More mountain flowers along the Blue Ridge

This is a common flower, but it's rarely in view of us earth-bound humans because it's almost always high up in the canopy.  This is the 'tulip' flower of the Tulip Poplar tree.  I didn't think I'd get a photo of this, but this bloom fell to the ground intact.

Before I present more of the additions to my mountain wildflower photo collection, I have to insert a photo of the fauna-kind.  Black Snakes are notoriously skilled tree climbers.  Here's one coming down a Rhododendron trunk after tending to business known only to it.

Now for the new faces of the flora-kind:

American Holly in bloom - diminutive flower, very potent fragrance

common weed, don't know the name

White violet

Gallery of Mountain Laurel in full bloom

Palest pink morning glory

Among the other scenic highlights of the four days of hiking covered in this report is Jumpinoff Rock, named for a promising young 19th Century Russian ballet dancer, Alexei Jumpinov, who, while on tour in the US came to visit the NC Blue Ridge.  Hosted by E.B. Jeffress (for whom the nearby Jeffress Park is named),  the moody Russian dancer became smitten by Jeffress's daughter Justine.  When Justine rejected the high-strung Jumpinov, he proceeded to a nearby rock outcrop, declaring that his life was no longer worth living, flung himself off the brink, and fell to his death.

If you buy that then I want to talk to you about my pre-packaged dehydrated water.  For sale cheap.

When the Blue Ridge Parkway was built they turned Jumpinoff Rock into a destination viewpoint, down a half mile of trail from a parking area.  Here's the viewpoint, the view, and a look at Hat number Twelve posing on the retaining wall - supposedly last in the 'Hat of the Day' series.

Hat number Twelve is a roadside find from Maryland, found while I was hiking a leg of my Personal Continuous Footpath into Calvert County in the summer of 2013.  I've accompanied it with my Realtree branded camo Crocs, Ribbit and Rabbit (named for the squeaky sounds they make as I hike when they're wet).

But there's a Hat number Thirteen.  And I wore it for just a couple miles, hoping for a photo-op with it on an abortive day when an approaching heavy storm chased me off the trail.  And that's when I got the unlucky break.  Voila!

Hat number Thirteen isn't really a bad luck hat.  It used to be the only hat I wore.  It used to be dark blue.  I wore it out, as you can see.  It was purchased nearly 20 years ago at Crazy Shirts in a small shopping center beside Kalapaki Beach on Nawiliwili Bay, Lihue, Kauai.  I had retired this hat back in 2011, but never had the heart to throw it away.  So it came out of retirement to pose as Hat number Thirteen and play the role of hike spoiler.  Everything happens for a reason :-)

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The map of the hiking route is below, and a more comprehensive slide show can be viewed by clicking the link:


MST Days 67-70 - Jeffress Park at EveryTrail
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Foot notes from a Blue Ridge hike

Odds and ends today - just a few miscellaneous notes from today's 11 2/3 mile hike:  Above is an addition to yesterday's flower-themed post - a flower I searched for and did not find yesterday but captured a good example today - Jack-in-the-Pulpit.

Next - a 'Selfie' modeling "Hat number Eleven" in my 'hat of the day' series.  This is the hat I bought at the AT Conservancy in Harper's Ferry when I officially stopped by (on foot) during my double thru-hike in late October 2012.  The total official trail distance hiked during that ten month double thru-hike was 4368.4 miles - the shirt is one I prepared for the family celebration on the day I completed the hike (Nov. 3rd).  Okay, now you know why they say nobody over 30 should do 'Selfies' :-)

Three notes from the natural world:  First, an Eastern Ribbon Snake struggling across the Blue Ridge Parkway:

Second, a carpet of Japanese Stiltgrass overgrowing this little-used section of the MST.  Japanese Stiltgrass is a major invasive - accidentally introduced in Tennessee as packing material a century ago, it is now the predominant ground cover in shady woods environments all up and down the eastern US.

And finally here's a shot of a humble shrub that is one of my personal favorites.  Found in moist and riparian settings, this is Spice Bush - an honest-to-goodness native that I use as a little 'pick-me-up.'  When crushed the leaves give off a spicy stimulative fragrance (thus its common name).  Crush as you hold the leaves close to your nose and inhale deeply.  For a second or two the aromatic fragrance will refresh.  It doesn't last long, and I doubt if it has any real stimulant properties, but for me it never fails to re-invigorate my body, mind and heart.

