Daddy and John on a morning hike to Parson's Bald. The sun shining through the fog was very cool. See the bedroom shoes Daddy has on... he wore those back down to the bottom!
The hammock is a must. I want to buy a rain fly for it and sleep in next time. Even if no one sleeps in it, it is a great place to put things in overnight so they are off the ground and out of the rain.
We had a primo camp spot! This old tree had fallen and made a perfect place to sit around the fire. Daddy (the experienced hiker who told us to pack light) starts pulling things out of his pack like Mary Poppins did out of her purse. He pulled out 6 steaks, a GRILL, and a wine cooler with a bottle of wine in it! I'm not complaining...all was good!
Sunset on top of the bald. Poor Delaney... she got sick (sore throat and fever), but hung in there like a pro! We wore our head lamps so we could hike back to camp in the dark (and it was very dark - the moon was hidden behind clouds).
The blueberries were amazing! The berries were never-ending and they were so delicious!
We saw tons of bear poop, but no bears. Some poop was so fresh that steam was coming up from it, but no bears in site. Delaney did get a picture of the paw print.
The oak trees on top of the bald were very unusual looking. The branches grew low to the ground and the bark had white stuff all over them. These trees were great for climbing.
Taking a break on the trip up. Daddy wanted to take this rock home and paint it with his house number on it. The rock was like a perfect bench.
About to enter the enchanted forest! It was a dark tunnel of trees that had a thick canopy of leaves over our heads. It was kind of spooky and cool.
We made it! This was a great hike, but tiring. Luckily for us, the weather could not have been any better. For this time of year, it could have been miserably hot, but it was partly cloudy which kept the temperature around 68-70 degrees. About a 1/2 a mile below the bald, was campsite #13 where we unloaded and set up camp. We ate our packed lunches and then hiked up to the bald. I can't describe how beautiful it was and the pictures don't do it justice, but one can see 360 degrees of mountains. Deer were roaming around and didn't mind us at all. The blueberry bushes were in the millions and I wished I would have had the energy to pick several in a bucket, but instead we just picked them as we walked and ate them as we picked them...yummm, very good and sweet! The atmosphere and temperature were so perfect that we all just took our shoes off, laid down flat on our backs, and closed our eyes. I could have taken a nap for sure! Back at camp, John and I decided to go find the spring. About a 1/4 mile back down the trail we found it. We used my new MSR water filtration pump, but after talking to some park service guys later, I found out that they never filter their water from that spring. They just dunk their water bottles and fill them up. Well, I wanted to test the MSR filter out anyway - and I didn't want to take any chances. We then went back to camp and had a great steak, cous cous with shitake mushrooms, and french bread dinner, and then celebrated Daddy's 61st birthday with a chocolate chip cookie and a hand held candle that chimed Happy Birthday To You. After going to bed a major storm came! I really think we just may have been in that thunder cloud. It was the loudest thunder I have ever heard or felt. I mean, my chest rattled like a drum and the campsite lit up like fireworks! It was awesome but scary! The next morning was beautiful. The sun came out and lifted the fog and the temperature was perfect. We made coffee with the percolator that Daddy brought and hiked to Parson's Bald. Delaney went back to sleep because she wasn't feeling well. We then came back and ate the most delicious bacon/tomato/mayo sandwiches. We then took our time drying and packing everything back up and headed back down the mountain. What a great trip!
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