A Fall in The Canyon

[Big Kahuna aka John 71]

Thanks for the trip report. The park looks beautiful and I put it on our list as a must visit. I also like the hammocks.. Looks like a found a christmas gift...

[YENSIDCAMPER 66]

Wow! This looks like a wonderful place to camp and hike. I'm loving your pictures. Seeing all these pictures and reports of the mountains makes me wish we loved further north so we could enjoy them more regularly.

Great job and can't wait for more.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Thanks, I couldn't believe how beautiful and accessible this park was. It is a must do. A poor man's Smoky Mountain.

Looks like a great hike! I really have to get to that park sometime. There just aren't enough camping weekends to get everywhere I want to go.

Might be worth considering a GG here next September. It is closer for the AL folks.

Excellent stuff, YC!

I never heard of this park, so thanks for writing the report. And thanks for the photos- the park is beautiful. Especially in the Fall.

It looks like you had mild weather.

Love the hammock photos!

TCD

Great weather for sure. I know you are a hammock fan yourself, you really ought to check into this brand they are awesome.

Love the fall foliage photos. Looks like a nice campground. My son and many of the boys in his scout troop have Enos. They like to stack them too. He sleeps in his all night and says its comfortable. About 24 years ago my husband drove a U-Haul over Monteagle while I followed in the car. It is quite a mountain.

I wish I had the hammock when I was in boyscouts. Encourage your son to get his Eagle Scout. I stopped at Life Scout and regret it at my age now.

Very pretty park! Looks like a wonderful place to visit and camp!

I would encourage you to try it sometime.

1200 steps going down, not so bad, coming back up well if you want to get out of the valley you will make it sooner or later. Beautiful pictures. Looking forward to more.

Thanks Jeff, more on the way!

Love Love Love the idea of the Hammocks, the kids would really enjoy those!!

that park is beautiful, going to have to put that on our list :)

I need fall extended, who needs winter??

Judy, glad to hear from you. This park isn't too far from you might be a good place to get the junior fiends together again next year. My boys loved hanging out with your kiddos!

Gorgeous pictures! I wouldn't mind the hike down, but I ain't sure I would like the hike back up!

Rita, You can actually go one way 6.5 miles if you have someone park a car at the end of the gulch. I bet Ed would do it with you...the trail I mean.

Thanks for the trip report. The park looks beautiful and I put it on our list as a must visit. I also like the hammocks.. Looks like a found a christmas gift...

Christmas for sure! There are alot of cool accessories as well. My kids are getting some of those.

[YENSIDCAMPER 66]

After our stop at the first waterfall we decided to head further into the canyon using the Silton's Gulch trail. This is a 6.5 mile trail that went about halfway down. You can actually park a car at the end of the trail if you want. Next time we will do that, because I would rather walk 6.5 miles down hill than do what we did, which was half way down and half way up!

Here is a panoramic picture made close to the first falls... I hope it looks as good on the baord.

Here is a picture of us looking at the maps to figure out how to find the GeoCache. This was a fail but at least we were looking at the maps to begin with.

So down into the canyon we go!!!

Sorry those pictures were so blurry, I guess I was already out of breath and we are just beginning the downhill part.

Here is another set of falls...

And yet another set of smaller falls, the kids loved climbing out to this point, it wasn't easy but very "do able".

So this is where we begin the climb back up. After reaching the GeoCache site was supposed to be...where the two creeks meet... we came up empty and began the climb back.

On the way back up there was another off shoot of trails we missed going down that lead to even another set of falls!

Well I have no more pictures from our climb out of the canyon, too tired I guess. I bet we all looked more like heck than ever.

That evening right before settling in by the campfire we went to a wildlife viewing area where there was a deck that overlooked a stocked lake.

That is our picture limit and ends the second day of our trip and this installment.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Looks like a nice hike. And beautiful waterfalls.

[PureTcrazy...rita 380]

Love the pics with y'all and the boys at the falls! It is gorgeous.

[dblr....Rennie 224]

Loved the hike and mostly the time spent with the boys it ends to quickly.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

YC-

I love all the waterfall photos!

Here in Florida, we have one, one natural waterfall. And it is just a little river falling into a sinkhole- kind of a lame waterfall if you want to know the truth. (It's at Falling Water State Park if anyone is interested).

Thanks for sharing your trip with us here. A trip to Georgia in the Fall is something that we could do.

I wanted to comment on this comment directed to Seals:

I wish I had the hammock when I was in boyscouts. Encourage your son to get his Eagle Scout. I stopped at Life Scout and regret it at my age now.

I agree with YC, scouting was something that my parents had to occasionally encourage me to stick with. Both my brother and I are Eagle Scouts, and it is something that I remain proud of to this day. We also used to sleep in our hammocks, but ours weren't as nice as the Enos hammocks- we just had those little backpacking hammocks that roll up into a ball about the size of a softball. I would probably not be able to move if I spent the night in one now, but back then, we thought they were the bomb.

