Leaving South Carolina

It's hard to believe how quickly 3 weeks have flown by since our arrival in SC.  Tomorrow is time for us to pack it up and head to FL for a few months.  While we're not really FL people (no mountains, no great hiking) we're looking forward to the warm weather, beaches, family and friends for a few months. 

We've been cramming in as much hiking as we can these past few days as we know it will be a long time until we see mountains and forests again. 

There are so many waterfalls around here and a few days ago we were able to hike to two of them.  This area is so remote and the hiking is incredible as we are in the wilderness away from all signs of civilization.  It's also interesting trying to find these waterfalls as most of them are tucked away many miles down a dirt road or in some cases a 4-wheel drive dirt road (thankfully we have the Jeep!).  It makes it all the more rewarding when we finally come across the beauty of the water.  

Brasstown Falls was a series of 4 waterfalls ranging in size from 20 to 40 feet.  As we descended each level we were more and more amazed at the beauty of each.

Riley Moore Falls was much smaller in comparison to Brasstown Falls but still beautiful in its own way.  This was an area where the Jeep got a little workout on the dirt roads leading to the trail.  The trail to this falls was a great little winding trail in and out of the hollows on the way to the creek.  The falls are on the site of what used to be a gristmill.  

From the mountains to the city.  We took a reprieve from hiking to head to Atlanta, GA.  It was a quick trip in and out of the city (to avoid the crazy traffic in that area) so we spent a little time in the Centennial Olympic Park, lunch inside the CNN building and a walk past the Georgia Dome.  If we get more time on another trip we will definitely take a day or two to check out this city in more detail. 

Back to the mountains - Highest Peak in SC - Sassafras Mountain.  One of our goals is to eventually climb MOST of the highest peaks in the US (no way on McKinley!) so climbing to the top of Sassafras was another one we could check off the list.  As you can see below, we still have a long way to go!  :-)
 

Rank	State	Peak	Elev-Ft	Range (Level 3)	Ascent Date
1.	Alaska	Mount McKinley	20,320	Alaska Range
2.	California	Mount Whitney	14,495	Sierra Nevada
3.	Colorado	Mount Elbert	14,433	Southern Rocky Mountains
4.	Washington	Mount Rainier	14,411	Cascade Range	2006-08-25
5.	Wyoming	Gannett Peak	13,804	Greater Yellowstone Rockies
6.	Hawaii	Mauna Kea	13,796	Hawaii
7.	Utah	Kings Peak	13,528	Western Rocky Mountains
8.	New Mexico	Wheeler Peak	13,161	Southern Rocky Mountains
9.	Nevada	Boundary Peak	13,140	Great Basin Ranges
10.	Montana	Granite Peak	12,799	Greater Yellowstone Rockies
11.	Idaho	Borah Peak	12,662	Idaho-Bitterroot Rocky Mountains
12.	Arizona	Humphreys Peak	12,633	Colorado Plateau
13.	Oregon	Mount Hood	11,239	Cascade Range
14.	Texas	Guadalupe Peak	8749	Southwest Basins and Ranges
15.	South Dakota	Harney Peak	7242	Great Plains
16.	North Carolina	Mount Mitchell	6684	Blue Ridge Mountains	2011-11-10
17.	Tennessee	Clingmans Dome	6643	Blue Ridge Mountains
18.	New Hampshire	Mount Washington	6288	Northern U.S. Appalachians
19.	Virginia	Mount Rogers	5729	Blue Ridge Mountains
20.	Nebraska	Panorama Point	5426	Great Plains
21.	New York	Mount Marcy	5344	Canadian Shield
22.	Maine	Katahdin	5268	Northern U.S. Appalachians	2011-08-31
23.	Oklahoma	Black Mesa	4973	Great Plains
24.	West Virginia	Spruce Knob	4861	Appalachian Plateaus
25.	Georgia	Brasstown Bald	4784	Blue Ridge Mountains
26.	Vermont	Mount Mansfield	4393	Northern U.S. Appalachians
27.	Kentucky	Black Mountain	4139	Appalachian Plateaus
28.	Kansas	Mount Sunflower	4039	Great Plains
29.	South Carolina	Sassafras Mountain	3554	Blue Ridge Mountains	2011-12-02
30.	North Dakota	White Butte	3506	Great Plains
31.	Massachusetts	Mount Greylock	3488	Northern U.S. Appalachians
32.	Maryland	Backbone Mountain	3360	Appalachian Plateaus
33.	Pennsylvania	Mount Davis	3213	Appalachian Plateaus
34.	Arkansas	Magazine Mountain	2753	Ozark Highlands
35.	Alabama	Cheaha Mountain	2405	Appalachian Ridges
36.	Connecticut	Mount Frissell-South Slope	2372	Northern U.S. Appalachians
37.	Minnesota	Eagle Mountain	2301	Midwest-Great Lakes Area
38.	Michigan	Mount Arvon	1978	Midwest-Great Lakes Area
39.	Wisconsin	Timms Hill	1951	Midwest-Great Lakes Area
40.	New Jersey	High Point	1803	Appalachian Ridges
41.	Missouri	Taum Sauk Mountain	1772	Ozark Highlands
42.	Iowa	Hawkeye Point	1670	Great Plains
43.	Ohio	Campbell Hill	1549	Midwest-Great Lakes Area
44.	Indiana	Hoosier Hill	1257	Midwest-Great Lakes Area
45.	Illinois	Charles Mound	1235	Midwest-Great Lakes Area
46.	Rhode Island	Jerimoth Hill	812	Northern U.S. Appalachians
47.	Mississippi	Woodall Mountain	806	Appalachian Plateaus
48.	Louisiana	Driskill Mountain	535	Ozark Highlands
49.	Delaware	Ebright Azimuth	442	Northern U.S. Appalachians
50.	Florida	Britton Hill	345	Piedmont-Southeast Coast

Til next time...happy trails!

