Joie de Linda: November 2019

One of the wonderful things about living near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the access to remoteness even close to busy thoroughfares and towns.

The quiet walkways along Hwy 441 over the mountain offer opportunities to escape the busy-ness of life. Yesterday the weather and light traffic offered such an opportunity to "escape" close to home.

Several quiet walkways are sprinkled throughout the Park. We chose the second quiet walkway just up from Sugarlands Visitor Center on Hwy 441. What is so interesting to us is how the 3 designated walkways are connected by man-ways rather than by maintained trails.

A few years ago, Chris and I accompanied family members up the Old Sugarlands Trail with the Rock House as our destination, but stopped for lunch on the huge boulders at the river near where the old highway crossed the river. At that time, the river was much fuller with water rushing over the large boulders. Today the water level was down significantly. I think we could have rock hopped across the river. It was fun coming from the other side of the river and seeing where we had spent time picnicking and boulder hopping.

I love finding the old homestead stone walls! Obviously this wide path was once a main thoroughfare along the river.

Listening to the rustle of leaves, chatter of squirrels and sounds of the river melts away all anxiety...until you encounter fresh bear scat! We figured most of the bears were spending their Thanksgiving in Gatlinburg rather than scooping up the abundant acorn mast. Scavenging in a dumpster is so much more rewarding for bears than searching out acorns and berries.

Although it was a gray overcast sky most of the day, sometimes the fall leaves exploded with the sunlight. Just being in such overwhelming quiet beauty releases tension and anxiety. We walked down the wide maintained trail and where it intersected with the man-way along the river, we strolled a bit in both directions upstream and then downstream. A few blowdowns had us crawling, stooping, scooting and detouring.

I love seeing the lichens' verdigris [green/gray] patterns on rocks. The rock serves as a stone canvas for the artistic patterns to develop. Mosses and lichens seem to enjoy each other's company!

With the leaves off the trees, a clear view across the river allowed us to see the concrete abutment where the old highway crossed the river before the new Hwy 441 was rerouted. We decided to make a loop hike to return to the vehicle. Rather than return to the quiet walkway, we chose to find and follow the faint trail that passes across the flat bottom land, winds steeply up along the side of the ridge and emerges at the other end of the parking area. We had to navigate several blowdowns, but otherwise the trail was as I remembered it 7 or 8 springs ago before the fires.

One last stop at another quiet walkway just past Sugarlands VC off the River Road! This trail was not as quiet because it was close to the highway. Nevertheless, it provided a pleasant stroll! Hmmm, I wonder what wildflowers grow along these lovely quiet walkways....

Pine Mountain, Georgia Excursion

Considering the majestic peaks of the Smokies, I wouldn't call Pine Mountain a true mountain except for the spectacular views below of the flat forested valley we experienced from several lookouts. Dowdell Knob at 1395 feet is the highest elevation on Pine Mountain. Over all, the elevation along the ridge top averages 1100 feet. Keeping in mind that Mt LeConte rises more than 6500 feet with views of extreme valleys, dense forests and competing peaks, Pine Mountain does not come close to the wild majesty of the Smokies. But Pine Mountain is a welcoming, comfortable mountain beckoning hikers to enjoy the beauty of a friendly forest. Our destination was F.D. Roosevelt State Park, the largest state park in Georgia. Named after our thirty-second President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the park provides a multitude of activities such as hiking, camping, fishing, horseback-riding and wildflower looking.

On our way to the visitor's center, we caught glimpses of the view to the south from the highway as it undulated along the ridge top.

The park headquarters are located in a stone building constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps. Four stone cabins built by the CCC perch behind the headquarters

over-looking the valley.

F.D. Roosevelt State Park is located between the quaint town of Pine Mountain and the historic Warm Springs, the location of the Little White House President Roosevelt built so he could enjoy the waters of the warm springs nearby and also escape the pressures of Washington, DC as he contemplated the weighty matters of leading a nation during a time of war.

A statue paying tribute to the young men of the CCC stands proudly in front of the headquarters.

One of our reasons for visiting Pine Mountain was to hike with the Georgia Botanical Society, a group we have enjoyed hiking with on several occasions. Hal Massie, our very knowledgeable leader, was a storehouse of information about the flora and history of Pine Mountain.

