One day at home to unpack, do laundry, clean car, repack and we were on the road again, headed to Jamestown, Tennessee to Pickett CCC Memorial State Park.
Ryan was interested in seeing if there were any Glow Worms in the USA, like he saw in New Zealand. I searched and found two locations, here in the South, in Alabama and Tennessee.
We chose Pickett State Park over Dismal Canyons because....I can't remember why. Maybe it seemed less commercial, or offered more to do, or we love the old CCC built cabins.
At any rate, it was a great choice.
We had emailed beforehand to ask about the Ranger-led tours to see the worms, and they answered that the tours were usually Friday (or was it Thursday?) nights. So we planned our trip around that, but when we got there, the tour was planned for the night of the day we were leaving.
I commented that we had emailed and were told the other night, but because I'm not an entitled, rude jerk, I said, Well, that's okay, we can go ourselves.
We like to go on tours with guides/people who know the place/history/etc. and hear what they can tell us that we might not otherwise know, but we're not going to let a minor glitch ruin our adventure.
A little while later, we saw one of the Rangers in the parking lot and he said he had told (someone) that we had emailed and were told the Ranger-led tour was (the next night), so they were arranging to have a Ranger-led tour (the next night) like we were told.
How awesome was that!?
We went ahead and walked to Hazard cave that afternoon to check things out ahead of time.
It's not really a cave, but a shelter overhang. Native Americans lived here many years ago, and a lot of their left-behinds are in the Archaeological museum at the park.
At the time, I didn't know it wasn't a cave. It was dark back behind all the rocks, and I wouldn't go in because I didn't know if there were bears, or snakes, or who knows what back there.
The next night, the Rangers led the group inside the not-a-cave nearly all the way to the back, so that's something we wouldn't have gotten to experience without the Ranger guide.
I don't know if June was getting late in the season or if it was normal, but there weren't many Glow Worms inside the not-a-cave. Mostly they were along the Boardwalk entrance to the area, behind the wooden fence, and across from it in the creek/brushy area.
They were kindly difficult to photograph, but the tiny blue lights are the Glow Worms (which aren't worms at all, but you can read about that yourself if you're interested).
Our CCC built cabin was great!
The beds were styled for a hotel-like feel, I think, but otherwise the room was like you could imagine being at camp, if there were rows of bunkbeds instead.
It wasn't fireplace season, but I bet it's great in the Winter!
Nice little kitchen, stocked with pretty much everything you need.
Old fashioned bathroom. (Toilet & shower to left)
We spent most of our time at the cabin out on the screened porch, reading and/or eating.
Ryan cooking us some burgers on the grill. Camp burgers are so delicious.
Pickett park has a lake, and rents canoes for like 5 bucks an hour from the Boathouse.
There's also a free beach, and playground.
Besides the Hazard Cave trail, we also walked Indian Rockhouse, Natural Bridge, and Lake View Trails.
All pretty easy walks, with lots of scenery and nature and interesting things.
And visited the CCC Museum, which was the original Park Office.
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