Senior Moments

George at Greenbrier Creek, November 3, 2008.

I’ve mentioned before that Betsy and I went to Cosby in early November to belatedly celebrate Betsy’s birthday.  I finally got a photo page put together with which to  share our memories.

We rented a cabin for three nights, and since we went in November rather than August, we practically had the place to ourselves.  The cabins on either side of ours were empty.

When we planned our trip we hoped to do some hiking and waterfalling, but although we got some hiking in, we did not see much in the way of water in waterfalls.  Our drought has been just too severe.  We found Noisy Creek Cascade, but there was almost no water in the creek.

We did find a couple of surprises, however.  For the past three years three of Betsy’s grandchildren (two from Texas and one from Florida) have spent a day in the Smokies near Greenbrier campground.  We’ve seen pictures and video of them playing in the creek and we found the spot they visited — Greenbrier Cascades.  Although there was water in that creek, both Betsy and I resisted the temptation to go swimming or tubing (it was just a little cool!!).

But the nicest surprise was at Serenity Falls.  There was a little water coming over that falls, but there were also three rental cabins on the creek.  One of the cabins was at the very base of the falls with a deck that extended over the creek.  It didn’t take us long to decide that we wanted to go back there in the early spring and spend at least one night in that cabin.

Although our  outdoor activities didn’t go exactly as planned, our stay was very relaxing and enjoyable.  To see more of our Cosby trip click HERE.

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.