I finished off Spring Vacation 2022 with four nights/five days at Norris Dam State Park, in the Cumberland Mountains just outside of Rocky Top, TN...... And just like some of you who know the song, just started hearing the blue grass classic, "Rocky Top," I heard it in my head pretty much the whole time I was there. Besides tent camping, campfires, and quite a bit of hiking, I also visited a few of the local sites. I ent to the Lenoir Museum, which has a treasure-trove artifacts reflecting the local history of the area. I stopped by the Rice Gristmill, though the building wasn't open for touring when I stopped by so I only got to walk the grounds as well as the grounds of the Crosby Threshing Barn. Click here for information on the museum, the mill, and the barn. My campsite was pretty good. I did have a persistent visitor, a raccoon that was simply not intimidated by me whatsoever. Shooing it away from my campsite, (read: my food), was not straightforward. It only left when it became obvious that it wasn't going to score a meal. The trails were pretty good. They had a lot of rolling inclines and declines, which I want. I want the uphill treks; a lot of people don't; I do. I also procured my hiking stick at the gift store in the park offices, for about $25 or $30. The stick is now a part of my hiking gear whenever I leave the house, except for when I forget it. I might also add that it was during this phase of my Vacation 2022 that I received the call to inform me that I was being inducted into the Dayton Theatre Hall of Fame. It was a good five days. A little rain, but not much, and I was still able to hike quite a bit, hang out with some other campers, relax, and have a fine ending to a fine vacation.

First night on the mountain, as I sat by the fire pit, I heard rustling on the picnic table, a few feet away. It was a raccoon. I sharply yelled, "Hey! Get outta here!" Ol' Rocky Raccoon startled and jumped away from the table, but not far. It simply looked at me like, "So, what-a-ya gonna do? Huh?" The little thing was simply not intimidated by me. I would chase it a few feet back toward the brush, then it would come back, not deterred from its goal of swiping some food. It took me a good ten or fifteen minutes to get it to scat, If I'd thought about it, I would have switched to the movie function rather than simply taking photos.
Grilled chicken and veggies ‐‐ a staple of my campfire cookin'.	And, of course, an evening's fire pit.
My campsite in the Cumbrßrland mountains.	More or less the opposite POV from the last photo.	First hike at Morris Dam State Park.
	Steps leading into the lake. I don't know the story, clearly at one point this area wasn't under water.
	Norris Lake.
	The Song Bird Trail on the Clinch River.
Norris Dam on the back side from the lake.		Clinch River.
		Cliffs close to the Norris Lake Marina.
The Norris Lake marina and the lake.
Roughin' it, doing dishes on the side of the shower house.	Night 2 vittles: pasta in tomato sauce (spaghetti-plus).
		Of course, the Lenoir Museum pics are up the page a ways, but the Weir Dam pics are next.
At least I could take some photos of the outside of the Rice Gristmill.
		More hiking....
Snacking on the trail.
More vittles.
		The last fire pit.
The shower house, only about a two-minute walk from my campsite, maybe three minutes.	Yep, I roughed it!	Norris Dam & Lake....
Striking camp ‐‐ always a depressing activity for me.

The lower tip of my new hiking stick, with the wear of its first excurision with me. *Taken after I got back home.

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