First of all, isn't it fun to say Nolichucky? This beautiful river near Erwin, Tennessee was the star of the show on our recent hike. We had a beautiful day for exploring around it, with sunny skies and cool temperatures at the beginning, warming up along the way. It was one of those hikes when you wear lots of layers and stop periodically to add and take away. It had been about a month since I hiked, so I was especially happy to head into the woods.
My hiking friends. These ladies are awesome!
I spy a white blaze! Let's go!
We hiked several miles gradually climbing until we were looking down on the river. The trail was considered moderate, winding though the woods with some climbing over and around rocks.
The most difficult thing about hiking at this time of year are the leaves that cover the path, making it tricky to know what's under your feet. I use my trekking poles to dig around in front of me when I'm in a suspicious spot. I don't know how I ever managed to hike without them. They saved me more than a few times today from falling. It was a blessing though, to be hiking on wet leaves.
Bridge crossings
We were joined by Cookie for most of the day. We found out his name when we met up with some local folks at the general store, right off the trail. We could not persuade him to go home and Julie ended up having to put him in her car and drive him back at the end of our hike.
We lunched around a nice fire ring on the banks of the river. It was windy, until we finished eating, and then it warmed right up. Funny how that works.
Back on the trail, after lunch.
It's the club tradition to bring natural ornaments to decorate a tree for the animals. This was my first year to help and I loved it! We had to hang things out of Cookie's reach, or he would have made lunch out of our little tree. We gave him a snack, but we wanted the birds and squirrels to enjoy it too.
The orange cranberry ornaments were my contribution, a little Pinterest find that I thought were cute. Kenzie helped me put them together.
Our Charlie Brown Christmas tree.
We stopped the car on the way home to snap this shot.
What a great day!
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