Big South Fork

The boys had the week of Thanksgiving off from school again this year.  We decided to visit Brian's family for the week this year (last year we went to DC for a few days before Thanksgiving).  On the way, we took a day to hike in Big South Fork.  Then we spent the night in a hotel in Knoxville (which the boys LOVED) before driving the now shorter haul to Raleigh on Sunday.

We've been wanting to take the boys hiking in BSF for awhile.  Carter has technically been there before but it was before Rylan was even born.  We had hoped to camp there for fall break but Brian got too busy with work and we stayed in town.

Our first hike of the day was to Twin Arches.  It was COLD on Saturday - low 40s, overcast, and very windy.  It was 80F only a day or two earlier so it felt extra cold.

We bundled the boys up and they did okay (Gray's hands were only a little frozen since he was stuck in the backpack).

We had Charlotte with us and the boys (including Gray) were super excited to walk her.

I'm in a picture for once :)

Before hiking to the bottom of the arches, you have to cross on top of one of them.

The big boys pretending to be freaked out about being on top of the arch ...

South Arch:

Somehow we'd never explored this crack at the backside of South Arch that goes all the way through!

We continued down the Twin Arches Loop Trail for awhile to checkout some cool rockhouses.  They were all different and huge.

We backtracked after awhile and returned to the Twin Arches.  This is North Arch:

By the time we got back to the trailhead, we had hiked about 2.5 miles.  We ate a packed lunch in the car as we drove to our next stop since it was so windy at the trailhead and we needed to thaw out.

Our next stop was an arch just off the road as you enter Pickett State Park which borders Big South Fork.  Here are Brian and the boys standing on top of Natural Bridge:

Before moving on we found a letterbox in the small cave behind the arch.

Our last stop was to Hidden Passage which is a one mile out and one mile back trail.  Brian and I had never been to this area of the park before.  The leaves were especially thick on this trail!

The boys found this arch just off the trail.

Hidden Passage:

The boys were tired after this (as was Charlotte - she never gets that much exercise any more!!!) so we headed to the hotel in Knoxville.  We had a great time showing the boys Big South Fork and look forward to bringing them back again soon!!!