496. Hike the Appalachian Mountains

 When Heather mentioned that the Appalachian Trail crossed through Smoky Mountain National Park, I was like I can hike part of the Appalachian Trail and knock that off the bucket list. Then I realized the bucket list said "hike the Appalachian Mountains". Google confirmed "the Great Smoky Mountains are a subrange of the Appalachian Mountains" -- saved by a technicality. 

The Appalachian Trail is a 2,197.9 mile long hiking trail stretching from Georgia to Maine. We actually read book for book club about Grandma Gateway and her journey along the trail. Some people through hike the entire trail in one long journey. Others break into segments kind of like the Ice Age Trail. I had no real desire, just pipe dreams, of doing the whole thing. 

Once we saw the elk and had lunch, we headed back towards Gatlinburg on the Newfound Gap Road. We stopped at Newfound Gap Overlook which is where the Appalachian Trail crosses through Great Smoky Mountain National Park so I could hike the Appalachian Trail. We still had our flip flops on. I probably should have changed into sneakers. 

I started up the trail towards  Sweat Heifer Creek Trail which was 1.7 miles away. I had no desire to walk 3+ miles round trip especially with the hubby waiting for me. There's no way he could hike 3+ miles. So I walked to the top of the first incline which was about 10-25 yards. The hubby wanted me to turn around sooner but I was like I'm going to the that branch sticking out. 

I can now say I "hiked" the Appalachian Trail and the Appalachian Mountains. Maybe one day I will hike an actual segment of the Appalachian Trail. For now my short hike in flip flops while have to suffice. Some time technicalities is all we need to have an adventure. 

503. Hike the Smoky Mountains

 When I was planning our trip to the Smoky Mountains, there were a few things I knew I wanted to do. A couple of them involved "hiking" and that is not the hubby's cup of tea, especially of late. I knew I had to keep hiking to a minimum. I don't know why when I wrote the original bucket list almost 25 years ago, I thought it was a great idea to include all these hikes on the list. I enjoy a good, easy hike but I probably thought I'd have all the time and money to go hike, camp, and do outdoorsy things. Now it's baseball and road trips. 

One of the hikes I wanted to do was hike the Smoky Mountains. I didn't need to a strenuous or even moderate hike. Something short and easy for the hubby would suffice. Initially I found a nice short boardwalk nature trail hike to do. Somehow in my planning, I forgot to write down where said hike was in the park. I saw a sign for a nature trail from Sugarlands Visitor Center but it was .7 miles and listed as moderate. That was not my hike.

Also on the sign, it said Cataract Falls was .5 mile hike and easy. The hubby and I decided to hike to Cataract Falls. So we went chasing waterfalls. 

The hike to Cataract Falls from Sugarlands Visitor Center is about .5 mile round trip. It is a super easy, pretty flat hike. Part of it is across a parking lot partially due to construction. We did the hike in flip flops. Did you expect anything less?

Cataract Falls is a small waterfalls but has some height. I like waterfalls of any kind. 

The hike to Cataract Falls is a popular hike since it's close to the visitor center and short. It also meets up with the Gatlinburg Trail which does take you into Gatlinburg. No I didn't cross the water to the get to the Gatlinburg Trial. I'm sure the hubby would have had a heart attack if I attempted that. He's so not adventurous. 

Everyone needs to hike the Smoky Mountains at least once even if it's a super short trail. There is just something about being out in nature and mountain air that makes life all better.

If the hubby can make it to Cataract Falls, there's a good chance you can too. Visit the Smoky Mountains, get out of the car, and explore a trail. It's worth it. 

6008. Go to the Robert O Cook Arboretum in Janesville

 While planning for girls weekend, I realized that one of my reading challenges said to visit an arboretum. I was like there is one in Janesville. I told Stacy we need to add the Arboretum to our list of things to do.

Robert O Cook Arboretum is on the outskirts of Janesville and is owned in part by Janesville school district. It is open daily 5 am to 11 pm. It is 160 acres of wetlands, forests, and trails. 

We parked in the main parking lot and decided to hike the JSOL Paved Cabin Trail so we could see the historic cabin. It said it was only .29 miles. It should have been totally doable except it was hot and we had more hiking to do. 

We walked about half the trail and said the cabin was too far away. We headed back to the car to hike part of the Ice Age Trail. If we walked the outer loop (about 1 mile, we would have gotten to part of the ice age trail in the Arboretum. We did not. We wanted the tricky Devil's Staircase portion of it. 

The arboretum is actually a really nice place to visit. The trails are wide, dog friendly, and even great in winter. I would suggestion checking it out if you are ever down in the Janesville area and need some exercise. I did put see the cabin on the bucket list so maybe one day I will be back. 

5341. Go to the Lion’s Den Gorge Nature Preserve in Grafton

 Everyone always talked about what a nice place Lion's Den Gorge Nature Preserve was. I have always wanted to check it out. Lil' Bro and I tried to check it out a number of years ago and could find parking. We ended up at Lime Kiln Park instead. 

Since Lion's Den has been on my short list every year for the last couple of years, I decided to add to my adventure when the hubby was away. I was initially going to go on my way down to Stacy's but just couldn't get moving. Then I asked Lil' Bro if he wanted to join me on Sunday morning before going to see Andrea. He agreed.

Lion's Den Gorge Nature Preserve is in the town of Grafton on the shores of Lake Michigan. It is open daily from 6 AM to 9 PM (or dawn to dusk). There is no cost to visit. Parking seemed to be better than last time we tried to visit. We both found spots to park.

