Day One: The Smokies

Three of us travel North toward the Smokies April 19.   Kathy, Sue and I are tickled by this sign.

We arrive in time for lunch by a beautiful stream.

After lunch we head toward Gatlinburg but see some nifty things first.  Twice, on the roadway, we see flocks of adults and children watching intently into the woods.  The first time I spot a baby bear about 30 feet high in a tree.  The second time we see a large bear ambling along.  We see this driving by.

Kathy remembers a nice walking trail from the last time she was here:  a second growth forest full of wildflowers.  She's able to find it again on her second try.

I am so very glad she remembered this.  It takes an hour (at least) to walk the .75 miles because it's up and down but mostly because we have to stop and look at these gorgeous plants.  

Trillium, with and without pollinators

Skipper on a White Trillium

Closer Up to Show the "Sexy Bits" as Don calls them

Two Insects Procreating and Dusting off Pollen on a White Trillium

HE COULD GET LOST IN THIS PINK TRILLIUM

 The number of trillium is startling.  Soon we just walk blithely by.

Folks I talk with on the trail either know nothing at all about the plants or know more than any of us do and have already been on this walk last week or two weeks ago.  And "you really missed a show because the plants are developing two weeks ahead of time."  It looks pretty beautiful to me.

 

Bishop's Cap

 Here is a flower I saw for the first time at Shirley Miller and misidentified.  Hugh Nourse set me straight.  It's called Bishop's Cap.  He said the tiny flower is beautiful and reminds him of a snowflake.  So I spent quite awhile trying to get that little bugger in focus.  By Jove, it is like a snowflake.  Here are several shots.

 An Orchid

Cathy, Sue and I do not know what this is when we see it early on the trail.  

 But after we see more mature versions which Kathy identifies, I'm pretty sure it must also be Showy Orchis (which is an orchid).  In my book called "Great Smoky Mountains Wildflowers" it says it is fairly rare.  Oooo.

Ferns

Rattlesnake Fern

Kathy and Sue are more enamored of the trees than I am. 

We see a variety of other beauties, some of which I cannot now identify.  Since we will be going on four guided wildflower walks maybe answers will come later.

Maybe this is a meadow parsnip

Solomon's Plume

Stonecrop (a sedum)

Or is THIS a meadow parsnip.  Oh dear!

Yellow Mandarin maybe?  My first time to see this.

Foam Flower

 

Who wrote on this and how?  Leaf miner when the plant was still curled up?

Some sort of phlox

Sure wish I knew what this is

We se a jack-in-the-pulpit growing at the foot of a tree.

Back View

Front View

 And lots of beautiful violets of various species.

I do not photograph the yellow and purple ones since I might overdo one of my favorite flowers.

 Kathy gets down to smell these yellow trillium and says they smell like lemons.  When Sue gets down to smell one, she ends up with pollen on her nose.  Kathy says, "Sue's a pollinator."

We think these unusual white flowers are Dutchman's Breeches, but a knowledgeable woman pronounces them Squirrel Corn.

 This next plant is a mystery to us all.  Is it a newbie?  Or a green flower?  Or is it the dreaded parsnip?  Oh dear!

Here is another plant none of us know about (below).  It is growing almost in the water.  If anyone knows, please write it in the comments or send me an email.

A bit closer:

After this most marvelous walk where we saw NO PRIVET or any other non-native, we go to the conference center where we register. 

Long line, but it moves fast.

This is the first blog I have written on the day we have our adventure.  But it is almost 10:00 PM.  I will brush my teeth and hit the sack because we have a full-day on a Cove Trail tomorrow.