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Below is a map of the route I hike today:




MST Day 66 - Northwest Trading Post at EveryTrail
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Blue Ridge flower hike

Pink mountain laurel in bloom on Bluff Mountain

It was a perfect day and I was hiking my very favorite kind of trail - high rolling open meadow.  45 years ago I started my backpacking life hiking above timberline in the Colorado mountains, and it seems that you never forget your first love.

As in Colorado, this time of year in the mountains is a riot of color.  I decided to photo-document the flowers I passed today.  I ended up spending so much time 'smelling the roses' that I hiked less than ten miles for the day.  But ten glorious miles it was.  The only actual rose I saw was the multiflora rose - a problem invasive native to Europe.

Many of the other flowers I photographed I haven't had time to identify.  Where I know an identity it's in the caption, and I'll add captions in the future if I can take the time to do the research.

Before getting to the flowers I want to share a few more scenic shots from the meadow walk over Bluff Mountain starting with a sneak peak back to Stone Mountain.

And now for the gallery of mountain flowers:

Blackberry

Bluets

Mountain laurel, typical flower cluster

a variety of locust, I believe this remains a shrub

Looks like stars in a galaxy.  Each petal has a dark dot in the middle

Special find - pink lady slipper - an orchid

Queen Anne's Lace

Rhododendron

good old red clover

Flame azalea, red variation

The kind of amazing display flame azaleas can put on

Flame azalea, yellow variation

Finally, I can't forget my obligatory 'hat of the day' shot.

This is Hat Number Ten, and my first trail find during the current MST thru-hike.  Found it on one of the roadside causeways during the hike along Falls Lake.
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Here's the hike route plotted on a map.  For the complete slide show, click on the title line:



MST Day 65 - Bluff Mountain at EveryTrail
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Hiking Stone Mtn and the Parkway in bloom

It was a cool cloudy day, and my task for the day, as a westbound thru-hiker of the Mountains-To-Sea Trail was to make the transition from the flat lands to the Blue Ridge for some real, sustained mountain hiking.  The venue that the MST chooses to do this took me past some memorable natural  landmarks in Stone Mountain State Park, headlined by the iconic Stone Mountain itself, shown above.

This is no gradual transition.  In five miles the MST climbs 2000 feet.  That steep section of trail doesn't have a lot to show, so I have no photos.  It's grueling but not rugged.  It's relentless but not punishing.  It's eroded.  Many of the water bars have failed - a situation that seems universal on trail everywhere--it's hard for maintainers to keep up.  For the westbound hiker it's a sudden initiation that may come as a shock after 800 miles of almost no vertical element to the trail.

The interesting stuff came at either end.  Stone Mountain Park has not only a smooth granite dome but also a 200 foot vertical waterfall that slides down over the same kind of solid granite that makes up the mountain.  Here are views from below and above the fall.

On the other end, the trail emerges at the Blue Ridge Parkway at Devil's Garden Overlook, where I took the opportunity to showcase my 'Hat of the Day':

Hat number Nine, as with many of the hats in my rotation, was a trail find.  This one I found on the Appalachian Trail in Pennsylvania, a few miles south of Ashfield Road.  It's a standard Mossy Oak brand camo hunter's hat, but after finding it I made it my own by sewing on the patch - my AT Conservancy life member patch.

In the high elevations along the Blue Ridge the late spring flowers were resplendent.  I encountered the first flame azaleas of my hike, in their yellow and orange variations.

Note the pink rhododendrons in the background of the latter photo above.  The rhodos were waning, and in places the trail was strewn with their freshly fallen flowers.  On the other hand, the mountain laurel was just coming into flower in some of the high meadows.  Here's one on the pink end of this species' pink-to-white range.

And the annual and perennial meadow flowers were showing their stuff.

I feel as though I've come home.  Although I've enjoyed the variety provided by the road walking, and was at times bored with the endless green tunnel of the Appalachian Trail during my 2012 thru-hike, it felt good to be back on mountain trail.  Today's first sampling provided great variety, including some history in the form of the modest Brinegar Cabin, a more-or-less typical self-sufficient homestead from two centuries ago.

So it is with eager anticipation that I march into the coming days, looking forward to sampling more of what the partnership between the Blue Ridge Parkway and the MST has to offer.

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Here's a map of today's route.  If you click on the title line, you'll be taken to a slide show and can also view the rather extreme elevation profile as I encountered it.


MST Day 64 - Stone Mountain at EveryTrail
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