Hiking - Noccalula Falls

 2.8 miles, 1:20 elapsed time

We packed up early and got on the road so that we can meet Ethan at Noccalula Falls before any bad weather occurred. But a funny thing happened when we were at a rest stop. I saw a cute little dog and was trying to get Benji inside the trailer before he went crazy over the dog. I looked up at the owner and the owner who had been looking at my dog, we looked at each other and realized we knew each other. It was Gigi Barber who I had worked with when I was at Illesheim elementary over 30 years ago. She and her husband Vince were also returning from Florida where they have been spending time visiting family and also kayaking. It was such a weird coincidence although we see each other on Facebook often. It was fun catching up in the parking lot and I hope to meet with her one of these days when I get to Huntsville. Noccalula Falls is run by the city of Gadsden And the sites are fairly large. They are on top of a small mountain beside the Noccalula falls gorge. There were lots of people in the campground and touring around the park and the falls. Ethan was at the campground and we set up the trailer before going off on our hike down to the gorge. It’s a beautiful falls and it leaves down into Black Creek. At the top is a statue of an Indian girl jumping over the gorge. The legend is that she was promised in marriage to a warrior from another tribe. She loved someone in her own tribe and didn’t want to be married off so jump to her death. Apparently there isn’t an Indian legend sign etched into the rocks down below so they believe this is a true story. It just so happened that there were lots and lots of mountain bike racers on these trails this day. There was a large high school team and other cyclist practicing for a future mountain bike race. It’s not an easy hike as you go far down into the gorge and then obviously have to come back up. We ended up hiking 2.7 miles. For dinner we made hamburgers and head back beans and old bay flavored potato chips.