Monthly Archives: April 2014

#Waterfalls and #Wildflowers – Walls of Jericho

A little over a year ago a good friend (my wife said I should use BFF here, but I’ll pass…) invited me to visit a place I’d not heard of before – Walls of Jericho astraddle the Alabama / Tennesse border.  I wasn’t able to join him last year, but we made the trip together this year on Tuesday, April 1.  It’s advertised as a “strenuous” hike, and it lived up to that billing – there is about 1,000 of elevation drop in less about 2 miles out of the Alabama trailhead (meaning “increase” on the way back out) – but it was well worth the effort.

End of the Trail at Walls of Jericho

End of the Trail at Walls of Jericho

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The Pocket at Pigeon Mountain Status Update 4/3/2014

This is a great time for a visit to The Pocket. (See end of this post for my guess on 4/10 status.)  On Thursday, 4/3/2014, my wife and I walked up the Pocket Loop Trail, and then went back down to the parking area to meet up with a homeschool group who had invited me to join them for their visit to help identify the flowers they saw.  We walked the Shirley Miller boardwalk and extension trail up to the falls with this great group of moms and their children.  Several of the “signature species” are still blooming – Virginia Bluebell, Wood (Celandine) Poppy, Dutchman’s Breeches, and all three of the Pocket’s three Trillium species are blooming right now.  35 of the 55 species on my current version of the checklist are blooming right now.

Eastern Red Columbine, Wild Columbine - Aquilegia canadensis

Eastern Red Columbine – Aquilegia canadensis

We also ran into Clayton Webster and some more of the Over the Hill Hiking Group that I met last week.  We had a nice visit exchanging information on what to look for blooming – they were coming from where we were going, and vice versa…

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