Long weekend of hikes, football and bad weather.

 Friday 25th November 

John was off work Thursday 24th through Monday 28th, it was nice having the few days to explore. Friday we did an easy trail next to the campsite.

Random things you see in the middle of the woods

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On Saturday we drove to a natural bridge in Sewanee, There was not a hike here, just got out of the car, walked a minute to the bridge and walked along the top of it, was pretty scary, glad we had the place to ourselves so we could take our time.

Hello? Any bears in there?

Top of the bridge

We then drove to The Cross in Sewanee. The 60 foot tall cross is on the campus of The University of the South and was erected in 1922 to honor students who have served in world wars. 

View from The Cross across Franklin County valley.

 We hiked to Bridal Veil Falls from The Cross which was a moderate 4 mile hike with a few steep sections. The Falls were once again not falling!

Wonder if there is a hole in it?

After a great hike we drove to a nearby part of town to look around and buy cake. One thing that gets me through a hike is the thought of cake at the end! There were some cute stores including a mercantile that was full of nick-knacks - though pretty expensive.

We returned to the campsite to see quite a few people packing up to leave though the tickets on their sites said they were booked up to Sunday: they were getting out before the bad weather arrived. We checked the weather and saw there was some rain and winds arriving later in the evening and oh did those winds arrive! It may have been gorgeous having a site on the very edge of the lake but we were extremely exposed to the wind that you could hear in the distance as it barreled down the lake then wacked us full force. This was the first winds we experienced and was quite scary.

Sunday was a quiet day of football and grocery shopping.

Monday we drove to the park visitor center and saw more rescued birds of prey. I can't decide if it is nice that they were rescued to then spend years in a small enclosure.

Not great pics as they had double wire fences.

We then hiked the Old Spann House trail which began at the visitor center parking lot. A nice 4 mile hike through the woods to the edge of the lake then circled back. We enjoyed  having a snack in the sun and quiet half way around.