Tag Archives: waterfalls

Silver Run Falls

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Storm Damage

Storm Damage

It was quite a week here in SE Massachusetts. We had a Nor’easter blow through leaving thousands without power. Some places had winds over 100 miles per hour. And it’s still raining off and on so it’s slowed the clean up.  

Silver Run Falls

Silver Run FallsSilver Run Falls Trail

But Back to my North Carolina stories. I was not going to be discouraged.  The next morning I limped back to the car to search for the 2nd waterfall on my list- Silver Run Falls. Whitewater Falls was supposed to be in the same area. Maybe I could get a twofer.

I located the trail head to Silver Run Falls. There wasn’t much room to park, just a gravel shoulder at the side of the road. The trail was well marked but it started off down a hill. I knew this was going to hurt. It would hurt my knees going down and then it would be an uphill trek coming back out. I took a deep breath and took the plunge.

It wasn’t long until I could hear the falls but I couldn’t see it through all the foliage. Note to self- make the next trip later in the year after the leaves are off the trees.  
Just about when I was wondering how much longer my knees would hold up I saw a well made bridge ahead.  According to my directions I was getting close.

 

 

Silver Run Falls

The bridge was a brief respite  but then I was climbing the stairs at the end, The trail made a sharp turn to the right and then there were ROCKS! I wanted to cry. I could hear the roar of the falls but I couldn’t see it. There was a mine field of rocks to get over before I would reach a beach/sandy river bank. I’d come this far. I carefully placed my trekking poles and climbed over a couple of rocks. Just enough so I could see the falls. 

About that time a mother and her 4-5 year old came around the corner. The kid didn’t look twice at the rocks and just bounced over them to the sand bank. The young mother gave me a friendly hello as she easily followed her son to the water’s edge. 

I may have just been shown up by a 5 year old but at least I got a glimpse of the falls. 

Silver Run Falls

 

Cashiers

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Cashier'sIngles at Cashier’s

Now that I was checked in it was time to think about food. I’d skipped lunch since I wanted to locate the resort. Now it was dinner time and my stomach made it known that it was time to eat. I hadn’t seen any fast food restaurants since Bevard. I had a list of local restaurants that I was given at check in but I was warned that it was hard to get seating. Most were still only open with limited seating due to COVID and getting help was also an issue. So I decided to check out Ingles, the local supermarket. 

That turned out to be a good choice. The local Ingles was better stocked than my Hannaford in Taunton! I ws able to pick up everything I needed for my dinner and breakfast and some snacks and soft drinks. They had a great salad bar that included cheese stuffed meatballs in sauce. 

Cashier's

Cashier'sLand of 100 Waterfalls

I’m in an area known as the land of 100 waterfalls. I knew what I was going to do this vacation. With  my camera batteries  fully charged I headed out to locate some of these waterfalls. Right away I knew I was going to have a problem. My left knee was pretty swollen and I was limping badly. It must have been because of all the walking in the airports yesterday. I made sure I had my trekking poles and decided to give it my best shot. I had a list of falls they gave me at check in. Each of the falls had directions and a description. 

Cashiers Sliding Rock

My first waterfall was Sliding Rock. The notes describe the falls as having swimming holes above and below the falls. Parking is on the gravel shoulder. I hoped to wade into the lower swimming hole and shoot the falls from  the bottom. The whole walk to the falls was only supposed to be 150 yards. 

The trail was clear but it was rough. I had to step over logs and downed branches. When I got to the falls the stairs down were cement blocks but they had been undercut and didn’t look too stable. From the prints it looked like most visitors went down the muddy bank rather than use the stairs. Unfortunately with my knees that didn’t seem like a good idea. I took my shot from the top of the bank. No matter how I tried the foliage blocked most of the falls.

Cashier's

Telluride Colorado

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What’s in Telluride, Colorado?

What’s in Telluride Colorado you ask. Well if you need to ask that then you are probably going to have a great vacation. The last time someone asked  “What’s in________” we were talking about South Dakota and all I knew when the adventure started was that was where Mount Rushmore was located. Turned out to be one of the best vacations I’ve taken yet and we experienced a lot more than just Mount Rushmore. But that’s a tale for another time.

Gondola car, Telluride, CO 003-18-2018 016

Telluride , Colorado

Telluride has been on my short list of places to visit in Colorado since I saw an episode of “Destination Unknown” about Butch Cassidy. Josh starts the episode riding on the Gondola. I love riding Gondolas. The views are always worth it and even though I don’t have a fear of heights there’s always a little tingle in my belly as you glide up or down a mountain. So with a gondola calling me and the outlaw history to add spice, Telluride quickly moved to the top of my “very interesting possibility ” list. To increase my interest one of you, my readers, highly recommended a visit. Hearing from you folks always increases my interest. Thank you for your suggestions!

What to do in Telluride?

So what can I tell you about Telluride when I haven’t been there? Well digging around on the internet gives me lots of ideas. Of course if Telluride becomes my vacation choice I will then need to reconfirm everything. COVID has made a lot of the attractions obsolete. So what I’ve found out should not be taken as gospel at this point. We are in the very early exploratory stages.

