Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Tri-State Peak and Pinnacle Overlook

We've had so much fun exploring the mountain tops of Tennessee! We live right on the edge of Cumberland Gap National Park where there are oodles of trails, overlooks, historical sites and beautiful scenery.

One of our first weekends here we hiked from Cumberland Gap (the historic town) up to the Tri-State Peak where we were able to be in Tennessee, Virginia and Kentucky all at once. The trail was decent in difficulty, but Brent definitely won the gold star for pushing the jogging stroller up it with two kids in tow. There is no way I can hike that trail with the girls and not Brent! Along the way we saw The Iron Furnace which produce 3 1/4 ton iron in a day. We also saw a marker indicating we were on the Daniel Boone trail. Now there's an historical figure I'm excited to learn more about!
Then a few Sundays ago we decided to enjoy a beautiful drive up to Pinnacle Overlook where you can see the whole Cumberland Gap valley. While we knew we were going up to a pinnacle, we were surprised by how tight the road curved as it wound its way to the top. Boy was I glad I was driving! {Nothing to do with Brent's driving, I just get ridiculously motion sick unless I'm the one driving.} The view from the overllok was beautiful. We had fun spotting familiar landmarks like Brent's school and the road we drive home on. The whole affair would have been so much more enjoyable if we had remembered the diaper bag to save Elli from that stinky diaper! She was a trooper, though, poor thing.

Last night we decided to join a family back up to Pinnacle Overlook. This time we walked the loop around the parking lot and came across the Cannon at Fort Lyon. This park is full of history just begging to be discovered around every turn and inviting us to climb in and through and feel that history come alive.

We have loved the quick and convenient acces we have to such wonderful trails. I just learned that a trail begins close to our house and continues, paved and through a tunnel!, for 3 miles to the Iron Furnace (mentioned above). My new fitness goal is to be able to walk and then run the entire length of the trail and then back to the car. I walk/ran a mile section of the trail yesterday before we hiked around the Pinnacle Overlook, in 90 degree weather! Hopefully I'll reach this goal by Thanksgiving.

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