Today was a spectacular day as far as weather is concerned, so I took my daughter for a nice hike to cover a part of the AT in the park that I had missed. This will also allow me to finish the AT in the park with a shorter trip than I had planned before.
We started at Fontana Dam and hiked up past the Shuckstack fire tower, then on up to meet the Gregory Bald trail. It was 14 miles round trip including a side trip to the fire tower and to the Birch Spring Gap camp site, with 3900-4000 ft of total vertical gain (some of which was due to the roller-coaster trail above Shuckstack). It was a very good but tiring day. We had very pleasant temperatures, a breeze, and clear, blue skies.
Most of the trail in this section is under the canopy, so there are only a few spots with good views.
Looking southwest toward the Slickrock/Citico Creek/Joyce Kilmer areas, where I have also backpacked before.
Wide angle view looking toward the spine of the Smokies from Shuckstack. In this view are Rocky Top, Thunderhead, Blockhouse Mountain (in this view it is to the right of Thunderhead and looks higher, but it is on a southern spur and is closer), and the higher point in the distance on the right is Clingmans Dome. Also just visible above the crest a little right of center is Mt LeConte, one of my favorite hikes, 24 miles line of sight.
Looking toward Fontana Lake, which is only partly visible due to intervening ridges. I have taken my scouts there a number of times for multi-day canoe trips.
I had heard that there was a lot of bear activity near Doe Knob, and as we neared it I think I discovered why. Juicy and sweet. My daughter said she hoped a bear did not come along and smell berries on our breath. We also passed areas that were carpeted with blueberries - I need to go back in July when they are ripe.
And there were regular reminders that we were not the only ones using the trails.
These berries showed up in more than a couple of the bear scat samples. I don't know what they are.
I would guess this was from a large cat. You can't see it in the picture, but it looked like it pawed the ground clear on that spot before doing its business.
We came across a garter snake stretched across the trail. When I touched it it moved. Then I looked at the head, which was down a hole at the edge of the trail. I could see that its jaws were wide open, so I knew it had something. I slowly pulled it out of the hole, but as soon as it was out it let go and slithered off quickly. What it was holding was this toad, which was clearly too large for the snake. It was holding the toad by the back end between the legs. You can see the bite mark along with saliva.
We started at Fontana Dam and hiked up past the Shuckstack fire tower, then on up to meet the Gregory Bald trail. It was 14 miles round trip including a side trip to the fire tower and to the Birch Spring Gap camp site, with 3900-4000 ft of total vertical gain (some of which was due to the roller-coaster trail above Shuckstack). It was a very good but tiring day. We had very pleasant temperatures, a breeze, and clear, blue skies.
Most of the trail in this section is under the canopy, so there are only a few spots with good views.
Looking southwest toward the Slickrock/Citico Creek/Joyce Kilmer areas, where I have also backpacked before.
Wide angle view looking toward the spine of the Smokies from Shuckstack. In this view are Rocky Top, Thunderhead, Blockhouse Mountain (in this view it is to the right of Thunderhead and looks higher, but it is on a southern spur and is closer), and the higher point in the distance on the right is Clingmans Dome. Also just visible above the crest a little right of center is Mt LeConte, one of my favorite hikes, 24 miles line of sight.
Looking toward Fontana Lake, which is only partly visible due to intervening ridges. I have taken my scouts there a number of times for multi-day canoe trips.
I had heard that there was a lot of bear activity near Doe Knob, and as we neared it I think I discovered why. Juicy and sweet. My daughter said she hoped a bear did not come along and smell berries on our breath. We also passed areas that were carpeted with blueberries - I need to go back in July when they are ripe.
And there were regular reminders that we were not the only ones using the trails.
These berries showed up in more than a couple of the bear scat samples. I don't know what they are.
I would guess this was from a large cat. You can't see it in the picture, but it looked like it pawed the ground clear on that spot before doing its business.
We came across a garter snake stretched across the trail. When I touched it it moved. Then I looked at the head, which was down a hole at the edge of the trail. I could see that its jaws were wide open, so I knew it had something. I slowly pulled it out of the hole, but as soon as it was out it let go and slithered off quickly. What it was holding was this toad, which was clearly too large for the snake. It was holding the toad by the back end between the legs. You can see the bite mark along with saliva.
