Saluda, NC & Table Rock SC: October 2014

We spent the last two weeks of October in the trailer. We met my brother Art and his wife Dolores at Saluda, NC.  They came with their trailer from Florida, and we enjoyed nine days of sightseeing and visiting. It was really wonderful to have such a long, relaxed, fun time with them.  There are many beautiful/interesting places in the Saluda/Brevard area that we visited:

Pearson's Falls

Alan and I with Art and Dolores

I had particularly wanted to visit the Carl Sandburg home in Flat Rock, NC for many years. Dick Hoffman, one of my friends who worked for the park service design studio, had done many of the displays. Dick died earlier this year of cancer, so this visit was a sort of pilgrimage in his memory. If you want more information on the Carl Sandburg site, here is the link:  Carl Sandburg NPS site

We really enjoyed going to the Dupont State Forest, near Brevard.  It is a wonderful place to hike, see waterfalls, and enjoy riding mountain bikes.  Some of the movie The Hunger Games was filmed there.  Alan and I will definitely go back, as there are many things that we did not get to see on this visit.  You can see more about what is available at this website:  Dupont State Forest

High Falls, one of the many beautiful waterfalls at Dupont State Forest

Art and Dolores have a delightful dog, who was a great hiker and traveler with us.

Hooker Falls

In our tour of sites so beautiful they were used in movies, we went to Chimney Rock
State Park, where The Last of the Mohicans, was filmed.

For perspective, see the people on the overlook.

You could take a long winding stairway to the top, or ride the elevator,
which is what we opted for.

View from the "Sky Lounge"  

View from the top of Chimney Rock

Alan and I on top of Chimney Rock

Another interesting place we visited was the Cowpen's National Battlefield, near Gaffney, SC. The battlefield was basically a field with a walk to markers, but the visitor center had an excellent movie and laser map showing the movements of the troops.  If you aren't familiar with the battle and its importance in the American Revolution, here is the NPS link: Battle of Cowpens  

Interesting monument at the front the the visitor center, which had the names
of all the officers involved on both sides of the conflict,
as well as exact numbers on the participants and casualties.
Even back then, the military obviously kept excellent records.

Table Rock

After we left Saluda, we went to Table Rock State Park, which is on the NC/SC border, near Pickens, SC.  Alan's sister Susie came up from Atlanta to spend several days with us in our trailer. We had a wonderful time with her.

We were starting to see more fall color, here reflected in the lake at Table Rock.

Table Rock and The Stool

The Cherokee legend was that a giant sat on the stool and ate at the table.

Alan climbed the very difficult trail to the summit,
while Susie and I enjoyed easier trails at lower elevations.

View from the pinnacle, just past the summit of Table Rock

Alan's view of the fall color