Hiking in the Smokies

This is one of the earliest places where one can see spring wildflowers. The first ½ mile of sunny banks provides an enormous array of wildflowers, usually beginning in mid-March. However, this year has seen a lot of very cold nights and days in the Smokies, and on this particular day we saw very few flowers blooming. Indeed, as we started up the trail, the bank of wildflowers had frost on it, and most foliage was wilted. We did see a very few Hepatica, chickweed, and spring beauty blooming (see Chestnut Top 2008 photo album). Most of the seersucker sedge along the way was in full bloom, but they were limp with the cold.

The trees are still bare, providing some wonderful views of Thunderhead Mountain after you hike up about 2 miles of the trail. We also got good views of the Little River at the Townsend "Y" - there was a lot of water running in it due to all our rains (see photo album).

There are several banks as you ascend the trail that are covered with trailing arbutus plants. This is the first place I know of in the Smoky Mountains to see the arbutus in bloom, but as mentioned, it has been a cool spring, and there were only a very few buds and a couple of blooms in some very sunny spots (see album).

Based on my hiking notes from last year, a huge array of wildflowers were seen on Chestnut Top on March 28 (see previous posting for Chestnut Top 2007).