Returning to the Twin Arches

I was originally planning to hike the Angel Falls Rapids trail this week, but the weather turned relatively cool, so I decided to go back to an area I hadn't gotten to see enough of before - the Twin Arches. I've been wanting to go back there, since we had to rush through our hike there at the beginning of the season, but I knew it would be hot out on that exposed rock so I was putting it off. Change of plans!

The trail starts off on top of a ridge, walking through the woods.

I saw several of these yellow flowers. I haven't been able to identify them.

Bugs!

Once again, we have found insects outside the visitor center in this national park!

First, we have a katydid - relative of grasshoppers and cicadas, and just as noisy. They are responsible for the bulk of the night noises at this time of year. When not trying to hide on a white wall, they blend in quite well with their disguise of "I'm a leaf!" And their antennae are considerably longer than their body!

And then we have yet another Fuzzy Moth.

I never realized before this summer just how fluffy a moth could be.

Onward and Upward!

The plan for our second day in the Great Smoky Mountains was to drive out to Clingman's Dome - way up high in the mountains. We started by retracing our route from yesterday, driving along the Little River Road. We got an earlier start this time, and the roads were not too busy, so we were able to stop at a few of those scenic turnouts that I wanted to see yesterday!

The first was Meigs Falls, which is on a tributary to the Little River just before it flows into the main river. It was a little way back from the road.

 

Looking downstream, along the road.

Straight across to the falls!

Into the Smoky Mountains

I'm in the Smokies! My parents are in Tennessee visiting me, and my dad thought it would be fun to take a trip over to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. They actually got here yesterday afternoon, came over to the visitor center for a while and then hiked around the 1.3 mile Bandy Creek loop trail behind the VC. I didn't know they were going out on the trail, so I was surprised when I got to the dorm before them at the end of the day! I was already packed for the trip, but we needed to take some of their camping gear (which we wouldn't be using) out of their car so there would be room for me and my stuff. We just stored it in the trunk of my car!

It was just starting to rain as we finished transferring everything and got into the car to leave. We drove to Oneida, and stopped to have supper there before driving to Knoxville for the night. It was a long, winding drive, but very pretty. There was some rain at first but it let up after a while - and then we saw a rainbow! Just a small patch of one, but then I spotted a second section parallel to it. A double rainbow! Even just seeing that small bit of it was impressive, and we ended up following it almost all the way to Knoxville. The sky was dark on one side, with sun coming from the other side to light up the clouds ahead of us.

Today the plan was to get up early and drive the rest of the way to Great Smoky Mountains National Park before the crowds got there. We got up relatively early, but once we got on the road we were confounded by traffic. Not only was it rush-hour traffic, but there was a lane closed on the highway we needed to take! It took an excruciatingly long time to get out of Knoxville.

We drove through Townsend and on into the park. It was a beautiful drive, following a rushing stream on its winding course through the rocks. The rosebay rhododendrons were in full bloom, visible along the stream and further back under the trees. Their leaves are such a dark green, and the trees above were dark as well, so it was like looking at lights out there in the woods.

Monsters!... Oh, Wait...

This lovely box turtle was crawling along the lawn outside the visitor center this afternoon! I looked later to see if he was still out there, but he had gone on his merry way.

Lovely lepidoptera

There are plenty of butterflies fluttering around here, but I have been seeing some gorgeous moths as well. Here are two lovely lepidoptera that were on the wall when I got back to the dorm after my hike to Sunset Overlook.

 

I had no idea those purple spots were there. I also didn't realize the wings were flat - the camouflage of a crumpled-up leaf was so perfect that I thought the wings were actually that shape!

Sunset Overlook

Today I wanted to do a shorter hike so that I would be finished in time to go to a matinee movie, so I hiked out to Sunset Overlook. This trail is 1.3 miles each way, and starts at a trailhead about halfway along the road to East Rim Overlook - basically cutting over to another spot on the edge of the gorge.

 

The woods starting out seemed really dense compared to some of the other hikes I've done recently - but that was good, because it was already getting hot out!

This big old mushroom looked like a pancake on a stem.

Nature walk

Today at work I walked out a little way on the Bandy Creek loop trail that is just behind the visitor center. I'm putting together another Junior Ranger program, and I was thinking of doing a nature walk. I wanted to see what there was nearby that I could stop and talk about. I ended up seeing quite a lot!

 

My plan is to focus on trees. We're going to be tree detectives, looking at ways to identify different types of trees, and even studying their dead bodies! (Logs, snags and stumps.) But I had to take a picture of this one in order to identify it later!

 

More monsters!

The dobsonfly wasn't there when I got to work, but I found another one on the building opposite the VC. This time I took a small stick and brought it near the head, just to see what it would do. Snap! Yikes!

 



Then I found another one on the wall, and it didn't have those big jaws, just the feathery antennae.

 

Monsters!

It was a bit of a shock when I went to lock up the visitor center at the end of the day and saw this over the door! This is approximately life size, so I didn't want to poke it - not with those jaws! I sent a picture to my dad's phone, because he knows a lot about insects, and when I got home I called him to see if he knew what it was. He recognized it but could not remember what it was called - until we hung up, when he immediately thought of it and had to call me back.

It's a dobsonfly. Pretty scary-looking!

Middle Creek Loop

This week I hiked the Middle Creek Loop. I’ve been looking through the “Top Day Hikes” list in the park newspaper as well as the hiking book in the visitor center, and had already mostly decided on this trail when I happened to hear my boss highly recommending it to some visitors! (He had come to my evening program to see how I did, so he was in regular clothes – but after the show was over we revealed his true identity. Fortunately he let me know in advance that he was going to be there, so it wasn’t such a huge shock!)

It’s a bit of a drive to the Middle Creek trailhead, which is on the western edge of the park – I had to go over and around to get there. Still, I made good time, and it’s a pretty drive. I was afraid I would miss the spot, but there was a small parking area with a big sign. I spotted my first flower right there.

 

I think this is Robin's plantain, which is a type of fleabane.

 

Last glimpse...

The baby birds have been getting pretty big, and with all those feathers growing in the nest has started to look kind of crowded. Today when I went to take a picture I didn't get as close because they were so much more alert, I didn't want to scare them...

Well, I did anyway. The moment the picture took, WHOOSH!!! They were gone. They flew off in three different directions. They seemed pretty confident, so I hope they'll be all right. 

This is the last picture.

After all that excitement, I noticed that there was also a luna moth on the wall near the floor!