Cades Cove in the heat of the summer

 We went to Cades Cove Sunday.  It was HOT, so not too many animals out and about.  The flowers were pretty.  First we saw some gladiolus in the edge of the woods.  The trees are growing up so that they don't bloom as well as they would out in the open.  This one looks so delicate.

 The Rosebay Rhododendron was in full bloom all along the highways especially next to the streams. 

 And there ARE bears in the cove too.

 This is the waterfall when you first leave the Townsend Y, headed toward Cades Cove.

It was nice that Jimmy could take a day off for us to just be together.

Streams with fall colors in the GSMNP

Jimmy and I took 2 days off to go to the mountains to see the fall colors, the previous post is the beginning of the photographs I took. The first day we went to Cades Cove, which I have not begun to go through those photographs yet. To get to Cades Cove from our house we go through Wears Valley to Townsend and onto Cades Cove. The 2nd day we also went through Wears Valley, but then we went across the Foothills Parkway to 129. 129 is known as the Tail of the Dragon, which we traveled to Deal's Gap, and onto Fontana and Cherokee. Normally we would have gone to I40 to head home, but with the landslide totally blocking I40 we cut back across the mountain through the Great Smoky Mountain National Park.

If we had gone our usual route we would not have seen this beautiful setting.

We saw 2 tractor trailers and a tractor without the trailer that thought they would also cut through the park to avoid going the detour route. The park rangers had them all stopped. A person cannot miss the signs about no commercial vehicles in the park, and you know a truck driver would not have missed them. Guess they thought they would just sneak through, like nobody would notice the only tractor trailers to ever be in the park in the 75 years of it's existence.

Left the sun, came home to snow

We got home from 3 weeks of sun on Saturday evening.

Woke up Sunday morning to SNOW!

So I decided I was not done taking photographs. We took off to Cades Cove.

These were all taken on the road going to Cades Cove.

All but the first one were taken from inside the vehicle as we traveled.

Metcalfe Bottoms in GSMNP

I go to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park fairly often. I don't remember ever turning into the picnic area of Metcalfe Bottoms.

I was in for a nice surprise, and have several post to share.

These four were taken across the water from the parking lot. The last 2 were from the same spot.

Fall Colors at Townsend right inside the GSMNP

These photographs were all taken in the stream just within the boundry of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park at the Townsend side of the park. I moved around a little, but not much. I was balanced on the river slicks while I was taking these photographs.

This year is not going to be one of the best for fall colors unless it changes real fast.

Streams in Great Smoky Mountains

These top 2, I just liked for some reason. They are not the same place, but along the same road.

The water is slowed down just a little in these 2 last photos. But I was hand holding the camera, so could not do much. I was not brave enough to try to get my tripod out on those rocks by myself. If Jimmy had been with me I might would have tried it, but he wasn't. Couldn't slow the motion anymore than that hand holding it.

Streams in Cataloochee Cove - GSMNP

I have now attached this to Watery Wednesday. Please visit Watery Wednesday to check out this new one. It was not working earlier today, but appears to be ok now.

These are just various streams throughout Cataloochee Cove. This cove is just as nice as Cades Cove, in it's own way. Can't believe I had never visited it before.

Won't these be beautiful when the leaves begin to turn?

And Linley will be coming home just in time to see the fall colors. Happy Birthday, Linley! We sure are glad you survived Ike, and got the t-shirt as you said. I know the mountains and change of colors is what you missed the most, so thought these photos were as good as any to wish you a Happy Birthday!!

Forge Creek Road in Cades Cove

Forge Creek Road just ended out to be a gravel road with a creek going along it. Parson Branch Road does branch off from it. Parson Branch takes you out of the park, the sign says an hour trip, on an un-improved road. We decided not to try it until we were in the 4 wheel drive vehicle, not my mini van.

The would be worth going again during the fall colors and/or when the rhododendron are at their peak.

The landscape of Cades Cove

The first 6 photographs are on the trail to the "Wet Bottoms". Was suppose to be .2 of a mile. After about a mile, and we had sorta gone in a large U, we cut back across the field to the road. I sat on a large rock and my husband went back for the vehicle.
This area was where we saw the Common Wood Nymph in an earlier post of Cades Cove.

Not hidden very well.

But he can dance fairly well.

This creek is one of my favorite places.

It looks so different everytime I am there. The underbrush has really grown since I was there in March. Almost can't get around the edge. Can understand why the parks have control burns.

Notice here the water is 'milky', Not sure why. We had not seen the Copperheads at this point, not sure I would have been walking around in this area if I had.

This was taken at the same place as the bottom photograph. Just seeing if I could actually get a picture of the fish under water. Think the shade probably helped.

This was after we had seen the Copperheads, and we were just up from the mill building. This path is beside the water feeding to the mill wheel. Had to go back here to take photos of each other. The first photos my husband and I ever took of each other were to my back about 50 ft, during my 'film' days. No I don't have a scanner so I cannot share those photos with you.