My Daily Commute

Every day when I drive to Bandy Creek Visitor Center I go down, down, down to Leatherwood Bridge, cross the Big South Fork of the Cumberland River, and then go up, up, up to the other side. I decided I had better get some pictures of the gorgeous views along my commute! The easiest place to do that is from the bridge itself, which has a wide shoulder that I was able to park on and get some pictures upstream and downstream. I did this twice - once at around 10 a.m. yesterday morning, and again today on the way home after work, so as to get the morning and evening lighting. I also stopped at the East Rim overlook, since it's been a while and I wanted to get another look before the colors start changing.

Here are the mid-morning pictures.

This is looking downstream, towards Angel Falls. That old bridge used to be the main one! It's to the right as I'm driving to work.

I hardly ever actually see that bridge, because for some reason no matter what direction I'm traveling I automatically glance toward the upstream side.

Those little islands get covered up when the river rises. I'll look out and the little trees are sticking up out of the water. There was one time I drove across after several days of solid rain, and was stunned to find that not only could I not see the rocks around the trees, I couldn't even see the trees! And yet, they're still growing out there. It's a very specialized habitat.

Now, to the East Rim Overlook!

The dogwood trees are starting to turn red around the edges.

This is most likely a variety of Tick Trefoil - it is definitely in the legume family. That flower shape is very distinctive!

The light at this time of year is just glorious.

This is what mountain laurel looks like four and a half months after it blooms.

This is a blackgum - they're always one of the first trees to turn red, along with dogwoods.

This is that "mystery flower" tree at the overlook. I never did figure out what it is!

Here's the seedhead for one of those giant magnolia flowers!

Now comes the second set of photos, taken on the way home from work - around 5:30 p.m.

Notice how the shadows are all pointing in the opposite direction now.

Back to the overlook!

 

Some red leaves I missed yesterday morning - one of the many briar plants in the woods. It's called a greenbriar - but this one's not very green anymore!

On the way back to the main road I stopped to take some pictures of wildflowers. There's a small meadow across from the Sunset Overlook trailhead, and it was full of goldenrod blooming - and the goldenrod was FULL of bees!

SO MANY BEES. How many can you spot? It's like "Where's Waldo" only with different color stripes...

Hello stranger! Nice tattoo!

Across the road there was a different bunch of wildflowers.

This ironweed was a little darker in person.

Looking off toward the woods, we have pink Joe Pye Weed, purple ironweed, yellow goldenrod, and in the center, a scarlet Cardinal Flower.

 

This is zoomed in on the Cardinal Flower. RED.

This is Sweet Autumn Clematis, or Sweet Autumn Virginsbower. It is a nonnative which can be very invasive - as shown by the way it has devoured this bush.