Watsons' Summer Trip: NC Hills

To escape the humidity and heat of our part of the state, we drove 3 hours west towards the hills of NC to the area near Boone and Blowing Rock. It was early August and the weather promised to be hot but more comfortable in the mountainous area. We stayed near Fleetwood at this house perched high on a steep hill in the woods. We imagined this would be an awesome cabin to stay at in the winter too!



But before we checked in, we had a hike to complete in search of the boulders and waterfalls.

It was a very easy hike, about a mile and half or so. 

When we got there it was time to climb up the river by hopping/scrambling on these huge rocks in the  water.

Some places were not easy at all. 

You can see on the eating picture below how the rocks just kept going up. Snack time over here. Robert's "I love my rice crispies" face.

We found a small swimming hole a bit up the stream. No one really was prepared, but still got into the water in their clothes. This is a picture at the beginning, when Robert was accessing the situation wondering if he should get in;)

Mark was the first one to go in and slide down this rock. 

And then Robert did. 

For the longest time Alex just sat on the rock right there not wanting to get wet. And then THE ONE time he didn't want to get wet, he slipped, and slid down the rock straight into the water. It was funny for all of us but him!



This was Katya half of the time....Our first family trip with her and the phone. It had to be put away a number of times...argh..

For dinner we went to a British pub! It was quite good but nothing like England:) 

The following morning we drove further into the mountains via the famous Blue Ridge Parkway. Took a couple of hikes. 

The view of one of the sharp turns.

In the afternoon we drove to another location to go hiking and swimming. I don't remember at all the name of the place.

I assume it had something to do with Upper Falls though 😆.

This was our most exciting swimming day probably as the kids did something very new!

We found the waterhole described by some guide books and it was perfect!! Our kids are so brave!

The kids had to climb up the rock holding on to the rope. The water was freezing!:)

Trying to soak in the sun and warm up a bit!

To get to the water hole we had to cross this log from the other side. 

While crossing it, we noticed this crazy snake. It was just sleeping there the whole time but yes, we had to keep an eye on it. 

Here is a hiking picture of us with a photo bomb.  

We took a short detour going back to the car. We wanted to check out one more spot were people were sliding down the rock. It was a very strenuous hike over there actually, but we couldn't just go back now. As we were walking, a crazy thing happened--we walked through a place were a bunch of WASPS were hanging out. They were not noticeable at all, but when Mark started screaming bloody murder, we knew something was up! He got a stung in his arm (six months later he still has a scar)! It was super painful, of course. And just a moment later a woman that was part of the group walking behind us shrieked just like Mark because she got also stung and was in obvious shock and pain. This sort of unpleasant adventure left a sour taste in our mouths, so when we got to the sliding waterfall place, we were not so excited to stay there. Besides, there was a huge church group of youth that was already doing down the "slide". Alex did one run down the slide and we decided to start going back up to where the car was parked.

As we were about to leave, we noticed that one youth leader, a woman, was obviously injured on her ankle. It turns out she had slipped and fell a few feet away and now couldn't put any weight on her foot. We saw that the other leaders were helping her, so we kind of shrugged our shoulders and thought there was not much we could do for her...for just a moment. As we started walking away, Robert and I both felt like he probably could stay and help carry/support her going up the hill. The trail was just a dirt path, windy and steep and about a mile. It was not going to be easy. So he stayed and I decided to hike up with the kids on our own. He told me later that the moment they saw him turn around and approach them they just sighed a breath of relief and thanked God. Until Robert turned around they only had one other guy and two women who were not really in shape to carry the injured woman. 

For about quarter of a mile Robert and the other guy carried the lady up the hill. It was a slow going but they were moving. Suddenly, they saw two young couples coming down the hill. It turned out they were rock climbers but even better--they were first responders! That meant that they had gear and ropes that could help! The girls went back up the hill quickly and got all the equipment from their car. Meeting these people was an amazing blessing! They took over the "rescue" process and in no time the injured lady was brought up the hill to her bus. I am sure the whole youth group and probably their whole church group would be hearing for months this experience when complete strangers showed so much kindness towards this woman. I am glad we followed the prompting to not abandon them thinking they could just do it on our own.

Well, after such an eventful afternoon, in the evening, we stopped by Todd, NC to listen to the bluegrass concert. It was so relaxing and warm. We played cards while people around us ate picnic dinners, played and chatted listening to music. 

The following day we went to another area near Blowing Rock and found a swimming hole called "Trashcan". Not sure why it's called that. It was a very short but tricky descent to get there and even harder ascent. Parking was scarce and it was little hard to find. We enjoyed an hour or so there with a good jumping rock. But our first swimming hole was still better, we thought.



That evening it rained A LOT in the area. The highlight of our evening was dinner at Kayote Kitchen. We loved that food! And you could make it as healthy as you wanted, plus kids could get free quesadillas! Mark got a double portion since we bought two adult entrees, so he was in heaven!

In the morning, we packed up and headed to Whitetop, NC to take a 17 mile bike ride on the Virginia Creeper Trail. Here we are at the beginning of our ride.

The kids were ready to go! 

The whole ride was so pleasant and beautiful! Super easy too! Virginia Creeper Trail is rail-trail, so it used to be a railroad track. Thus, it's very flat. Our trip from Whitetop to Damascus was a very low grade downhill ride, so super easy.

We took just a couple of water and snack breaks and also several times had to stop so we could catch up to each other. 

Finally, we arrived at Damascus! This was a very non-rushed trip as you can see but we did really well! Everyone loved doing it, so I highly recommend it. 

And that is how our first real exploration of North Carolina went! I will be posting another post with just videos from this trip shortly.


Lyana.