South Lookout Mountain

Fog and mist for almost the whole day

Although the weather looked like it would clear up sometime during the day, only seven of us Senior Trailblazers set out for a hike that we did for the first time last year, when we had a view. Ten of us went then and discovered that it's pretty darn steep. We were without our illustrious leader Al, and Sue agreed to set the pace for us. I struggled up the very steep inclines and suddenly remembered it from last year. I had conveniently forgotten.

Carol in the mist

Carol pointed out this old snag to me, which was really beautiful and I asked her to help give the picture some perspective. It turned out well, as you can see; the fog gives the picture a mystery it wouldn't have otherwise. I looked at last year's pictures and found I was drawn to it then, although it looks very different.

Sword fern unfurling

I took several pictures of the flowers, rocks, and ferns as I caught my breath with the steep uphill terrain. I was at the tail end of the group, but since there weren't a lot of us, I managed to keep them in sight most of the time. Mike was back there with me and kept me company. The other five did have to wait for us now and then, as Al's pace up those steep inclines would have been more sedate than Sue's.

Our lunch spot

Once we reached this logging road that would take us to the summit, we decided not to go any farther, since there would be no view, and Peggy needed to be back early anyway. We stopped for an early lunch before we began our descent. We could see the summit through the thick clouds, which came and went, giving us an idea of the last mile of the scheduled hike, should we choose to make it. Instead, we decided to turn around.

Rock with lichen

On the way up, Carol, the observant one, had pointed out this pretty rock to me; I might have missed it in one direction but not both. On the way up my thoughts were occupied with just putting one foot in front of the other and managing not to groan too loudly. Although the steepness was challenging on the way down as well, at least I could keep up.

The fog begins to lift

We noticed that the fog and mist began to lift a little as we descended back to the cars. This out-and-back hike looked very different on the return trip, and only a little while after I took this picture, the sun began to peek through the clouds.

Snake

Peggy saw this snake slithering across the trail right in our path, so she used her trekking pole to move him to the side. As I went by, I snapped this picture, but I'm not at all sure what kind of snake it is, not being much of a herpetologist. I'll ask Leo when I see him if he knows what it is. Probably a harmless garden snake, I told myself as I hurried by.

Bleeding heart

The forest is full of these beautiful wild bleeding hearts right now, which look very different from the cultivated variety, but they are some of my favorite flowers. By the time we reached the cars, the sun was completely out and the clouds were gone. We covered somewhere less than eight miles, but we climbed and descended well more than 2,000 feet. I'm well exercised for the day and glad to be home with my feet up. By next week we'll know when Al can join us again. I can't wait!
:-)