I found a list of 21 Best things to do in Telluride

A Few Comments on the List

I can eliminate some of the things on the list like the Ski resort. I’d be going in warm weather and I don’t ski and don’t plan to start. But I could see doing an Off Road Adventure. I’m not in much shape for strenuous or long hikes. Bad knees and overweight makes me a poor candidate, especially at elevations of 8000 ft +. I’d love to do some horseback rides. I haven’t been riding since before my hip replacement but the surgeon told me that I was fully healed so that should be free to try it out. 

I’d like to find a way to get to Bridal Veil Falls so I could photograph it. Bridal Veil Falls is a 365-foot waterfall at the end of the box canyon overlooking Telluride.

About 84 miles southwest  is Mesa Verde National Park known for its well-preserved Ancestral Puebloan cliff dwellings, notably the huge Cliff Palace. I’d love to see those so that could be a nice day trip.

This is sounding better to me all the time! Please share your thoughts, recommendations and ideas for my Colorado Adventure. We have lots of time for planning!

 

Road Trip to Hana- Again

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On the Road to Hana

I’m in Maui so that means a trip to Hana. The only way to get there is taking the “Road to Hana” also called the Hana Highway. Regular visitors to this site can attest to my experiences with the Hana Highway. I’ve had some close calls when I’ve attempted to make the drive on my own so this time I chose to take a tour. Let someone else do the driving. In case you are wondering about my cowardly decision the Road to Hana is considered the 5th most dangerous road In The World!

The Hana Rainforest & Waterfall Fun Tour

The concierge recommended Aloha Sunshine Tours for the trip to Hana. Pick up was in the lobby at Ka’anapali Beach Club at 6:10 am. I was advised to wear a bathing suit under my clothes and bring beach towels and sunscreen. Also recommended was bug repellent and Dramamine. This is not an inexpensive trip. I was receiving a discount but for those not members of a resort club or time share the cost of the tour was $161.45 per adult. The price includes lunch in Hana. In our case lunch was a sandwich wrap and a soft drink. I just didn’t want you to think it was an elaborate restaurant meal, it wasn’t. 

Lets Talk about The Road to Hana

The Hana Highway is dangerous because in a 30 mile stretch there are 620 curves and 59 single lane bridges. Unlike other places where one car goes then the other side goes, like at a stop sign, if you have a line of cars behind you  that gives you the right of way and the on coming cars all wait until the whole string of cars has passed. Some of the curves are blind curves. Our tour bus went around them with the horn blaring to let cars on the other side of the curve know we were coming. Two of the passengers got car sick. but thankfully managed to hold it until we could find a place to pull over. The drop offs can be dizzying when you look down.

The Hana Highway runs through a rainforest

The scenery is magnificent. We stopped to take a quick dip under a waterfall. You are traveling through an honest to goodness rainforest. Waterfalls abound, some dripping down onto the highway. There can be fog and limited visibility. The day we went it was sunny for the most part. Only patches of rain. One big change from my previous tour, when we got to Hana we turned around and came back. The tour did not take us on the back side of Haleakalā. Our driver said the unpaved road there was too rough on their vans. I’ll share some of the stops we made in the next post.

If You Go

If you get to Hana , whether on your own or by tour, be sure to pick up some banana bread. It is THE BEST! I’m told it’s made with the tiny bananas and that is what makes it so moist and sweet. I don’t know if that’s true but I’ve never had banana bread as good as this in my life. Its worth the scary ride on the Road to Hana.

 

 

 

The Volcano Tour Begins

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Evidence of Volcano Activity  is Everywhere

As we made the rounds to the various resorts we passed remains of past volcanic activity. Lava turns into very rich topsoil but it doesn’t happen overnight.  The Big Island is the youngest of the Hawaiian Islands. There are six volcanoes that have worked together over the last (give or take) one million years to create the Big Island. These volcanoes formed one after the other and partially overlap. From oldest to youngest their names are: Mahukona, Kohala, Mauna Kea, Hualalai, Mauna Loa and Kilauea. Three volcanoes are still active: Hualalai, Mauna Loa and Kilauea. Kilauea is currently erupting while the other two could erupt at any time. Mauna Kea is dormant, Kohala inactive and Mahukona has probably never breached the ocean surface.

The lava flows we passed on the Kona Side were from Mauna Loa’s last eruption is 1984

 

Lava flow to the ocean

Kona Coast

A Snow Capped Volcano

Halfway to Hilo we pulled into a picnic area. This was a former boy scout camp. It was clean and well maintained. The only negative was another tour had arrived before us and took the only handicapped table. Zane, our tour guide , and the young Aussie men pulled another table over to the edge of the paved walk way. This worked to allow our handicapped guest a way to wheel up to a table. Lunch was a excellent boxed lunch. The sandwiches and cookies were amazingly fresh. Zane explained that everything in the lunches from the fruit to the bread to the cookies were all local grown. In fact he had to wait for the cookies to come out of the oven this morning before he picked us up. It was cool while we picnicked. We were in the saddle between the 2 volcanoes, Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea. We could see the snow on the mountain tops.

Snow Capped volcano

 

Rainbow FallsHilo and Rainbow Falls

Zane told us that it would rain once we got to Hilo. Hilo is part of the rain forest and it rains every day. We skipped Akaka Falls and headed to Rainbow Falls. Sure enough it started to rain. When the sun is out there are rainbows over the falls caused by the spray, hense the name, Rainbow Falls. We’d just have to settle for the falls today, no rainbows.

tour bus