Reflections Of The Smokies
No Big Deals Today! 05/28/2010
Myrtle Point , Mt. LeConte, 5/10
This scene at Myrtle Point is one that I take in quite often. It reminds me that the grand things, the big deals are out there. Not in here. There's no big deals in my life today. All the big deals are out there in God's Grand Country.
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Sand Myrtle Growing On A Nurse Log, 5/10
It's been a beautiful month in the Smokies. May has offered many fantastic views. It;s been cool and wet here in the higher elevations. The wildflowers are still showing their color. The deep snows of this past winter already seem far away. This Sand Myrtle growing on a Nurse Log is a scene I pass fairly often. This winter it was under snow and I thought about it every time I walked over the spot where it lay. It's amazing to me that one life falls and from that ending many new and beautiful things spring up.
Lots Of Growth In The Smokies This Spring 05/26/2010
Painted Trillium, Near Myrtle Point, Mt. LeConte, 5/10
Everywhere I look the Smokies are exploding with growth this spring. It makes me think of personal growth. It seems that achievements don't inspire growth as well as setbacks. It may be that a setback is just fertilizer for emotional growth.
Sand Myrtle Bursting Into Full Bloom In The Higher Elevations Of The Smokies, 5/10
Happy, full of Joy and grateful to be Free. Those feelings are everywhere as I take in the Smokies. I hope you can relate.
Cloudy Spring Skies Paint A Beautiful Picture In The Smokies, 5/10
Scenes like this explain why they call them the Smokies. It's a wonderful time to enjoy the higher elevations of the mountains.
English Mountain In The Clouds, 5/10
We have had plenty rain and clouds around the Smokies this month but there have still been some beautiful views, English Mountain as viewed from Mt. LeConte is one of my favorite views, The clouds settled to offer a fantastic view of the mountain. When I am up in the mountains surrounded by the clouds and fog I have a sense of solitude and self. When the clouds break and I get a view off through the vast mountains in the Smokies I remember how big it all is. I remember what a small but important part of the grand whole I am.
Sunset Over West Point, Mt. LeConte, 5/10
I am very blessed to be able to enjoy so many fantastic sunsets from atop Mt. LeConte. It may be one of the most beautiful places in the world to enjoy a sunset. It's very humbling to take in such vast beauty. It really puts things in perspective.
Mollie's Butt 05/16/2010
I would like to pass on this fantastic poem passed on to me from a friend and avid Smoky Mountain Hiker. Enjoy!
Mollie’s Butt
In the far-off Smoky Mountains,
Where the black bear makes his home
There’s a crag called Charlie’s Bunion
And a peak called Clingman’s Dome
But the spot that takes my fancy
And it’s there I’d build my hut
Is a shapely little hillock
That is known as Mollie’s Butt.
There it stands in storm and sunshine
While the changing seasons pass
Named, no doubt in tender tribute,
To some pink-cheeked mountain lass.
There is found the ripest berry,
There is found the sweetest nut
And the setting sun grows crimson
As it kisses Mollie’s Butt.
You may scale the high Himalayas
Braving Everest’s icy scorn,
You make sink your iron pitons
In Mount Blanc or Matterhorn,
But when I go a-mountaineering
I’ll forsake that common rut,
For I’m heading for the Smokies
With my eyes on Mollie’s Butt.
Found in file Washington County Jonesboro Library, early spring 1970, author Paul Fisk(?)
Sand Myrtle On Mt. LeConte, 5/10
www.FriendsOfTheSmokies.org
National Trails Day 2010 Saturday, June 5th
Hosted by the Appalachian Trail Conference, Friends of the Smokies, & Smoky Mountains Hiking Club
Sponsored by Citizens National Bank & NOC's Great Outpost!
14th Annual Appalachian Trail Workday in the Smokies
DATE: June 5, 2010
TIME: 7:30 a.m. rain or shine
LOCATION: The A.T. in Great Smoky Mountains National Park; staging area is Sugarlands Visitors Center bus parking lot
MORE: Download application Join Our Mailing List! Friends of Great Smoky Mountains National Park 3099 Winfield Dunn Parkway Kodak, Tennessee 37764 800-845-5665
National Trails Day 2010 Saturday, June 5th
Hosted by the Appalachian Trail Conference, Friends of the Smokies, & Smoky Mountains Hiking Club
Sponsored by Citizens National Bank & NOC's Great Outpost!
14th Annual Appalachian Trail Workday in the Smokies
DATE: June 5, 2010
TIME: 7:30 a.m. rain or shine
LOCATION: The A.T. in Great Smoky Mountains National Park; staging area is Sugarlands Visitors Center bus parking lot
MORE: Download application Join Our Mailing List! Friends of Great Smoky Mountains National Park 3099 Winfield Dunn Parkway Kodak, Tennessee 37764 800-845-5665
Hiker Art! 05/13/2010
Normally hikers leave water bottles, toilet paper, candy wrappers, and unwanted things like that. Yesterday I came across a nice little piece of hiker art. I enjoyed it. On a cool rainy day some hikers took a break and created their own sun. If you're going to leave something behind this is the kind of thing I enjoy. Thanks for leaving a little sun, it warmed me up a bit as I passed by.
Hiker Art Found Just Above Arch Rock, 5/10
Looking At Things From A Different Angle 05/10/2010
View Of Cliff Tops On Mt. LeConte From West Point, 5/10
I love this view of Cliff Tops. I have shared it before. It takes some work to get to the spot where you can see this view. It's a view that we don't often see. Usually we are on top of that cliff looking out over where I am standing towards the grandeur of the setting sun. I hope that today I can climb down off my lofty perch and look at myself from a different angle.
