Hiking in the Smokies

It continues to be extremely dry in East Tennessee, and we were disappointed in how few wildflowers we saw on this hike in the Smoky Mountains.

This hike was probably the overall best hike we have taken this spring for number and variety of wildflowers. We saw all of the common spring wildflowers we see in the Smokies as well as plants that are rarely or never seen in the Smokies. These latter included a yellow ladyslipper, Cumberland Spurge, Trillium sulcatum, spotted mandarin, and both yellow and red buckeye. We also saw one "Pinxster" alzalea in bloom.

In spite of the lack of rain last year and this year, to date, my garden has some beautiful flowers blooming. The trilliums have not spread appeciably, but the single blooms they have are quite nice; quite a few have the leaves up, but no flowers.

We saw over 30 species of wildflowers on this hike in the Smokies, the bulk of them along the banks as we walked up Schoolhouse Gap Road. However, once inside White Oak Sinks, we were not disappointed by the quantities of flowers we saw. Blue phlox covered the floor of the sinks, and walking along the trails we saw Bishop's cap, Showy orchis, Shooting stars, Virginia bluebells, Catesby's trillium, Trillium grandiflorum, Larkspur, and Columbine. I have looked in White Oak Sinks for several years for a reported patch of green violet, and I finally found it. They were not blooming, however.

Porters Creek trail in the Smoky Mountains is considered by many to be the best trail in the Park for number of species seen and for its large displays of fringed phacelia, bishop's cap, and numerous trilliums. On this day, we were not disappointed althought the phacelia appeared to be past its prime.

We counted 34 species of wildflowers blooming along Cooper Road and Little Bottoms trails in the Smoky Mountains.

This album shows the stands of dead pines we walked through as we hiked the Little Bottoms trail in the Smoky Mountains. We were pleased to see the trail maintenance efforts the Park Service has implemented to make the trail more safe to hike. All of the areas that have been badly eroded for years have been vastly improved.

There are many plants blooming in my wildflower garden, with more to come in the next few days.

This stone house was apparently the teacher's cottage for the Arrowmont school for children that was located off Old Sugarlands Trail in the Smokies.

There were very few wildflowers blooming along Chestnut Top trail in the Smoky Mountains on March 12, 2008.

We hiked about 12.5 miles of this trail in the Smoky Mountains, and although it follows the shore of Fontana Reservoir, several sections proved very strenuous. Evidence can still be seen of previous habitation before the Little Tennessee River was inundated in 1944 creating Fontana Reservoir.

It has been very dry in east Tennessee for several months, and there are very few wildflowers blooming now in the Smokies.

There were very few wildflowers blooming on this hike in the Smokies, and probably even fewer due to the drought we are having in east Tennessee.

We hit the peak for the flame azaleas on Gregory Bald in the Smokies at just the right time. The azaleas, that are normally a brilliant orange, have hybridized on this bald, and flowers with colors including white, yellow, coral, red, and shades of orange can be seen here.

We saw a few wildflowers blooming on the trail up to the bald, including rosebay rhododendron, tassle rue, and summer bluet.

It was late for many spring wildflowers in the Smokies, but we saw mountain bluet at the higher elevations and summer bluet lower down. It appears that the rhododendron buds were killed in the freeze we had at Easter, and there were very few blooming. There was some mountain laurel, but it also was scarce.

There was not an abundance of spring wildflowers on this Smoky Mountain trail in late April, but we did see some beautiful Mountain Laurel and later blooming wildflowers on this hike.

These are photos of wildflowers still blooming in my garden. All of them can be seen in the Smoky Mountains, although some are rare there.

It was like very early spring on the AT in the Smokies, at 6200 feet, on April 25. Spring beauty was everywhere, and there were still a few trout lily blooming. Everything between the early spring and middle spring wildflowers was missing, but false hellebore and turk's cap lily were just emerging. We saw no trilliums at the higher elevations but as we started going down Road Prong, we saw a few Trillium luteum and T. erectum, just in bud.

We took a little side trip on Huskey Gap trail, at about 1900 feet, and saw some fringed phacelia.

There are still quite a few flowers blooming in my wildflower garden, as well as some that bloomed since I made the last posting on March 27.

You can get to this road from Townsend, TN, by turning on Old Cades Cove Road and following it to the horse farm. Old CAdes Cove Road stays to the right, and you turn left, following the signs to Tuckaleechee Caverns. Continue on that road, past the caverns, until you come to a stop sign. Turn left on Schoolhouse Gap Raod, and park at the small area just before the road turns to gravel. You can hike up this road until it comes to the boundary for the Smokies.

Besides the wildflowers we saw that I photographed, we also saw wood anemone, rue anemone, chickweed, silverbell, pussytoes, shooting stars,and Virginia bluebells (see my "Garden Wildflower" album for photos of these last two).