Appalachian Trail ~ Cross Mountain, Shady Valley, TN {J. Commons Photography ~ Cross Mountain, Shady Valley}

Several years ago, I drove out to Johnson County to check out a spot where the Appalachian Trail meanders through a cow* field.  I didn't walk very far into the field, but I was definitely intrigued.  Today, my sole sister Deanna and I headed out there.

Trail head at Cross Mountain, just past the Johnson County line.

After figuring out my own way to open the special gate (I couldn't seem to do it following the directions) we made our way into the field.  Neither of us have ever hiked through a cow field and we weren't really sure what to expect.  We were both delighted to find that there were actually cows in the field with us!  There were only two and the big guy with the horns was, thankfully, on the other side of the fence!

Cow fields have nice, wide walking paths!

The white blaze of the AT.

The moment I realized there were actually cows in our field and I squeed with joy!

Cool barn.  This photo feels a little "Dorothy in Kansas" to me.

LOVE this truck in the field!  Before wandering out to the front of the truck, that little black cow was trying to figure out how to get in the back!

Peek-a-bull!

 "I don't know where this road is going to lead. . ."

"All I know is where we've been. . ."

If you have never visited Shady Valley, I am here to tell you, "It's beautiful!"

The field is dotted with these purple flowers/weeds and they are butterfly magnets.

I love, love, LOVE how you can see the flower shadow through the butterfly's wings!  So cool!

Headed to the trees.

But first - this happened!  As I already stated, the AT goes through a cow field.  It appeared as if the AT continued to the next field, but you had to cross a muddy spot.  Well, I went first and, as you can see, sunk halfway up to my knees into the quicksandish mud!  I struggled to get back out with my shoes still on my feet and after some maneuvering did manage. And the stench. Oh my word, the stench!  After I was back on solid ground we laughed and laughed and laughed!  We tried to go around the outside of it, but the barbed fence didn't allow us anyway through.  We had just decided to turn around when some thru hikers showed up.  They commented that we must have been having a good time because they could hear our laughter.  Trying to be friendly, we informed them of the sinking mud issue.  As we turned to leave, it dawned on me that there was a fence structure that lead into the forest that was, in fact, the correct way to continue along the AT!  You can see in this collage below that Deanna put together my lovely, muddy shoes, the offending mud, and the hikers behind me past the fence climb.  We laughed harder and harder and realized we need an AT for Dummies book!  And I am sure those thru hikers will laugh about us all the way to Roanoke!

(From Deanna's iPhone)

Oh, look!  The way we should have gone!

We did climb the fence and head into the forest.  We were on a bit of a time crunch today, so we went about a half mile in and then turned back towards the car.

Me taking a picture of Deanna taking a picture of this cute little fall-like leaf.  Yes, that's a selfie stick.  Stop judging us. 

Thistles!

More butterfly hunting.

 Thistles.  Butterfly.  Old truck.  Love.

This little one was closer to the fence, but it was a bit startled by me and kept walking further away and then turning back to see where I was.

Another great day.  Another great hike.  Today's trip on the AT covered 3.22 miles and burned a lot of calories with laughter. :)

*No cows were harmed in the making of this adventure1

June Photo Walk - A trip to Lynn's Farm

It is with a heavy heart that I write this post.  Deanna, the girls, and I visited our friend, Lynn's, farm two weeks ago.  While there an adorable baby goat stole my heart.  I brought Lil Dude home and sadly he passed away the next morning.  He was premie and we don't know if there was something wrong with him, but it seems the move was just too much for him.  Removing the sadness of the following days, we had a lot of fun at the farm.

Have you ever heard that momma pigs are fierce?  I'm here to tell you they are no joke!  We looked inside the stall as momma pig nursed her ten or so piglets.  Lynn snuck in the stall and told us to stand back.  She grabbed a piglet, it squealed, and momma was on her feet and charging in a matter of seconds.  Lynn barely made it out the door and got it latched it time!  Momma continued to snort and complain for the few minutes we loved on her little piglet.  Here's a close up of Abby holding her favorite animal.  It's so cute!!

Goats and sheep everywhere!  There was never a second of silence.  The goats and sheep all took turns giving our their bleats.  The funny part was to listen to all the different tones.  They each have their unique voice.  My favorite were the ones with the deep voices!

Duckling feeding frenzy!

Tyrone!  This guy is huge, but so lovable!  He ears generally hang down over his eyes, but while Lynn was rubbing his belly I was lucky enough to catch his ear up and this very content smile on his face.

Tyrone nose!

Poor Lynn!  She was yelling at the goats for climbing the trees and eating her fruit.  Meanwhile, Deanna and I were laughing and snapping photos!

This old cabin sits on their property and they are planning to tear it down and salvage as much as they can.  I can't wait to see what comes out of it.  I hear there is some wormy chestnut!!

Watching the storm roll in.

Bays Mountain - June Photo Walk

Tuesday, I joined my friend, Stephanie, and her son, Ben, at Bays Mountain.  The husband had told me that Bays Mountain had wolf pups.  If you don't know, wolves are my favorite.  Forgive some of the photos, remember, there is double fencing on the wolves and tiny fencing around the birds - another of my favorites!  This isn't a normal photo walk, but knowing what the rest of June holds in store for me, I know that I don't have a good chance of getting back out there.

The pups were sleeping peacefully when we first visited them.  There was a wonderful volunteer in with the pups that talked to us and answered a lot of questions.

One of the adult wolves.

I love this deer!  I don't know why it is partially white, but I think it's beautiful.

The reservoir was full of lily pads!  I wish the flowers had been a little more open, but they were still pretty cool.  

Part of the reservoir.

Ben cheesing on the reservoir walk.

Ben was off and running up the hill when Stephanie and I found this.  We were slightly excited thinking we had found some leftover wildlife carnage.  Upon further inspection, we decided it was a hat!

Ben spotted a crawdad in the water and set out to catch it.  Sadly, it got away from him!

The waterfall overflow from the reservoir.

There is a bunch of concrete, rebar, and bricks down this trail.  There are also structures that look like old bridge supports.  Not sure what all of that used to be, but it is very interesting.

Stephanie and Ben

Wolf pup!!

You may notice people inside the enclosure with the wolf pups.  There are volunteers that get to play with the pups and help socialize them.  Since they will be on display around people they need to be used to people.  Some of the pups were climbing all over the volunteers, playing on top of them, and tugging on their hair and clothes.  I can't tell you my level of jealousy!!

Location - Bays Mountain, Kingsport, TN