Hiking in the Smokies

We hiked Ace Gap trail in the Smokies hoping we'd catch the Pink lady's slippers in bloom. We weren't disappointed - we counted over 180 flowering plants along the 5.5-mile hike in to Ace Gap. It was cloudy most of the day, and drizzled on us about 4 times, but it felt refreshing as it was a fairly hot day. We didn't see many flowers, but did see some late spring/early summer things blooming: Four-leaved milkweed, Beardstongue, Mountain bluet, Flame azalea, and Mountain laurel. I saw one Putty root orchid blooming, and was thrilled to see it. I've never seen it in bloom before. See the Photo album for Ace Gap, 2010.