Guadalupe Mountains and Carlsbad

Texas and New Mexico come together in a beautiful part of the country with a tremendous diversity of natural wonders: the Guadalupe Mountains, the Carlsbad Caverns, and the Chihuahuan Living Desert. We spent four days experiencing as much as we could including the 40-year celebration of Guadalupe National Park which offered all kinds of adventures in honor of the day. We took a ride on a replica of Wells Fargo stagecoach. Wow, what a bumpy ride! And we were on an old asphalt road. I can only imagine how uncomfortable it was to be traveling on a dirt road rutted with wagon wheels. Our driver had a little friend riding shotgun and he did a good job. We had no problem with hostile Indians on our ride.

The weather was less than ideal, foggy and misty. We hoped to see Guadalupe Peak and El Capitan, the two highest peaks in the area, but the entire mountain was fogged in. About the only views we had were a few hundred yards from the Smith Spring trail, a loop that started and ended at the Smith Ranch.

We enjoyed the trail passing through a dry desert until we came to the spring, halfway around the trail. What an oasis that must have been for the Indians and the settlers in this arid place! Instead of cactus and scrub brush, there were numerous trees including some I'd never seen before, Madrone. with colorful pinkish bark and red berries. We hung around the spring for awhile resting and enjoying the change in scenery. Then off we went to complete the loop ending on a stretch of paved road that was wheelchair accessible.

Back at the Smith Ranch a group was singing and dancing -- explaining all of their instruments. The two young girls dancing actually are part of the percussion group, keeping the time of the music. What a fun way to keep the beat. We enjoyed watching and I was toe-tapping along with the dancers.

Our fun day ended with dinner at the "best Mexican restaurant" in Carlsbad, NM, Rojas! I agree with the little guy in the picture. Yum!

Definitely the Most Beautiful Waterfall Hike East of the Mississippi!

Wow, what a hike! If you like waterfalls, Crabtree falls is the place to go. It's in Nelson County, Virginia not too far from Waynesboro and Charlettesville. The Falls are a 1200 foot vertical drop with five major cascades and a number of smaller ones. Larry and I went off on the outing with my sister Peggy and my brother's wife, Jessica. Neither of them had hiked much before so we suggested they get hiking poles and they were both glad they did even though the path is mostly wide and not too steep. It was still pretty strenuous on the way up with several places where you had to climb steep wooden stairs. But what a worth-it hike! I can't wait to go back again it was so incredibly beautiful. We hit the perfect time for the mountain laurel and rhododendron. What a sight!

Here's the first cascade at the bottom of the falls which is only about 500 feet from the parking lot at the end of a paved trail. This beautiful spot is accessible to anybody.

The trail from that point started sharply uphill but with gradual switchbacks -- not too bad even for non-hikers although I wouldn't want to do it in flipflops like one fella we saw. Here's another beautiful cascade farther along the trail.

The flowers were in spectacular full bloom. And we just had to stop and admire them everywhere we went.

You know what they say about stopping to smell the flowers. We got lots of opportunities!

And here's one of those staircases I was talking about although this wasn't the longest.

There were some great views of the mountains along the trail as well. What a spot -- a little bit of everything.

There were lots of places with little pools. Peggy and I stopped to cool off at one although we were careful to pick one nearer the bottom and not near a cascade. Twenty-three people have died at the falls climbing on the slippery rocks and falling. We had no intention of being one of those statistics.

Couldn't resist this spot for a photo-op, especially since we almost never get pictures of ourselves together since we generally hike by ourselves. It was great to have some extra photographers for the hike!

And here's a video of the top of the falls. We've had such a wet spring there was plenty of water pouring over. Waterfalls are always more fun to see when there's been plenty of rain and we've had (and still are having) more than our share.

Pack up your hiking boots and trecking poles and come join us on the trail. There are so many great places around here to explore. We promise you won't be disappointed.

Flowers and a Walk for Mother's Day

What a great day! Larry and I borrowed our youngest grandchild (except for the little one coming in August),Marianna, and went over to the Massanutten Mountain Story Trail for the walk out to the observation deck overlooking the Luray Valley. It was windy sweatshirt weather, but sunny and beautiful. Marianna enjoyed blowing bubbles and climbing on the "big wocks" and especially the perfect ending for every outing -- a treat, in this case frozen custard. There's a custard stand on Rte. 211 heading west toward New Market that has the best black rasberry custard. It's my favorite -- even beats out the dreamsicle cones at Katie's in Woodstock. 

I got an even more special treat - my Mother's Day flowers. While most of the mountain laurel wasn't even close to blooming there was one flowering near the parking lot and close to 211 coming out the mountain road were some beautiful phlox. When I got out to photograph them, I got a special bonus. Two species of butterfly. But the gifts weren't over even then. My darling husband made a surf and turf dinner with all the fixin's. Who could ask for anything more?

Happy Feet!

I DID IT! I joined a wellness program last March: 100 miles in 100 days. I logged out on June 30th at about 115 miles. Sometimes I walked by myself; sometimes with Larry. A few times I walked-ran. More than a few I hiked with Larry. On my most ambitious day (while we were camping at Blackwater Falls) I logged over 7 miles. And the benefit is feeling better and stronger and able to keep going even on days that follow short-changed nights of sleep. My goal now is to keep up the mile a day average and keep walking. I'm having fewer problems with my joints as well. Wish I could say I'd dropped some weight, but that seems to be a hopeless struggle. Ah well, one can't ask for everything. But I definitely recommend a regular regimen of walking. And if you can throw in a little hiking to some beautiful vistas - well that's just the reward at the end of the trail.

Hit the trails - but don't forget your hiking poles!

