And just like that - we were in Cades Cove again!!! Poor Bentie! After getting home from our Walk in the Woods, posted a couple of days ago, I mentioned my desire to hike Gregory Bald once more, a 12 mile round trip, for my birthday at the end of July. Here's the story and pics from our incredible adventure to the bald in 2015: Gregory Bald...one of the great wonders of the world!!! It's quite a walk and I wasn't sure B would be up for it. He surprised me by happily agreeing to do it! BUT!!!!!!! When I looked back over my notes, I realized that in order to see the wild flame azaleas at their peak one needed to go mid- June!!!! It was already June 18!!! Oh knows! Undeterred, B was game!!! In fact, Rose and Jamie were, too! To stay safe in the world of COVID, on this trip - just like our last one - there was no staying overnight, no eating out. We drove up and back, same day, packing our lunch. To keep a safe distance, R and J drove up in their car. We all had masks handy. While on the trail we pulled together and stayed apart!!!
June was a very rainy month in TN. The trails were a veritable mud lolly! With good attitudes and ponchos, we were prepared for any rain we might encounter. We made it up, rain free, but just as we reached the top the skies opened and we were in the midst of a serious deluge followed by some fairly significant wind! The azaleas were still absolutely amazing, most of them still at their peak. Given the weather, we did not have the leisurely picnic sitting atop the bald I had envisioned. Instead, we shivered and laughed in the rain, eating our PB&J's and apples out of hand as we wandered through the grove of color. I felt bad that B didn't get to photograph them as I know he would have liked as he had to protect his gear from the elements. Even so, we had a glorious time. Rose and Jamie were great sports and kept me in stitches throughout, but especially as we went back down an even muddier slip-n-slide than the one we had come up on!!! We all had our own techniques. B and Roo tended slog straight through. I did a bit of hop scotch and J adopted more of a cross country skiing method. They all worked, though the Jamester came out the cleanest! I was glad they were able to see the rhodies still in bloom on the ride in and on lower portions of the trail. A few residual mountain laurels surprised us with their pretty parachutes on the upper levels. It was beautiful.
Thanks for playing with me, my sweet peeps. I hardly dared dream I would experience this extraordinary natural phenomenon again. Thanks to all of you, in so many ways ~ I did. So, Bentie. Twenty miles hiked in three days? No, biggie! Right????
May you all have peeps like mine who will walk through mud to help you reach the beauty - laughing along the way. ~ love, les
No comments:
Post a Comment