Henry Horton State Park near Lewisburg, TN

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Last weekend, Pearl traveled to Henry Horton State Park near Lewisburg, TN for a weekend of hiking and splashing in the Duck River.  She even let Jennifer get in some kayaking.  For those that have never visited the park, it’s worth going.  Henry Horton is located near Columbia and Lewisburg, TN, about 45 miles or so from Nashville.  Along with various hiking trails and the blueway kayaking trail along the Duck River, Henry Horton offers a top notch golf course.  The campground is one of the best among the Tennessee State Parks we have visited.  It only has about 52 RV sites, but they are very spacious.  Some campgrounds tend to squeeze as many sites as they can in a small space.  Henry Horton gives you room to stretch.

 

Run Dog Run 5K

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It’s raining.  There’s not much worse than rain on a weekend when you are at the office 5 days a week.  The 3 of us were spoiled with beautiful weather in a state park with good friends last weekend.  This weekend…not so much.  All is not lost as I take the opportunity to bring you up to speed on Pearl’s road running adventures.  Jennifer found a virtual 5K run through http://www.goneforarun.com called the Run Dog Run 5K.  The proceeds supported animal rescue, which is right down our alley.  The cool thing about a virtual run is that it is usually over the course of a few days.  Run Dog Run was between April 15th and 17th.  You pick out your favorite route and take off.

When you register, you get your medal, a bib a T-shirt and any other goodies that you ordered in the mail.  The medal is probably one of my favorites.

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Then, anytime from April 15-17th, you run  your race.  We posted some pics to Run Dog Run when we finished.

Fun time!

Rock Island State Park 2016

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Pearl began the camping season with a trip to Rock Island State Park.  This is her second trip to this park and this time she brought some friends with her.  We were joined by the Bowen Family and I think everyone had a good time.  Pearl had 4 more people to spoil her.

The Bowen Family: Bill, Jennifer, Dalton and Emma
The Family

South Cumberland State Park

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When your morning starts with a rainbow, chances are you are going to have a pretty good day!  Yesterday, that rule held true.  We ventured a little over an hour down the road to South Cumberland State Park, one of the newer parks in Tennessee’s state park system, which is spread over 4 different counties.  Starting the day in the Foster Falls area, the park was having a half marathon/marathon along the Fiery Gizzard Trail.  We took the very short hike to Foster Falls IMG_1481

where Pearl tackles another suspension bridge like a champ.IMG_1484

Next, we drove over to the Stone Door Campground area and hit the trail for a 6 miler, taking in the views from the ridge above.

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The Stone Door is a natural aperture through the mountain, hence its name.IMG_1499

After a bite of lunch, we headed back out to the Greeter (not Greater, but Greeter) Falls area for a short hike filled with waterfalls.  Greeter Falls, itself, has an upper and lower falls.  It’s named after the family that settled the area and their old homesite is also on the trail.  Also, you can get a look at the Boardtree Falls.  All of this in a short .8 mile hike.IMG_1514IMG_1519IMG_1523

Finally, we drove over to the Savage Gulf Campground.  Too late to start out on the trail, we took in the local wildlife before heading back to camp.IMG_1526

Jennifer named him “Ralph”.

 

Personal Record at Virgin Falls Trail

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Pearlie hit two personal records on the trail today.  She hiked a total of 13.5 miles in a day (PR) and took her longest single hike at 9 miles (PR).  This all took place in an area I had no idea existed, the Virgin Falls Natural Area.  Two of the most impressive falls on one trail.

Crossing the Stream

Virgin Falls originates from caves in the hills (see last photo) and then falls an impressive distance to a small pool below, then returns back to the caves.  Really cool!  As one gentleman stated on the trail, it’s better than shopping.

A Dog’s Trust

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I am constantly amazed at dogs.  There is no absolute than the trust of a dog.  Today, although the suspension bridge moved under her feet and she was uneasy to say the least, Pearl trusted us and crossed the abyss.

Later as we trekked along the Woodlands Trail in Fall Creek Falls State Park, we crossed paths with a beautiful yellow lab and his human on a morning trail run.  We stepped off of the trail to let them by, hoping not to break their stride.  She did not have him on a leash but he stayed about 5 feet behind her, maintaining her pace.  This seems like a typical occurrence…until she mentioned that the dog was blind.  He was right behind her until he caught our scent or heard our footsteps.  He slowed slightly, getting his bearings with the new scents, sounds and obstacles.  Pearl went in for a polite sniff greeting, to which he seems both unbothered and unamused.  We stepped aside and he continued behind his human, completely reliant on her eyes to guide him on their journey.  How many of us could have that much faith in another?

Who Knew this was in Tennessee?

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The thing about Tennessee is that although it is only one state, it might as well be three.  The joke is there are three stars on the Tennessee state flag because it is actually three different states.  This is certainly true when you look at the geography of the state.  Most of us know about the Smokies of East Tennessee, but the Cumberland Plateau is just as grand.

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Twin Falls in Rock Island State Park is at least 250 feet.  It is the most impressive falls I have ever seen, and I’ve seen just about all of them in the Smokies.  For some perspective, you can see the guy in the blue at the bottom of the picture.

