Anyone who is visiting, or lives in this area full time, knows that these Western North Carolina mountains are teeming with woods. Ah, greenness abounds!
Summertime is upon us, with nice cool nights, some afternoon showers, and humidity that varies from 60 to 90 percent. Fog is often what I first see in the mornings before that good old sunshine showers my eastern windows.
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| A mountain road with the sights delineated for travelers |
So though there are woods in any direction you might jump, I'll share more of the latest of my day trips with you now.
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| Joyce Kilmer - Slickrock Wilderness, Nantahala National Forest I won't quote his most famous poem, which begins with "I think I shall never see a tree..." |
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| One of the streams which you fortunately get a bridge across |
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| Interesting how the whole first half of the lower loop has been rubbed out...it's not that hard to find! |
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| The trail is well marked, maintained, and has steps added to keep erosion under control |
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| All the felled trees had already died, Hemlocks with an insect that has killed most of them in the forests in this area, and perhaps some chestnuts which died back in the 1920s from Chestnut blight.. |
With the death of the hemlocks, there is more sunlight filtering to the floor of the woods, so new growth is happening. The leaves closest to me were Poplars, the children of the biggest trees in this woods already. Tim remembers walking these trails about 20 years ago, and they were very dark indeed with all the hemlocks.
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| One of the few examples of wildlife we saw...a few dogs were walking the path as well (on leashes) ahead of us Today's Poem: The Fog by Carl Sandburg THE fog comes
on little cat feet.
It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on. |
...you live in a paradise found!
ReplyDeleteIt is definitely there for the enjoyment.
DeleteA beautiful place for a walk, wonderful series of photos. Take care, have a wonderful week!
ReplyDeleteThanks Eileen. Hope you have a lovely Sunday and week ahead.
DeleteA lovely walk in such a beautiful forest.
ReplyDeleteI wish I had the breath for walks such as these again. Sigh. But I'm doing pretty darn well considering! And love seeing my friend's blogs each day!
DeleteA refreshing walk on the trail, sounds lovely.
ReplyDeleteIt certainly was a memorable trip!
DeleteHow beautiful! I rarely walk in the woods these days, at least in summer, because of ticks and other insects that seem so attracted to me. I miss it, though.
ReplyDeleteI had one mosquito land on my arm, and blessed her to another life. Didn't think of ticks. I didn't use any repellant either, because they all repell me. Dr. Bronner's Peppermint soap usually keeps some bugs away. I just decided I needed to walk a bit, and this was the best place I could go. Didn't stay very long, but it was peaceful.
DeleteThis blog isn't the one I'm talking about from today...where I'll share soon about being by the creek. Sorry, got mixed up.
DeleteA good spot for a hike.
ReplyDelete