Kings Mt. Hike

I was very surprised when just a week ago my dad expressed interest in going on a hike. WOW!! I thought, it was a chance to convert another one! I was sooo excited. So I knew, THIS hike had to be a good one for my dad to keep interest. Well..... imagine my luck when my boo suggests taking my parents to Kings Mt. for two VERY good reasons. First, it was a nice easy hike with just a small amount of uphill on a well maintained trail. Secondly, it is a Military State Park where and my dad is huge US history buff. PERFECT!! I have the best Boo ever! So on Sunday my parents, boo, the dogs, and the little rug rats my mom sometimes babysits for ventured out to Kings Mt. for a 5 mile hike, picnic, history lesson, and family time. Here is some info on Kings Mt. from the website "Thomas Jefferson called it "The turn of the tide of success." The battle of Kings Mountain, fought October 7th, 1780, was an important American victory during the Revolutionary War. The battle was the first major patriot victory to occur after the British invasion of Charleston, SC in May 1780. The park preserves the site of this important battle. This battle—fought by 1,000 plus militiamen—without orders, formal military training, uniforms or provisions, and with no promise of pay. English Col. Patrick Ferguson, is credited by most early historians with having changed the course of the Revolution in the South, and may have even insured that the original number of colonies in these United States of America would be thirteen, not ten."
The dogs (thing 1 and thing 2) led us along a beautiful trail where the leaves were bursting with all kinds of colors. The weather was a cool 65 degrees, so we were all bundled up in our fleece jackets. The trail had a nice gentle grade, soft rolling hills feel to it and the it was mostly down hill. After walking 4 1/2 miles we finally get to the spur trail to climb the .6 miles up to the top of Brown Mt. I was so proud at how well my parents did. We finally reach the top and because it was such a clear day, the the views went on for miles and miles. We took it all in for a few moments then had a nice picnic of my dads favorite snacks; sausage, cheese, sourdough bread and GORP! (Ok, so the gorp was my fav.) After everyone enjoyed the picnic, we headed down Brown Mt. and back to the trail to take us to the ranger station. The trail going back was a bit more challenging because we were hiking a lot more ups then downs. So we took it a bit slower, which was fine with me. It gave me time to look around and really enjoy being outdoors. I snapped some great photos of the "naked" trees that had lost all their leaves. On the way back, we came across a tree that looked like it was struck with lightening. My mom was the first to noticed that the burn markings looked like a giant black bear. I took a photo of it and it DOES look like a black bear. We finally make it back to the ranger station and learn there will be a short 30 min. film about the history of Kings Mt. We decide to look around the museum until the film started. After the surprisingly interesting museum tour, we entered the dark theater and almost immediately my Boo and my mom fall asleep. Suffice to say, neither are big history buffs. hahhaha! The rest of us enjoyed the film and I learned a lot. All in all it was a great day. I got to share my love of the outdoors with my parents, we learned some history about the revolutionary war, and the best part... My dad said "the next time we come back we should do the lake trail." Important words here were "THE NEXT TIME" hahaha! I converted another one. :) Til next time. GET OUTDOORS!!