Occoneechee Mountain Fall Excursion

Eight days ago, Judy and I were thrilled to join Amanda, Bri,

and Hunter for a day of hiking at Occoneechee Mountain near

Hillsborough, N.C.  Judy and I had hiked here before, but having

family along made it a greater pleasure than ever. 

I'm happy to share some highlights of that beautiful November day.

We began with a picnic lunch at Hillsborough's lovely
Gold Park. The kids were eager to show Amanda the
park's "Bee Hotel," a haven for pollinators.

Cozy nooks for our crucial pollinators.

The kids pose under the park's railroad trestle. Some
day I want to be under there when an east-west freight
rumbles through. Don't you?

Then it was off to Occoneechee Mountain, the highest
point in this region of North Carolina, bordering the
Eno River.

10 points if you can spot two grandchildren.

The kids were delighted with the first of three 
amazing rock formations. Here are King and Queen
of the mountain.

Amanda and Hunter

Bri on her lofty perch

Two old trail guides who came along for the adventure.

Judy and I will follow these two anywhere.

This is Trailing Arbutus, a dainty woodland plant
which will bloom under leaves and even under snow
in late winter.

Here was the next big rock formation. One or more
grandkids may be hiding here.

We love all rocks, great and small.

Christmas fern was abundant in this stretch of the trail.

As on our school nature trail, Christmas Fern will
remain green through the winter.

Here is wild ginger, another plant we also find on 
the SFL Nature Trail.

Bri, the victorious!

About halfway through our hike, we encounter the
Eno River. This is several miles from where we had
 hiked with Amanda, Bri, and Hunter back in October,
at the Eno River State Park.

Here was our third amazing rock formation.
Kids: "What's taking y'all so long?" (Not really)

Here Hunter demonstrates how to levitate.
Pretty neat trick.

Four rockhounds

Yet another cool boulder to pose on.

I had been giving a big build-up to the old quarry.
Here was the side trail turn-off.

Click below to read some history of this fascinating

quarry. It dates back to the Civil War.

History of the Quarry

It's a long way up!

You can see why no climbing is allowed.
These minerals are very soft and brittle.

As we continued on, we came to a "switchback" trail,
which zig-zags to make a steep climb easier. Judy and
I rode an old logging railroad at Cass, West Virginia,
that utilized this technology on a larger scale to 
ascend a mountain.

That's not an oil well-- it's a high voltage power
line.  Again-- NO CLIMBING!

There's a beautiful view of lands to the north from the 
overlook atop the quarry. No, we won't go close to the edge!

There's the Eno River below us.
These trees must have been beautiful a few weeks ago.

We're thankful for a little taste of mountain beauty
just a little over an hour from home.

Bri poses atop a boulder at the overlook.

We had worked hard for this view, and it was worth it.

What had looked a long way up now looked
a long way down!

The walk back to the parking area was pretty much
all downhill, and we needed that.
Bri and Hunter posed one last time in a
"Tree of Many Trunks."
Our Occoneechee adventure was over, but we still
had a Saturday of Granny's Doughnuts and a
memorable Family Night ahead. All good times.

Ken's Second 100 Song Posts (Facebook)

Way back on June 23 I posted a list of the first 100 songs I had posted on Facebook.  The response from friends has been overwhelming and I appreciate that greatly. Here is a list of the second 100 songs I've posted since then.  There's a reason I call my blog Ken Loyd's ECLECTIC blog. It goes for my music as well as all my other interests.

ON MY FACEBOOK PAGE ONE WAY TO LOCATE A

PARTICULAR SONG IS TO GO TO THE SEARCH BOX AND

TYPE IN "KEN LOYD" plus THE TITLE (or #) FROM THIS LIST.

I hope this is helpful.

Click here for link to the First 100 Song Posts There, I supply some background which I won't reiterate here.

Ken’s Second 100 Piano Song Posts (Facebook)

#101      My Cup Runneth Over

#102      Nobody Does it Better

#103      Strangers in the Night

#104      Theme from “Elvira Madigan

#105      I Saw the Light

#106      You’ve Got a Friend

#107      I Saw Her Standing There

#108      Love is Blue

#109      Michelle

#110      Yankee Doodle Dandy, You’re a Grand Old Flag, God Bless America

#111      God Bless the U.S.A.

#112      Leaning on the Everlasting Arms, When the Roll is Called Up Yonder, When We All Get to Heaven

#113      Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines Service Songs

#114      I’m Getting Sentimental Over You

#115      El Paso

#116      Something

#117      Last Date

#118      Crazy

#119      There is Sunshine in My Soul, Whosoever Meaneth Me, I am Thine, O Lord, Take the Name of Jesus With You

#120      The Dipsy Doodle

#121      The Charleston, I’m Gonna Charleston Back to Charleston

#122      Scarborough Fair

#123      Waiting for the Robert E. Lee

#124      One Tin Soldier

#125      Anyone Can Sing a Song About Jesus

#126      There’s Something About that Name, He Touched Me

#127      Barbara Ann

#128      Daniel

#129      After the Loving

#130      Bye Bye Love

#131      I Could Have Danced all Night

#132      Crying in the Chapel

#133      In the Chapel in the Moonlight

#134      Moon River

#135      He Reigns on High

#136      Have Thine Own Way, Just As I Am, I Surrender All

#137      I Love How You Love Me

#138      Killing Me Softly

#139      Mack the Knife

#140      If

#141      If You Could Read My Mind

#142      If it Takes Forever I Will Wait for You

#143      King of the Road

#144      Love Me Tender

#145      My Sweet, Sweet Jesus

#146      Twelfth Street Rag

#147      Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime

#148      I’ll Never Fall in Love Again, What the World Needs Now

#149      Sentimental Journey

#150      Birth of the Blues, Piano Roll Blues

#151      The Impossible Dream

#152      I Am Resolved, Stand Up for Jesus, There is Power in the Blood

#153      Mark Lowry TV Theme Song Medley

#154      In a Little Spanish Town

#155      The Battle of New Orleans

#156      The William Tell Overture (Lone Ranger)

