I could’ve made this the shortest post ever, or combined it with the next day. I chose to combine.
We spent today preparing some more for Thanksgiving. Blaine went to the grocery store. He’s getting pretty good at that! 😊 I cooked bacon for the salad. We did other things that I can’t really remember. Probably the blog. Probably research. That’s generally what we do when we don’t have other things to do.
Then, in the afternoon we headed back to Simpsonville for dinner. Tonight it was huge, thick strip steaks on the grill with baked potatoes and salad. Tonight, we ate on Southern time. 8pm. 😊 We had a great time with Bruce, Donna and Gage. I didn’t notice at the time, but I’m thinking they weren’t planning on Gage for dinner. Blaine said they only had 4 steaks and Bruce and Donna shared. I could’ve easily shared mine! I didn’t know.
Wednesday morning, it was off for a day trip to Chimney Rock State Park in North Carolina. (We sure have been back and forth across the Carolina State line!) It was an hour and 15-minute drive.
All that way to relive almost losing our youngest son twice (as in dead), and boosting the spiritual life of our oldest.
It was most likely the Summer of 1991. (without my scrapbooks, I can’t be sure)
The boys were probably 5 & 7 and a stop at Chimney Rock was part of our two-week vacation. We’d just spent a week at Holden Beach, NC and were heading home in our converted van and pop up trailer.
Chris took one look at the huge 315′ rock we were determined to climb to the top of and promptly decided he couldn’t do it. He and I sat on a bench and talked and prayed together, after which, he gathered up his courage and away we went! No problem!
Kyle’s journey was a bit more fraught with peril.
The top of the rock was fine. It was fenced in. Probably a great thing, considering what was about to happen.
As you’ll see later, there’s a path that leads to a viewing area called “Devils Head”. There was a chain-link fence there at the time. (currently it’s rock and wood, but in the same spot) For some reason only God Himself knows, Kyle decided he wanted to go around the fence and was on the rock and beyond the fence before we even knew he’d moved. Thank God He gave Blaine a go-go-gadget arm and he was able to yank him back to safety before it was too late!
But the adrenaline rush didn’t stop there.
As we walked a trail (we don’t remember where this happened), he suddenly disappeared. Sliding down a steep ravine as he left the trail. This time, God provided a root, perfectly shaped and positioned to capture him. Only the lower half of his body fit through it. And again, Blaine pulled him back to safety.
By the way. This is the same trip he fell out the back of the camper . . .
Now, I know as you’re reading this some of you are thinking, “What irresponsible, self-absorbed, unaware parents!” And if you are, you never had to raise a Kyle-child. This was our life for many years. Sure, we could have chained him to the bed until he grew up, or walked him on a leash for the remainder of his childhood years. But then those of you currently judging us would have called Children’s Services.
We learned early on that raising Kyle required extensive creative parenting. And lots and lots of prayer for wisdom and guidance.
We’re so very proud of our Kyle! Always have been. Despite his misadventures, God grew him into a fabulous young man!
Enough of memory lane.
Jump ahead roughly 25 years to 2017.
I don’t know what we paid to get in before, but today it cost us $13 each! And that was a discount because the elevator to the top of the rock was out of service.
It was a spectacular day! At the bottom of the rock where we ate lunch, it was sunny and 65. Perfect! It was a bit cooler at the top, partly because of the wind, but not bad.
Driving to the State Park
There it is!
Chimney Rock is the small rock with the American Flag on top.
Doesn’t look like much from here, does it?
After the winding, 3-mile drive to the parking lot,
View from the front of the Jeep
we opted to visit the bottom of Hickory Nut Falls first – before lunch.
It’s a 404’ waterfall and the Park map says it’s ‘one of the tallest of its kind east of the Mississippi River’. Whatever that means.
But first, we needed a pit stop. I’ve never been in a bathroom with murals painted on the wall! Even in the stalls!
This one and the next are views from near the restrooms.
Just look at that!
No wonder Chris was nervous!
On to the waterfall!
