Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Foray into Appalachia

A very belated report on a fall excursion to the southern Appalachians. I stayed most of the trip in and around Boone, that lovely hamlet in the mountains. It was quite cold and rainy, so I didn't get to hike as much as I would have liked. But with the magic of a rental car I was able to drive the Blue Ridge Parkway some, and explore around the Asheville area. Even the metro area had a tucked-in-the-mountains feel of original culture and eccentricity. I discovered many neat nooks in the city, but the outlying small towns and mountains held my attention the most.
The Rhododendron and Tulip Poplar are a perfect marriage here, this was a hiking trail off the Parkway that joins up with the Mountains-to-Sea trail.
This is some kind of Selaginella, or spike moss. It was all over the forest floor.
View from the Parkway
Grandfather Mountain with hemlock skeletons