For veterans day weekend, I booked us a cabin near Linville Falls for three nights so we could have a fall weekend getaway. I'm still making up for lost travel time when I was so sick last year, and trying to get in as much hiking as possible before my next surgery in two weeks.
When envisioning the trip, I failed to fully take into consideration how far advanced fall would be in the mountains, and also that it would be much colder at a higher elevation. I'd been looking at forecasts for the town near our lodging, neglecting to check out the temps in the higher altitude where we'd be hiking. Anyway, that's how we ended up hiking on Grandfather Mountain State Park in 30-degree weather. Good thing I'd packed the winter coats and hats!
Leave it to Simon to find a little salamander in a creek even when it's freezing!
The kids were whining and bickering a lot at the beginning of the hike, so it wasn't long before I made everyone eat their morning banana. It helped.
Raising a bunch of tree-huggers, we are.
After walking mainly through the forest for about a mile and half on the Daniel Boone Scout Trail, we finally emerged at "Flat Rock View" where we gazed at the largely leafless mountains and ate a our sandwiches for lunch.
After lunch, we took the Cragway Trail and had a good view from "Top Crag View." (They're very creative with their names.)
One cool feature we discovered throughout the hike was needle ice, which forms when the air temperature is freezing but the ground water is not.
We took the Nuwati Trail back to where we'd parked beside the Blue Ridge Parkway. The three trails we hiked made a loop of about 3-4 miles. It doesn't sound like much, but somehow it takes hours with kids, because we have to stop to eat and play a lot.
The kids also had fun finding actual icicles near a mountain stream.
We made it back to the bridge we'd crossed at the beginning of the hike!
It's so hard for us to be by such a lovely stream in the winter when we can't play in it!
Back at the cabin (Ryan's Rest), we enjoyed the evening sun. There were lots of fall colors on the trees near the house, since it was at lower elevation. We had beautiful views of the surrounding mountains, but it was a little too chilly to spend much time on the deck.
Zac and Simon enjoyed building a fire.
Alice and Simon played happily together with the Mouse Trap game. Ha-ha, just kidding. Seconds after this photo, they returned to squabbling, currently their favorite pastime.
It's hard to take good photos through a screen, but trust me, the sunset was beautiful.
