Mother's Day Miles

Here's that video of the Dulcimers that I promised.  Wayne would have loved it, too bad he is still in Wisconsin.  Hope you all aren't as distracted by the poor timing of the lady trying to keep the beat.

I spent over an hour in McDonald's yesterday trying to upload it but I had it published on YouTube in about 5 minutes from the Starbucks in Sevierville!  The soy latte was pretty good too.  Since I couldn't find any decent wifi in the Cumberland Gap area I headed toward the Smokies after my hike this morning and just considered my $14 I paid for the campsite a donation.

The volunteer who checked me in at the campground had a few things to say.  The thing that wasn't so great was his comment about the Muslim mayor in London.  For a moment I thought he meant London, Kentucky, but he clarified it was the one in England and then said it was a good thing because then he would really have to be upset and it was bad enough we had one as president.  Where do you even start?  President Obama isn't Muslim , first of all, and we are a country founded on freedom of religion since the Pilgrims and Quakers came here to escape persecution just like most of our Muslim neighbors probably did.  To top it all off he didn't tell me where the showers were and I had to drive around and look for them this morning!  Too busy complaining.  Like I'm doing now, hee hee!

On the recommendation of the nicer gentleman at the Visitor Center I took the Ewing Trail, though he forgot to mention that the trail starts at Civic Park and I took a side road that was a private driveway because it was labeled Sand Cave Road.  Lots of parking at Civic Park and bathrooms too!

To get all the way to the top is 3.2 miles, mostly vertical.  Since I am from Wisconsin I am a little vertically challenged and struggled with the relentless uphill slog in the almost 80F heat.

Because I was going so slow I did catch sight of this guy on the side of the trail.  Isn't he handsome?

iPhone

Easter Newt (juvenille) shot with DSLR, hand held

Up and up I went, dripping sweat but thankful the sun wasn't out to make it even warmer.

It's late in the season for wildflowers, but the higher I got I did spot a few, including a handful of Mayapples that haven't lost their petals and a bunch of Wild Geranium.

Two miles up and two hours later I decided that was enough for me.  I'm meeting Sharon in a few days and don't want to strain my arthritic knees too much!  Going down only took an hour, the ride back is always quicker.

View at 2 miles

The streams were cool and provided relief from the heat when I splashed my arms and neck.  My aching hands liked it even more.

Here's a video coming down the trail right after I turned around.  Hope all the mamas enjoyed their mother's day as much as I did!