Cades Cove restores my soul...

"What is sour in the house, a bracing walk in the woods makes sweet."  ~ Henry David Thoreau

Indeed it has ~ for many years, in many places, but none more lovely than walks with my bestie through Cades Cove, in the Smoky Mountains, Townsend, TN.

April 2015

June 2015

June 2015 - Gregory Bald

September 2015

November 2015

April 2016

October 2017

Our recent walk was no less lovely and refreshing...

The Middle Prong

Star Chickweed

Cut-leaved Toothwort 

Early Yellow Violet

Northern White Violet

Squirrel Corn

Sweet White Trillium

Ferns unfurling

"I took a walk in the woods and came out taller than the trees." ~ Henry David Thoreau

Wild Ginger

Sneaky Snake!!!!

Toothwort

Blue Phlox (Purple Phacelia was also beautiful in great swaths, especially along the roadways!)

Handsome Photog chasing a strutting Tom Turkey!!

Squawroot

Catesby's Trillium

Little Brown Jug

Toothwort

Rue-anemone

Trout Lily

Such a lovely surprise to come to a large field of these special lilies, along Lead Cove Trail where on previous walks we'd seen only one or two blooms.  We were  not the only appreciative fans!!!

Rue-Anemone and Spring Beauties

Bloodroot

Spring Beauty

Crested Dwarf Iris

Bishop's Cap

Large Flowered Bellwort

Catesby's Trillium and THAT guy!!!

Beaked Violet

So pleased to have been able to hike our favorite loop in Cades Cove!!  Here, we are 1.8 miles up Lead Cove Trail where it intersects with Bote Mountain.  Take a left for 2.5 miles up and down along the ridge, then another left onto Finley Cane Trail for a gentle 2.6 miles back down to Laurel Creek Road.   I knew this little scrap buster would be a great hiking shirt!!! 

From the tiniest flowers to the great mountain peaks, this visit provided a much needed elixir for my soul.  While there were no bear sightings, it was a joy to share the woods with turkey, deer, song birds, various reptiles, a lone coyote, and my Bentie.  May the beauty of nature bring you peace this Sunday, wherever you may be. ~ les