But, yesterday, we went to Lula Lake.
view north from main bridge
LLLT ("Lula Lake Land Trust") has 2 open weekends each month, and yesterday was one of them. We've been working with a group of about 6 Boy Scouts to get their hiking merit badges, for which they need five 10-mile hikes plus a 20-miler. Originally, we'd planned to take 2 or 3 Scouts with us, besides Cameron. But -- fortunately, as it turned out -- they all had last minute conflicts, so it was just Cameron, Susan and me.
Yesterday - Saturday - was supposed to be pretty, but because the day started off cloudy and foggy, we delayed going up, and didn't arrive till 10:15 or so. The property administrator was there, so naturally Susan and Cameron had to endure 20 minutes of my questions and his answers, before we could start. One of our goals was to explore the property for future visits, since Lula Lake is always available to Scouts, unless there is a conflict with a scheduled event.
We set off from the parking area, crossing a foot bridge over Rock Creek.
Scout built bridge
looking south along Rock Creek
Interestingly, this bridge was built as a Scout Eagle project, reusing some old foundations. The result was MUCH more impressive and useful than the typical walking-trail-behind-the-church that has become so common.
As soon as we crossed the bridge, we immediately encountered a fundamental feature of the trails at Lula Lake: they mostly go UP or DOWN. Along the old rail track, the trails go ALONG, but mostly, they're going UP or DOWN. Our legs weren't warmed up yet, but that changed quite quickly!
Before we finished the 10 miles Cameron needed, we'd climbed over 1700' in altitude! To accomplish this, we'd go up 200' then go back down, and then go up 300' and then back down and then up 150' and then back down . . . and so on. Our trusty GPS kept us posted on how far we'd gone, both horizontally and vertically. We've been hiking with an excess of gear -- packs weighing 13 - 17 pounds -- in order to get ourselves ready for 'hike-in' and backpacking trips coming later. By the end of the day, our tails were dragging a bit. Fortunately, we had no blisters, just tired feet, legs and rumps. This morning, Cameron's a little sore, but otherwise fine. Susan and I have feet that feel a bit 'used', and legs that feel 'worked out', but for a couple of oldsters in their 50's we're not complaining!
steep trail down (and back UP) to falls
Cameron getting damp
However, we're grateful that it worked out that none of the other Scouts were able to come. At present, there're are only 1 or 2 Scouts in the troop, besides Cameron, that could have made the hike without having problems . . . and they weren't the boys scheduled to go. We're going to have to do some 5-milers there, before we take them on 10 mile hike there!
I asked Cameron which parts of the hike he liked best, and he replied, "The parts before I got tired!" The hike from the falls, up to the bluff was pretty steep, gaining about 250' in altitude in about 1000' of distance! We've got a ways to go, before we're ready for backpacking in the Smokies.
Still it's a great place for hiking and exploring, and we expect we'll be spending quite a bit of time there, over the next couple of years.
Ben
toward falls, along old railway cut - there're caves in them rocks!
