After a week of rain and no hiking, things cleared, so what better way to spend part of the Memorial Day Weekend than in the Smokies. So, Saturday I met up with other members of the Harvey Brooms Group (HBG) of the Sierra Club for a nature hike in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP).
Mac leads these hikes which are more about looking for things on the trail than beating out miles. In fact, the hike clocked in around just five miles and wasn't the most challenging terrain. However, that wasn't the purpose of this hike it was to stop and look at the flowers and anything else we found.
The hike started just before you get to Cades Cove on the Turkeypen Ridge Trail. Most of the hike was on this trail. There were plenty of late spring wildflowers, insects and plenty of blowdown from a few weeks ago. Give it to the Park Service they have got these trails cleared, nice work! We even passed a horse on the trail.
The home stretch of the outing was on the Schoolhouse Gap Trail, which was a pleasant finish to the hike. The last piece of business was to get shuttled back to the car. I mentioned it was Memorial Day Weekend and by the time we finished the Smokies were crazy. The trailhead was full and the traffic on Little River Road was heavy. When we got back to the Turkeypen Ridge Trailhead vehicles were backed up from Cades Cove and on my way out (back to the I-40) I had to take back roads! But I did get to stop by Appalachian Bear Rescue's booth in Townsend. Even with the craziness, it was a great hike with even better people.
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