Ron, Neena, Judy, and I went on a short 2 mile hike yesterday at Frozen Head, a Tennessee State Park only about 10 miles from where Judy and I live. It is up in “God’s Country”, otherwise known as
Anyway, on the way you have to pass
a lot of county buildings and the Morgan County Correctional Complex. We always wave at the prisoners sitting outside smoking, just in case one escapes. That way we at least appeared friendly!
One facility is the county road crew garage, and outside, just for Bruno, was this 1918 Caterpillar road grader. I thought he might like to
see it, so we stopped and snapped off a few rounds.
On into the park, about a mile and half further on up the beautiful valley, we disembarked and started our search for wildflowers. We had gone only a hundred yards when a doe signaled us with her white flag and snorted her way off further ahead.
We love this time of year when wildflowers begin poking their heads
above the leaves. You never know what you will find and it’s like a big treasure hunt. Sometimes you are surprised at the rare ones you find (like the pink geranium [left] and blue violet [right] and the bloodroot [top]); other times you just enjoy the walk.
Yesterday we found lots of trillium; large-flowered, Purple Wakerobin, and the very common Sweet Betsy!
One my favorites, the Bloodroot, made the trip worthwhile! You can see more at FLICKR, where 
you can see them supersized!
It seems the little “fiddle head ferns” are the first things to greet spring, and these were lovely. Did you know you can fry them up and eat them!? Tasty too!
Hey Lin…notice that our rocks have moss on them!
17 comments:
Damn, and to think we only got out of the truck to take a piss when I went. Need to go back I guess.
Guezz...I'd only had 2 surgeries within 6 months...give a guy a break!
Yep, we need to do it all over.
I can't get over how pretty things are over there and your pictures are so clear and colorful!
We have the prettiest places to hike and do outdoorsie stuff around here, don't we!
Me and the girl are going up to hit the Appalachian Trail next weekend (hoping it stays nice and warm).
Prisoners and wildflowers. This post really runs the gamut.
Thanks for the pics, ya' Big Orange dude! When I first saw 'em, I thought you might've been within walkin' distance of me, and I didn't know it---made me skip a beat! One of the local construction companies in and around Dutchtown, MO---used to be R.B. Potashnick Construction---has an almost dead-ringer of that grader, except it's complete with the tractor as well.
Now I'll have to get a pic of it, too---once the flood waters go down again, that is! It's still kinda like "Sea-World" down there, if you get my drift...!
Great pics. I love new ferns in Spring. The backyard of my house in... wait for it... Ferndale, MI was a fern jungle. Among other things.
I like springtime, will be a little late getting there this year, Miss Bee managed to book one more cruise for the end of tax season, cool post my friend. We got all that stuff in the blueridge mnts, I expect we will miss all of the dogwood.
Ummm, there seems to be a weird bug clinging to the right hand lower corner of your camera lens!
Don't know how to get'im off Scott!
Ours are just poppin up, and snow is on the way for the weekend!
We got nice tumble weeds rolling in this time of year. Not pretty, but fun for the kids to roll around.
Love the mossy rocks in the stream.
Are the ramps up yet??
We didn't see any, but if not this coming week! Of course the cold temps Sunday and Monday night may set it back a few days.
Yup, I love this post! First of all, I love wildflowers. Second, I think fiddle head ferns are SO cool. Except, I call them 'curly ferns' (I tend to give things my own name hehe). Last year, while my dad and I were walking with his wolf, Dad pointed them out to me and told me that you could eat them. They kind of remind me of a cucumber scent/taste a little bit.
I really enjoyed this post Mushy!
Oh, oh, oh! My mossy rocks! Gawd, I love those things. We almost bought a place in Missouri that was surrounded by them. So we head for the desert instead - go figure. And I miss the violets and fiddleheads, too! Yeah, I remember the ol' timers in New England going out to gather fiddleheads in Spring. I could never bring myself to pick them because I loved the huge ferns they unfurled into.
Thank you for this wonderful trip back through the Spring woods (even though I got here way late)!
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