WILDFLOWER ADVENTURE: Thursday

MARCH 24

DeSoto Falls

After a delicious egg soufflé with apricot crumble at the Mountain Laurel Inn we WALK to DeSoto Falls in about 15 minutes.  Little River falls 104 feet into a dramatic gorge.  It is the only known river in this hemisphere to flow along the top of a mountain. 

Don and I risk our lives by clambering down to get closer to the loud noise of the rain-swelled river crashing down.

 Above, the sky is partly cloudy but some weather person somewhere tells us it will rain this morning with thunderstorms so we drive quickly to nearby DeSoto Falls State Park.  We want to have as much time in the woods as possible before we have to honker down.

Wild Turkeys We Saw By the Road

I hope to find some green mountain pitcher plants in the woods.   Unfortunately people steal precious plants.   So when I locate Ken, the park guide, at the Country Store, I explain that I have a Native Plant Certificate from the State Botanical Garden of Georgia, including a course in conservation.  Nevertheless he says he cannot tell me where to find the pitcher plants.  “I don’t know how to find them but Brittney, the park naturalist, can tell you.”

 










Partly frozen




Brittney is not in the nature display room.  Don and Marguerite point out the pitcher plant demonstration area built by Boy Scouts.  I see it but I still want to see these unusual guys growing in their own home.

 On her voice mail I say, “Hello, Brittney, I got your phone number from Ken because I would like to see where the green pitcher plants grow.  I went on a conservation field trip in Georgia to weed around protected plants in the mountains so I am a safe person.”  We drive to Brittney’s office but she is not there.   She has a beautiful pitcher plant in the window.  She wouldn’t have left just to avoid me, would she?

Britney's Green Pitcher Plants

 Oh well, we’ll walk on the Azalea Cascade Trail, also called a Birding Trail, which is at the end of the most beautiful ADA (Americans with Disabilities) trail I have seen.  The boardwalk meanders quite a distance and has bumps with benches for resting. 

Marguerite and Don on Boardwalk near Azalea Cascade

Steps at the end lead to a tiny waterfall filling a small pond with teensy fish and big water striders. 

What are these two silver guys up to?

I find a sac made from a leaf curled up and joined by threads, firmly attaching it to a budding twig.  Cocoon of some sort, I imagine, of something fairly large.

Leaves of Crane Fly Orchid

Trout Lily

Yellow Violet

 There are some nice wildflowers above the pond.  Some people disdain violets but I love them in the wild and at home. 

Common Blue Violet near Ferns and Dwarf Iris

Wild Ginger with Baby Flowers Coming Out Above

 
Next Trail:  Indian Falls

 On Indian Falls Trail we see a shrimpy falls in a lovely mossy setting.

Lush Moss and Partridgeberry

  Next to the Falls is an outstanding cave.  I can imagine Native peoples or bears using it as a resting place during a storm.  

Interesting Roof of the Cave

 If I knew more (or anything) about geology I could use technical terms to describe the roof of the cave.  This area is loaded with caves because of all the limestone, which is easy to wash away, leaving the surrounding rock.  

Marguerite takes a picture of me from up there because I’ve done some rather tricky (for me) climbing over boulders to get into the middle of the stream.  

A tree grows right next to the bridge.  Which came first?  What does the bulge tell us?  Somebody please figure it out and tell me.

Finally, the rain begins so we begin Plan B.

 Adjacent to the park is Sallie Howard Memorial Chapel, built by her stalwart husband in the last year of his life.   Colonel Milford Howard was a former U.S. Congressman.  For six weeks in a horribly wet and cold winter, with help from the blessed CCC boys, he acted as foreman, constructing the stone chapel so that a giant boulder is one wall, coming into the sanctuary.  Don says, “They talked him out of putting up a neon sign saying Jesus Saves.”

A bit windblown and damp, we dine at the Green Leaf Grill, so hungry we almost eat the hand-printed menu.

Afterwards, retreating to the Inn’s community room, I read about the area.  I had no idea that two-thirds of Alabama is woodland.  And that northeast Alabama has about 1,000 species of wildflowers.  I used to think poorly of Alabama based upon news stories, I guess.  But after this trip and what I’ve read, my impression has changed.

No rain predicted for tomorrow, which is nice, cause we’re going to the best wildflower trail in Georgia.