After spending a few days at the start of the kids' spring break up in Durham--exploring its lovely downtown, taking in a show, and checking out the campuses of Duke, UNC, and NC State (neither Jonathan nor I are NC natives like our kids, so we figured now that Ella is a high school sophomore it was time to start getting to know NC universities)--we decided to continue the idea of seeing a little more of our own state for our vacation. We headed to the mountains for a day at
Chimney Rock State Park to see the iconic North Carolina monolith, hike some trails, and take in the views of Lake Lure and Hickory Nut Gorge. A bonus for this adventure was definitely that sweet Olive was able to join us and, also, this is a sight Ella and Jack hadn't even heard of here in NC. You know I love my research before trips, so I did make us all watch
The Last of the Mohicans before going, although, I might've been the only one to really pay attention.
No elevator for us (not an option when you bring a dog and I'm sure we wouldn't have taken it anyway) so we trekked up the Outcroppings Trail (known as the "Ultimate Stairmaster") which includes 494 steps up to the Chimney. After taking in the views on top of the Chimney (I'll admit, I found being up there quite daunting), we continued up via the Exclamation Point trail to make it to the highest peak in the park (2,480 feet above sea level, and one of the views from
The Last of the Mohicans), exploring the Opera Box and seeing Devil's Head on the way.
Not ready for our day to end, we continued our hike on the Skyline Trail which went up and down hill, over a creek, and finally to the top of a waterfall. We hiked all the way back to the bottom of Chimney Rock the way we came in. My calves were literally quivering by the time we made it down to the bottom of the stairs--and I wasn't the only one!
