The first was Juney Whank Falls. We hiked up about half a mile to see this 90 foot waterfall. We sat for a while and eventually spotted an Eastern Pheobe living under the bridge (that's a bird).
Me hiking back down from the falls. Do I look 23 weeks pregnant?
The next waterfall was called Tom Branch Falls, followed by Indian Creek Falls. Both waterfalls were about 25 feet tall.
By this time my need for a bathroom was excruciatingly urgent, so we only wandered a little farther along the trail and then headed out to have a picnic.
Afterwards, we drove to the Cherokee Indian Reservation to see Mingo Falls. I read somewhere that at 120 feet tall, Mingo Falls is one of the tallest and most spectacular waterfalls in the southern Appalachians. Neat! It was beautiful!
Mingo Falls was probably the best waterfall that we saw. We had to climb approximately 160 stairs to get to it, but it was worth it.
Next we went to Mingus Mill, an historic gristmill on the other side of the park. We watched a little demonstration of how the mill works and then took a short up-and-back hike along Mingus Creek. On the way, we tried to find birds but all we could do was look towards their chirping for movement. We decided that we need binoculars if we are ever going to be anything but amateurs.
Then we decided to drive back up into the mountains to see the view at Newfound Gap. It was once again gorgeous.
While we were up there we saw some Dark-eyed Juncos! These made me think of home because my parents are always telling me about the juncos they see in their backyard. They are pretty fun to watch.
My hiking buddy! and me.
Then we headed back to Bryson City after some dinner. Paul posed in front of the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad train for me right before we went for ice cream. I got a chocolate-dipped waffle cone with two scoops of ice cream and for a minute I thought I was in Waterton. I can't wait to take Paul to Waterton someday, because I just know he would love it.
That night we sat out on the porch in an attempt to improve our birding skills. We saw a cardinal that pooped on our car and we named him Pete.
1 comment:
What a fabulous day! You earned your ice cream treat. And you look adorable. Morgan wants to go to North Carolina when she graduates from high school and now I know why. It's a beautiful place.
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