Vacation Part 3 - Eagle Falls

We have been going to Cumberland Falls State Resort Park for years.

We have always hiked the short trail to the big falls.

We've even hiked to the end of the easy trail.

On that hike you can see people across the river high up looking down.

We tried to do the hike last year but the parking was full by the trail head.

So we tried again this year.

The hike is rated as moderate.

There are lots of steps, rocks, cliffs, etc.

It was a more strenuous hike than we're used to but we lived.

I may have tripped more times than we cared to count.

Okay, we quit counting after 5.

Not sure why I kept falling but at least I didn't fall off a cliff!

I earned the nickname "Tumbleweed".

It was rightly earned.

:)

In the end the hike was worth it.

This post has lots of pictures!

Very important to take a photo of the trail map!

We hiked trail 9.

One of the few flat portions of the hike.

Several places along the trail were under edges of large boulders.

This one was trickling water.

This is looking up.

You can't really tell the steepness of the trail.

We didn't carve it but it happened to be our initials.

That's the cliff edge.

Breathtaking view!

Oh look, stairs going down. How nice!

...going back up, not so much.

We thought this rock formation looked like an ear.

Walking on boulders.

Cumberland Falls from the far side of the river.

We're usually on the left side of this photo.

Those rafts were tiny from way up high!

Millipede!

The rock wouldn't budge.

Near the falls was this rock puddle with tadpoles.

Several were clinging to the stick.

This is Eagle Falls.

So worth the hike.

In certain spots you could feel the spray.

It felt great on such a warm day!

Hot Birthday

 We celebrated Nolan's seventeenth birthday last weekend.

Several weeks ago, when it was cooler, we planned a hot dog roast.

It was a great idea, however, it was a little on the warm side.

90's plus humidity.

It was so hot!

Nolan had several friends over.

Somehow I managed to not get a photo of all of them together.

Notice that they've moved to the shade.

Did I mention it was hot?

Eventually we had everyone come inside.

We didn't want anyone getting sick from the heat.

It was just too hot out there!

We also failed to get a picture of his birthday cake.

It was a chocolate strawberry trifle.

It's his favorite... like three birthdays in a row favorite.

Tennessee Part 2 - Camping the Right Way

Our first night of vacation we chose to camp at Cumberland Falls State Park in Kentucky.

We camped there for the first time last year and really liked it.

It's one of our favorite parks.

The camp site on the right is the one we had last year.

The one on the left was this year's spot.

Our tent still fit even though it was slightly smaller than the other one.

I brought this quilt to work on while on vacation.

It was a beautiful night that was perfect for sleeping.

We love our bunked cots!

What a space saver.

We liked Connor's ax better than our camping ax.

It was nice of him to let us borrow it.

Now we need to buy our own.

:)

This thing turned into an inferno.

The fire was so hot Connor had to stand far away to cook his hot dog.

We dubbed it the "four foot fire" because you couldn't get any closer than four feet!

We enjoyed a couple of fires and a good night's rest.

We packed everything up and admired how well it went back in the van.

We were really beginning to wonder what we forgot since it fit so nicely.

It packed so well we had to take a picture...

mostly so we could remember how we did it!

After loading up the van we took a short drive to another part of the park for a hike.

:)