Here’s something you don’t want to see when you’re preparing to climb a big rock . . .
A parking lot cave in!
It’s the handicapped section. YIKES!
Here’s the slide from the bottom
New construction.
This was at the other end of the restrooms and coming down to the trailhead area.
No, the trees aren’t crooked. I tilted my phone. Creative photography??
It was the first view of the water.
There it is! Hickory Nut Waterfall.
Now you can see how big it is – at least in part.
I think they measure waterfalls from the time they start falling until they stop.
If Chimney Rock is 315′, this part of the waterfall isn’t 404′.
The waterfall continues over another drop.
Information board by the falls.
We never saw any snakes.
Heading back for lunch.
I don’t think we could have had a better place to eat lunch! Just look at this!
WOW!
It’s been awhile since our LEE bag has made an appearance. Lately our lunch has been in our backpacks.
Eventually, we left our little piece of heaven and headed for greater heights.
This leaf is larger than it looks. There were no other plants around here.
I just thought it looked . . . persistent. : )
View from the ‘Grotto’ on the way to the top.
Yep. We had to go thru there . . .
Are you SURE? Way up there??
Views on the way
That’s where we’re headed.
Thankfully, they provided little resting areas along the way.
This is more for those pesky people half (or more) our age who can still bound up all these steps without getting winded. It’s so we can get out of their way!
Still climbing . . .
A look at what holds us.
How do they know it’s secure??
WE MADE IT!!!!
The top wasn’t what I remembered at all – except for the tree. And surprise, surprise, it was taller than I remembered. 😊 I remembered the top area being bigger and flatter. In this case, it’s obvious I’m misremembering.
This is the tree I remember. It was maybe 5-6′ tall 25 years ago. : )
We had to wait about 5 minutes or so for this picture.
Lots of people on the top when we were there.
This plaque is mounted right in the middle.
We had to wait a while for this one too.
People stood on it to take pictures.
The Jeep is down there.
You can see it better in the zoomed in picture. : )
Right in the middle of the left side of cars, is our Jeep. : )
But wait! There’s more!
This is where we’re headed after we leave the top.
Those steps lead here – –
The Opera Box
On to all the other trails the Park has to offer.
The next few pictures are views from the Opera Box.
Nice!
Closer . . .
Closest.
Another view from further up the trail
On to Devil’s Head, to re-live our first harrowing experience. Wait till you see it!
Look at this retaining wall for the trail.
Now look what’s holding it up. Really?
We left our sticks and walked to the viewing area.
Part of an old railing, This is even older than from when we were here last.
A chain link fence was right here.
Kyle went up that rock and around the fence!
Here’s what was on the other side!!!!!
Shudder!! A heartfelt THANK YOU to God for preserving our son’s life!!!!
Maybe this explains what possessed our son . . .
I think they put this up after we left. : )
Up we go, to Exclamation Point!
This sign and the next show what we were looking at in the following ‘horizon’ pictures.
We thought this was interesting.
These are the Table Mountain Pine the sign mentions.
Time to go!
Hopefully they won’t need this today – or ever!
As we left one for the Summit Trail, my brother David called from Alabama. I don’t get to talk to him much, and since we were near the top of a mountain, I had good service. No one around to bother except Blaine, so I talked to him for a few minutes. It was good to hear from him! Ok. Ok. I also needed a rest break.
Along the Summit Trail
Storage. But how did it get here??
The top of Hickory Nut Falls.
The crossing . . .
Bad lighting, but if you stand here, you’re on their webcam. : )
Continuing down.
To the bat cave!!!
We spent 5 hours here today hiking 5.5 miles (total) plus walking up 799 steps – and 799 back down. Whew!!
On our way home, we stopped at Wades Restaurant. Great reviews, great home-cooked comfort food! Ham, green beans, cole slaw for Blaine. Fried chicken, mashed potatoes/gravy and brown butter beans for me. We also had fresh home-baked yeast rolls. YUMMY!!!
And this is why we have to hike so much – all this great food in South Carolina! And it’s not even Thanksgiving yet!