Seven Islands State Birding Park

It was forecast to be a beautiful, warm day today, so Noelle, Sierra and I headed out for a hike. Our destination was the Seven Islands State Birding Park which is just outside of Sevierville. We had planned on doing this hike for my day off on Veteran's Day. However, we ended up getting a flat tire on Wednesday, and so by the time we had gotten it plugged it was too late to make the drive.

After a quick lunch in Kodak, we hopped back on the interstate and then into the new state park. It was dedicated just over a year ago. We parked, got Sierra into her backpack,

and walked through the "bluebird barn" to begin our hike. We opted to hike the 1.33 mile Seven Islands Loop. It made its way through a field of goldenrods which had gone to seed

and then down to a wooded edge. There were a few Osage orange trees in the edge

and Sierra enjoyed playing with the fragrant fruit. She played a round of Osage orange bowling

and then kicked and carried the weird looking green fruit around.

The best area for birds on this overcast late fall day, was in an area where the woods, field and small wetland converged.

We saw American robins, cedar waxwings, tufted titmice, a ruby-crowned kinglet, and an Eastern phoebe in the short time we stopped to look for birds. Sierra is a bit impatient though, so after a quick stop, she insisted we move on.

We passed the small wetland pond

and headed over to the French Broad River. The water was high and swift-moving.

The trail followed the river closely for a bit

and then veered away into some fields.

We reached the paved Greenway trail and followed it to what is called the Green House.

Like the old homes in Great Smoky Mountains National Park it is open to the public to walk around inside and explore and so we did just that.

After checked out the old farmhouse we started to make our way back to the car. By this time Sierra was tired and so we put her back in the backpack for the walk back to the car.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park: Roundtop Trail

I made it to the trailhead at Wear Cove Gap by about 8:30 this morning and immediately hiked a short portion of the road to the Roundtop Trail.

It was a cold and frosty morning and the thick, downed leaves coated with ice crystals were a bit slippery.

I started the hike with lots of views towards the summit of the trail's namesake: Roundtop.

This early portion of the trail closely followed the park boundary,

and I found myself with lots of view of large rustic-style homes. The trail even veered practically into someone's backyard living area.

It was an exceedingly pleasant day for a hike.

The trail was never really that steep (except for one short extremely steep section) and there were still a few trees with leaves clinging to their branches.

With most of the leaves down, there were lots of nice views through the tree branches of the surrounding mountains.

While I didn't see any flowers in bloom, there were lots of seeds clinging onto the stems, including these milkweed seeds.

The trail ascended to Joint Ridge and then started a long, but gentle descent down to the Little River at the Townsend Wye. The lower portions of trail traversed some sections where rock had been blasted away to form a ledge for the trail.

Soon I found myself at the river,

the junction of Middle Prong, West Prong and the Little River.

I explored the area a bit and found an old metal ring.

Was there a bridge here at one time? Then I found a nice rock to sit on and eat a snack. There were lots of people out along the river on the other side. I had my side of the river all to myself. After my snack I packed up my stuff and started to make my way back to the trailhead. The return trip featured lots of great views of Cove Mountain

which I had hiked about a year ago in the snow.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park: Hyatt Ridge, Enloe Creek, Beech Gap II Lolipop Hike

My plans for this overcast Halloween was to head back over to Great Smoky Mountains National Park and finish hiking the trails off of the Straight Fork Road. I woke up early and made the drive over to the Blue Ridge Parkway. I turned off the parkway and onto the dirt Bunches Creek Road for a twisting descent through the Qualla Boundary and down to the trailhead on the Straight Fork Road. My car was the first to pull into the trailhead parking area on this overcast Saturday.

I hit the Hyatt Ridge Trail

with a steady ascent through the mostly bare trees.

Leaf litter was thick on the treadway. This time of the year there are not many wildflowers to photograph and so I steadily climbed without stopping very often to take photos. The one thing that I did stop to photograph on this first section of the Hyatt Ridge Trail was a wasp nest on the trail.

Luckily there were no wasps to bother me.

When I had reached the junction with the Enloe Creek Trail,

I turned left and started a pretty steep descent. Soon I could hear the cascading water of Raven Fork far below. When I had reached the stream I found a very sturdy steel bridge spanning the stream with some beautiful cascades nearby.

I crossed the bridge

and admired the view of the thundering Raven Fork

before beginning a long ascent. The trail sometimes strayed far from its namesake Enloe Creek, but at other times approached it very closely.

There was one un-bridged crossing of Enloe Creek. It was easy enough to rock hop in the low water level of the fall.

There were still a few blooming wildflowers along the trail; asters and goldenrods.

There were also a few interesting fungi decorating the trailside.

I reached the junction with the Hughes Ridge Trail

and turned around. It was a pretty quick descent back to the Raven Fork Bridge. Then it was a steep climb, in colorful but slippery leaf litter,

back up to Hyatt Ridge Trail. I turned left onto Hyatt Ridge Trail and intermittently ascended and descended. There were a few large trees scattered along the side of the trail. None of the trees were state champions, but they were still impressive. This big oak was one of the more impressive trees.

At the junction with Beech Gap Trail,

I continued on Hyatt Ridge to check out McGee Springs at Campsite 44. The campsite was pleasant, the springs were not as impressive as I had been led to believe. Resting in the spring water I found an empty can of Budweiser.

Come on people, it's called #Find Your Park, not Trash Your Park. I crushed the offending can and placed it my pack for safe transport home. Then I turned around and headed back to Beech Gap Trail.

It was a really quick descent down the Beech Gap Trail. In less than an hour I found myself at the Straight Fork Road

for the last leg of my hike: a road walk.

The road walk was not that bad. Surprisingly , not one car passed me as I made my way back to the car. Last week this road had been really busy. I guess Halloween has kept a lot of visitors at home. The road walk offered me lots of chances to view the pretty Straight Fork.

I also found an interesting improved spring alongside the road.

Finally, this "woolly worm" crossed my path.

I'm not sure what this coloration means for predicting winter weather though.