There are several trails you can take. Some of them are boardwalks. Some are a paved road. Others are wood chips. 

We started out on the Lion's Den Trail which gave us views of Lake Michigan. You can walked down to the beach using a set of steep stairs. We did not not venture down to the beach.

Because the trail is on the edge of a bluff, you have to be careful not to get to close. They have been many rescue calls for people falling over the ledge.

We really just wandered a few trails. Eventually we turned around and headed back to our cars. If it was just me, I would have explored more. But with little legs of my niece, we had to go at her pace. I never made it to the gorge or the bridge over the gorge. There's always next trip

It was definitely a perfect morning for a hike. There were people but it was not overly crowded. Sunday mornings must be the time to go.

If you are in the Milwaukee area, this is definitely a place you want to check out. Just be careful.

146. See the Northern Lights -- Take 2

 There were a lot of reports that there was a good chance at seeing the Northern Lights in Northeastern Wisconsin. The conditions were right -- big solar flare and clear skies. I thought I may have seen them a few years back but there weren't very bright. I didn't have high hopes this time around either.

I went to bed and around 11:30 the hubby came and woke me up saying if I wanted to see the Northern Lights to come outside. If I looked through my phone's camera I could faintly pick up the colors from the driveway.

We decided to get in the car and head a bit out of town. We headed north northwest towards Freedom and Seymour. Using the camera on my phone, I got much better pictures. I just wish the hubby would have just parked somewhere so we could enjoy them more instead of driving and looking at them.

There were impressive but not a lot of pinks but definitely green and even some dancing. 

One day I hope to see them over the water in Door County and maybe if I'm really lucky in Alaska or Iceland. I'm not holding my breath on those. For now this midnight road trip will have to suffice. 

If the Northern Lights forecast is right, take a few minutes to see if you see them. Sometimes you have to use your phone's camera to pick them up. They are pretty dang cool to see.

1770. Go to Big Cypress National Preserve

 When we first were planning on going to Florida, I looked at an option that would take us from the East Coast to the West Coast passing through the northern edge of the Big Cypress National Preserve. Then we changed our itinerary based on who was playing when and how long we were going to be gone. We ended up having a potential free day to do some exploring and I mentioned we could headed down to check out the Everglades since we still had the National Park pass. The hubby agreed.

Big Cypress National Preserve is on the northwest edge of the Everglades. It really could be considered part of the Everglades because when the Everglades was founded in the 1930s, the government didn't have enough funds to maintain the whole area so later the Big Cypress National Preserve was created in what remained of the unprotected land in the area.

Big Cypress Preserve is open year round and has two visitor centers. Since we were going to the Everglades, we visited Nathaniel P. Reed Visitor Center in Ochopee. Due to some unforeseen issues, we didn't spend much time at the visitor center but instead decided to drive through the preserve on our to the Everglades. I had several stops I wanted to do.

There are two boardwalks and a scenic drive along US 41 that you can explore Big Cypress. Knowing the scenic drive is a dirt road, we skipped. We didn't want to deal with all that dust. 

We stopped at H.P. Williams Wayside park which has a short boardwalk. The boardwalk was the perfect length for the hubby who is not all about hiking or walking much. We saw several alligators, a really large bug, and some birds. It was actually a very nice boardwalk to check out.

The other boardwalk we did not check out due to time was Kirby Storter Roadside Park. This one has a longer boardwalk (about 1 mile round trip). If we ever get back down here, I would check it out. 

I would have loved to spend more time in Big Cypress but we had to get to the Everglades National Park. You could spend the whole day explore the scenic trail, boardwalks, and check out the visitor center. It was definitely worth the detour on our way to Port St. Lucie.

4340. Go to Badlands National Park in Interior

Being the National Park Geek that I am, I tried to fit in as many National Park sites as time allowed. Badlands National Park was perfect for this trip. It was an alternative to take I-90 and you could drive SD 240 through the park and end up at Wall Drug.

Badlands National Park is located in Interior. It has two entrances, the NE Entrance in Interior and the Pinnacles Entrance in the NW near Wall Drug. It is $30/car for 7 days or if you have the National Park pass you get in free. If you are planning on visiting more National Park sites in and around South Dakota, I would get the National Park Pass since it's $80 and is good for a whole year. 

There are plenty of overlooks to stop at and trails to hike. We stopped at many overlooks so I could take pictures. The formations were unbelievable. The yellow rocks was my favorite.

This is probably one of my favorite loops we've driven. There are not crazy switchbacks to get to the loop. The park is almost right off the highway so you are not wasting time trying to get to the park when you're on a time crunch. There is plenty to see right from the car and don't have to get out. It would rank up there with the Painted Desert/Petrified Forest as my favorite National Park drives to date.

It is 104 out. We did not do much hiking. I was afraid my flip flops would melt to the ground. I wanted to hike the Notch Trail which is a trail with a ladder at the end but not in that heat. We did walk part of the Window Trail. It was the only time the hubby got out of the car. That is a nice trail.

We did not see any wildlife. There is mountain goats, buffalo, prairie dogs, and wide variety of birds and other wild life. Like usually we did not see even a squirrel. We saw some birds but no buffalo or goats. I think they smell me coming and go hide. 

I've talked to several people that are not impressed by the Badlands and others that are in awe with it.  We thought they were amazing and can't wait to go back. It is a personal preference but The Badlands are definitely worth checking out at least once even if you are not into hiking.