Photo Blog with Waterfalls, Hiking, Outdoors, and other Adventures
Time was moving quickly today, and the sun was getting noticeably lower on the horizon. Next stop was Ozone Falls State Natural Area, a smaller park with a tall waterfall. I visited the lower section via the Plunge Pool Trail. Along the way, there is a cave eroded in the cliffs called Gambler’s Den with … Read more
There are no shortages of hikes or waterfalls in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and luckily my next stop wasn’t far after leaving Cataract Falls. Only several miles up the road, Laurel Falls is another popular short day hike. Parking at the trail head was a battle – likely due to the Thanksgiving holiday and kids … Read more
Left Newport this morning and bid Kelly farewell; she was heading east for work and I had to go west for tomorrow’s outbound flight. Sunshine and 40 degree temps made for excellent hiking weather (something we could have used the last few days). Oh well, onward to make the most of my limited time here! … Read more
Woke up and left Gatlinburg with some time for day hiking before the next destination. Cold and wet weather killed most of our planned hikes, but we decided to try our luck on Max Patch, one of the most popular viewpoints along the Appalachian Trail. Remember that smoky fog from yesterday? Well that doesn’t look too … Read more
Several days into the trip and we finally made it to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. First stop was Clingmans Dome, the highest point in Tennessee and the infamous Appalachian Trail. Views here looking over the mountain range are normally quite amazing, however today Mother Nature had other plans. Driving up the 7 mile … Read more
Yesterday was a “zero day” for hiking – Kelly had job interviews and I visited my family in Knoxville. Late start today but we briefly visited Panther Creek State Park while still in the Morristown area. We chose to do the Point Lookout Trail loop in a somewhat modified fashion due to road closings for tree … Read more
My friend Kelly finished work early and we finally got to hike together! Due to limited daylight we headed to nearby Burgess Falls State Park which is south of Cookeville in Putnam County. Reed a.k.a “Darkness“, the black lab in photos, loves hiking and is extremely well-behaved (although she gets slightly excited for squirrels). A … Read more
After leaving Waterloo Falls, I was itching to do some actual hiking. Next stop was Cummins Falls State Park which was only 15 minutes away by car. Weather today was nearly perfect – sunny and about 60 degrees, which felt like summer compared to what I left in Wisconsin. I started by hiking the Upstream … Read more
A few months back, I started chatting online & made friends with a fellow hiker/traveler who lived in Tennessee (totally not a murderer, more on that later). I had some vacation time to burn so I booked a last-minute trip and visited the Volunteer State in mid-November hoping to catch the last falls colors. Ended … Read more
The final stop on this particular weekend tour was Aztalan State Park located east of Madison, WI. I had known going in that this particular site wasn’t “epic” in any sense outside of the cultural/historical appreciation aspect and wasn’t expecting much. Thankfully with that mindset I wasn’t disappointed. First – the rain. I finally remembered … Read more