Blue swallowtail butterflies.
Probably the best kept secret in my neck of the woods is a swimming hole in Sunburst, North Carolina. It’s about 30 miles to the west of my home, deep in Haywood County, near the Tennessee border. It’s actually part of a river system near Lake Logan, in the Smoky Mountains. It’s one of those places that mostly just the local people know about, since it’s not advertised anywhere, there are no signs leading to it, and there is no admission to get in. Which is wonderful because it never gets too crowded, and you almost feel like it’s your own little secret happy place.
You just park by the side of the road and walk down to the water (you have to be careful — it’s very rocky and lots of roots too). But once you’re down there, you’re in for a treat. The water is cold, and probably the clearest freshwater I’ve ever seen — or tasted. There is no cloudiness to it at all. You can drink it and it tastes fantastic. In fact, I filled my water bottle with it to take back home with me. Next time, I’m taking a gallon jug!
I went up to my waist in the water (I didn’t jump off the rocks like the kids in this video were doing — and the water does look quite deep in the middle) and when you emerge you do feel rather tingly all over — I’m not sure if that’s due to the coldness or the minerals in the water. It has a very “soft” feel to it, and I did feel very relaxed for several hours after this trip, so I wonder what good, healthful minerals it might have been infused with.
There were blue swallowtail butterflies everywhere! Here is the video I made. Please excuse how amateurish it is — I’m new at making videos and haven’t figured out how to get it to fill the screen yet. I just posted this one and the Clearwater Beach one on my Youtube account, which I’ve always had but never had anything of my own on it before.
Lucky Otters Haven 
A lovely spot. Around here in Summer, a lot of people get in the water along the Cullasaja River in the gorge between Highlands and Franklin, and the roadside parking gets crowded.
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Ooh, that sounds awesome too! That’s not far from me either, so I’ll have to check out that spot sometime. So you’ve been to Sunburst?
Did you see the butterflies when you were there?
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There are rapids and falls and some great views. No, I haven’t been to Sunburst, just going by your description and pictures.
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Reblogged this on cabbagesandkings524 and commented:
LuckyOtter – A secret (sort of) swimming hole.
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You can take a full screen recording just by shooting the video with your phone turned horizontally. Hope this helps.
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When I tried that, the picture is sideways (which you can see in the video).
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Ugh, that’s so frustrating.
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Reblogged this on Dream Big, Dream Often.
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Seeing those people in the stream made me think of total relaxation. I can imagine floating down stream in a tube!
DR
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There is actually an awesome tubing place nearby (Zen Tubing). We did that last summer — so much fun! Might do it again this year.
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🦋 I love butterflies and rivers. Two of my favourite things.
🦋 Thank you for sharing.
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Glad you liked my post! 🙂
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