Lake Lure Bridge Garden

I met up with Joyce (njoyce68) at Hendersonville, North Carolina at 11am today for a 3 day blipmeet.  

The first place we visited was the Lake Lure Bridge Garden..the old bridge over the Broad River between Chimney Rock and Lake Lure.  The bridge was abandoned when the new bridge was completed but instead of tearing it down the people decided it would become a walking trail and a garden of flowers!   It was gorgeously blooming and the bees and butterflies were having plenty of lunch!   The thing I liked the most about the garden was the way the developers used doors, mirrors and chairs among the garden to create art!  Some of these were regular items but some were crafted out of vines and metal.   It was fabulous!  This collage is some of the art.

After lunch we went to Chimney Rock State Park which we could see from the bridge.  A big hike to Hickory Nuts Falls...uphill mostly including down 200 steps to get to the waterfall trail from the visitor center.  Yikes!  And it was hot and humid!  When we got to the waterfall, this girl took off her shoes and waded in to cool off!  I could have stayed an hour under that spray and really did not mind damp clothes.  The hike back was downhill until we had to walk UP those 200 steps!  This waterfall was featured in the movie The Last of the Mohicans with Daniel Day Lewis!   There used to be a trail to the top of the falls where one could walk over a bridge to get across.  I have walked that trail but it is closed now. A 400 foot drop to the bottom Might be the reason why.  

I love hiking and feel really exhilarated to be in the woods on a good trail in the mountains.   I hope that Joyce will be able to move tomorrow..she is a flatlander from Florida who is not used to walking uphill for over a mile!  But she did it and never complained..but she really did not want to walk that other 2 mile trail the long way back to the car when I suggested it!  She picked the 200 steps instead!  

More waterfalls tomorrow!  The extra is me in the water at the base of the falls!  And some collages of the bridge flower garden and the things we saw at Chimney Rock.    So much to see!