Boone's Cave

Friday, we took Alex out to the mountains for a long weekend.  To break up the drive, we first stopped at Boone's Cave Park near Lexington.  Formerly a state park, it is now a Davidson County Park.  We first took the steps down to the river.

Boone's Cave was right at the base of the stairs - there are actually three caves.

Only one was really big enough to go and only a short ways.

The others would have required crawling.  Just across from the caves, Baptism Rock provided nice views of the Yadkin River.

We then took Backcountry Trail around the northern part of the park and made a detour to the overlook.  The view was blocked by trees, but in winter we could at least see the river.

The trail ended back at the park entrance road and we picked up Boone's Peak Trail.  Although short, it was more strenuous than the other trails.  

Creekside Loop Trail splits off to follow a small stream upstream.  The trail wasn't a loop though.

Boone's Peak Trail ended at the Dragonfly Boardwalk.

At Wilderness Walk, we got on Red Oak Trail.

A large red oak, more than 200 years old, was at the end of a spur, right next to an open field.

We also took Cottonwood Trail out to a big cottonwood trail along the river.

There was a nice view of the river here.

We took Cottonwood Trail back to the cave and took the Kayak & Canoe Trail back up.  The ruins of an old CCC cabin was right near the top.

We finished up our hike before there was any rain, but our luck wouldn't last much longer.

From here, we continued west to South Mountains Game Land and parked in the Golden Valley area.

It has started to rain at this point, so we donned water shoes.  It was just a half-mile on an old road to the top of Pot Branch Falls.

With wet rocks, it was difficult to get out to a good position for a picture.

The rain didn't help and I'm extra cautious at this one after seeing a young lady slip and fall off the top.

I went all the way to the base and waded the creek but there was nowhere I could find without rhododendron in the way.

We got some pictures and then we headed back.

Our last stop was the Clear Creek entrance to South Mountains State Park.  We hiked the Clear Creek Trail, but it was raining heavily so we didn't finish.

After checking into the Comfort Inn, we got barbecue from Butch's and had dinner at the hotel.