The trail took a while to find. You can either stay on paved roads to a lodge, then hike 8 miles to the trail head. Or, you can drive up 12 miles of very narrow, dangerous dirt roads to get within 1/2 mile of the trail head. We opted for the latter to maximize our short visit.
Once we found the trail head, there were neat markings and a log book to record your journey. Since we weren't taking the full trek, we didn't sign the log to save room for others who braved the long journey.
While there taking pictures of all the markers, we met a young lady who had just finished the trail. She lives in Atlanta and began her hike on April 6th, finishing in Maine on Oct. 15th. She had come back to welcome fellow hikers she had met on the trail who were expected to complete that day.
It's difficult to describe the gorgeous scenery, so I tried to capture it in pictures. With 71 in the afternoon ad 45 at night, it was absolutely beautiful.
With all the new fallen leaves, the trail was somewhat difficult to follow. The markings on the trees and stakes helped.
As evening fell, we checked into the only lodge around. It was breathtaking! Great views, decent price, and delicious food!
This was the view from our room. Not bad to wake up in the morning and see this outside our room window!
Here's the little one sitting by the indoor fireplace and warmed by a "friendly" black bear.
The fitness trail had 12 stations of chin ups, push ups, leg stretches, and crunches.
Then the GPS markers were things like: find the bridge on the AT connector (short for Appalachian Trail connector). The little one did great, and won the tshirt prize!
Other GPS spots took us up 175 steps toward a waterfall. Great pictures along the way!
Here's the view from the top of the waterfall looking down.
Before we headed home, we took one more stop back at the lodge. Great weekend getaway!
