Rest for the Weary

After many miles of hiking last week we were more than ready for a little rest.  I think we may have pushed ourselves a little too hard on these mountain trails.  Even though we did a lot of hiking in Florida, it was flat and easy and we didn’t build up the strength and endurance we need for the mountains.

We both stumbled around Monday morning like we were about 90 years old.  By the afternoon we had perked up some, but, I have to admit, looking forward to another day of rest.  Needless to say, we were pretty sedentary (couch potatoes) most of the day.

Old Time Music sculpture on Main Street

That’s not to say we did nothing.  We made a run to Wal-Mart and on our way back drove through downtown Waynesville.  This is a nice little community of about 9,000 and serves as the county seat for Haywood County.  The town is large enough to have several restaurant chains, a couple large groceries, and a hospital.

The downtown Main Street area is nice with several upscale boutiques, speciality shops, and galleries for local artists.  We strolled along window shopping until we got to Mast General Store.  There we went inside.  I had in mind to purchase a couple throw rugs I has seen a few days ago, but alas they had been sold.  We looked around, but didn’t find anything that needed to come home with us.

Also nearby is Maggie Valley.  This small community is more like a tourists destination for folks visiting the National Park.  It’s picturesque and has the customary tee-shirt, fudge, and ice cream shops.  We stopped in one of the ice cream shops the other day with Sharon.  By our calculations we had done enough hiking to justify ice cream.

Speaking of Sharon, we thoroughly enjoyed having her along on our hikes last week.  She is a native of the area and has lived in these mountains all her life.  She was a wealth of information when we were planning our hikes.  We initially met through the blog.  We first met in person and hiked with Sharon last fall at Long Hunter State Park near Nashville.

One of the Boyd Mountain Cabins

And another

To make our hiking together convenient, she took the week away from home and stayed at Boyd Mountain cabins just down the road from our campground.  The owners had a Christmas tree farm before they got into the cabin business.  Now they do both, so the cabin area is surrounded by Christmas trees.  It is just beautiful.  We went over one afternoon and walked around.  Boy, it that ever a nice place.

The owners little cottage

Thanks, Sharon, for taking the time out of your busy schedule to do some hiking with us.  We certainly look forward to doing that again.

Our plan was to hike again in Cataloochee on Wednesday then move to the Cherokee area on Thursday.  Rain is still very much in our forecast, but will not be in our area until later than the weather people originally thought.  It looks like our hiking plans for Wednesday are going to be rained out.  We are debating whether to extend here for a few more days or go on over to Cherokee as planned.  Time will tell.

That’s its for today.  Thanks for tagging along.