Hot and Cold

Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun.
-Noël Coward

We took off this morning to do a hike that Deb had noted in her journal the last time we were here in October, 2020.  Back then we spent an afternoon here on the way through, and this hike bubbled to the top of the pile of places to go the next time we were here.

The Auxier Ridge Trail starts from a parking lot at the end of a five-mile gravel road and winds for a little over two miles along a ridge, ending at Courthouse Rock.  It starts out as a walk in the woods, with some dense stands of rhododendrons, but then begins to open out with brief overlooks over the surrounding gorges.  Near the end of the trail there are several wide-open overlooks with amazing views.  Definitely a worthwhile hike to take.

Two miles one-way may not sound like a lot, but, having started at 10am on a hot and very humid day, it became a long way indeed, especially on the way back.  Thankfully, there were still some shaded areas because of the trees, but the humidity means you just wear your sweat in addition to your clothing.

Interestingly, during the entire trek to Courthouse Rock, we were the only ones on the trail.  On the way back, however, we met several couples and even one large group of people, just starting out and hiking in the heat of the day.  We were thinking an earlier start would have been much better and determined that hiking tomorrow would occur much earlier.

We made it back to the parking lot a little after 1pm and drove back to the campsite so we could have the air conditioner running while making lunch.  After lunch we paid the four bucks a head to hop in the resort pool.  Ironically, we had just paid our eight bucks and were walking towards the pool when the life guard blew her whistle and ordered everyone out of the pool.  It was for some sort of safety down-time, probably just to give the life guards some time to check their Snapchat accounts. So we sat on the pool deck for 15 minutes in the heat, staring at the cool water so tantalizingly close to us.

Once in the pool, we managed to get our core temperature down below the red zone and started feeling somewhat normal again.

We met everyone else at 4pm for dinner out.  Don and Mary are in the lodge and they highly recommended the all-you-can-eat catfish in the restaurant at the lodge.  So we all trooped into the restaurant at just after 4pm and many of us had the catfish.  It was good and it turns out that all you can eat amounted to about one plate.  I’m not a bottomless teenager anymore.

We ate a bit early as we had scheduled an underground kayak tour at a nearby mine.  A large limestone mine with five miles of large tunnels was dug in the mid 20th century but was flooded with water after a natural aquifer was breached.  Efforts to pump the water out and continue mining eventually failed and the mine was abandoned in 1985.  The property was sold 30 years later to this outfitter for $22,000 who started offering tours via kayak and paddle board.

After sweating on the surface all day, we had to don hoodies and long sleeves as the temperature in the mine was 50 degrees.  The water temperature is 38 degrees. Each of us had a helmet with a light and we followed the guide on a paddle board in the darkness while she regaled us with tales about the mine.  Very unique experience and a lot of fun.  Now I can say I have kayaked underground.

Fun fact: the limestone from this mine was used to build the nearby Mountain Parkway, the road we drove on to get here.