Snow, Snow, and more SNOW!

Growing up as a kid here in the Tennessee River Valley of Knoxville, snow was a rare treat. We didn't get much, it never lasted long, and we had to make our snowmen and snow angels while it lasted. Playing in the snow was a good thing to do since snow on the ground usually meant snow and ice covered roads, which  was hazardous driving at best. You just stayed home! Of course as an adult, things were different. My university classes and hospital clinicals went on no matter the weather. Once I was working as a nurse I was expexted to get to the hospital and don't be late or the nurses on the outgoing shift would give you an evil stare that would kill faster than rifle fire! When my career took me to Utah I got used to living with snow. Things were very different in Utah, they had things like street crews with lots of snowplows and light powdery snow instead of the wet, sloppy ice-forming flakes typical in Tennessee.

We've had more snow in East Tennessee in the past month than we've had in the last 5+ years! Crazy! Rather than hibernate like a black bear I decided to take advantage of a good road day following a storm to head to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park with my camera and see what I could do with a simple mid-range camera. Needless to say I wish I owned a seriously good digital SLR but that's just not going to happen any time soon. I'm making do with what I have. The snow was mostly melted at the lower elevations of the park, Cades Cove and the Little River Road, but at the higher elevations it looked God had taken a giant sifter and dusted powdered sugar over everything! Whether I was standing in the snow or simply looking up at the snow-covered peaks, it was all gorgeous.

The snowy photos above were taken along Newfound Gap Road (US 441) at the Chimney Tops Picnic Area and above the Alum Cave Trailhead. The rest were taken in Cades Cove, my personal favorite location in the park. While traffic through the park was relatively light, most were there with cameras doing exactly what I was doing - marveling at the beauty of the Smokies on a snowy January day. Gorgeous!

Falling in Love with Fall

During the last couple of years I have overcome my I-lived-in-Utah-and-Fall-means-it-will-snow-soon aversion and have fallen in love with Fall all over again. Things got cooked up last year with a couple of trips to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in late October. This year, both the fall colors and I hit the Park sooner, camera and tree identification book in hand, ready to savor the season. My most recent adventure led me back to the Smokies and up to Newfound Gap on the Tennessee/North Carolina state line where the Appalachian Trail crosses over.


The weather forecast was for clouds and ultimately rain. By the time I got to the Park the clouds had parted and the sky was sunny and crystal blue for the lower and mid-elevations. The skies did cloud over by the time I reached Morton overlook and I got a little drizzle at Newfound Gap but it really didn't matter as the trees were stunning! I took an excessive amount of photos without guilt thanks to the digital era and photo editing software. Even shots I doubted would turn out could be rescued with a few mouse clicks. WooHoo!


Despite the gray skies and clouds over the North Carolina side of the park, the view from Newfound Gap was amazing. There was a fairly large sugar maple tree that was ablaze in a golden orange hue that reminded me of Tennessee orange. There was fierce competition from visitors to capture the perfect photo by that tree. I had to compete to get my shots with no people in them!


On my way back down the mountain I took the little River Road all the way to the Townsend Entrance. This Past Spring & Summer the NPS received enough funding from various sources to do several major repaving and renovation projects in the park. Included was a major overhaul to a favorite waterfall and swimming hole area known as the Sinks. I just had to stop and check it out. The new overlook is wonderful, yet you could still access the cliffs without much trouble. There was more color at the Sinks than I expected, but I especially was impressed by the strong red hues in a small white oak tree that was growing out of a cliff. Amazing!


It was early in the color season so most of the leaves were still on the trees. Even still, I found a few lovely specimens perched on the cut-stone steps at the Sinks that just begged to be photographed. Such beauty in simple things! It's good to be back in the Smokies in the Fall. I love it!

Promise Kept

I've had an longstanding promise to take my father for a drive to our favorite place, The Great Smoky Mountains National Park. More specifically, there is a small isolated community at the very edge of the park called Cades Cove that is our most favorite place to visit. There is a narrow, winding one-way road that makes an 11 mile loop around the cove, passing the restored cabins and churches and other places that were the home of a thriving mountain community in the late 1800's. Each time we visit we stop at one or two of our favorite "points of interest" to see what has evolved.

