Did someone say fish?
You know if I can be face down in water, I am having a great day. Once again Carl’s internet surfing turned up a gem. The Blue Ridge Snorkel Trail, which included a site in Stone Mountain State Park (NC, not GA), just a short drive from our campsite. The water was chilly (60 degrees max.) and a little murky, but we had a blast. It was so shallow that we mostly walked along until we found an interesting spot, then kneeled down or kind of floated. We found fish, snails and crayfish.
I identified four different fish species and there were lots of each one. All but the darter were fast. These are not stellar images, but I still wanted to share what we found.
We started our week with a hike to the local winery. It seemed like a fun idea at the time. And, once we got to the winery, it was, but the hike included a lot of up hills and down hills. Phew! The winery was dog friendly, so we all got to sit in the tasing room and Koko got dog treats while we sampled wines from the vineyard with locally made cheese.
We did a lot more hill climbing as the week went on. Plenty of hiking both around the campground and around Stone Mountain State Park. It is definitely butterfly season. We have seen dozens, if not hundreds, of Tiger Swallowtails and almost as many Red-spotted Admirals. Throw in some birds, lizards, snakes and spiders, and it was a very interesting week.
The Redbelly snake did his best to act tough, and we took him at his word. It was really very funny. He was the thickness of a soda straw and about 8” long.
