My hike this week was to an overlook on the Leatherwood Loop trail. The whole loop goes down to the river and then back up - or vice versa - while following the winding gorge road part of the way. I didn't want to do the climbing, but it's not far to the overlook from the parking lot for the Sunset Overlook trail. Just heading to a different spot on the rim.
A lot of the goldenrod is finishing up, although there were some bunches that were still yellow.
I love ironweed. This picture does not do justice to how utterly intense that shade of purple is. And the ones in this meadow are well over my head. This was a short one on the edge.
"Into the woods, it's time to go..." Note the dogwoods turning red at the edge of the oak trees.
After a few minutes I had to stop and retie my shoelace. I looked over and saw this!
A very cute little box turtle - only about 3x4 inches. I got a couple of pictures and he didn't even go inside his shell - too surprised, I think. Also he was very absorbed in munching on a slug. Yum, yum! I could hear a sort of squeaking slurp...
Om nom nom nom.
There were a lot of partridge berries along the trail.
This little mushroom has just pushed up through the ground but is not quite ready to come outside yet.
I think this rotting tree may have been ripped up by a bear! They will do that to get at the insects inside.
Mountain laurel berries.
The black gum trees are starting to turn red! They're always one of the first, along with dogwoods. These were actually a little darker - it was overcast out, so my camera was trying to compensate by lightening the picture. I wish it wouldn't do that.
The overlook! This one's got a nice railing built around it.
Ah, succession. Bare rock... then lichen... then just a few real plants... then forest.
Nothin' but bare rock under all that green fuzz.
Remember these? "Ground Cedar", a type of clubmoss, also a common ground cover in the woods here. Apparently they grow spikes in late summer/early fall!
The view of the overlook is almost as picturesque as the view from the overlook!
You can't really see the river itself from the overlook.
This will definitely be a pretty view once the colors change.
There's the Leatherwood Bridge!
Looking off to one side as I walked back out through the woods.
Check out that camouflage job!
There were a lot of acorns on the ground - and more to come. A LOT of the trees here are oaks. Then there are walnuts, hickories, even a small grove of chestnuts - all providing the fall harvest. This is what the black bears will be fattening up for the winter on.
Back through the meadow, and another try at capturing those ironweed flowers.
Not sure what this is. Some kind of legume. The bees really liked it!
There, that shows it really well - only some of the goldenrod is finished.
Since that hike didn't take too long, I decided to walk a little way out on the Sunset Overlook trail - not all the way to the rim, but just to the pond I remembered from before.
More ground cedar.
Very purple! I think it's a type of lobelia.
Made it to the pond! It looked about the same, minus the living blanket of pollinators that was hovering over the surface last time. I did hear something jump in - probably a turtle slipping off a log.
This is Euonymus americanus, which has several common names including Strawberry Bush and Hearts-a-Bustin'!
Fuzzy caterpillar! He froze in his tracks when I bent over to get a picture, so I was able to get a good one.
Whorled Aster.
I had brought my bike on the car with me. I've been wanting to start doing bike rides after work sometimes, now that it's not so hot, and I wanted to do a short test ride to make sure it was still working! I rode out to the East Rim Overlook parking area - and of course then I had to walk down to the overlook before riding back.
Yep, still there!
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