Cades
Cove keeps drawing me in. Sunday morning I started up toward Newfound Gap for
sunrise, but the Park was in the fog! So I turned West and returned to Cades Cove
after being blocked by a downed tree across the Park Road.
I
was rewarded with a foggy morning in the meadows of Cades Cove. The gate to
that area is normally closed until 0700, which is shortly after sunrise, but
the Ranger today was about 15 minutes early. I really enjoyed the feeling of
the atmosphere and got a couple of photos of deer in the foggy meadows.
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| DEWY WEB |
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| WHITE TAIL IN FOG |
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| FOGGY MORNING |
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| FOG AND TREE |
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| TREE AND FOGGY HILLS |
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| FOGGY HILLS |
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| FOGGY MOUNTAIN |
Also went in quest of a black bear I had seen
moving through which ended with my having wet feet due to traipsing through
tall very wet grass, no bear photographs, and the loss of my lens hood for my long
lens.
I
enjoyed a very quiet breakfast while sitting in the Cades Cove Picnic area next
to a stream. Afterwards I stopped along
the Little River Road to photograph lovely Meig Falls.
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| Add caption |
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| MEIG FALLS |
I
drove up to Newfound Gap to do a short hike along the Appalachian Trail which
goes from Georgia to Mt. Katahdin in Maine. I have hiked bits of the
trail
in New England. The weather had not changed and there were occasional showers
and a cold wind.
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| FOGGY HILLS |
About
1500 I called it a day having been wearing wet boots almost all day,
and
the weather was not going to improve.
Monday
morning I went for sunrise above Newfound Gap. The clouds were there and it was
quite breezy but I had fun, I was going to go further up the highway to
Clingman’s Dome but it was totally clouded over.
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| MORNING AT NEWFOUND GAP |
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| SUN PLAY, NEWFOUND GAP |
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| TREES WAITING FOR SPRING |
I
returned to the lower elevations and hiked a couple of short trails around the
Visitor Center area. Was still in quest of more yellow lady’s slippers but to
no avail.
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| SQUAW ROOT |
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| DOG HOBBLE |
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| CABIN REMAINS |
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| FLOWER GARDEN |
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| WONDERFUL SPRING GREEN |
I started on one trail near Elkmont when a hiker told me to go to
the School House Gap Trail which entailed about a 45 minute drive to the
trail head. I had a great hike on a quiet trail but never did find the elusive lady's slippers. I did see another new flower for me called May-Apple.
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| MOUNTAIN BELLWORT |
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| CATESBY'S TRILLIUM |
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| WHITE TRILLIUM |
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| WHITE TRILLIUM GETTING OLD |
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| MAY-APPLE |
At the end of
this hike, I was again trying to beat darkness and succeeded, though not by
much.
I
really enjoyed this trip, both with fellow photographers, and exploring on my
own. The latter part would have been more fun with George along for a hiking
companion and fellow lover of the great outdoors.
I
loved this quote I found at Newfound Gap:
“Man has created some
lovely dwellings –
some soul-stirring literature.
He has done much
to alleviate physical
pain.
But he has not …
created a substitute for a
sunset,
a grove of pines,
the music of the winds,
the dank smell of the deep forest,
or the shy beauty of a
wildflower.”
---
Harvey Broome, Naturalist
Have
a wonderful day.
