Spring 2006 Mountain Adventure Day 5

Today started out a bit rainy, but we were up and out of the cabin by 10 am. Our first stop was the Sugarlands Visitors Center, where Rosie found a cute chipmunk stuffed animal and I got a mouse finger puppet from the gift shop. They have a museum there also and we spent some time inside learning about the flora and fauna within the Park.

Then we set off to find a Yellow Lady Slipper we had been told about, but we never found it. I’ve been sent to a number of locations they are rumored to be at, but have yet to find one here.

Our first hike was on a trail called Roundtop, because we had been told there were a lot of Pink Lady Slipper there. It is a seldom used trail, very peaceful, and we were the only ones on it. We saw a Pileated Woodpecker flying through the forest as we hiked. Then we found the lady slipper mecca! There must have been 50-75 plants in the area, several in full bloom and color. What a delight to have found so many. There were no signs of anyone trying to dig them, either. Steve got so excited he forgot his tripod case again, but remembered it before we got all the way back to the car, so he went to retrieve it. While waiting for him, I found a lot of Wood Betony.

We ate our lunch by a stream, then set off for a trail to Spruce Flats Falls, another alleged yellow lady slipper site. Wow, this was a rough trail! Very narrow and hard on the side of the mountain, very little traveled, with slippery rocks and footways. Rosie did very well, and is turning into quite the hiker. This was only about a 1 mile trail but was so steep that it took us about 3 hours to the falls and back. These falls were spectacular, probably the best ones of the entire trip. On the way there and back we found many pretty colored millipedes, yellows and oranges, unlike any I have ever seen before. But no Yellow Lady Slippers.

We were wet, dirty and tired when we finished this hike, so it was back to the cabin for a shower and clean clothes, then to Gatlinburg for dinner. We ate at the Smoky Mountain Brewery (the waitress advised us "Don't order the green beans, they're awful", and came back to the cabin to turn in for tomorrow’s trip back home. Rosie and I were awakened in the night by some creature rummaging through the trash can, most likely a coon, but we couldn't get a glimpse of it.