Out and about in Western North Carolina

We spent the week-end of March 19th with Tracy and Kreg to celebrate their birthdays:  Tracy is a St. Patrick's Day girl and Kreg's is 4 days later.  We got there early enough on Saturday to go for a walk along the Laurel River, which is about 6 miles NE of Hot Springs and about 3 miles west of the NC/Tenn border.  The trail is an old railroad bed, so it is very flat.  It only rises 220' in the 3.5 mile length.  The day started out cloudy, but as you will see in the photos, it cleared up nicely.
Sorry, no flower photos.  It must have been a little to early for them at 1,650'.

Tracy, Caroline and Kreg looking for critters in the still water at the edge of the river.

A pleasant scene even without leaves on the trees.

We were expecting gnomes to come down at any time.

Bringing up the rear.

Tracy enjoying the river up close and personal.

Mother and daughter bonding.

Aren't they cute !!

Enjoying the beautiful day.

What a handsome couple !!

Crowders Mountain (NC) State Park

It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood, so Caroline and I decided to check out one of our state parks yesterday (March 12th).  It is 20 miles west of downtown Charlotte (as the crow flies - there is a photo below).  The SW border of the park is on the NC/SC state line and there is a trail that leads to Kings Mountain (SC) State Park and Kings Mountain National Military Park. As you will see, there were no leaves on the trees yet, but that did give us a chance to see the surrounding country side (I'm sure we won't be complaining about the leaves come summer !).

There are about 20 miles of trails in the park - we did about 3 and 1/2 miles of those, including the last .6 mile up to the tallest point in the park (Kings Pinnacle - 1,705'), which was strenuous (for those of you who know us, you know why I even mentioned that fact). Crowders Mountain (1,625') is about 4 miles NE of Kings Pinnacle.  That is for another time.

On the way up.

At the top of Kings Pinnacle (and next 5 photos). Looking east.

Looking west.  Just beyond the long white building is I-85.

Moon rise over Crowders Mountain.

He wouldn't move, so he's part of my blog. Looking south.

Downtown Charlotte - 20 miles away.

Posing on Kings Pinnacle.

Caroline, the Crowders Mountain nomad.

On the way down.

The only flower we saw: Yellow trout lily. The flowers are only 1 inch across.