Posts Tagged ‘Smokies’

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Some Mountain R & R

November 13, 2008
Bunny Brook Cabin, Cosby, Tennessee. November 11, 2008.

Bunny Brook Cabin, Cosby, Tennessee. November 11, 2008.

Betsy and I got back yesterday afternoon from her belated birthday celebration.  We spent three days on the ‘quiet side of the Smokies’ in Cosby, Tennessee.

We rented the cabin, Bunny Brook, shown above.  One nice thing about going in November rather than August was that we had almost the entire place to ourselves — the cabins on either side of us were empty.

On Monday we did get out to do some hiking, but we spent most of our time at the cabin.  Now don’t think we were being lazy — we were simply taking advantage of the amenities of the cabin.  Two of the nicer amenities were no phone and no computers!  Since the days and nights were both cool we got a lot of use out of the fireplace.  But we also enjoyed the hot tub.  Do you have any idea how relaxing a hot tub under a full moon and stars can be?

All in all we had a wonderful vacation.

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Akron Falls Park

November 11, 2008
Lower Akron Falls, Akron, New York. October 24, 2008.

Lower Akron Falls, Akron, New York. October 24, 2008.

A few days ago I mentioned that my daughter Kelly and her husband Chuck, took us to a city park in Akron, New York, to see a waterfall.  We enjoyed the park and the waterfall, but didn’t discover until we got back home that there are actually two waterfalls in the park.

Even though we only saw the one waterfall, we did enjoy our visit to Akron Falls Park.  The park is a 284-acre park that straddles Murder Creek.  There has to be a story behind the name of the creek, but I don’t know what it is!

Although it was close to dusk when we got to the park, we were able to enjoy the walk through the woods and the waterfall.  To see more of our visit to Akron Falls Park click HERE.

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A Belated Birthday Celebration

November 10, 2008

belated_birthday

Betsy and I are finally celebrating her birthday — we’re only three months late!

I had originally planned to take Betsy to a cabin in the Smokies to celebrate her birthday in August, but we had to postpone that because of my surgery.  But we were able to reschedule for November, so we will be enjoying the Smokies for the next couple of days.

Since the autumn colors are past their peak, we may have some places to ourselves.  We’ll hopefully see some new waterfalls, do some hiking, and do a lot of relaxing!  It should be nice!!!

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Down Memory Lane: Rainbow Falls

October 28, 2008
Rainbow Falls, Great Smoky Mountains National Park. May 6, 2007.

Rainbow Falls, Great Smoky Mountains National Park. May 6, 2007.

One of our favorite day trips is to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  The Townsend entrance is only about two hours from here, so we can get there and still have the entire afternoon to hike and visit waterfalls.

One of the most scenic waterfalls in the park is Rainbow Falls.  LeConte Creek free-falls 75 feet over a sandstone outcrop.  The creek is high on Mount LeConte which can mean very little water going over the falls during the summer.  We hiked to Rainbow Falls in May, so there was a fair amount of water going over the falls.

The hike to the falls from the parking area is about 2.7 miles.  Unfortunately  it is mostly uphill.  There were a couple of times when I wasn’t sure I was going to make it, but we finally did.  And I will admit that Rainbow Falls made the hike worth it.  And at least it was mostly downhill getting back to the car!

To see more of our hike to Rainbow Falls click HERE.

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Down Memory Lane: A Mountain Vacation

October 24, 2008
The Ogle cabin, Great Smoky Mountains National Park. February, 2002.

The Ogle cabin, Great Smoky Mountains National Park. February, 2002.

Since Betsy and I are traveling now, I thought I would share some of the trips we’ve taken since we’ve been together.

In February, 2002, we took a trip to Betsy’s hometown, Big Stone Gap, Virginia.  She showed me her childhood home and all the places knew as a young girl.

After visiting Big Stone Gap, we went to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, to spend a couple of days in the Smokies.  We thoroughly enjoy the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, especially during the off season when there are not as many tourists.  On this trip we did some hiking near the Ogle cabin and visited Ober Gatlinburg where we got to see some skiers.

To see more of our mountain vacation click HERE.

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Searching For New Waterfalls in the Smokies

July 28, 2008

It was hot yesterday (Sunday) here on the Plateau, so I took advantage of that great excuse to stay indoors as much as possible.  One of the things I did was work through some pictures we had taken earlier this year, but which I had not yet had a chance to organize into albums.

One day in April Betsy and I drove to the Smokies to search for some small waterfalls that Betsy had found on the internet.  One (Whiteoak Flats Branch Falls)we had seen from Little River Road, but Betsy found that there were a couple of small cascades above the base that could be seen from the road.

We found a couple of new small waterfalls, Rush Branch Falls, near the Townsend Entrance to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and Cane Creek Twin Falls along Little River Road.

We didn’t find Meigs Creek Cascade.  We hiked the trail that leads to the cascade, but we didn’t go far enough to reach the cascades.  That experience led us to invest in a hiking GPS unit.  We’ll probably go back there some time in the future.

The nicest waterfall we found on this visit was Mannis Branch Falls.  We must have gone right past it a dozen times — it’s just off Little River Road, but you need to take a short walk to the river to see the falls.

To see more of our visit to the Smokies click HERE.

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