Andrews Bald and a Perfect Day

Some days are truely magical from start to finish.  This July 1st hike to Andrews Bald in the Great Smoky Mountains with three friends had that quality.  

No one expects to find a day in the 60's in July in east Tennessee!  Nor do you expect to drive to the Smoky Mountains National Park on a holiday weekend without throngs of traffic.  We managed to enjoy both--low traffic and perfect weather!  (It was 69 F degrees when we finished our hike at 3:00 pm!)

We started at Clingman's Dome and hiked the rocky steps, some natural, most constructed for visitor comfort, leading down the slope to Andrew's Bald.  The trail takes you through pristine forest along the ridge edge, lush with native vegetation in various stages of maturity, thriving in the rich forest floor.  

There is something truely magical about the ferns, algea and lichen that line the trail edges and thrive in the shade and water that trickles down the mountain face in numerous places.

Part of the fun is the curiousity stimulated by these plants.  We stopped to take photos of some of them and wondered about their identification.

 Small Purple Fringed Orchid, above and below.

Our ultimate goal was to see the Flame Azaleas on the bald and enjoy the spectacular view.  We enjoyed that and more!

 Above, the view from Andrew's Bald through a rare and spectacular clear atmosphere!

Flame Azalea.

Though the azaleas are expected to be in full bloom in early July, their peek occurred earlier this year. Maybe that was due to our unseasonably warm May weather--I'm not sure how that works--but we were delighted to find blooms nonetheless.

The above beautiful blossoms were found on the shady side of one of the azaleas, showing a variety of color from pink to peach to orange.

The bald was a great place to relax for lunch and I checked out some of the bird activity around us. For the first time, I heard a breeding Dark-eyed Junco burst into song.  Normally I see them in the winter months.  The one below was hopping along the plank path and foraging along its edges.  I also found Cedar Wax Wings and heard a Common Raven.

After lunch, Kara pulled a package of bubble blowing liquid from her pack!  Of all the things I've seen someone pull out of their hiking pack, this was by far the most surprising.  What happened next was delightful.

On the bald with us were two families from Houston, traveling together.  The family members originated from Bolivia, France and Chicago.  It was the children of these families that Kara invited to play with the bubbles.  An unexpected entertainment for all of us in the higher elevation of the Smokies!

After the families started back down the trail, they encountered a bear foraging only ten feet from the trail!  They also saw a deer!  When we caught up with them only minutes later, the children could speak of nothing else.  "We saw a BEAR, and a DEER, and DEER POOP!"  I felt so happy for these children--an experience in nature they will never forget.

No, we didn't even catch a glimpse of a bear.  I'm sure he was long gone by the time we passed the spot!

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A Tail Bracing Party

I visited one of my favorite places yesterday, Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

I was certainly not alone. It was Columbus Day holiday for many, the last day of a four-day weekend AND fall break for the university and area schools. So...

it was a wee bit crowded! But that tells us all how much we love our wild places and how important it is to save as many of them as we can.
The party began when I pulled off the road and took a quiet walk in the woods. I happened upon an area with several dead upright trunks fairly peppered with every size hole imaginable. It felt as though I had just entered a woodpecker dining hall.Within minutes a yellow-bellied sapsucker joined me. He didn't stay long, but I got to see his tail brace in action. The sapsucker is a resident of the park but is described as "seldom seen" until the northern migrants start coming through after the end of September. Then they are more easily seen in the lower elevations. Wouldn't you just love to know what's happening on the other side of that trunk? The next visitor practically landed on my head--a male red-bellied woodpecker. I was standing inches from the tree he selected which made photography a challenge. But woodpeckers are flighty characters and I enjoyed the few minutes he did stay. You don't get this angle very often and I must say, its the closest I've ever been to a woodpecker. I love his white petticoat-style tail that drapes over the black bracing feathers. You just can't get the full effect of this from field guides.
The white-breasted nuthatch isn't a woodpecker at all, but he fit right into this parade. I heard his 'yank, yank' calls and saw him at a distance before he landed on the other side of this trunk about six feet away. I focused the camera on the trunk, knowing he would pop around to my side at any second. And he did! He gave me these two shots. Don't you just love them? What a treat.

I love this sort of experience. All we have to do is find a quiet place and keep still for a short while and nature will show us her amazing creatures.

The trees are about two weeks away from peak color in the mountains but the forests and meadows are overflowing with a bounty of nuts, cherries, berries and seeds. A rich harvest is spread for busy wildlife, and for us, a beautiful and peaceful place is waiting any time of the year.