Getting too Hot to Hike

Over the past 7 days, I have done two hikes. They were great fun, but I am deciding that it is really getting too hot to hike much more this summer. 

The first hike was once again up near and on the Appalachian Trail at Raven Cliff Falls. We started out on an easy walk along a beautiful creek.  Suddenly this huge stone wall seemed to rise up out of the woods and water plunged down from several points in the split in the cliff. It is really quite spectacular!  I decided to attach a video rather than my sorry phone photos.

Someone said that earlier in the week a woman fell off the top of the cliff, but was not hurt. I cannot imagine!

Because this was a rather short walk, we drove a little ways near Hog Pen Gap and hiked Wildcat Mountain to Cowrock. The views at the top of both peaks were excellent! I love any time you can get a view of nature without evidence of man.

Fellow hikers taking a picture of the view from Wildcat Mtn

Up on Cowrock where we saw a nest of copperhead snakes under the most obvious stone to sit on!

Yesterday, I went to Alabama to hike. This was totally new for me. I really hadn't thought about Alabama having mountains or hills. 

My hiking mates and I enjoyed snacking on the masses of blueberries that covered the hillsides as we walked. The trail was often through woods, but there were parts where the trail was totally obscured and we were scrabbling through jungle, and other parts were extremely rocky and technical. I loved it all!

Panoramic view here was impossible to photograph. It was a great spot for lunch after 9 miles!

We also saw the remains of a small plane that crashed! Very unusual.

I'm planning on another hike nearby next weekend, but after that I think I will give it a rest because it is so stinkin' hot! Even in the hills it is in the 90s plus humidity--ugh!

The garden is growing great in spite of a lack of rain. We don't have 10,000 cucumbers this year, but the ones we do have are delicious!

Enjoy your week!