WATERFALLS

Busy day at English Chapel, the little independent church which is nestled within the Campground.  Also busy with folks packing up.  We will be quite alone by this evening.





We visit with Chris at his 1961 Aluminum “Yellowstone” with wooden screen doors.  So much Aluminum goodness.

After a quick loop around the “exercise path” and Andy’s Cove trail –- imagine having hemlocks and waterfalls on your morning walk -- we acquired our waterfall directions and we’re off.  

We have seen several of the 295 waterfalls in Transylvania County North Carolina, but we fear all waterfall pictures start to look the  same to our loyal readers. “You just have to be there.” is more true when you have walked up to “Twin Falls” and been rewarded with a “Bonus” waterfall because of the season.  Our fulsome guide, herself an adventure racer, estimated two hours for the journey, but she failed to calculate ole timers time.  We made it in four hours but enjoyed it immensely.  Other falls are roadside and others so well hidden that a guide is necessary.  Jim put us on to the  one at “Living Waters” which comprise five different falls and a really dramatic gorge all on private land.

HIGH ADVENTURE, FINE DINING AND ROMANCE

We were very tired after our waterfall ventures and a hot shower felt good.  I then promised my comely mate “High adventure, fine dining, ….”  So we cruised up beautiful Forest Scenic Highway 276 in the late afternoon, cresting on the Blue Ridge Parkway at Wagon Wheel Gap. In summer, campers and other romantics gather here with lawn chairs and a beverage to watch the sunset. Still too early in the day and the season, so we proceeded onwards toward the famed Pisgah Inn operated quite elegantly by your National Park Service.  We waited for a window table and were thrilled to see a Peregrine Falcon (fastest bird in the world) cruise by at eye level then sweep up over the crest.

Dinner was excellent.  We watched cloud tops for the predicted thunderheads, but only saw cartoon figures and sundry other apparitions. (It takes very little to entertain us.)  Mountain Pork Chops (really?) with Apple Chutney, Squash Medley, KILLER Silk Pie “All the Way” (with ice cream, strawberries and almonds).
With a little bit of luck, we would reach Wagon Wheel Gap for the last rays….. but the sun set BEHND the big, building clouds, rimming each with gold.

There was romance.  What, you wanted details? 
Then a long, slow, sweeping descent  back down 276 just as darkness settled. Paul Winter was playing “Sun behind the…”