Ladies’ Homestead Gathering Retreat – Sunday!

To cap off our Ladies’ Homestead Retreat, we hiked the Tennessee Rock Trail on Black Rock Mountain.

Here are those brave hearted ladies, who, though sleep deprived and still full from all the fabulous meals, decided to accomplish this last feat of the weekend!

It was a gorgeous afternoon and the colors of the leaves, glorious.

Once we made the initial ascent, which was fairly intense, we filed through the woods chatting and laughing.

Occasionally, the whole group would stop to identify a plant or tree.

Then it was time to hike UP to the top of Tennessee Rock.  A lot of encouraging words were spoken and hands extended to help one another to the “reward” at the top.

One of the “rewards” was stopping to eat lunch.  We’d all made our lunches back at Foxfire, put them in brown bags and carried them in our back packs.  A few of us also gathered up some of the radishes that were shared at the retreat, putting those too into brown bags.

Poor Julie.  After  all the talk of “can’t wait to get to the top to eat. I made a great lunch with all the leftovers!”  She was sorely disappointed to find she had grabbed the wrong brown bag and all she had were radishes to look forward to!

No worries.  There were all kinds of offers from other brown bags to satisfy her hunger 🙂

The other rewards for all our hiking, were the views!

Crisp mountain air, perfect temps, great fellowship with friends, and the vistas…

Great way to end a fantastic weekend.

We chatted some more, reminisced about the weekend,

enjoyed the sunshine and geared up for the descent to the bottom.

Two of the plants that we identified along our hike-

Rattlesnake Plantain

and Usnea.

We all made it to the bottom in one piece, a little more tired than when we started but exhilerated from the hike and being with friends.

We drove back to the Foxfire Museum and packed up our final belongings.  Kelly had stayed behind to “clean up” a little and  when I took a look around, she’d done everything!  It looked amazing.

As the last car drove down the hill and the sun was beginning to set, Lynn suggested that we sit in the rocking chairs on the back porch to savor our last moments before being thrust back into reality.

Words cannot begin to describe the intense gratitude I felt for all the ladies who had participated in our inaugural Ladies Homestead Retreat.  Everyone had a hand in its success and the comradery that was created will leave lasting memories.

The feeling is mutual – we can’t wait till next years retreat!!

Interested in joining us for the 2012  Ladies’ Homestead Gathering Retreat?

The dates are October 12 – 14, with an option of arriving October 11 for an all day workshop on the 12th.

We are privileged to once again be guests at the Foxfire Museum in Mountain City, GA.

Check the Lazy B Farm website for further details after January.

http://www.thelazybfarm.com

Tennessee Rock Trail – Mountain City, GA

Thought it would be a good idea to hike the trail we are recommending for the Ladies’ Homestead Retreat.

Yesterday a friend and I drove up to Mountain City, GA to Black Rock Mountain State Park to hike the Tennessee Rock Trail.

2.2 miles long and an ascent of over 1000′

There is a fee for parking and either you can pay it here or at the Visitor’s Center further on up the mountain.

We chose the Visitor’s Center because they have a bathroom…and a nice gift shop 🙂

Little blue square says “more difficult.”

Little black square says “most difficult.”

We chose the blue…and because that “warning” notice said there were yellow jacket nests in the other trail – no thank you!

Sooooo – the first ascent.  A lot of stairs going up!

To buy myself some “catch my breath” time, I was easily distracted by bugs.

Actually, I’d never seen one of these before.  Anyone know what it is?

It was beautiful!

Obviously this is a popular plant – see all the other bugs on it?

Once we went “up” for a little ways, the trail evened out and meandered through the woods.

It really is an enjoyable hike and in the fall, it should be gorgeous with all the fall colors.

After about 2/3 of the way along the trail, the ascent begins again…

But it was so worth the sweat and grunt…

There are a lot of big boulders at this look out and this is where we will stop to have lunch.

You will definitely have earned the rest 🙂

Is it any wonder why they are called the Smokey Mountains?…

After lunch, the climb back down the trail…all down hill!

If you have knee problems, you may want to take this part of the trail into consideration.

The trail begins and ends at this picnic spot so if you get down the mountain before the others, there’s a nice place to wait.

We did the trail in about an hour and a half.  But taking lunch into account, I’m planning on 2 and a 1/2  hours.

If you’re moderately exercising, you should be fine with this trail.  Most of the trail is very doable and it’s so permissible to take frequent stops on the parts that are a little more strenuous!

Another bonus – it’s minutes from the Foxfire Museum.

Looking forward to hiking this trail again with a lot more friends 🙂