South Mountains Day Hike

Sunday, we headed west to get away from the heat in Raleigh to South Mountains State Park.  The forecast was a high in the mid 70s and it was around 65 when we started.  Our first stop was the visitor center to get Alex's passport stamped.  From the Jacob Fork Parking area, we took High Shoals Falls Loop Trail to Chestnut Knob Trail and began a steep ascent.  Fortunately, it was still cool out so the climb wasn't too bad.  In just over a mile, we came to the Jacob Fork River Gorge Overlook.

The view from here was really beautiful of the gorges formed by Jacob Fork and Shinny Creek.  High Shoals Falls was partly visible even with summer foliage though just barely.

In another mile, the trail split and a left took us to Chestnut Knob Overlook.  This spot arguably has the best views in the park.

The overlook itself is a rocky outcrop below the summit of Chestnut Knob.

Heading back, we went straight to cross the high point of Chestnut Knob and then left on Sawtooth Trail.  About half way down was a nice open area with a picnic table, so we stopped here to eat lunch and take a break.

It looked like a fire had burned the area recently, providing more open views than on most of the trail.  Continuing on, we turned left on Horseridge Trail.  In a short ways, we caught up to a box turtle who seemed to be hiking along the trail, albeit slowly.

The trail passed by an open meadow where lots of goldenrod was blooming.

Further on, a single Carolina lily was blooming - the only one on our entire hike.

At Possum Trail, we turned left and started heading down the ridge towards Shinny Creek.  Sandy spotted a large grasshopper along the trail.

At the next junction, another left took us on Shinny Trail.  There were two crossings, the first had a footbridge and the second was over a rocky section.

In the water was a large blue crayfish.

When the trail reached the Shinny Creek backcountry campsites, we turned right on Headquarters Trail.  It was really steep heading up and we were starting to feel it.  A clearing provided nice views and we took a short break here.

Once we reached Upper Falls Trail, it was pretty much all downhill back to the car.  We followed Upper Falls Trail down to High Shoals Fall Loop and stopped to see some mushrooms growing along the trail.

Turning right towards High Shoals Falls, the trail came out near the top and some nice cascades are right above the waterfall.

The park has installed plenty of fencing to keep people away from the top of the waterfall, but it's not too effective.  We climbed down the stairs to the overlook for High Shoals Falls.

Being a nice weekend day, the area on the falls was packed, so after I got a couple pictures, we continued on.

It was about a mile from here back to the car.

Lotus at Harris Lake

Saturday was a little cooler than the rest of the week, so we took Alex and headed down to Harris Lake County Park for a hike.  It was mostly overcast, but no rain and while the temperature was a little lower than it's been, it was still quite humid.  After parking, we started hiking the Peninsula Trail in the clockwise direction.  Several people were fishing and a few boats cruised by.  The water level was low but the lake was still very scenic.

About half-way through the loop, the Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant came into view.  I went out to the lake at one spot for pictures of the power plant.

A couple were taking pregnancy photos here - I thought a nuclear power plant was a rather unusual backdrop.  Towards the end of the loop, we started to see a lot of really American lotus in the lake and they were flowering.

Even in low water, it was too swampy to really get out and see them, but the flowers were beautiful.

The seed pods were really cool as well.

Finishing up the loop, it was still early so we got in one more short hike.

It was about 30 minutes to White Pines Nature Preserve, a Triangle Land Conservancy property.  We started off on White Pines Trail and took River Trail down to the Rocky River.  Here we took the short Schoolkids Loop out to the old cable bridge that once spanned the river.  With low water, the Rocky River was really living up to its name.

Back to River Trail, we followed the river downstream to the confluence with Deep River.

The sun finally poked out from behind the clouds, but this just made it hotter.  So we took River Trail to Gilbert Yager Trail and followed this back to the parking area to complete out hike.

Sunflowers at Dorothea Dix

Sunday, I went for a hike to see the City of Raleigh's sunflower fields.

