Above: a hybrid trillium sulcatum
Gobey Wildflower Camping Trip
Kenny & Dana Koogler
Gabe and Mia Koogler made cameo appearances
April 15 through 22, 2023
I have established a tradition of going on an annual Spring wildflower camping trip. It is a getaway for me to enjoy some solitude and immerse myself in my interests. There is a saying "Man makes plans and God laughs." I believe it to be true. I had plans, but they weren't lining up. I had to settle for modified plans. Part of the problem this year stemmed from The Little Winters of East Tennessee. Wildly vacillating temperatures messed with bloom times. Based on my Starr Mountain trip, and what I was seeing from friends reports I was concerned. I did not want to spend hundreds of dollars and a boring week in Morgan County if the bloom time was passed.
I decided to make a test run to see my hybrid trillium spot as a day trip. I knew from that I'd be able to assess and finalize plans. The first foray was a great success so I stood pat.
We loaded up Saturday April fifteenth and drove out to Gobey Mountain Getaway. It was the nearest RV camping situation for my needs. I figured from there we could go four wheeling and explore the western side of Gobey. We could hit Primroy and on up into Kentucky. We could ride Tackett Creek. I could hike Frozen Head and the Obed area. I had a positive feeling about this choice.
We set up camp, but while Kenny was backing the camper in and doing the stuff I could not help with I explored the slope across from the campground. I found more pretty and interesting wildflowers there. Next we ate a quick lunch and set off. We went down the road first to my hybrid trillium patch for a second check of what was blooming. More hybrids had opened up. We also pulled over at a spot near Anderson Road where I found trilliums that were special. There is a form of trillium with petals more like a cultivated rose. It is from New York state and called Snow Bunting. I had seen it before, but I found two of them today. I also saw one aged to pink for the first time ever.
Below: Snow Bunting aged to pink.
Below: A view of the Emory River on my day trip out to Gobey
Below: Redbuds and dogwood blooms with fresh new green leaves
Above: A hybrid form of Sweet Betsy trillium. It is a cross between two sessile varieties. The most obvious guess at parents would be the typical maroon form and the green form.
Below: hybrid trillium with an uneven color pattern.
Below: Several Trilliums in a cream form.
Below: Check out the maroon anthers on this one. If you view it zoomed in it is cream with green striping through the petals.
Below: Gate #1 Sang Branch.
Above: The slope with the hybrids has many patches like this. This cluster was all the typical red form of Trillium sulcatum.
Below: A trout lily raises its little head. One of the nicest things about visiting a little earlier in the season was I found the slopes covered in hundreds of trout lilies!
Above and below: I was out there quite awhile prowling round. I ran upon a skull. Flipping it over revealed it to be a wild boar skull. At first I thought maybe a deer. Deer don't have tusks!
Below: Pale lavender phlox divaricata
Below: I found this weird plant that nobody seems to be able to identify. I cannot tell if it is some unusual specimen or if it is a typical variety of native plant that has been damaged by frost or chemicals?
Below: Here is a photo of our campsite at Gobey Mountain Getaway. We had two other campers. One on either side of us.
Below: The skies were so pretty. Opening up and clearing from the previous rains.
Below: Maroon form of Trillium cuneatum.
Below: I found some golden seal growing. This was a first time find of this for me in Morgan County.
Next we went toward Atlas Falls. We were both eager to check out the western side of Gobey. All the waterfalls we saw today were running real well. I had a strong vibe we were in for a good surprise in an abundance of flowers.
Above: Atlas Falls running real good today.
Below: a profile view of Atlas Falls
Below: Dwarf Crested Iris near Atlas Falls
Below: Pink lady slipper was another type flower in the vicinity of Atlas Falls
Below is a video of the lovely Atlas Falls
Westside Gobey
We had visited the western side of Gobey riding it through to Brimstone back in the early Fall.
I am no expert, but my observation of the type forests and streams made me think this area was going to be very interesting to check out in Spring from a botanical standpoint. It was a great decision. I've seldom had such fun. I will not forget this day or this trip for that matter.
I cannot tell you exactly what track we took, but we went to the end of Macedonia Road and turned left going up over Norman Pond Knob. We zigzagged back and forth until we reached the higher elevations. Views began to open up before us. The mountains looked beautiful today.
We saw lots of variety of flowers and large quantities of them. The trip itself riding in the RZR was amazing. Imagine being on a ride at Disney World where instead of characters to see along the way you see waterfalls cascading out of the hills and hollers. You see tailing ponds full of clear blue water. You take a rollercoaster ride through high banks of tilled earth from old mining operations and see wildflowers growing and covering every surface!
It was exciting and so much fun! I was in sensory overload from the sights, sounds and sensations of the ride. Kenny is not as keen on wildflowers as I am, but even he was blown away by what we were seeing. Climbing higher on the mountain we even saw very early blooming flowers like squirrel corn and huge clumps of Dutchman's breeches. One time today I saw the entire side of a hill covered in nothing but Dutchman's britches. So pretty! Below are two examples of what we saw.
Below I am including a video that is a compiling of the highlights of the day's ride. It is a bit over four minutes long, but the footage spans the entire day. I think I did a pretty good job of capturing the best, most interesting scenes. I admit I could have done a better job of capturing the scenes of the day, but I don't go on these trips solely to show them off for others. Some of the best moments of the day I just wanted to be there and soak it up.
