Max Patch Spring Wildflowers & Jay Clark Concert

 

above red wake robin trillium blooms at Harmon Den NC

Max  Patch Spring Wildflowers & Jay Clark Concert 

Sat April 11 2026

Dana & Kenny Koogler

Photos are HERE 

Little Fall Branch Falls Directions 

 Saturday April 11 we had planned to go to Harmon Den and Max Patch area for wildflowers and a waterfall in the morning.  Saturday night at 8 pm we had tickets to see Jay Clark perform.  I expressed concern that we might want to wait  until Sunday as I feared we'd be out in the woods so much on Saturday we'd not feel like going to a concert that night.  Kenny swore to me we'd make it happen.

 

   We started out after breakfast on Saturday to head toward Harmon Den.  We got caught in a snarl of traffic on Boyd's Creek Road thanks to an accident. It had traffic backed wayyyyy up and people turning around and heading the opposite direction. Traffic wasn't moving at all.  We finally got an opening to turn around and took Hodges Bend Road to divert around the clogged place.  One diaster averted.

Once we got on the interstate we made pretty good time until we got to the road work on I 40 East.  

I did not realize that the roadwork project had once again closed the Harmon Den exit 7. We had to continue to Fines Creek exit 8 and double back in order to go to Harmon Den/Max Patch.  We finally made it off the ramp.  Conditions are very dry here and we need rain in East Tennessee and Western North Carolina.   The first couple miles of Cold Springs Road were gross. All roadside wildflowers were dusted out.  Being a Saturday morning the horse traffic was as heavy as I have EVER seen it. 

Lots of hikers, bikers, and horse folk today.  The dust was coating my poor jeep, but so was yellow pollen.   We finally arrived at the parking area for Little Fall Branch Falls. Despite lots of horse trailers

we saw no other hikers up to the waterfall today. We also saw zero trash on the trail or in the parking area!  

      The Spring wildflowers were quite pretty along the trail and at the trailhead.  Little Fall Branch was flowing fairly well considering.  We found the trail to the falls had numerous blown down trees that had to be worked around or over.  I was not surprised seeing this was our first trip post Hurricane Helene.

One positive thing that came from having to work around downed trees was being forced out of the trail to the east .  It put us walking in the open woods through a huge trillium patch I might have missed otherwise.  One of the things I was checking on today was hybrid trillium populations. I have found so many unusual hybrids and mutant trilliums here in the past. I am trying to plan my trips to allow for continued research. Part of that research is re-visiting places I've been before to see if the color patterns or physical forms remain stable or are changing.  

     Today I would find out a couple things that would matter.  

    Below: Little Fall Branch flows out and under the road. 

Below: the biggest downed tree across the trail 

Below: Little Fall Branch Falls still looking pretty today.

Below is a short video clip of Little Fall Branch Falls today

Below: foam flower in bloom on the trail

Below: star chickweed 

Above: White Wakerobin Trillium

Below: Red (purple) Wakerobin trillium 

Below: a cluster of violets 

Below:  a pair of hybrid trilliums. Offspring of white/red parents

Above:  back of hybrid trillium.  White back. Red front! 

above: showy orchis 

Above:  pale pink hybrid near the falls parents white and red wakerobin

Below: One of the prettiest hybrid trilliums I saw today was pale pink with a red center. Notice the sepals are rimmed in deep red as well. 

Below: trillium flexipes or bent trillium

  We moved onward from the area around the falls and began the drive upward toward Max Patch.  

We saw lots of pretty wildflowers down lower, but once we got within 2 miles of the summit the bloom season ground to a halt.  The only things blooming up there were trout lilies and some stunted spring beauties.  

Below: forest floor down low covered in dwarf larkspur and red trilliums and some weird hybrids. 

Below: close up view of the dwarf larkspur

Below: one of the oddest trilliums I found today was a pure yellow form of wake robin. 

Below;  view of the new Spring green leaves and dogwood blooms this sunny day. 

Below: large patch of yellow trout lilies blooming 2 miles below the summit of the mountain. Above that we went through a dead zone.  

 We saw the parking area for the Max Patch summit was jam packed and over flowing. We were not inspired to join in that fray. Quite the opposite.  We kept going to avoid that trampling horde. 

We began to see things blooming again as we lost elevation shortly after the fishing pond.

  The steep slopes are filled with wake robin trilliums of all kinds, but it would require rope to get down there to see them, and would damage the flowers trying not to fall off the mountain.

 Below: pink daisy fleabane grew by the roadside

   Below: we passed a huge cluster of fire pinks!  

Below: Squirrel corn... I found one little clump in among some hybrid trilliums

Below: a roadside spring we passed

Below is a short video clip of the spring

Below: one of the oddest, prettiest hybrid trilliums of the day was red and white mixed! 

  We avoided the snarl of traffic on I-40 Westbound by going round to Del Rio and out through Newport before we got back on the Interstate. We stopped at a car wash and Kenny sprayed the heavy dust off my jeep.  We got in the interstate to head home and my jeep threw an error code when it got up to seventy mph.  It said Service Transmission and went into limp mode.  We had to pull over and turn it off to see if it would clear out and reset.  It did, but quickly did it again!  Two or three times of this and finally it righted itself.  I got on the phone to call Rocky Top Jeep to see if they were open. The mechanics had left for the day.    Thankfully we made it home safely. Kenny attached the chip reader to it and figured out what was going on. It was being touchy and didn't want to go into 9th gear. 

