For their second day and since they were already on local time, we took Camille and her Cheri in the mountains. The goal was to have them discover the beautiful landscape, so we took a good chunk of the Blue Ridge Parkway heading North. Here and there a few colors started to show but it was still mainly green.
We did a first stop at Mt Mitchell, the highest peak East of the Mississippi. It was the opportunity to stretch/warm up the legs in a beautiful pine forest.
There is a neat discovery trail that allows to go around the summit, with a few explanatory signs but mainly a lot of moss everywhere.
Mandatory pictures at the summit, you can see the new observation tower. The summit itself is 5 minutes away from the parking lot via a paved path.
We then continued North, our main goal was a pretty hike to get to the Nose of Grandfather. Yes Granfather Mountain, if you look well in the middle of the picture you may guess the profile: large front, nose and chin.
Nous avons aussi profite de la belle vue depuis le promontoire accessible par un pont suspendu.
Before going for the summit we took a snack during which we had Camille try Kombucha (ginger and pear flavor). Since then she cannot live without it...
We also enjoyed the wonderful views from the ledge only accessible by the suspended bridge.
The suspended bridge, exactly a mile above sea level.
We went up through the forest, avoiding the ladders, too many people, too much wind and too difficult for those who weren't used to it. After a few hours of hiking (and one ladder after all) we were almost at the summit. Sadly a fussy ankle stopped Camille from making it to the summit, but we still took Chéri to the "nose" Mont MacRae.
I always forget how high and steep it is but what a view!
D'ailleurs deux employés ce sont approches, alors que nous prenions en photo les ours, nous disant qu'ils fermaient et de bien vouloir les suivre. Nous avons fait "hein", les avons laisse papoter en faisant semblant de les suivre puis avons bifurque en riant sous cape pour aller voir les cerfs.
After working out the muscles we went to the "zoo" of the park. For the story it was technically closed but we decided to ignore the signs and worse come to worse pretend we didn't understand english.
In fact two employees came, as we took pictures of the bears, and told us to follow them. We said "hue", and let them talk pretending to follow them but taking a turn and hiding a chuckle as soon as we could to go see the elks.
Ours Noir/ Black Bear
We had the incredible luck to be surrounded by chipmunks. While we (girls) were sad to have missed the one crossing the road by Mt Mitchell, we were rewarded at Grandfather. They were everywhere: in the bear den, on the walls, in the moss. In fact I know someone who is now a big fan of them.