Down in the Hollar

The joy of blogging is that you meet wonderful people that you might never have met if you hadn't started this crazy thing called a blog. Now we might have met Brittni because she is the daughter of Morgan's teacher and a substitute teacher herself, but I don't know if we would have been invited to go "down in the Hollar" by her if she hadn't been introduced to my blog and found me and Morgan to be true naturalist type folk.

When Brittni called and asked if we would like to go for a nature walk we jumped on it but had no idea the adventure we were about to be treated to. First I want to say, thank you Brittni, you are a wonderful inspiration for all young women. Hold to your values and keep being who you are. You will go far!

This is the google map photo of where we were. That is one heck of a Hollar!Here is the terrain view......and the red dots are my interpretation of where we walked. I may be a little off at the start and distance but you get the picture! It was a hike and a half. If I'm right we walked nearly a mile one way...but it sure did seem longer.This is probably the longest blog I've ever posted so I'll try to keep wordage to a minimum.

The start of our walk was a steep descent.Morgan and Brittni heading down.There were so many beautiful wildflowers along the way.Right at the bottom we were treated to the falls. There were a number of them.

This is where Brittni grew up, she is right at home here in the Hollar.Our first challenge was getting down to the rocks. The normal route was blocked by a tree that had fallen in a storm so we clung to roots and small trees as we crawled precariously along a cliff above the water. Huge boulders littered the stream.Walking was tricky. Moss and wet rocks are well know by naturalists to be very slick, so we knew to keep clear. Not one fall was made by the three adventurers.Of course with Brittni being such a dear, there were a lot of helping hands and "yes Mams"!

Her parents must be so proud...they sure raised her right!I heard some birds in the woods, some Carolina Wrens, Tufted Titmice, and Red-bellied Woodpeckers but the most we could hear was running water. Not a bad trade-off.There were trees growing out of rocks......and rocks growing out of rocks!Every now and then we'd take a short break for those who were young at heart......who were looking for wood fairies that like to slide on natural slides.We found a heart shaped rock placed there by God just for nature lovers.This is an all white butterfly we found...the best shot I could get before it flew away. If it is a West Virginia White it will be right on the edge of it's range.Brittni and Morgan. Two sweet, beautiful young women.Farewell, till we meet again...Hollar at ya later!!!