We wondered if putting along on that dusty gravel road for so long overheated the transmission? 

    I  used it all the following week without incident on non highway usage!

   Saturday evening I fixed us salmon and some garlic and olive oil pasta as a quick dinner so we could go to the Jay Clark Concert.  We took Kenny's truck to be safe.   

   We arrived early enough to have a chance to sit down and visit with Jay and Greg and Laura.

It was nice to see them again.  Jay caught us up on the news. I must mention that tonight was our grandson Michael's junior prom night.  He and Olivia are a good looking couple. 

Michael was not happy that he was missing Jay's concert and I made sure to tell him so. 

Below: Olivia and Michael at Grandmother Ruth Lindsey's house.  They are beautiful! 

Below: big brother Michael age 17 and little sister Tessa age 12. She went to Prom also! Mom, Dad, and sister were all chaperones.  I am 100% serious. So proud of how pretty and sweet Tessa is. She did have to borrow a pair of heels from Nanny since she doesn't usually wear them. I loaned her a pair of Naot sandals.  They are Israeli made. Crystal said she did a high heel test dance, but she won't allow me to film it!  

Below is a video clip of Jay Clark and the Tennessee Tree Beavers singing 

  It was a great concert and we hope to go to the one at Windy Hill June 19th, 2026 so Michael can go too!  Two great date nights in a row.  I am truly blessed! 

Clark Range

 

Right Now

 

Gobey Wildflowers 2026 & John Cowan Trio Concert

above: a very unusual hybrid trillium. 

Gobey Wildflowers 2026 & John Cowan Trio Concert 

 April 4, 2026

Kenny & Dana Koogler 

Photos are HERE for Gobey

Gobey Directions 

  Friday April 3, 2026 we went on date night to see John Cowan Trio at the Laurel Theater. I had long wanted to see him in person.  I got to fulfill that wish this night! Kenny and I had great seats and enjoyed a wonderful performance in a fairly packed house.   It was every bit as good as I hoped.  

above: Laurel Theater sign

Below: the front of The Laurel Theater

Below:  iris bloom on the front lawn of the theater. 

above and below: the John Cowan Trio starting Left to right Luke Bulla, John Cowan and Ethan Ballinger

above: John Cowan

above: Luke Bulla tunes up

above: Ethan Ballinger warming up. 

        

Below is a short video clip of the John Cowan Trio playing Wheel Hoss and joined by 15 year old Jacob Thomas, a bluegrass mandolin picker from Kingston TN!  

 Another great song they performed that I had never heard before was Sometimes Strangest Dream written by Hal Ketchum and Rivers Rutherford .  The video is a short clip of it, but click this link for the full song.  

My deepest wish was to hear John Cowan sing "Tomorrow Morning" which is one of my favorite songs.

They did perform it and it was every bit as lovely as I hoped.  John has a strong voice of unusual clarity and a pure tone.  Below is a video of the performance. It is the only one of the night I recorded completely. 

  It was a great weekend for us with romance, a fun date to a concert, rest, a change of pace from the home remodel and getting outside to experience nature on Saturday.  

Gobey Wildflowers on Saturday

   I had not originally planned to go visit the Gobey trilliums at all, but I had a change of heart.  I had a strong pull from whatever leads me.  I knew better than to ignore it.  Kenny was more than happy to agree.   We headed out to Morgan County and the scenery was pretty as ever.  I first thought I might be too early, but upon parking and heading into the woods I saw that all the flowers I hoped to see were indeed bloomed out.   I spent time checking out the hybrid patch and then moved on to see another spot further out the road.   I again was happy to have come for I saw stuff that was totally new to me for this area.   I will be using the material collected on these trips to write a comprehensive Hybrid Trilliums 2026 so I won't delve too deeply into this trip. Just an overview. 

Above: patch of hybrid trilliums of red, cream, and a couple different shades of pink!

Below: white trillium aged pink with a little extra material there. 

Below: a patch of normal Great White Trilliums with purple phlox. 

Below: hillsides covered in white trilliums!  We had been out this road once many years ago in a different season.   It was a treasure trove of wildflowers today! 

Below: sweet betsy trilliums

above: one of the prettiest and oddest finds of the day was a true mutant "Quadrillium: 

It has four leaves, four petals, four sepals, and instead of the normal six anthers it has eight!  

I will keep an eye on this feller going forward, but I already know from a previous encounter that next season it may not present this way! It may go back to its normal form. 

above: little brown jugs on a bank.

  One of the prettiest things we encountered today that was new to us was the Greasy Creek Baptizing Place.   I grew up a Baptist and was baptized by immersion.  

Below: Greasy Creek Baptism Place sign

Below: the actual hole of water on Greasy Creek 

  One of the last places we checked out was the old Highway 27 bridge.  I wanted to glance up and down the river to see if there was anything blooming there which would make it worth a closer look?  While the bridge is cool and the stream was pretty the snarl of weeds and trees revealed no Spring wildflowers worth investigating.  I couldn't see nary a one!

above: Kenny walks the old bridge 

Below:  looking downstream on the bridge

Below: upstream view from the old bridge is prettier and you can see the new bridge as well. 

It was a fun day and I'll tell you more about it soon.  I love this area.  It is a place where we just keep discovering history and natural beauty and no crowds!  We saw plenty of people four wheeling today, but never encountered any where we were trying to check stuff out.