This morning I wanted a special place to spend time with the Lord. I took a drive and a couple hikes in the Daniel Boone National Forest. I hiked to Princess Arch and Chimney Top Rock, then I drove to the Sky Bridge Area. In the first two places the dear flies were bad. In the third place there were only a few. I saw bats over Sky Bridge, maybe that’s why. I heard some cicadas that reminded me of home. I listened to a whippoorwill, a wood thrush and an oriole. Across the valley I could see gray smoke ascending from a camp fire it mixed with the morning fog and left a fragrance in the forest. When I checked the odometer on the Jeep I realized that all three hikes were within eleven miles of Campton in the Mountains.

(photo by Jeff Schaefer)

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