Kenny and I both loved riding along the ridges. We got plenty of that today. We thought these were kind of narrow since you could see from one side to the other in places. I had no idea what we were really in for. The trail here was wide and pretty flat and smooth on these ridges.
Above: a view shot with the Go Pro out of the windshield.
Below: A grandstand view from the ridgeline! A bluebird day for sure.
Below: We began to see white flowered trilliums. The large pink one was beginning to age.
We were working our way toward Mill Creek and its old dam and waterfalls. We were confident today they'd all be even prettier than they were in Fall. We were really looking forward to seeing them.
We passed a spot going down this particular red trail (red means very difficult/dangerous) where it appears wind ripped down some trees and telephone poles. I remembered to look for them and got photos today. I failed to do so in Autumn. It is weird to be in the middle of nowhere and see stuff like that.
Below: Look closely. You will see the telephone pole lying on the ground and the wires and insulators still attached.
The only reason we took this rough trail is that it is a great short cut. It is the most direct route to the falls. We began noticing that there was water gushing out of side hollers. We also noticed that the eroded places which were rough in October seemed far worse now. It occurred to us both that the trail might be impassable. It wasn't much further until we came to the point where we could see the bad crossing which was now worse. Kenny was able to construct and reinforce a bridge of sticks and logs to get across in Autumn. It is now six months later after a Winter of rain and snow. Guess what? It had indeed washed out. The trail is so narrow at this point there is not even much room to turn around. It became necessary to execute a seventeen point turn. Just before launching into that process we heard a sound of machines approaching from the opposite direction. My guilty pleasure is schadenfreude. We were in a slight fix, but so were they. I figured my consolation prize would be to see their expressions when they realized they weren't getting over.
Above and below : a photo of the bridge of sticks and the wash out as it was in April. Click the link in the paragraph above to see the video of how it was months earlier.
Below is a video of the situation as it unfolded this particular day.
What was really funny was while we sat there two or three other machines pulled up behind us. Now we are hemmed in front, back and right side. The source of water that washed out the trail had also eroded the trail seriously on the right. Turning meant don't back into the ditch!
Thank goodness for Lifetime Maps and the tablet. It is worth its weight in gold. We were able to see we had to backtrack, but it really wasn't going to be that bad to go round the other way to reach the waterfalls. We made our course correction and set off again.
Below is a photo of a view we'd not have enjoyed if we hadn't come this way.
It was nice seeing some different scenery. We made it to the waterfall on the tributary of Mill Creek.
It was indeed a prettier spot today with quite a bit more water. The entire scene was prettier.
We checked out the old dam as well. After a short spell we moved on toward Brimstone.
I was eager to see the larger waterfall with the blue hole of water. It was a nice ride down Lone Mountain Road. It was pretty the entire way. Flowers and cascades and creeks coming down out of the hills everywhere you looked. It wasn't long until we arrived at the waterfall spot. It was gushing today by comparison to October.
so pretty!
Below is a video of the falls. It has lots of options for photography. The sun being bright as it was I got way to the side in the shade. When it comes to photography in dappled sunlight you do the best you can. The video really shows it off to its best advantage. The waterfall has a monaker "Titty Falls", but I am not sure how it came by that name. All I can guess is some woman got out there and showed her tits?
We enjoyed the falls and then went further down Lone Mountain Road to the nice campsite by the creek. It was a good spot, but not great for flowers. Very little here matter of fact in that respect.
We did get a laugh at the commode someone set out there. This must be someone's idea of luxury camping. Ew gross, but you know me. My sense of humor runs to the stupid and ridiculous.
Below is Mill Creek flowing by. Click the link if you are interested in watching the short video clip.
Below is a nice patch of dwarf crested iris that was growing on the creek bank.
Below is a view to the south
The mountain is so narrow here. Look at the image below... this is the view toward the north!
Once again while I was thinking this was really cool that the mountain was so narrow you could see from one side to the next I was in for a great shock the next day.
We rounded a bend at one point where a splash of white polka dots caught my eye. All along this slope far as you could see were white flowered trilliums! Kenny claimed we'd come this way earlier on the ride, but I don't see how we missed this? At any rate we stopped and got off the machine and I prowled round just wallowing in the flowers. Soaking up the scenery and the goodness of the moment.
The mountain was peppered with white trilliums. Intermingled with those were maroon sweet betsy now and then and some yellow trilliums. Some of the white ones had aged to pink. I also saw a plant with healthy vibrant green foliage only. No bloom. It may be false hellebore. I am not certain.
I also noticed star chickweed, blue violet, blue cohosh, and spotted mandarin! I turned to start walking back to the RZR and stopped in my tracks. I was watching sharp for poison ivy which was also around my feet. Right around me were morel mushrooms! I hollered for Kenny to join me. We used an empty Tupperware to collect enough for a very small mess to cook.
Below are a couple looks at the slopes with flowers
Below a closer view of the trilliums
Above: Spotted mandarin aka Fairy Bells. One of my favorite flowers.
We were growing tired and ready to head to the camper. We enjoyed the evening sun's glow as we gradually wound down the trail. We passed a tree on the left with a stuffed bear in it!
He was a cute teddy bear. All in all it was a fine day and much needed get away for me and Kenny.
Below is a photo of the bear in the tree
Below is a video of one of my favorite songs when I was a kid. Jim & Jesse's Ole Slewfoot
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Dana 🐝