Fauna Friday

Epic fauna exploration occurred during another hike around Cades Cove on Tuesday.
Let's get started!

Several hawks circled high above as we trudged through the grassy fields.

Along a creek we found large bleached bones, probably deer.

Leg bone. (1st time it was warm enough to not wear hiking boots this year - felt weird.)

I lost count of the deer we saw that day - a LOT.

Two kestrels passed, one stopped briefly while crows fussed nearby.

Hanging around along Hyatt Lane.  See/Hear/Speak no evil?

Recent heavy rains and snow melt had flooded many of the creeks and streams in the area. As we passed through this debris pile along the banks of Abrams Creek, S. spied a frog - try to find it in this picture!  Click here for the answer.

Can you spot the frog in this debris?

Ribbit!

Bumpy little dude.

Wild hogs have been tearing up the grass along the creek.

As we passed along, we spooked a couple blue herons into flight - not this one!

This big beauty had discovered an all-u-can-eat frog buffet & just ignored us.

A brief video of the heron struggling with its unwilling meal.  About 5 seconds after I stopped filming, the frog took a long, quick slide down the heron's throat.  That's life......

Wide Wednesday

Yesterday was a classic picture-perfect day in Cades Cove.  I nearly had to be dragged out of the fields kicking and screaming. But I'll be back....

Fauna Friday

Today we have a couple more pics from Cades Cove, which really is a great place to observe wildlife:

And not-so-wild-life!

Fauna Friday

I'm instituting a new weekly feature here on the blog!  Welcome "Fauna Fridays", wherein I will post a few pics of the creatures I've seen during the week.  Enjoy!

This week's fauna were all sighted on Wednesday while hiking in Cades Cove, Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It was a cool, dreary, misty/drizzly day - my favorite kind and the best for hiking off-trail!

Red-tailed Hawk (I think) - we saw many hawks while driving & hiking.

The only things we saw more than hawks were deer - lots!

....including a handful of lovely bucks.

11 deer in this field near the Elijah Oliver cabin.

Early Spring

We were out and about in Cades Cove on Sunday - it was a beautiful sunny day, not a cloud in the sky, though it was a bit chilly and there was still a dusting of snow in the terminally shady spots.
This Winter has been much milder than the last couple years and going along with that, it seems that Spring is getting a jump on things.
After finishing our hike along Rich Mtn Rd and coming back down via an old roadbed, we popped out in the field next to the concrete fire ring(?) across the road from the Missionary Baptist Church and discovered a patch of daffodils almost getting ready to bloom.
This seems very early.
I imagine the large patch near the north end Hyatt Lane will be coming along as well.... didn't get to check on it.

Christmas Day in Cades Cove

Every year we try to go hiking on Christmas Day and this year's hike was in Cades Cove along Cooper Road Trail.

It was a nice day in the Cove, temps in the low 40's with cloudy morning skies that cleared in the afternoon. A little drizzle did not dampen our spirits but recent rains had water levels up and we did have minor difficulty crossing Arbutus Branch along the way.



Stopped by the pond to check out the water level.... not a lot, but for winter pretty good I guess.



I always enjoy visiting the little cemeteries in the open fields. Feels so good out under the sun when it's chilly.




There was a lot of traffic in the Cove on Christmas. Despite the fact that bear madness is done for the season we were still caught up in multiple deer-jams, especially on the notoriously clogged far end of the loop. Inevitable. Not sure what goes thru people's heads once they get on that side..... maybe they are desperate to see a bear before they leave the Cove (because you always hear "Cades Cove is THE place to see bears!!") and they are scanning the forest as they roll along at 0.2 miles per hour.


All in all, it was a very nice Christmas in Cades Cove!

Abrams Falls, after "The Tornado"

We hiked out to Abrams Falls in Great Smoky Mtns on July 4th. Hadn't been out there since what we refer to as "the night of the tornadoes" on April 27, when over 50 tornadoes touched down in east Tennessee, including a confirmed EF4 tornado that ripped through the western half of the National Park, impacting (and closing) about 30 miles of trails west of Cades Cove.


Abrams Falls Trail was one of those closed trails (signage photo from our May 3 visit to the trailhead) and it was the first to be re-opened, as it is a massively popular summertime hike for tourists and locals.










If you hadn't hiked to the falls before the storm, the change might not look too impressive, but we could really tell the difference in a few places. Definitely a lot of trees were downed, but the workers did a great job shifting debris and filling in the trail beds.































Where some of the largest uprooted trees created hot tub-sized holes in the trail, log retaining walls were built for stabilization and prevention of erosion.

Looking to the opposite ridge from our trail, out across the river gorge, you can see a path of damage through the forest.



