Last Weekend, Heintooga Round Bottom Road

Last weekend, my Sweet Husband and I, went hiking in the Blue Ridge Mountains. I promised pictures and here they are. 

Please note, most of these were taken with my oldest Fuji Finepix as someone (who me) forgot to either charge the battery in the Cannon or bring along the spare....

Good thing the Fuji was with me.

Fuzzy Caterpillar
We stopped at a picnic table in Maggie Valley to eat our lunch and build up our energy before hitting the trail. This entertaining fellow decided to come check us out. Evidently we were not all that interesting, but my purse was. I had to move it out of his way several times.

Mushrooms
 We spotted a bit of bright color early in. The mountains are lovely this time of year and the temperature was perfect for the day we had planned. I always associate mushrooms with autumn, but they are visible year round. I would not be brave enough to pick wild mushrooms, but I think they are fascinating and I love to take pictures of them (some may hide fairies you know see By Special Request , Blue Fairy , or Hodge Podge, for example).

The Road
We reached our destination, Heintooga Round Bottom Road, early in the afternoon. Heintooga is a 25 mile long, one way, unpaved road just off the Blue Ridge Parkway. It has lovely picnic areas at the top and the bottom comes out near Cherokee North Carolina. We have been up here before and usually we park at the top, walk for an hour or so and walk back. This time, we decided to drive down a ways, find a safe pull off, then walk a bit, return to the car and repeat the process.

Miniature Waterfall
Our plan was a good one. The road is clearly marked at the top as one way so there is not much traffic. The few people who do use it are there for the scenery and they are going slow (usually with lovely smiles on their faces, it is that nice). There are little waterfalls and streams in several places along the way.

Hanging Vine
I saw this and it reminded me of Jack's Beanstalk. I could see climbing that. It almost appears to be braided and tied in knots. That gets the imagination going. I wonder if I could add some Fairies climbing it?

Top of the Vine
This is the same vine, further up. Nature is always interesting. Climbing or touching anything in the woods, is not a good idea unless you know what you are doing. The vine could turn out to be poison ivy (Fairies would probably be immune, right?).

The road
The road turns and twists gently down the mountain side. You don't have to walk very far to find something lovely to photograph.

Bend in the road
What is up ahead? I love the way the light filters through the trees in the afternoon. 

Yellow Fringed Orchid
This was a lucky find. There were only three or four plants and I have not seen them before. I identified it with the help of US Wildflowers . 

Potential
This one was a little further down the same trail. It is not open enough for me to attempt to look it up, but seeing it and knowing that it will be covered in flowers soon, makes me smile. 

Mushroom
 Here is another one. We had a light rain shower. If I had found this during the rain, would I have found a fairy sheltering under neath?

Trail
This is aways down one of the trails that connect with Heintooga Round Bottom Road. I love the play of light and shadow through the trees. So very atmospheric. There was no one else on the trail but us. So peaceful.

Another view
I could walk for hours in places like this. The day was wonderful. The temperature was just right and the light sprinkle hardly reached us through the trees. 

Navigating
Our trusty navigation system was a little baffled. We told it we were going to Cherokee. When we first turned on the Blue Ridge, it kept trying to turn us around. It eventually gave up and routed us through the parkway. When we turned onto Heintooga Round Bottom Road, it was confused again, apparently as it is not a paved road, the system does not show it. As you can see, it finally just told us to "Continue to roadway".

Nearly to Cherokee
This is close to where Heintooga comes back out onto the paved road. Still lovely, now it goes both ways. From here we drove on in to Cherokee North Carolina. There were BEARS, (you will have to wait till next time for those pics though).

My Sweet Husband
One of the trail heads we turned down while we walked. What a wonderful way to spend a day and what a wonderful person to spend it with. I am so very lucky!

Breakfast Pizza
Speaking of lucky, this is what is waiting for me for breakfast. It is a veggie Pizza made from scratch just for me (OK so I have to share it with the Chef, but I like sharing with him).
Hope your weekend was as nice.
Cheers,
Kat

Getting ready for winter.

It has been a busy week around here.

We have been working on the garden,

My Sweet husband is almost done with the last mowing of the season

and I have been putting in bulbs for spring.

We even picked up another load of wood to season for later.

Elm 

The Barn,

as you can see, I did take time for a few photos.

Early Moon rise

This vine provides a nice decorative touch to the fence post.

Color in the woods,

Just down the road aways,

Mushrooms playing peek-a-boo with each other,

see the one underneath?

Isn't it lovely here?

Hope you are ready for winter,

it is on its way.

Kat

Just a short post

today is the last day to enter the contest.

 One of the trees out back is decorated for fall,

 Mushrooms in the woods nearby

 Tiny yellow flowers,

yes, they are still in bloom.

Miniature Daises.

There are three easy ways to enter the contest.

1. Follow me,

2. If you are already a follower, leave me a comment,

(You can comment on any post between now and Wednesday, I will give one entry per comment)

3. If you do not wish to follow or leave a comment,

send an email too

akatscorner@aol.com

tell me what you think.

I will announce the lucky winner Thursday or Friday.

Congaree National Park, a Saturday escape.

Last weekend, we decided to take a break.

We went to Congaree National Park.

It is located near Columbia, SC.

Click on the link here Congaree National Park  for all the details.

Conagree is a relatively young National Park, it was

designated as a National Natural Landmark in the 1970's,

but has only been a National Park since 2003.

There are plenty of things to do at the park,

We decided to go for a walk on the boardwalk.

It is an easy two mile loop. 

Moody and atmospheric,

Especially when you are alone. 

 Cyprus Knees grow up all around the base of cyprus trees.

See the lumps sticking up?

No worries, I don't beleive it is actually haunted,

but this picture looked so moody,

I could not resist.

It is the season!

Photoshop is fun. 

The trees grow in such wierd shapes. 

Nature keeps things interesting. 

 Is it a stray root,

or did someone wander from the path.....

Shelf fungus. 

There is so much to see

it is easy to forget to look up.

Surrounded by peaceful beauty. 

Just a hint of Autumn Color. 

and of course, 

you must appriciate the small things too.  

 A snapping turtle in Weston Lake.

Can you see him, just under the water?

There he is,

I took this with the zoom.

Snapping Turtles bite. 

A smaller turtle swimming near by.

We spent a nice little while watching these guys. 

Looks like a rendezvous. 

Do you think it is romantic?

All good things must come to an end.

We will certainly go back.

This was one of the most peaceful walks,

just what I needed. 

The bonus,

we stopped for some groceries on the way home

and were greeted with this when we came out.

Just plain lovely.

Cheers,

Kat

Early September at Kat's Corner.

It is Monday morning and you can tell it is September.

We are starting to cool down a little at last.

The temp outside is 61 degrees Fahrenheit, that is about 16 degrees Celsius.

This little guy won't hang around much longer, he likes it warm.

He lives in the rock garden up around the house, he eats bugs.

Mushroom.

More mushrooms. We see them all summer, but there seem to be more in the fall.

This pretty little flower will be gone soon. Better appreciate them while they are here.

You have seen this guy before, here is a better view.

He has a great singing voice, one of my favorite sounds of summer.

The tomatoes and basil won't last much longer either.

Commercially grown tomatoes just don't taste as good.

Soon we will go from morning tea on the balcony to tea in front of the fire.

I am looking forward to fall, leaves changing, cooler weather and cozy mornings snuggled in. Even Spontaneous is more comfortable when it is cooler, although she never complains.

Every season here has it's charms, but I will miss summer.

What will you miss the most about summer?

What are you looking forward too?

Cheers,

Kat