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!
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Thanks for reading and commenting. I enjoy hearing from those who read & make use of my blog. I have made some wonderful friendships through emails from readers. I respond to all comments and emails. I appreciate folks reaching out to let me know when my blog entries are not functioning correctly or if the situation somewhere has changed. Many Blessings to you! Dana 🐝
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for reading and commenting. I enjoy hearing from those who read & make use of my blog. I have made some wonderful friendships through emails from readers. I respond to all comments and emails. I appreciate folks reaching out to let me know when my blog entries are not functioning correctly or if the situation somewhere has changed. Many Blessings to you!
Dana 🐝