Appalachian Trail

We did it!  We made it to both ends of the Appalachian Trail in the same year.  Ok, so we didn't hike everything in between but we still accomplished our goal of hiking to the northern and southern terminus of the AT.  And let me tell you...neither are just a walk in the park! 

Mount Katahdin - August 31, 2011 - Northern Terminus of the AT

 

 

 

Friday, November 25, 2011 - We started at the Visitor Center at Amicalola Falls State Park

That's a lot of miles to Maine!

 
Little did we know that during the first mile we would quickly climb a steep path and 600 stairs to the top of Amicalola Falls (At 729 feet, Amicalola Falls is the tallest cascade in the Southeast).

I think they are trying to scare everyone away with all of these warning signs.  It didn't work and it wasn't THAT bad!

Hike Inn is an Inn 5 miles in for those who like to hike but not sleep on the ground.  That's not for us!

 Ahhh...we made it to the top!

What a view and what a picture perfect day we had! 

We set up our stuff at our home for the evening, Springer Mountain Shelter.

Then we hiked back to the top of the mountain to enjoy a gorgeous sunset. 

At our shelter we shared company with several great people.  There was Troy and his son, Ethan, out on a 4 night boys trip and then there were 4 guys finishing the trail from Maine to Georgia in a little over 5 months.  The only visitors at the shelter we could have done without were the mice running across our sleeping pads all night long!  Pesky little buggers.  They even got to snack on Tom's bagel.

Southern Bound successful thru-hikers - Bullwinkle, Jonesey, DA and Turtle

What a great trip!

Til next time...happy trails!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Our first big holiday away from home...Thanksgiving, 2011.  As we were approaching this day we were a little sad thinking about not being in PA in our house filled with family and friends, eating dinner and sharing a good time (as was our tradition since Tom and I met in 2004).  We tossed around ideas of what to do...take a hike, go out to eat, hang out at the RV and eat in, etc.  Then Tom came up with the fabulous idea of volunteering at a local soup kitchen...and so we did!

Feed The 5000 by Our Daily Bread in Seneca, SC.  I'm not sure how many years they have been doing this but they had quite a well organized operation.  We showed up around 8am to help prepare the meals and we could see they were well on their way and probably spent most of the night cooking some of the items and general preparation.  We were able to help with miscellaneous duties as well as the big job of picking off the meat from all of the turkeys.  After the food was prepared and packaged there was the job of delivering these 5000 meals to the locals in need.  Tom and I were fortunate enough to deliver 84 meals to a nearby apartment complex which housed mainly senior citizens.  Each person was so grateful for this tiny offering we appeared with.  It was truly a great feeling to us and also a great reminder of how thankful we are for what we have.  We have already talked about making this our holiday tradition and plan to find somewhere in FL to help out on Christmas day. 

Cooking and prep area

meals being loaded in our Jeep for the delivery

Since the last blog we have been on several gorgeous hikes in North Carolina, Georgia and South Carolina, where we are currently staying.  While this area is definitely remote, it does not lack in beauty.  We are surrounded by woods, streams, lakes and rolling farmlands.

These 4 pictures are from one of our favorite hikes (which we also did in 2007) - Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina.  While it is a great hike with lots of variety, it is also not for the weak at heart with many steep climbs and drop offs as well as ladders going straight up the sides of the mountain.  That's why we love it so much!  

Split Creek Farm - SC - a goat farm for fresh cheese, milk, soap, etc.  I'm not a huge goat cheese fan but this stuff was excellent!  What a neat operation they have with over 700 goats in different areas of the farm and even a pot belly pig to help clean up the area.  They also had a local artist with her items on display in a little cottage. 

Issaqueena Falls and Stumphouse Tunnel (an unfinished railroad tunnel) - SC

We even checked out the '55 Exchange at Clemson University for some fresh ice cream!  (Established in 2005 by a generous gift from Clemson’s Class of 1955, the ’55 Exchange is a student run enterprise that was created to preserve one of our core agricultural traditions, the Clemson Ice Cream Experience)

Becky and Dee enjoying the great ice cream! Dee is a fellow RV'er and good friend we met at our current campground in SC.

  

 Tallulah Gorge State Park - GA

Chattooga River (we later found out this is where the move Deliverance was filmed - yikes!) - Foothills Trail and Big Bend Trail - SC

We will be in SC until Dec. 4th then head on our way south to FL!  Til next time...happy trails!