Parking at the State Farmers' Market, I hiked up Centennial Bikeway Connector, part of the Capital Area Greenway, to Blair Drive and followed that to Dorothea Dix Park.  Last year, I had hiked the Neuse River Greenway to see the sunflowers near the wastewater treatment plant.  Since so many people were jumping the fence to take pictures, this year they planted them in a park and even made paths through the fields to see the sunflowers up close.  Much less photogenic soybeans are now planted at the treatment plant.  I got to the park around 10 and it was already crowded as the sunflowers in Raleigh have become a real hit.

I walked up and down the paths to get pictures of the sunflowers.

People weren't the only ones enjoying the flowers - a lot of bees were busy collecting nectar.

I think the sunflowers were just a little past peak and storms the night before had knocked down a lot plants.  After some pictures, I continued on, making a big loop out of Centennial Bikeway Connector, Rocky Branch Trail (which would have been the easiest way to access the park), and Walnut Creek Trail.  There's a nice view of Raleigh's skyline from the trail near Wilmington Street.

As I was finishing up the hike, I saw some hibiscus blooming along the trail back by the farmers' market.

It was getting hot and would take some getting used to North Carolina's heat and humidity again after a week of relief in the Rocky Mountains.

Garden of the Gods

Saturday was our last day in Colorado, but our flight home wasn't until the late afternoon. So before leaving Colorado Springs, we headed to Garden of the Gods.  Arriving a little after 8, it wasn't too crowded yet.  We started off hiking the Gateway Trail, following Gateway Road to the loop road around the garden.  Turning right on Bretag Trail, we followed it to the main parking lot and then headed into the Central Garden on the paved walkways.

First we passed Tower of Babel at the north end of a large red rock ridge.

At the top of the ridge were the Kissing Camels - it was clear how they got their name.

We then passed between North and South Gateway Rocks.

Rock climbers were ascending the Sentinel Spires.  Although the sun was rising in the sky, the tall ridges cast long shadows over the park.

Heading into the heart of the Central Garden, the red rock formations were just amazing.  And to think that this is a Colorado Springs City Park.  More rock climbers were on Cathedral Spires and they were really high up!

Passing by Pulpit Rock, we went between Cathedral Spires and Three Graces.

Although the spires were really high up, there were more rock formations closer to the ground.

Passing back out to the paved trail, there was a nice view of the Three Graces.

Next we headed over towards the Sleeping Giant.

In the distance, Pikes Peak was towering above.

Climbing up towards the Sleeping Giant, there were nice views of the Central Garden.

We climbed around for a while a got some pictures from different angles.  After a while, we continued on, taking Scotsman Trail towards the picnic area.

A Woodhouse's scrub jay landed on a fence long enough to get a picture.

Here we crossed the street and picked up Siamese Twins Trail to its namesake.

This was my favorite of the rock formations.  Two spires were connected at the bottom and middle, making a window between them.

Looking through the window, Pikes Peak was visible.

I really enjoyed this one.  Looking down below, I could see Red Rock Canyon past the highway where we had hiked the evening before.  We finished up the loop, stopping for some nice views of the Pikes Peak and the Front Range.

A little fence lizard scurried across the trail.

Heading back, we took Palmer Trail, which parallels the loop road.  There was a nice view of Scotsman from the trail.

Past here, the Giant Footprints was another cool rock formation.

From here, the trail ascended and we had great views of the Central Garden from above.

The big northern ridge looked kind of like a big turtle from this angle and the Kissing Camels were still visible.

It was really cool to see the rock formations from different angles.

We finished up Palmer Trail back at the main parking lot and took Bretag Trail back towards the visitor center.  We made a short detour on Dakota Trail.  Along the way, some moths were on a thistle flower.

The trail is closed towards the end, but passes by some cliffs and rock outcrops that were white in color.

We were hoping to see some wildlife, but no such luck.  Then we headed back to Bretag Trail for one last view of the garden.

Taking Gateway Trail, we returned to the visitor center.

We did a final packing of the car, before heading back to the airport.  Security was really long at Denver due to high volume of travelers, but we had time for a quick dinner before our flight.