Mill Creek Hike

Saturday, we had breakfast at the hotel and headed to Mill Creek Nature Park near Narrows in Giles County.  The Waterfalls Trail started down the gated road.  In about a quarter-mile, we reached the Historic Narrows Dam and Reservoir.

The trail got a little more rugged here as we followed Mill Creek upstream.

In about a mile, we crossed Mercy Branch on a footbridge.  There were nice cascades above and below the crossing.

Just past here, a short path led down to Middle Falls.

It's only about 15 feet but very scenic.

I scrambled around a bit to get some pictures.

There were more cascades so I scrambled down further.

I was able to get a little lower to one more drop but would have been really hard to go further.

Beyond here, the trail got really steep so we didn't go any further.  I think there's another waterfall further up.

We did stop for some pictures of the fantastic wildflower display on the hike back.

Harper enjoyed stopping and exploring.

Lots of bloodroot and chickweed were flowering all along the trail.

We even saw some beautiful trilliums.

Bellwort have hanging yellow flowers.

There was a lot of rue anemone as well.

Wild geraniums have small purple flowers.

Carolina spring beauty were more common near the start.

I talk Alex down for a drink at the creek just above the reservoir.

Then we let Harper run along grassy road most of the way back to the car.

From here, we headed to Pembroke and got lunch at Bluegrass Barbecue.  It was really good and our server was very nice.  She brought Amaroq a small plate of bbq and he really enjoyed it.  After lunch, we visited Casey and LeAnna in Blacksburg so Harper could play with Cayleigh.  On the way back to Roanoke, we stopped at Mill Mountain Park as it was just around sunset.  Parking at the top, we heaed out to the Star.

The moon looked really cool over the star.

And the night views of Roanoke were fantastic.  After some pictures, we returned to the hotel.

Stiles Falls

Friday, we took Harper and Amaroq to Virginia for a long weekend.  Our first stop was at Alta Mons Camp near Shawsville.  After parking at the visitor center, we hiked through the camp and got on the waterfall trail following Purgatory Creek upstream.

There were some nice wildflowers blooming along the trail.

We saw bloodroot and trilliums and the redbud was blooming throughout.

There were three creek crossings on the trail but it was pretty easy, even carrying Harper.  At the end, we had to scramble up the rocks to see Stiles Falls.

It's a nice 40-foot waterfall with cool rocks and a nice shallow pool. 

It's very nice of the camp to allow public access.  After enjoying the falls, we headed back.

From here, we drove to Happy Hollow Gardens Park in Roanoke County.  The azaleas were starting to bloom but it was definitely before peak.

After walking down the boardwalk, the trail turned to natural surface and there were lost of wildflowers blooming.

There were some nice patches of phlox.

And lots of redbud flowering.

We got on Old Logging Road and headed up to Burgess Cemetery.

Big Oak Trail made a loop past a large oak tree.

We finished off our short hike taking Chestnut Trail back down.  

There was a large bullfrog in the little creek here.

From here, we headed into Roanoke and got dinner at Cast Plates and Pints and ate outside with Amaroq.  Then we checked into the Holiday Inn for the evening.