Loop
0.6 miles
Easy
Since I had never been to Morrow Mountain before, after we finished the Morrow Mountain Loop Trail, we decided to drive around the park to see what was there.
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| Morrow Mountain Trail Map |
We found the museum first. This was an interesting little museum with exhibits about the geology and biology of the park. They had several video monitors set up that played videos for those interested. They also had a relief map of the park which I found very interesting. We would have spent more time there (Conner didn't want to leave), but Elijah had to go poop. There are no bathrooms at the museum, so we got in the car and headed toward the campground where we knew we would find bathrooms.
The campground turned out to be nicer than I expected. The bathrooms (first stop, of course) were clean and modern. The sites were close together, but not on top of each other. The tent pads were mostly level. We may go there before it gets too cold and spend a night or two. After taking care of business, we continued through the campground and started seeing deer. In all, we saw about 12 deer IN THE CAMPGROUND! They were obviously used to people being there.
One group of deer were right next to a rather elaborate camping setup. I imagine that people feed the deer in spite of the signs and warnings not to do so. When we rattled a bag in the car, they came within ten feet of the car. One striking thing about all of the deer was that they were amazingly skinny. I figured they would be putting on weight at this time of the year (I'm not a deer expert. Just common sense reasoning. I could be completely wrong.)
Truth is, I didn't see a single deer that would be worth shooting for the meat. Some might argue it's because they have been fed human food so much that they no longer possess the ability or desire to eat their normal foods. It might could also be argued that they are suffering because of the lack of rain this year. I don't know. I just know they looked pitiful.
Did we feed them? Of course not. The sign said not to, right?
After driving through the campground, we made our way down the other roads and ended up at a huge parking lot that was completely empty. We parked next to the sign indicating the trail head for Quarry Trail.
Quarry Trail is a little 0.6 mile loop trail that runs next to a (dry) creek bed. While there were no "views" per se, it was a nice hike through an interesting forest area. We hiked the trail clockwise.
It started out down a small hill where it met up with the creek. The trail followed the trail downstream and crossed on bridges several times. Since the creek was dry, it wouldn't have mattered much if the bridges weren't there. In a few places, there were trees down over the creek. The boys enjoyed walking across a couple of them.
Actually, there were lots of trees down in this area. It was disturbing how many. They are the result of Hurricane Fran which caused severe damage to the park in 1996. Most of them are in the latter stages of decay, but the evidence of the storm will still be there for years to come.
The best part of this hike for the boys was climbing the hills on both sides of the creek. I challenged Conner to the first one thinking he would slide back down. But instead, he climbed all the way to the top as if it were nothing. Elijah climbed a few hills that were not quite as steep. They both thought that was really cool. We learned of Conner's love for rock climbing at Clingman's Dome. Elijah is not as bold as Conner, but I think that next year, he'll be right there next to his brother, climbing everything in sight.
At one point, there was a near-vertical wall next to the trail. Again, I challenged Conner to climb it. Again, he made it to the top with relative ease. I stood at the bottom of the eight foot high wall in case Conner fell. He was very excited. I'm going to have to take Conner down to the Charlotte Whitewater Center and let him climb the walls down there. Maybe get some lessons. Elijah wouldn't even try.
As we continued to follow the trail downstream, the thought entered my mind that with all that down hill, we'd have to be going up hill eventually. Sure enough, the last couple tenths of a mile were on a slight up hill.
The trail is rated easy, and it was, but Kristina didn't like the up hill part at all. Elijah just wanted to get back to the car and rest.
We played football in the empty parking lot for a little while and then headed home.
We had a nice relaxing day in the woods. I'm thankful for the time I got to spend with my kids and my wonderful wife in God's creation.
There were a couple times that Conner asked when we would get to do some longer trails. Elijah and Mommy were quick to take a pass on longer trails. So they agreed to let Conner and me go on longer hikes without them. I think Elijah will come around when he gets a little older. I admit that hiking just might not be his "thing" and I suppose that's okay. I won't push him to go when he doesn't want to.
Kristina, though, is a different story. I think she will be glad for the easy hikes, but will always take a pass on the harder ones. We are a family divided... can anything ever bring us back together??? Just kidding. We are a very close family and nothing will ever tear us apart... not even an AT thru hike.
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