TCD

[mouseketab.....Carol 1,261]

Love the pics. Due to the campout I was on, I never left the West rim campground. Beautiful!

[Seals 111]

I wish I had the hammock when I was in boyscouts. Encourage your son to get his Eagle Scout. I stopped at Life Scout and regret it at my age now.

All 3 of my boys are in scouts although only the older one has an Eno. The other two will probably get them for Christmas. The Older one is determined to get Eagle and is going to Philmont next summer. I think at least one of the twins will also continue through to Eagle. We are lucky to be in a troop that has produced a lot of Eagle scouts..

[dblr....Rennie 224]

All 3 of my boys are in scouts although only the older one has an Eno. The other two will probably get them for Christmas. The Older one is determined to get Eagle and is going to Philmont next summer. I think at least one of the twins will also continue through to Eagle. We are lucky to be in a troop that has produced a lot of Eagle scouts..

Our son went to Philmont and had a great time, one of his best trips in his words, he also made Eagle and very proud of him. He took the skills he learned in scouts and spent 8 months in Austraila campning and working on organic farms in a program called Woofing. Nice to see his skills came in handy.

[MLM5.. aka Judy 97]

Another great update! I'd love to get the kids back together, mine ask when the next gathering is ALL THE TIME.. lol

you tell us when and the where's and we will be there :)

[stefa70 205]

Very cool trek YC.

I love all the family pictures. Absolutely, the best part of a vacation. :heart:

[YENSIDCAMPER 66]

Looks like a nice hike. And beautiful waterfalls.

Wonderful hike, this park had something for our whole group. I think your family would like it too, but you would likely be carrying Anna a lot. There are also some dangerous places for a Houdini like her. The youngest one on our trip was a first grader and he was whinning like crazy coming back up those stairs. There were alot of stopping points along the way so if you aren't in a hurry to get to the top it wouldn't be so bad.

Love the pics with y'all and the boys at the falls! It is gorgeous.

Thanks Rita there is just more and more to see in this park.

Loved the hike and mostly the time spent with the boys it ends to quickly.

You got that right seeing how tall my oldest has gotten has really brought home how quickly time goes.

YC-

I love all the waterfall photos!

Here in Florida, we have one, one natural waterfall. And it is just a little river falling into a sinkhole- kind of a lame waterfall if you want to know the truth. (It's at Falling Water State Park if anyone is interested).

Thanks for sharing your trip with us here. A trip to Georgia in the Fall is something that we could do.

I wanted to comment on this comment directed to Seals:

I agree with YC, scouting was something that my parents had to occasionally encourage me to stick with. Both my brother and I are Eagle Scouts, and it is something that I remain proud of to this day. We also used to sleep in our hammocks, but ours weren't as nice as the Enos hammocks- we just had those little backpacking hammocks that roll up into a ball about the size of a softball. I would probably not be able to move if I spent the night in one now, but back then, we thought they were the bomb.

TCD

I think I can speak for the group that went to Defeated Creek in September, if it meant you would travel up here, that gathering could move a little south to this park next year. Heck Dave and Tom might even have two.

It fits to me that you were an Eagle Scout. Your work always seems complete and you always are prepared. You will have to tell us if you are courteous, loyal, kind, reverent, brave and all those other things scouts are... True enough, baseball took me from scouting, sticking it out to get your Eagle is something to be proud of. I do regret I didn't stick it out. I was so close.

Love the pics. Due to the campout I was on, I never left the West rim campground. Beautiful!

The West Rim was more like backwoods camping than the East Rim. They are building a Yurt Village right next to the West Rim Campground, they look like fun places to stay.

All 3 of my boys are in scouts although only the older one has an Eno. The other two will probably get them for Christmas. The Older one is determined to get Eagle and is going to Philmont next summer. I think at least one of the twins will also continue through to Eagle. We are lucky to be in a troop that has produced a lot of Eagle scouts..

Philmont, the Scouts Mecca. I always dreamed of going to Philmont. You know a lot of quality guidance from a Scoutmaster can produce a lot of Eagles.

Our son went to Philmont and had a great time, one of his best trips in his words, he also made Eagle and very proud of him. He took the skills he learned in scouts and spent 8 months in Austraila campning and working on organic farms in a program called Woofing. Nice to see his skills came in handy.

Scouting is truly for a lifetime.

Another great update! I'd love to get the kids back together, mine ask when the next gathering is ALL THE TIME.. lol

you tell us when and the where's and we will be there :)

We will get busy again with camping in March or April. I will certainly send out the word as we set some camping dates.

Very cool trek YC.

I love all the family pictures. Absolutely, the best part of a vacation. :heart:

Spending time with the boys like these is why we bought the camper in the first place. My wife almost cried when she saw the picture of her and my oldest at the viewing area in the last post. It really hit her how tall he has gotten and quickly time has gone. Thanks for reading along.

