No health and safety in the mountains.

 Sunday 20th November 2022

Big hike day, well a big hike for us, 7.6 miles. We walked to the Falls again then turned and followed the trail to Piney Falls. This took us through woods - some of which looked like there had been a bad storm. There were pine trees down all over but then a bit further on there was no sign of it. We arrived at the parking lot for Piney Falls and saw a tourist sign for a lookout area that led us down some natural rock steps and......that's where the Tennessee health and safety department forgot to put up a fence! There was a small boulder then a drop off! If older kids maybe ran down ahead of the adults or a dog off a leash they could fall to their death. I know we are in the woods, wilderness, but this was a marked point that would suggest some safety.

Holding on!

Stone edge then.......

Piney Falls

The Falls were a distance off so we hiked down to see them closer and crossed a suspension bridge. Morgan was ok with crossing until John started to rock it then she dropped to all fours and crawled her way along the rest of it.

Piney Falls

Not sure about this Dad

We saw a rock that looked like a six toed foot. This was a long walk for us, four miles is a  more comfortable distance when you are walking in woods with leaves covering the trail so you have to tread carefully so you do not to trip on rocks or tree roots but it was a lot of fun. Not seeing any wildlife, an odd deer in the distance, maybe they are all hibernating.

Looks like a foot

We have a subscription to All Trails App which helps us find trails near to us, we can read reviews, check the terrain and miles then we can download the trail incase we do not have cell service and it will also track our walk if we have cell coverage. It's cool to see how far we have gone.

You can set the app for which activity you are doing, walking, running, cycling, hiking etc. I wondered what the difference is between walking and hiking? I usually set it as a walk as I'm just taking Morgan for a walk. Google says walking is in urban or suburban settings while hiking is done along natural terrain with elevation changes. Hey we are hikers!