As you know, we are currently camping at a remote campground in Northern Alabama, near the Tennessee border. We love it and many days, it's like we have the place to ourselves. I haven't yet come to understand how people could camp in such a spectacular spot and stay in their campers all day, but at most RV parks, it's the same. We see RV's, but no people. Here is certainly not different. But I guess that's to our advantage. We can pretend that this is all ours, at least for a little bit.
Several weeks ago, we invited friends over to explore our campground with us. After a quick ¼ mile hike, the kids spent the afternoon playing in the 'swimming hole' with the fish. My kids had so much fun that they persuaded me to go out the next day and purchase water shoes and goggles in preparation for the next venture into the water. Playing in the creek probably isn't something that would have appealed to me at home in Ohio. Well, I guess I can't really say that, when I was young I would play in the creek that wound its way through our property. What I mean to say then, is I guess I wouldn't have ever thought to swim in the creek. But here in Alabama, it’s common to see people pull over on the side of the road and jump into the water below. Very interesting…
When I shared how much fun they'd had with the camp owner, she suggested that we try hiking through the creek to the covered bridge. It would only be about a 2 mile trek round trip.
Well, on the next really hot day, we took her suggestion and armed with walking sticks (in case we saw...ummmm...snakes...eekkkk) we were on our way. We spent the afternoon exploring the creek bed from a different viewpoint and we were thrilled by our discoveries. We saw many features that we would have missed if we were walking along the bank of the creek, like the tiny waterfalls and unique rock formations. We even found a rock that resembles a horse’s head, empty turtle shells and really neat fossils. We hiked on slippery rocks where we thought we’d all land on our bottoms and passed through water that we nearly had to swim through to continue our journey. This was the best of summer days and we couldn’t wait for my husband to join us.
So, on the next Sunday, we embarked on yet one more creek exploration, and likely our last. Thankfully, on our first trip, we’d not noticed any snakes. Of course, this doesn’t mean that they weren’t there, but we didn’t see any. That would change on this trip; we saw a total of three. And one was pretty long. Though we had a wonderful time, towards the end of our hike, my camera fell into the water and I thought I was going to cry. Thankfully it’s had three weeks to dry out and has decided to work again which has allowed me to upload this video for you. It'll give you a bit of an idea of what we were up to!
So, if you have a creek nearby, you may want to explore it too! Just remember to take a walking stick, wear water shoes, and leave your camera behind!
© 2009 Tonya Prater/Live the Adventure
Comments
Jul. 18, 2009 - Untitled Comment
Posted by Anonymous
Wow, travelling around in a camper sounds so exciting and fun! We have a pop up and enjoy camping in the summers here.
I am glad you left a comment on my blog...so I could come see yours! I see you have not been to my state yet (but close) !
Blessings to you,
Linkmama
(from VT)