The sourwood trees along the trail were spectacularly dressed in crimson.

Although the Pine Mountain Trail is 23 miles in length, we chose to hike a 2.7 mile segment from the parking area near Dowdell Knob.

One of the naturalists in our group was ecstatic to discover several mature Sugar Maples (Acer saccharum) with their distinctive five-lobed leaves, a tree found in more northern regions.

We were excited to find a surviving sapling of the American Chestnut (Castanea dentata) sprouting from a long-decayed stump. It is rare to find a mature American Chestnut tree because the species is still vulnerable to the blight that quickly killed one of the most majestic trees in the eastern U.S.

Our quest this day was to find the Kidney-leaf Grass-of-Parnassus (Parnassia asarifolia).

With its distinctive parallel green bee guides, Parnassia asarifolia is neither a grass nor a plant from Mount Parnassus in Greece.

It was fascinating to watch a pollinator hover and explore the bloom.

A few of the plants grew in moist areas.

Compared with last year's bounty, we did not find as many blooming plants as we expected to find.

One of the distinguishing characteristics of Parnassia asarifolia is the kidney shape of its basal leaves, thus its common name Kidneyleaf Grass of Parnassus.

Both asarifolia and grandifolia prefer seeps and swampy areas.

From the condition of the leaves and clipped bloom stems, we deduced that deer had browsed on the plants.

Many of the plants were growing right in the stream.

Grass-of-Parnassus is a striking flower with its snowy white background and lacy pattern of green veins.

We continued our trek in search of other interesting plant and geologic features.

Occasionally Hal or another member of the group would make an observation about the difference between Farkleberry, Deerberry and Blueberry shrubs.

At other times Hal would use his hand lens to magnify and inspect a tiny feature of a plant.

At the end of its blooming stage, Blue Sage (Salvia azurea) struggled to hang on. At first glance from a distance, Blue Sage reminded me of a skullcap or lobelia. But upon closer inspection, this tiny flower is unique.

From his rock pulpit, Hal taught us about the ways to identify the lovely Sourwood.

The hardy Georgia Oak (Quercus georgiana) thrives in the harsh, dry conditions of Pine Mountain. This slow-growing tree remains shrubby for many years. It never reaches the heights of its cousins the great Northern Red Oak (Quercus rubra) or the competing Chestnut Oak (Quercus montana).

A lonely Slender Gerardia, or more specifically identified as Slender-leaf False Foxglove (Agalinis tenuifolia), makes one last gasp before the cold temperatures of late fall invade.

We encountered several rocky areas but when we encountered this big rock outcropping, we were reminded of some of the rock features of the Cumberland Plateau. Rocky Point stands as sentinel overlooking a steeply sloping drop into the valley floor.

Clasping Aster or Aster patens (Symphyotrichum patens) is a common aster growing in the dry, sandy soil of Pine Mountain.

Grass-leaved Golden Aster is a new plant for me although it is considered a common flower. But as with other DYCs, I struggle to make a definite identification. Add to the difficulty the periodic changes in Latin names! Is this Pityopsis graminifolia, Chrysopsis graminifolia or Heterotheca graminifolia? If the experts can't agree, how are we amateurs to determine the taxonomic nomenclature? And to think purists have trouble with us amateurs using the common names!

I need to check the identity of this DYC.

Our trailhead started on Dowdell Knob close to the historic overlook where a bronze statue of a relaxed and pensive F.D. Roosevelt commemorates his love for Pine Mountain.

Not exactly a fireside chat!

Peeking over the President's shoulder, you can see why he favored Pine Mountain.

Now filled in with concrete, President Roosevelt's preserved barbecue pit sits at the edge of the overlook into the valley. Imagine the Presidential entourage spreading an elegant picnic at this spot: white table cloth, china, crystal and delicate linens. But did he eat his fried chicken with his fingers?

Just below the visitor's center headquarters, an oak we did not see on our hike...

Mistletoe growing among all the branches gave the tree a fullness of green.

The Roosevelt Memorial Bridge is another example of the sturdy CCC construction.

This is what we returned home to find: nearly 1 1/2 inches of snow! The arctic blast brought freezing rain, snow and super cold temperatures from the Arctic across the Great Plains sweeping down into the Deep South, affecting Oklahoma, Texas and Louisiana across northern Florida. Few states were spared!