

Back home in Florida....   ready to go again!