Pearl enjoyed the 1.6 mile hike along the bluff.  It was quite a site to see miles of bluff with small waterfalls, one after another.

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Rock Island State Park-Pearl Hits the Cumberland Plateau

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This weekend, we hit the road to Rock Island State Park in Rock Island, TN.  Even though it’s about 4 hours from home, West Tennesseans know little about it.  When we told people we were coming, the exclusive response was “Where is that?”  Rock Island is located outside of McMinnville, TN, on the Cumberland Plateau.

Our primary purpose for the trip is to run in the Rock Island 5 Miler, part of the Tennessee State Park Running Series.  Now that we have the camper and the state parks are dog friendly, I hope to do as many as I can.  Although I typically run at least 6 miles once a week, I may have bitten off more than I can chew on this one.  The locals are already telling us how bad the hills are on the route.

Since we are early risers, we took Pearl for a ride to get a lay of the land.  Rock Island has some of the biggest waterfalls I have ever seen.  There are several hiking trails that we will be tackling this afternoon and tomorrow, but if hiking isn’t your thing, you can see the waterfalls, like Great Falls and Twin Falls, from overlook parking area and/or picnic areas.  I highly recommend checking out Rock Island for a long weekend.  Pictures will follow in subsequent posts.

The Laurel River Trail

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Today we went back to Hot Springs, NC, to try out the Laurel River Trail.  This trail is what you expect from the Appalachians.  It was a 6.8 in and out that stayed along side the Laurel River.  By Smoky standards, the trail is incredibly flat.  As you go along the river, there are several spots to stop and cool off in the water, which Pearl did on more than one occasion.

We took the trail all the way to the two rattlesnakes chillin’ in the middle of the trail.  IMG_9378

Pearl went in for a sniff when Jennifer spotted them.  Jennifer reacted before Pearl could get in harms way.  In fact, I think Jennifer jumped about 4 feet off of the ground.  To Jen, the only good snake is a dead snake and they are all copperheads.  As she backtracked to where I was standing, she told me there was a huge copperhead in the trail.  Of course, I had to check it out.  There I saw a light colored rattler curled up with a very dark rattler.  Neither ever moved, despite several flashes from the camera.  Jen “calmly” explained to me that there was no way in hell she was walking past 2 rattle snakes.  I agreed that we didn’t need to tempt fate.  I wasn’t worried about us, but dogs will be curious.  We were near the end anyway so we headed back to let Pearl play in the river at a safer location.

Pearl and the AT

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Pearl made another milestone today.  Not only did she venture into North Carolina, but she hiked a small part of the Appalachian Trail.  We headed out early this morning into Pisgah National Forest on the other side of the Appalachians.

The Dane was well admired today.  The Max Patch Trail is well traveled despite being down a long dirt road.  Dogs were prevalent.  Pisgah allows dogs and the Max Patch is a wide open mountain top.  They say you can see Mount Mitchell and certain Gatlinburg peaks, if you know where to look (which I don’t).  It’s a really unique trail to the area and reminded me of the prairies in South Dakota.  Lots of wild flowers, birds and hikers.

One black dog aptly named “Wooly” make too quick of an advance at Pearlie.  Her and Jennifer were minding their own business when he flew up the trail, straight at them.  Jennifer immediately went to guns, protecting her baby girl.  The 105 pound baby girl then went to guns to protect her mama.  I don’t know if Pearl looked smaller at a distance or Jennifer advancing with a trekking pole in hand scared him, but either way, Wooly thought better of the situation and headed the other direction.  By this time, Pearl is ready to chase.  We learned two things.  First, keep your dogs on a leash, regardless of how well behaved they are.  After all, they are wolves at heart and we don’t always understand the language between dogs.  Second, make sure your leash is secure.  Jennifer was wearing the Spindrift belt with Surfs Up leash and even with 105 pounds at full speed, she was able to keep Pearl under control.  The situation was quickly defused into a doggie “meet and greet”.

Right on Wooly’s heals was the first of two of his siblings, a little pit mix who immediately assumed a submissive posture to Pearl.  The second sibling, however, I think had other ideas.  His name was “Ed”.  Ed was a basset mix.  I could tell for 2 reasons.  One, he had the short legs and long body of a basset, even if he didn’t have the ears.  Two, he had the obstinate personality of a basset.  Despite his dad’s firm request for him to come, Ed was smitten with Pearl.  Apparently, he likes tall women.

After our hike, we did some more exploring of the Pisgah area with Pearl’s head hanging out of the window.  Eventually, we made our way to Hot Springs, NC.  The AT runs right through Hot Springs.  There’s a very nice campground across the road from the Spa.  There was also a very nice hiking store where we met Johnny Molloy, a writer who specializes in hiking books.  Honestly, we didn’t realize we met him until after the fact.  Nice guy, great store.  They even invited Pearl in.

Pearl was a little nervous with all the people, but quickly adjusted to all of the fanfare for her.  One guy ran out of a local store to ask Jennifer what kind of dog she was.  He and his wife had a bet, Greyhound or Great Dane.  He won.

Walking the streets with Pearl is similar to walking with a celebrity.  She gets a lot of looks, several waves and a few “handshakes”.