Weekly Hike: Cane Creek Cascades

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We bumped our weekly hike to Tuesday to celebrate a friend’s birthday today. It was a perfect day to go swim at the Cane Creek Cascades in Fall Creek Falls State Park. It made up for our 4-mile waterfall hike last week that was missing the water!

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After Cane Creek Falls, a few of us couldn’t resist stopping at the George Swimming Hole before leaving the park. Some of the kids jumped off the rocks there. It was a perfect summer day. 

This was my 41st hike for 2021 (41/52). We might have done 0.5 miles down to the swimming holes, bringing me to 123.5 miles hiked this year. 

 

Camping at Chilhowee

We spent the weekend camping with some of our homeschool friends at Chilhoweee. This is one of our favorite camping spots. The weather was just about perfect, though we did have a big rain storm roll in Saturday night while we sat around the campfire. 

This led to some frantic packing up and a couple of the families deciding to chunk their tents in their cars and leave early. Since we had our camper we enjoyed the rain from the comfort of our cozy beds.

Friday night the kids enjoyed playing with their friends. An impromptu game of kickball between campsites and bike rides followed by s’mores were on the agenda —we missed an evening swim due to our later arrival. 

Saturday started with coffee and hot breakfast with the plan to hike as a group to Benton Falls. While I was making our bacon, I had the misfortune of dumping an entire pan of bacon grease on myself. 

Thankfully I reacted quickly and was able to strip off my clothes and hop in our camper shower immediately. My frantic screams brought several people running to my aid. Friends kept an eye on our kids while Daniel helped me get cleaned up and medicated. 

We called several people with medical backgrounds for advice and decided we could wait on rushing to see a doctor. One of my friends came and prayed over me and I started to feel better while she prayed. The worst of my burns is on my thigh with some blistering and my hand was scalded as well though thankfully it didn't blister and I have full mobility. 

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We decided Daniel and the boys should go on the group hike while I sat in the camper and let the Tylenol kick in. My friends left me with a bottle of wine and a book. By the time they got back my pain was pretty much gone –– I just felt really stiff where I had been burned. 

At that point I was able to go down to the lake to watch the boys swim and play with their friends. I was even able to do the short hike back to camp. I’m glad we decided to stick around since I would just be on the couch if we had gone home. 

We enjoyed a lovely campfire. One of the families brought adult-only brownies (they had rum in them). When combined with marshmallow and graham cracker to make a s’more, these brownies were divine. 

Then came the rain and camp broke up. We woke up this morning to overcast skies but no rain. The boys had fun playing a few more games before we finished packing up and headed home. 

 

Even when things go wrong, camping is always a good idea. We may have quite a bit of experience camping but sometimes things just go wrong. We can chose to give up and go home or we can assess the situation, eat the bacon anyway and stay, and hope things get better.

I am counting my blessings that the grease didn’t get dumped on either of the kids and that it didn’t inadvertently cause a grease fire in our camper. It might have ruined my morning but there is always a silver lining that can be found. 

Camping Weekend: Rock Island

Mother's Day weekend was a camping weekend for our crew. This group of friends made 2020 (the year of covid) bearable for our family. Not just bearable – our camping weekends became a place where we could thrive together in spite of the world around us. And that's what we did.

It's 2021 and spring camping has commenced. This is actually our second meet-up of the year – the first being Tims Ford at the end of our trip west. And our time together didn't disappoint. It wasn't perfect, after all we are imperfect people doing life together, but it was good.

We sat around the campfire way too late (as usual). We shared silly inside jokes as well as really serious discussions. Our kids roamed wild forging their way through the woods and creating their own games. We ate delicious food and encouraged each other's kids. 

 

We celebrated another birthday and were treated to delicious breakfast's that we (the moms) didn't have to prepare. We hiked together and enjoyed the beauty of God's creation with each other and with our kids.

We were able to hike the Lollipop Loop down to Twin Falls and along the Caney River with lots of waterfalls. This was our 36th hike for 2021 (36/52). We knocked out 2.5 miles bringing us to 114 miles hiked this year.  

 

We set up outdoor movies for the kids to watch from hammocks, and we took the kids down to the river to fish. It was good weekend.

Before leaving the park, our family made a final pit stop to check out the old buildings next to the Great Falls Gorge including the Box House, Spring Castle and the Old Mill. All of which were there before the dam was built. The mill was eventually abandoned after flooding took out the paddle wheel. It was interesting to read the history about the location. This was our 37th hike for 2021 (37/52). We did a quick 1 mile out and back bringing us to 115 miles miles hiked this year.

Finally, I let Daniel know that the only thing I really wanted for Mother's Day was to not have to cook all day. Breakfast was taken care of at camp, and lunch was a stop at the Rock Island Ice Cream Trolly. This was a hopping place and we had to wait nearly 45 minutes for our treats. Thankfully Daniel and the boys were able to walk across the street to get fresh burgers and tots from the Rock Island Market restaurant. Our burgers were ready before our ice cream so we enjoyed them at the Trolly pavilion. The ice cream was excellent and worth the wait. Once we got home from camp, we unloaded the camper and opted for pizza and a movie. No cooking or dishes for me today, which is all I really wanted :)