The first photograph was taken from the front yard of the Missionary Baptist Church. I was smitten by the brilliance of color and light in the distant fields and the contrasting dimness in the shadow of the trees surrounding the church. I usually stop at the Methodist Church as it's my favorite, but lately I've been intrigued by the architecture of the Missionary Baptist Church, with it's protruding chancel (is that what it's called???) at the front of the church where the pulpit is located. It's really a very fancy detail for the period and setting and none of the other churches in the cove have this feature. The old wood of the interior walls and pews make for amazing acoustics. Daddy and I can't help but break into an old gospel hymn like Amazing Grace when we visit.


Our next stop was at Abrams Creek. With the severe drought we've suffered this year the water levels in the Smokies are lower than I can recall ever witnessing before in my life. Just after the Loop Road crosses Abrams Creek there's a short road to a parking area at the head of a group of hiking trails. As we pulled off the main road, daddy noticed these unusual plants than were in an area that is traditionally moist and a bit like a bog. I have no idea what these are, but they had a large seed pod that is shaped like a bird's body and is about 4-6" long. When the pod splits you see at the 1st inner layer of tiny, flat brown seeds. Attached to each seed and comprising the innermost layer is a silky, feathery fiber that is ~2-3" long. It was shimmering in the sun and had the fluffy nature similar to a dandelion seed, only much stronger. The fluff just glistened in the sun and truly looked like silk. I was completely fascinated and took a number of photos to help me identify the plant. Very cool!

We proceeded on to the parking area and stopped to take a little stroll along the creek. Once again I was stunned by how low the water level was, and how different the creek looked there by the bridge that crosses it. You could see through the clear steely blue/teal water to the creek bottom. A natural dam had been created by a fallen tree. Subsequent limbs and branches flowing downstream got caught in the fallen tree creating a bit of a pond upstream, and a mill-race-like waterfall for the water that moved overt he top of the mass of sticks and leaves. The sounds and the colors were rather eerie and I thought of the Mystic Waters Shawl KAL I'm participating in. I was looking at real mystic waters! Double cool!

By the time we got to the backside of the Loop road it was getting later in the afternoon and the white-tailed deer were starting to come down from their daytime hideaways in the mountains to the green fields in the Cove for their evening meal. November is rutting season and by this point the dominant bucks have stated their claims over the does and are stalking them until the perfect day when its time to mate. They only get 24 hours once a year. This 3-point buck was standing in the middle of a large field, apparently alone. But on closer inspection there was a single doe sitting in a brushy are on the edge of the field. Clearly Big Daddy Buck was waiting and watching over his girl. Not just yet big fella! As we drove on around the bend there was a field full of does, maybe 8 or 10. We decided they were all a part of that bucks harem. Let's face it, the deer have it very good in Cades Cove.

I've been busy!

I've been a busy girl this week! First, I've been trying to finish some of my many UFO knitting projects. I have blocked this Coral Lace Shawl yet, but here's a couple of pictures in it's unblocked state.

Up next are the Flamingo Pink Stripe Jaywalker socks! I finished knitting the 1st sock last night and have cast-on for the second. I figure I needed to get the next sock up a running as it will be the perfect thing to get me through my step-nephew TJ's high school graduation exercises tonight. TJ is a great kid and he attended a magnet school, so the graduation is a bit better than your usual event (my nephew Christopher graduated from the same HS 2 years ago), but the crowds and commotion and my ebullient brother can be a bit much for this old maid to deal with.

We've had my step-niece Tammy staying with us all week, so Mother and Daddy and I took her to Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on Wednesday night for a picnic supper and wildlife watching. Tammy has never seen anything like this before (my brother & his wife recently adopted Tammy and her sibs from the state foster care system). First we saw the horses from the riding stable where my mother worked her "Pied Piper" charms on a couple of the beautiful critters. In the next field there were a flock of wild turkeys.


We visit the Cove in the evening because that's when the deer come down out of the mountains to feed on the meadow grasses in the cool of the day. We stopped at our favorite pull-out to eat our usual picnic of Subway sandwiches. As we sat there we watched 8 or 9 deer come down into the meadow right in front of us. Then as we continued along the 11-mile one-way loop road we came across dozens of white-tail deer, including a number of yearling bucks and a pretty spotted fawn. We thought we were doing well in teh wildlife viewing department, but then we were delighted to come upon a mother bear and her 2 cubs in a wooded area. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get a decent photo of the bears, but Tammy was delighted to see "Smoky Bears". The bear population has grown in the park, so you are more likely to see bears now than when I was a kid. But I still feel the same excitement today as I did when I was younger when I see a bear in the Park. To see a mother and cubs is the best treat of all!