#157      San Antonio Rose, Red Wing

#158      Toot, Toot, Tootsie, Yes Sir, That’s My Baby

#159      Lord, Be Glorified, Seek Ye First

#160      Jesus Showed the Father’s Love to Me

#161      Down Yonder

#162      Fly Me to the Moon

#163      Let it Be

#164      Smoke Gets in Your Eyes

#165      Nobody’s Sweetheart

#166      Sunrise, Sunset

#167      The Poor People of Paris

#168      I’m on the Path to Heaven

#169      Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head, Singing in the Rain

#170      Unchained Melody

#171      Wonderland by Night

#172      Washington Square, Walk, Don’t Run

#173      Did You Ever See a Dream Walking?, Dream a Little Dream of Me

#174      Strutter’s Ball

#175      Only Trust Him, ‘Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus

#176      Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend, The Best Things in Life are Free

#177      Me and My Shadow, While Strolling Through the Park One Day

#178      Dominique, Yellow Bird

#179      Carolina Moon, Carolina in the Morning

#180      Acapulco Polka, My Melody of Love

#181      Harlem Nocturne

#182      How Firm a Foundation, The Solid Rock, Rock of Ages

#183      Blue Moon, Bewitched

#184      Satin Doll, Chicago

#185      Good Morning Starshine

#186      Do You Know the Way to San Jose?

#187      Take Me Home, Country Roads

#188      House of the Rising Sun

#189      Our Source

#190      Sixteen Tons

#191      The Glory of Love, The Sunny Side of the Street

#192      I Only Have Eyes for You

#193      Moonglow

#194      I Left My Heart in San Francisco, Maria Elena

#195      That Old Feeling

#196      A Sinner Such as I

#197      Old Man River

#198      A Walk in the Black Forest

#199      Grieg Piano Concerto in A Minor

#200      Rhapsody in Blue

So Much to Love on the Eno!

Judy and I have been among the "stay-at-homes" during most of the pandemic.  But on a fall-like day with low temps and low humidity, we headed to one of our favorite state parks, the Eno River, between Hillsborough and Durham. We first explored this park back in 2013 and this was our fourth visit. This day we tried a new trail and it did not disappoint. Come along for our virtual tour.

Today we ambitiously combined two loop trails, the

Buckquarter Creek and the Holden Mill loops. We had

previously hiked the Buckquarter as well as the Cox

Mountain trail, but the Holden Mill was a new adventure.

How calm the river looked. Recent rains had it normal levels.

These are just a few of a multitude of turtles we saw all 

along our trek.

As usual, we saw some beautiful wildflowers that

we couldn't identify.

As we went upriver, the rocks and rapids increased

dramatically. It's the closest thing to a mountain

stream experience that we've found in the Piedmont.

This tree apparently sprouted from an old stump

that had washed downstream.

Another beautiful but unidentified shrub.

This is the largest colony of Wild Ginger I've ever

seen.  This is an herb found on our SFL Nature Trail.

Vast swaths of these yellow wildflowers lined our

trail in many areas. Pollinators were everywhere.

If you look closely you'll see two lightning bug

beetles pollinating here. In fact, you may see more

than I see.

This iconic tree appears to be Old Man of the Forest.

He stands as a dark sentinel.

Here's some history on Holden Mill, whose ruins

are the focal point of our second trail.

These carefully laid stone walls and foundations

date all the way back to 1811. Judy's grandfather

operated a mill here in Moore County and my 

great-great grandfather ran one in north Atlanta,

so we have an interest in these things.

Note that it was careful design, not cement or mortar

that has these walls still standing.

We had brought a picnic lunch and enjoyed our

meal at this historic site.

We were hungry, of course, but it was also a good

excuse to rest!

We had arrived at the mill, midpoint of our journey,

via the woodland portion of the loop. Now we would

follow the river on the trip back.  The brochure said

it was characterized by rapids and boulders, and that

was certainly true.

These days you have to be prepared for "natural detours."

We had to do some rock climbing to circumnavigate

some obstructions to the trail. It was taxing, but we

survived, and that was a source of satisfaction.

Here's another one of my favorites: Resurrection Fern.

It is in its "dry" phase, so obviously it didn't rain so

much there the day before. Also, the trails were not muddy.

Judy's eagle eyes spotted a small snake I had walked

right past. It's a baby hog-nose snake, one of North

Carolina's most interesting.

Non-poisonous and harmless, it is sometimes called

a puff adder. It resorts to mimicry to try to intimidate

potential predators. See how it has spread its "hood,"

to resemble the deadly cobra (which it has never met).

Amanda Loyd Talbert once found an almost identical

snake and called it Connie Cobra, Junior. Remember

that, Amanda?

This is a pretty good example of the giant boulders

that were everywhere.

These placid waters signaled we were almost back

to our starting point.

Just as this sweetgum leaf signaled that autumn

colors are just around the corner.

One more steep set of steps, then a short climb

back to the park office-- and rest rooms!

Foot traffic was fairly light in the park on this Tuesday,

though it was heavier in the afternoon.  One thing that

was odd was that at least four groups we encountered

made inquiries of us, since it was their first time ever

at the park. Odd, since we were the ones that drove an

hour and a half to get there. But we were very happy

for those that had discovered this idyllic sanctuary as

we once had. And will continue to rediscover.