There's no better way to explore nature than to lace up a pair of hiking boots and hit the trails. Whether you're in a park or a national forest the variety can be amazing. Even the same trail can look completely different travelled in the opposite direction or at a different time of the day. We found this to be especially true of Blackwater Falls. What a variety of trails!

We hiked about eight miles within the park during our three-day visit as well as a four-miler round trip into the Monongahela National Forest on the Allegheny Trail. Put on your virtual hiking boots and pick up your poles and walk along with us.

The Balsam Trail starts at the Blackwater Falls campground and meanders through a green wood absolutely covered with Christmas Tree ferns. You could have called this the Christmas walk as a matter of fact. Growing up my dad always bought a balsam fir to decorate and they were everywhere. I never realized how large they could grow as you can see from the photo below where I'm absolutely dwarfed by the tree (and you can't even see the angel on the top!). The branches were all weighed down from the heavy rains during the night. I was tempted to lift them up and see if any of Santa's elves were hiding there.



We walked the Elakala Falls and Balanced Rock trails which both meandered through dark woods which reminded me of Bilbo Baggins adventures in Mirkwood. The deep shade from the hemlocks allowed very little underbrush to grow but the rhodadendrons didn't seem to mind the gloom as much. They proliferate throughout the park. It would be a glorious sight to be there when they are in full bloom, but they had already finished.



The trail head of the Balanced Rock path was in the cabin area where someone or a group of someones had built a visual of the trail's name.





My favorite walk of our trip was a cross country ski trail (a portion of the Gee Haw) that intersected to Spudder Track. We picked it up on the road to the nature center and turned right on Spudder Track to head over to Pendleton Point lookout. The track was a grass path cut through a meadow bordered by woodland overflowing with blooming mountain laurel, one of my favorite flowers.



The walk out of the park was an adventure in itself. Once we got into the woods, the Allegheny Trail was narrow and much of it along a rocky, wet track that obviously becomes a streambed in heavy rains. We called it the shlerp trail because we often found ourselve in muddy footing with a sucking slurping sound at each step. We definitely needed our poles and boots for this hike. Even so I lost my footing on a wet rock and went down, but softly and didn't hurt anything but my pride. It did get me thinking about what to do if one of us got really hurt on a hike. You wouldn't walk out with a broken hip, that's for sure. We trecked as far as the first shelter which was about two miles from the point we left the park. It looked like a nice dry place to spend a night in the woods for overnighers. We are day hikers with no interest in carrying the kind of equipment needed for sleeping in the woods. (I love my bed!)



Our last hike of the trip was a circuit made from a section of the Yellow Birch Trail, the Red Spruce Riding Trail (The name is a holdover from the time the park operated a stable.), and the Water Tank Trail (yes, there's a huge water tank). The portion of the Yellow Birch was the most difficult of the trip with lots of fallen trees, very rocky, and several places where we had to look for the blazes to stay on the path. One spot required climbing through a narrow opening between two rocks with a three foot drop on the other side. Wow! I was sure happy we didn't leave the poles in the car.


Once we got to the Red Spruce and Water Tank sections it was a walk in the park -- with a wide path and easy footing. Near the petting zoo we met a group of guinea hens also out for a walk. They didn't mind pausing for a photo shoot.



And then, of course, we found the water tank. Do you think we could have missed it?



If you are hikers like we are and enjoy the great outdoors, if you aren't afraid of getting your feet muddy and having hat hair -- take a walk in the woods. There's plenty to see at Blackwater Falls. I'll finish with a photo taken from just one of the overlook spots (Lindy Point). It doesn't get better than this.

Hiking and Praying on All Souls Day

Sunday is a great day for hiking! Larry and I like to pack up our hiking poles, put rosaries in our pockets and head out for an adventure in God's great outdoors. Today we planned to hike the Mudhole Gap Trail on the western side of the Massanutten Mountain, but we overshot the gravel road and ended up at the Fort Valley Road. So we changed plans, turned left, and headed off to Elizabeth Furnace and the Signal Knob Trail up to Buzzards' Rock Overlook. Signal Knob (a site the Confederates used as a lookout during the Civil War) is a ten mile round trip and too much for our old knees, but the overlook is perfect - three miles up and back with a nice resting place for a Zone bar and an apple. The trail is rocky and all uphill, but that means it's downhill heading back so we weren't complaining. And what a beautiful day! Perfect weather - 60s and sunny. It wasn't even too cool walking in the woods - just beautiful. And the leaves are still colorful. See for yourself. On the way back down we met two men with a young boy and a dog that made us do a double take. She was Shaley sans her beautiful tail. She had the big white blaze in front, again just like Shaley. We thought it was her reincarnation. I just had to take her picture. I forgot to ask her name, but she is beautiful no matter what you call her. Her owner said she wasn't a border collie; she's an aussie. But she sure looked like our Shaley. Almost made me cry since we only put Shaley to sleep in the Spring. We ended our All Souls Day outing with a stop at the cemetery near our home where we prayed the Chaplet of Divine Mercy for all the Poor Souls, and especially prayed for Mom and Dad Kreitzer and Mom and Dad Schneider and, of course, all our brothers and sisters, in-laws, and friends who have gone before us. We hope they are praying for us as well. Every time I see this gravestone I wonder if George Stevens fought in the Civil War. He was the right age and he would probably have been in Stonewall Jackson's army. Think I'll end this with a little video I did through the car window on the way home. Didn't get the prettiest spot on the route, but even so it's beautiful. Come take a hike with us. No matter what your level there's something for everyone and we don't mind if you leave us in the dust. We'll meet you in the parking lot with a snack.