Jason's Jaunts

Tuesday, October 10, 2023

North and South Manitou Islands

These pictures are from a Kodac film back in 1994 of a trip I took with my long-time high school buddy Paul Imm. The Manitou Islands are part of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. North Manitou Island is the largest of the two islands, at around 22,346 square miles of wilderness. South Manitou is much smaller at 8,277 square miles.

This is Swanson's Barn on North Manitou Island's far West side. It is over a 5-mile hike from the Village Dock. All buildings on the islands have been purchased by the Park Service and left to deteriorate naturally by Mother Nature.

We camped near this barn, and I remember hearing the sound of the waves at night.

I'm picking wild blueberries. We were hiking along, and Paul asked me, "Do you smell what I smell?" I said, "If you are smelling blueberries, then yes, I am!"

10 miles of Lake Michigan beach, all to ourselves. Once we left the Village Dock and began our hike to Lake Manitou and the island's Western side, we only saw two other people for the entire week.

We were keeping journals, and I was writing something. I don't have that journal today; it would be interesting to know what I wrote in that journal. I was on the beach of South Manitou Crescent Bay.

We were bushwhacking through the woods and treed this raccoon.

We did visit the grove of old-growth white cedars, estimated to be 500 years old. I remember Paul being on one side and I on the opposite side, and we couldn't touch our fingers as we hugged one of the ancient cedars.

A glimpse of Lake Manitou. We camped near the lake on our first night and did some fishing. We caught pan fish and had them for one of our dinners.

This must have been taken while on the ferry going or coming back from the island. I remember hearing a freighter's foghorn as it passed South Manitou Island on a foggy morning. I couldn't see the ship, but only hear the horn through the fog.

There was a visible shipwreck offshore of South Manitou Island, and Paul, with an inflatable raft he brought with him, swam the 300 yards to get a closer look at the Francisco Morazan.

Very early in our marriage, Kelly discovered she had an adventurous husband who loved to explore. Even though it has never been her cup of tea, she has always given me the freedom to travel, camp, and hike. In this picture, Paul Imm and I are returning from one of the islands. Kelly and her grandma Louis Kline stayed at a bed & breakfast in Leland the night before she was to pick me up at the dock.

Thursday, September 28, 2023

Elkin, NC - Carter Falls Trail

The trail starts on the right side of the parking area and you finish entering the parking area from the left.

You can hear the falls way before you can see them. You have a smaller waterfall at first then a much larger one that comes next.

That's quite a drop.

The trail leading to the Lower Falls

The sign pointed the direction the half mile back to the parking lot.

Blue Ridge Parkway - Waterrock Knob & Bear Pen Gap Trail

Waterrock is at milepost 451.2. It is a hike to the top and back down. Total distance of 1.06 miles. An elevation gain of 456 feet.

This is looking out the direction you were traveling down the trail.

This is the view when you turn around to head back down the trail.

An unknown location on the Blue Ridge.

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At Milepost 427.6. Bear Pen Gap Trail on Blue Ridge Parkway .org website says, "access to Mountains-to-Sea Trail. Length: 0.22." But if you actually go all the way to the MTS trail, it's 0.64 for a total of 1.28 miles.

I didn't bring water because I thought it would be a short hike. I was sure glad a spring was coming out of a hill so that Gypsy could drink water.

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Looking Glass Rock at an Overlook - milepost 417

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Green Knob Overlook is located at milepost 350.4

Unknown to me, my Blue Ridge Parkway ride would come to an abrupt end in 56 more miles. I did drive the entire detour from Boone to Sparta and ended up in Elkin, NC, after deciding to call my trip officially ended. I liked the town of Elkin, and the Elk Inn was great for a **star motel. Angry Troll Brewing was the only brewery open on a Monday night. That was okay because their beer was excellent, the pizza was tasty, and it was a lovely night sitting at the sidewalk tables.

Cedars of Lebanon State Park - Cedar Forest Trail

This was just a one-night stay on September 23, cheaper than a motel but expensive for a campground. At first, they were going to put me at a $ 45-a-night site, and I protested the cost and got sent to a $35 one.

It was a cedar forest.

You are looking at some sort of sinkhole.

Quite a few boulders on this trail

I was definitely in the wrong neighborhood at this campground. I took what they gave me and saw the rig next to me; I could imagine the electricity they used. I only used electricity to run my coffee pot in the morning.

Mammoth Cave National Park

I arrived at around sunset (6:45) on September 19. Thanks to Google Maps, I found Houchin Farry Campground in total darkness. I set up my campsite by lantern light and, made a fire, ate my dinner.

The following day, I drove the 15 minutes to where the showers, laundromat, camp store, Visitor's Center, and Post Office were all located, the other side of the park from where I was camping. The sign said, "No water till 10:30 a.m. Water main break."

While waiting for the water to be turned on to take a shower ( I hadn't showered in three days ), I was down to wearing swimming trunks because all my clothes were dirty. I made the best of the situation and learned about this small train. Before roads were built, people visited the caves by this train.

There are other self-guided things to see. We visited the Cedar Sink - a 1.8-mile hike and viewed the vast sinks in the earth.

This is the same entrance of the Historic Tour I took the next day. They allow you to go far in the cave opening while the tours are closed. There is a locked gate to prevent you from going any further.

Gypsy is enjoying the morning sun. She is lying in the very grass that I caught chiggers from.

The view of the Green River from the Houchin Ferry Campground. None of the ferries in the park were operational because the water needed to be 10 feet deep, and the river was down to 8.5 feet.

I did some off-grid exploring because you can't find this on the park map. There was this gated gravel road off of Green River Ferry Road. There were no signs saying to keep out, so I parked the van at the gate, walked the road a half mile, and came to this homestead.

I noticed to the right a barely legible trail leading into the woods.

Obviously, seeing the falling tree limbs told me this isn't a well-traveled trail, if at all anymore.

What I found astonished me. The trail stopped at this clearing in the woods, and there were 4 or 5 grave headstones. None had any markings on them except for one.

Sarah J??? Wife of... born 1859, died 1899.

My final adventure was the Mammoth Cave Tour.

This is all I got while on my cave tour. I couldn't get my phone camera flash to turn off, and flash wasn't allowed. No other light was allowed either. While shooting this video, my phone flashlight was on, and I stopped the video after the guy turned and looked at me.

Garden Of The Gods - Whiskey Cave Loop

The most difficult and longest of my hikes here. The All-Trail App says this is a 6.5-mile hike, but you can shorten it by starting the trail where it crosses the Shawnee Forest Road by 2.5 miles. There is even a tiny parking place next to the trail.

The trail runs close to the rock cliff.

Like Buzzard's Roost, Whiskey Cave is a campsite for equestrian riders with a cable to tie their horses.

We started our hike around 10 a.m., but it was afternoon before we finished. It turned out to be a warm day despite beginning in the low 50s. We were both tired and drank most of our water.