Once again, Max Patch doesn’t dissapoint
A beautiful view from Max Patch Mountain in Western North Carolina.
Is Max Patch getting steeper? No, I’m just a year older and more out of shape.
Friday was a gorgeous day in the North Carolina mountains, and a good day for hiking up to Max Patch, a beautiful area on the Appalachian Trail in Madison County, NC, near the Tennessee border. My sister, Patricia Smith, and my dog, Tyler, It’s the third year in a row that we’ve made the hike.
Here’s another view from Max Patch, near the NC-TN border.
Trish and I both commented on the effect on our muscles and joints, and how sore we’d like be. The hike didn’t seem to phase Tyler, who has actually had hip surgery.
Here’s another view from Max Patch.
Once we got to the top (almost), my sister threw down a blanket. We rested, had a snack, drank some water, and took some photos. Then we made the hike down the mountain. Gravity was on our side. The trek down the mountain was a bit less strenuous than the hike up.
Score one for the good ole NC roadmap
This time, the GPS was wrong.
While traveling through the Pisgah National Forest Thursday, we were trying to figure out if we were going the right way to the waterfalls we wanted to see. So we plugged in some coordinates, and hit “Start.”
I figured we needed to go south, but the GPS was telling us to go north for about 20 miles. That didn’t seem right, so I went old school, and pulled out the trusty NC DOT road map. Sure enough, we needed to go south.
It doesn’t happen often, but low-tech trumped high-tech this time.
Chasing waterfalls, Day 2
Looking Glass Falls: It’s pretty breath-taking, huh?
This time, my sister Patricia and I went searching for waterfalls, and we found a couple of beauties in the Pisgah National Forest in Transylvania County.
Trish went the extra mile to get good photos.
The last of two we found turned out to be the best. It was Looking Glass Falls, and it was pretty fantastic. My sister, my dog Tyler and I walked down the steps to get a good look at it. (Later, we’d walk back up. Whew! I need to get in better shape.) I took some photos, and so did my sister. In fact, my sister maneuvered around to get some better photos. I stayed at the observation area with Tyler.
Tyler strikes an irresistible while at Looking Glass Falls.
And speaking of Tyler, he didn’t seem all that taken by the waterfall. He seemed more interested in charming the ladies.
Sliding Rock Falls, at Pisgah National Forest.
Earlier, we viewed Sliding Rock Falls in the forest. This place doubles as a water slide and swimming hole. But on this mid-October day, the air — and presumably the water — was too chilly for people to don their bathing suits and take the plunge.
Chasing waterfalls
Sunburst Falls, just off the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Sometimes you happen upon one of Mother Nature’s magnificent sites by accident.
My sister and I were driving on the Blue Ridge Parkway, when decided to get off the parkway and find a KFC. We did that a 
lot during our childhood. While traveling, our parents would get a bucket of chicken (and a box of livers for Dad, cause that’s the only part of chicken he liked) and pull off at a park or roadside picnic table and eat.
We weren’t far off the parkway on Lake Logan Road (aka NC 215) when we noticed cars parked off the side of the road. Almost instantly, we came across this beautiful waterfall. We think it’s called Sunburst Falls. My sister and I got out and took pictures, like the one above. Plus, I made a selfie.
Meanwhile, Tyler, my beautiful Norwegian elkhound, waited patiently in the car. I finally returned, and walked Tyler to the falls. After taking care of some personal business, Tyler, walked along to the falls with me. He seemed more interested in the admiration others were giving him than Mother Nature’s wonder.
Monday was a day made for Tyler
Today was Tyler’s day in the mountains.
We found downtown Waynesville (NC) to be quite a dog-friendly town. Lots of folks had their dog on a leash.and I’m guessing that most of them were tourists, just like me. He got to sniff and bark at a lot of other dogs. And they each had the opportunity to sniff Tyler too.
Tyler also got to meet another Norwegian elkhound, the first for him since leaving his siblings in May 2007. His new friend’s name was Gunnar. He got to meet people, get petted, and even enter a Dog Bakery, where he sniffed all the treats and rawhide bones. He gobbled up the food that fell off the table while we were eating lunch at The Patio restaurant in downtown Waynesville.
By the time we got back to the cottage in the Fines Creek area of Clyde, Tyler was tired, and needed to conk out.
Could be brilliant colors in the NC mountains next week
Fall Color Map for North Carolina
Last year, our mountain trip was nice, but a little before peak season. This year, according to this map produced by Appalachian State University, we could be hitting the mountains at just the right time.
I’ll make sure to shoot a lot of photos.
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