Stroll Up Lexy Lane

Pair of yellow trilliums along the trailhead

Stroll up Lexy Lane 

Dana & Kenny Koogler

Tuesday April 24, 2018

Hike distance 3/4 mile round trip approx. 

  We took a short stroll just prior to Kenny's back surgery.  The doctor had told him that

gentle exercise in the form of walking would be good for him if he could tolerate it.  He was not

having so much pain as it was weakness and numbness in the left foot and leg prior to the surgery.    He wanted to get out of the house and at least try to go for a walk one day.    I had not  been up a certain manway in the park that lead up to Little Brier Gap in awhile. I mentioned it to him and he said that would be a nice short walk. He thought that was just right.

We drove round to a back road in Wears Valley that has a pull off and just enough parking

for a greyhound bus. No kidding.   I've seen one there before.    It is one of those back ways into the park.  I have hiked it numerous times, but never early enough in Spring to catch the wildflowers in bloom.  I would always see trilliums going to seed etc.   I figured this was my chance to see what the wildflower bloom was really like on this unofficial trail.

     It is a gradual uphill grade. It is not bad at all.  Kenny found the rocky, uneven terrain

very tiring for him.  He did not last long until he was uncomfortable and ready to turn back.

I continued on a ways further solo.    I did not want to tarry since I knew he was discouraged.

I did not want him sitting in the jeep waiting on me and brooding or being uncomfortable.

The exercise was good and it was nice to get out for even a short stroll together. The wildflower display along this path is so so.  Not much variety in the flower types and there aren't nearly so many as I'd believed.   It would not be worth making a special trip just for this especially if you had to drive far to get here.   We are not that far away though so not a big deal.

    

 Purple phacelia growing near the road

 Stream trickling down the mountain side.  This path is rough and the stream and the creek are one and the same in a couple places.

 Nice patch of yellow trilliums

 Dwarf crested iris

 Above and below: This is one BIG patch of yellow trilliums down near the start of the trail.

 One flowered cancer root blooms on this path. It is a bit more rare.

 Fire pinks

 Wild stone crop

 Sweet white trillium

Pretty cascade. You can see the trail just to the right of it. 

 Ferns and trilliums and violets

 Trilliums by a small mossy cascade

 A little island of land with a creek on each side.. was populated with iris and yellow trilliums.

Downed tree across the trail which is also the stream here. 

 This was as far as I went today.   If you continue you climb up on a switchback that soon leads to the gap.   Once you are on that part of the path there is one downed tree after another to go over or under!