Spring in the Plott Balsams April 14, 2015
Posted by Jenny in hiking, nature, Southern Appalachians.Tags: bellwort, box tortoise, chickweed, Fisher Creek, fleabane, larkspur, Plott Balsams, showy orchis, trillium, yellow violet
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Fisher Creek, gateway to my favorite part of the Plotts.
Just to the southeast of the Smokies lie the Plott Balsams, my backyard mountains. The Plotts rival their more famous neighbors for the profusion of spring wildflowers. You’ll even find some plants here that you don’t see in the Smokies. For instance:
Larkspur (Delphinium).
On a showery afternoon, I headed up the East Fork trail. Soon I met a fellow creature who was also heading up the trail. I felt speedy by comparison.
What beautiful patterns and colors!
As I usually do, I went straight to the top without taking many pictures. It was completely socked in and spitting drizzle at the Fox Hunters Camp, my frequent destination for a good steep 2000′ climb. Up in the clouds, I moved through the temperate rainforest.
Everything is upholstered in moss.
On the way back down, I spotted a cluster of mixed white and red trilliums beside a little streamlet.
Just starting to open—in two different colors.
I always notice this small cascade, which runs beside a curved treetrunk.
Halberd-leaved yellow violet. One of the few violets that I can identify.
Trillium grandiflorum. You can also call it Great White Trillium, but somehow I like the Latin better.
Trillium and toothwort.
I have a weakness for unfurling ferns.
Chickweed.
Showy orchis.
A whole flock of large-flowered bellwort.
And near the end of my short hike, I saw this splendidly cheerful blossom.
Fleabane (Erigeron)—I think!
Cold-weather climb to Fox Hunters Camp January 8, 2015
Posted by Jenny in bushwhacking, hiking, Southern Appalachians.Tags: East Fork of Fisher Creek, Fox Hunters Camp, Plott Balsams
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View to the southwest from Fox Hunters Camp in the Plott Balsams.
The plan for today was to join Clyde Austin, Mike Harrington, and Frank March for a bushwhack along All Night Ridge, which parallels Anthony Creek in the Cades Cove area of the Smokies.
But the Park Service had other plans. At sundown yesterday, they closed the Newfound Gap Road. There was only a dusting of snow yesterday despite cold, blustery conditions, but the thinking seems to be that black ice might be a hazard overnight. Having seen this pattern before, I figured they’d probably reopen it around 9:00 the next morning. And they did—just about 9:00 on the nose.
That didn’t do me any good. I had to meet my friends at 8:00 at the Anthony Creek trailhead. To get there on time from my house in Sylva, NC, I would have needed to drive past the Smokemont gate around 6:00.
I’d been looking forward not only to hiking on a ridge where I hadn’t been before, but using my cold-weather gear. The forecast was for temps near zero in the early morning. I’d dug out my heavy parka, my heavy mittens, and my Sorel boots, which haven’t been used much since I left New England. Never mind.
I woke up to a temp of 4 degrees at my house and decided I’d wait till things warmed up a bit and do a hike I’ve done many times before in the nearby Plott Balsams. You climb from 3000′ at the trailhead to about 5000′, where you find an open spot known as the Fox Hunters Camp. And you pass a beautiful waterfall that’s just a little bit off the trail. I’ve featured it often in this blog. But I never get tired of it, especially in icy conditions.
I figured I’d do the side trip to the waterfall on the way down. I headed up the steep East Fork trail, plodding along with a heavier pack and more layers than usual. It turned out I was overprepared. The temp at the trailhead was in the upper teens when I started, and I didn’t really need the snowpants or the down parka. Another weather system was coming in, and things warmed up rapidly.
It was so pleasant at the Fox Hunters Camp that I just relaxed in the sunshine for a while. There was no wind.
View toward the ridge of Pinnacle Bald. Note the big, smooth cliff on the side of the ridge.
I descended, passing lots of rhodo that had gone droopy in the cold. It always bounces back with a vengeance, growing more ferocious than ever. If you bushwhack in this part of the country, you know what I mean.
It looks wilted and unhealthy. This is an illusion.
I reached the really steep part of the trail and turned off on sort of a bench in the hillside to reach the waterfall. There’s no trail, but it’s quite a short distance.
Big icicles close to waterfall.
The waterfall shows off for the camera.
I’ve visited the waterfall in all levels of waterflow and all degrees of iciness. Today, it was not iced over as completely as I saw it last winter—it takes about four or five days of continuous severe cold for that to happen. A sort of tube of ice forms over the whole thing, with just a narrow slit where you can still see the water flowing, almost as if designed so that the viewer can appreciate the living water in contrast to the frozen mass.
But today offered something good, a high level of flow from some very heavy rains we had not long ago. At any rate, it was beautiful.
Below the upper section of the waterfall I noticed an interesting ice pattern.
Odd ice shape.
I gazed down to the sunny lower falls before continuing on my way. Always a worthwhile trip.
What looks at first like foam is ice with a cauliflower texture.
P.S. I am adding some info at the request of a viewer.
Photo:
Flat area of the camp.
Map:
X marks the location. Click for zoom.
Communing with ice November 19, 2014
Posted by Jenny in bushwhacking, hiking, photography, Smoky Mountains, Southern Appalachians, weather.Tags: East Fork of Fisher Creek, Fisher Creek, Plott Balsams, winter weather
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Up close and personal with ice.
It’s been a bit cold lately. Approximately 20 degrees colder than normal temperatures for the date.
There’s a blog put out by the folks at the lodge on top of Mt. LeConte. Yesterday they had a 24-hour high of 9 degrees and, I think, a low of -1. (Actually not that wide a range—they must have been in fog or clouds.) People were talking about how cold it was. Someone chirped up with a comment along the lines of, “It’s a high mountain! It’s supposed to be chilly up there!”
This person didn’t understand the concept of the weather history of a particular spot. Yes, summits are colder than valleys (usually—except when there’s an inversion). The point is that on the date of November 18 each year, there’s an average temp. This year, it is way below average for that summit.
I took a short walk this afternoon to my favorite local destination, an unnamed waterfall on the East Fork of Fisher Creek in the Plott Balsams. You have to bushwhack a short distance to get to a good viewing point at the bottom.
I communed with ice.
Blobs of ice.
I liked the blobs so much, I did a closeup.
The flow of water is frozen in time. Wait a minute—I mean, it’s actually frozen.
Ice formed on the rhodo over the stream.
The upper section of the waterfall. It has two main sections. You can’t take a picture of the whole thing.
I have been to this waterfall many, many times in all seasons, but I like it best in the hard uncomfortable season of ice.
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Endless streams and forests 