Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Reidsville, NC Oct 6-18, 2011

Lake Reidsville was a campground recommended to us by a couple we met at Cedar Point back in September.  The campground is a relatively small one (about 40 sites) and sits right on Lake Reidsville.  The price is right up our alley ($15 for w/e and $17 for full hook-ups)!  We decided on just water/electric so that we could be near the lake and got settled into site #36.

View from our campsite! 

View from lake looking towards our site!
During our time here, Dan (aka McGyver) fabricated a tripod to hold our grate from our gas grill for campfire cooking.  We really enjoy cooking over wood and this would allow us a handy way of doing that!

Steaks on the grill and taters in the coals!

Delicious!!
We had a few days of rain so I went into fall baking/cooking mode!  I made chocolate chip cookie dough and put the majority of it in the freezer for fresh baked cookies down the road!  I kept enough dough out to make us a few cookies and also sent some to my daughter in a care package!   I got a great big "'thank you" a few days later!  I also made a yummy apple/raisin bar recipe and two batches of homemade soup.  Needless to say, our freezer is full now!

After the rain cleared, we decided to check out Hanging Rock State Park.  It was about an hour's ride from the campground in a quaint town called Danbury.  We loved this park!  The leaves were almost "peak" and it was gorgeous!  After a picnic lunch of peanut butter and apricot jam sammies, we checked out a few of the trails with the waterfalls.  

Hidden Falls

Window Falls

Upper Cascades Waterfall

I loved the color of these leaves and it looks like a leaf hat!


Near a lookout point before the climb up Hanging Rock!

We ended up hiking 4 trails saving the "moderate" Hanging Rock trail for the end.  We both think that they should change the rating to "strenuous" as you are climbing up the mountain and have 300+ stone stairs to get there!  This is in addition to some pretty decent inclines along the way.  I whined a bit but was going to make it come heck or high water!  :-)   

Taking a rest!

Ahhh!  The hike was so worth it!

Dan on top Hanging Rock 

Amazing scenery!

Colorful leaves!  

Nature is wonderful!

Beautiful views everywhere!

No pictures of the two of us!  I am scared of heights and didn't go on the ridges!
We had a great time at Hanging Rock and would definitely recommend it to our hiking friends out there. 

We also hiked the Chinqua-Penn trail which is about 15 minutes from the campground.  There is also a plantation near the trail but we didn't go to that.  It looked beautiful but the admission price ($20 each) seemed a bit steep and we would rather do "outside" activities anyway!  The trail was a mix of farm land and woods.  Here are a few pictures from the trail. 
Heading into the trail

Dam at Lake Betsy

Gorgeous stonework from the 1930s.  Can't imagine the manual labor it took to build this!

Bamboo trees were everywhere!

Dan was telling "5014" he was going to be a t-bone one day soon!
We had a very nice time at Lake Reidsville and met some great people.  We would definitely return if our travels have us in the area again! 

11 comments:

Brandon said...

Wow! Great update - love your leaf hat. Being on top of Hanging Rock is a great place to be - the 360 degree views are amazing.

Steve and Joan said...

Great pictures! It sure looks like you two are having a great time. Look forward to the day when Steve and I will be living this life. Love the grill!

Nancy and Bill said...

What a beautiful hike...all of them!! You two are doing exactly what we would love to be doing... So keep it up so we can go along:o))

Nature is AMAZING!!!

Gin and Syl said...

Ahh...Beautiful!! We'll have to check it out sometime. Of course Dan would create just the right thing to cook over the fire. That steak looks great.
Syl

Ceal said...

So glad you are enjoying natures beauty. It must be breathtaking to see it in person. Enjoy your adventure.
Love you

Gail Houle said...

That place looks fantastic! We are definitely going to check it out next time we're back in NC.

Cathy said...

You never realize how many beautiful places there are until you get a chance to visit them. Thanks for sharing them with your "office-bound" friends and family.

Artina said...

I love all of those water falls. Must put this park on my to-do list. Sounds like you are having a great week. Safe travels!

Dave and Maxine- Wandering Wingers said...

Nice country and beautiful scenery. This time of year is perfect for hiking and cooking over the fire. Nice campsite by the lake to and for 15 dollars, that is a great deal! Enjoy your time there.

eaiken1121 said...

Breathtaking scenery - so glad you're having the time of your lives taking in nature's beauty & bounty!

Barbara said...

You are living everyone's dream. What beautiful photos.