Despite the areas of damage, Abrams Falls Trail is still a fine hike with some pretty scenery.











The Falls were, as always, a beautiful sight.
We arrived at 8:30 am after the 2.5 mile-hike and were the second ones there. On the way back, between the Falls and the trailhead, we passed exactly 100 people.


Now, let me say this:


For the Love of All That is Holy, people..... Trash in, Trash OUT. Leave No Trace.
The amount (and kind) of garbage we found there was a disgrace. Litter seems to be getting worse in general around the park, but I was especially disgusted at the state of affairs on this holiday weekend. Just be glad I didn't pan down in that Falls photo.

Misty morning

On July 4th, we were up before dawn to head out for sunrise in Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mtns. We haven't been in the Cove that early before, I'm not a morning person. It was well worth the effort. Not only did we see some wonderful misty sights, we also beat the heat and most of the crowds.





I imagine it was packed later in the day; we were out by 11:00 am (as always in the back half of the loop, we were stuck behind the ubiquitous Cove traffic-jammer, who drives 5mph and never pulls over).




The breaking of day was magical.

















It was cool and quiet, we saw plenty of crows and a handful of deer, some playfully frolicking in the fields.






The road to Abrams Falls.





My next post will cover our hike to the falls and tornado damage.

Finley Cane, Bote Mtn, Lead Cove Trails loop hike

On May 25, we made a loop hike of Finley Cane, Bote Mtn, and Lead Cove trails near the entrance to Cades Cove in the Smokies. The 7.1 mile loop covers a variety of terrain. An article from Knox News describes the loop with a little history.

We started off on Finely Cane trail, which is relatively flat and shaded most of the way. It had rained heavily the days before and the trail was very muddy in areas. Not to mention horses had just been through and left some hoofy bogs and plenty-o-poop.

We saw *lots* of these millipedes along the beginning of Finley Cane. Really beautiful. As long as they don't touch me.

An amazing patch of Indian Pipe within the first mile. I believe this is the largest grouping I've seen, there were several patches in this area but this one topped them all.
Also known as Corpse Plant, Indian Pipe has no chlorophyll to make it green.

We reached the cane patch for which Finley Cane Trail is named. It is pretty narrow through this stretch. We passed a handful of ladies on horses here. They had just turned back in a wide spot ahead, so after that the trail was less stirred and muddy since they hadn't been there.

After 2.8 miles we reached the intersection of Finely Cane and Bote Mountain Trails. We debated heading over to backcountry campsite #18 (a beautiful, flat, stream-side camp) via West Prong since it was getting hot, but we've been there before and I was determined we were going to do this loop.

Ok, there are some beautiful views here and the absolute best display of mountain laurel I've ever seen, but this stretch of the Bote Mountain Trail (under sunny conditions with heat, high humidity and abundant bees) was rough. It covers a length of 2.5 miles with an elevation gain of about 1,000 feet, hardest of which is made within the first mile along the very rocky old roadbed.


We did this trail "Eco Challenge style," if you ever saw that tv show. Full-on, flat-out, don't-stop-unless-you're-gonna-die (or take a picture) mode. Note the haze in these photos caused by the film of sweat on the camera lens.
Halfway up Bote Mtn, my other half declared himself retired for the rest of summer, aside from evening firefly hikes and tubing. [Edit: 8.31.09 - we haven't even taken one weekend off from hiking this summer! So I win :-) ]


But wow, it was worth it. How beautiful is that?!

The roadway narrowed and leveled out (kinda) and became less rocky, more sandy. We followed what looked to be coyote prints along the trailbed for about 1/10 mile.



More clouds moved in with a nice breeze, a bit of cooling and welcome relief from the sun. So quiet up here.
Back and forth along the mountain ridge, a few more brief ascents.


A stunning patch of flame azalea greated us at Sandy Gap. I don't recall seeing any before, maybe I just never noticed or appreciated it..... I earned seeing it today and enjoyed it fully.


The uphills are behind us now. Here at the Gap is the intersection with Lead Cove Trail (named for the mineral mined in the area) . We met a backpacker coming up that way. He headed off toward the Appalachian Trail and we headed down Lead Cove.... almost all downhill, for 1.8 miles back down to the parking area.


The beginning of this stretch looks and feels like a tropical jungle. It was great, and it felt so wonderful to be in full, cool shade. Back into muddiness again, though.



Some nice specimens of galax along the way.









I love vine twists in the mountains and this was a great one along Lead Cove.


By this time, we were glad to be nearing the Jeep.
Made it back at 3:45pm.

We'd started out at 12:20pm, so it took us 3 hrs 25 minutes to complete the 7.1 mile loop.