[YENSIDCAMPER 66]

One of our party had to leave on the third day of our trip so after saying goodbyes the rest of us decided it was time to take another hike. Take a look at the picture below, we wanted to know what was on the other side of the Canyon. See those people there in that picture, that his where we are going on this day.

Here are some pictures we took on the way. Really this was only about a 1 mile hike over there and then one mile back. Not bad at all.

Here is a picture from the bridge crossing the creek at the bottom of the canyon just above the where saw the first falls in post number one.

When the kids saw this cliff they just had to climb it.

leave it to kids to find a cave, I am just glad there were no hibernating bears. One odd thing we noticed is we saw no wildlife, not even at the viewing area. We also didn't see any racoons or other annoying critters.

Here are views from the "other side" back towards the East Rim.

Here is what we did while we were on the "other side"...

Here we are on the way back across the bridge and the kids just had to play in the water this time.

We finished our day with a little Disc Golf. We don't play much but I would say this was a great course for the kids not too long or tricky but with enough variety to keep them entertained.

Tomorrow is the last day and I don't have alot of pictures, but let's say the early bird gets the worm. Tune in for the last post on Halloween night.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Those are some great family pictures you just posted. Christmas card material.

[Southern Blessings 4]

Loving your pictures! The waterfalls are gorgeous and the area is so nice!

[anolefan 8]

Great updates! I love all the hiking photos. I'm surprised by the lack of wildlife during your hikes.

I've only played disc golf twice, and I was awful. There were some players that we saw that took it very seriously, complete with long yardage and short yardage discs.

Can't wait for the morning photos!

[momof3kids-Yvonne 596]

Add me to the list of people who want to check out this campground.

Looks like I will need to do some serious work on getting in shape before I go there though.

[YENSIDCAMPER 66]

Those are some great family pictures you just posted. Christmas card material.

The scenery was great and I know we will look back on these pictures one day when we are\ in the "old folks home" and smile. Our kids will say to us remember when..and I hope we do.

Loving your pictures! The waterfalls are gorgeous and the area is so nice!

Thanks for reading along and all the nice things you commented. It is addicting to look for feedback.

Great updates! I love all the hiking photos. I'm surprised by the lack of wildlife during your hikes.

I've only played disc golf twice, and I was awful. There were some players that we saw that took it very seriously, complete with long yardage and short yardage discs.

Can't wait for the morning photos!

I was suprised by the lack of wildlife but at least there were no snakes. I was certain the kids were going to find on in those crevices they were in.

When we left the disc golf course there were two people playing carrying bags of discs, had headbands on, and water in hand. The guy look like John McEnroe from Wimbeldon in the 80's. He was into it.

I hope the next update doesn't disappoint.

Add me to the list of people who want to check out this campground.

Looks like I will need to do some serious work on getting in shape before I go there though.

If we can do it, you can too!

[YENSIDCAMPER 66]

Happy Halloween everyone. We just got back from our yearly rounds. I will miss it when the kids don't want to go anymore.

Now to finish this TR off.

The last morning had arrived, and neither my wife or I could sleep in, so we decided to get up and see if we could get to the Canyon for sunrise. We took a while to get coffee made and headed down the path to the overlook. What we saw was beautiful and peaceful as we were the only ones around. Drinking our hot coffee and holding hands we took in the beauty of God's creation.

Here are a few pictures in panoramic mode.

I included all the pictures we took on the different settings of our iPhone.

The time has come where there is nothing left to show, so I will end this report.

We really enjoyed this park and I hope you have seen enough to entice you to visit. It will become a regular stop for us.

Thanks for reading along! YensidCamper...YC...Eric (and Family).

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Those are some beautiful early morning pictures. Thank you for sharing. Really enjoyed the report.

[stefa70 205]

Great report YC!

Those last couple shots are beautiful with all the colors.

Thanks for taking us on your family vacation.

[anolefan 8]

Happy Halloween everyone. We just got back from our yearly rounds. I will miss it when the kids don't want to go anymore.

We really enjoyed this park and I hope you have seen enough to entice you to visit. It will become a regular stop for us.

Thanks for reading along! YensidCamper...YC...Eric (and Family).

I feel the same way about Halloween, the time is approaching when our oldest will be more interested in just hanging with his friends than going with us . Amazing how fast time is moving along.

The picture above is my favorite of the set. I love the composition and the color of the leaves. Great job!

This was an excellent report. Thanks for taking the time to share it!

[SCTigerCock 171]

WOW, we are getting some color in the low country, but NOTHING like this.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

WOW!!!!

Just wow at those sunrise photos!

Outstanding!

I literally got goose bumps thinking about sitting there seeing that in person.

You are right to not look forward to the day whey you have no kids left who want to trick-or-treat. That was me last night.

The last four Halloweens we were lucky to be at the Fort. This year, we were home. The girls didn't bother going out, even though we got some at our door in their age group.

A new chapter in my life. Sad.

So enjoy it while you can!

On a brighter note, we had our first college acceptance email yesterday, so we still have lots of fun things to look forward to. Just not trick-or-treating.

TCD