A Fun Walk in the Woods

  Sophia wanted to go to Boone's Cave State Park so Vincent invited me along on his walk with Sophia and Cohen.  It was  just about dusk and warm enough to go in shirt sleeves so it was a perfect time for a short hike. The sky, trees, and  earth were gray; the only green was from moss on a few of the tree's trunks and patches of ferns scattered on the hill sides.  The path was soggy under its layer of brown and tan  leaves that rustled under foot.  Each footfall sent up the wonderful musty aroma of rich top soil and decaying leaves.   

  

    

Moss and Mountain Laurel add green to the gray stone above the entrance to Boone's cave.
When Daniel Boone came with his family to the woods of the Yadkin Valley the  area would have been so thick with Rhododendron and Mountain Laurel that a man could get lost or stuck fast among the shrub's branches while trying to crawl through.  Towering above the thick undergrowth there would have been large hickory, cottonwood, oak, and the smaller dogwood and Judas trees. The clean river water would have held an abundance of fish, turtles, frogs, insects and plant life.  Birds, water fowl, snakes and   many verities of wild creatures would have lived in the Yadkin Valley.  There were cougars, panthers, wolves, woodland buffalo, bears, deer and elk.  Not to mention the " wild Indians " still to be living along the river's bank.  For a true adventurer and explorer this wild country would have been wonderful indeed. 
 
This is a  steep bank from the trail down to the Yadkin  River's edge.  I have not tried to hike this part of the trail! 


Daniel Boone is said to have spent the Fall and winter of 1772 in this cave.   

The children don't mind exploring as long as they have daddy's flashlight and can see him right outside of the cave entrance. 
  

The rock forming the cave is granite.

This is a smaller cave close to Boone's cave.

The bright spot in the far background, between the tree limbs, is the the setting sun's light reflected off of a small exposed section of the river's light clay bank.  This picture does not catch how very bright the reflection really was.
  

 

 

 

Time to head back to the car.