A Summer Smokies Hike

Can you believe that it is now AUGUST?  Goodness---where did July go????  The good news for me is that Fall will be here soon.  Yeah Rah!!!!!

George and I SELDOM hike during the hot summer,  especially in the crowded Smokies.  BUT--on  July 23,  after a stop in Knoxville at the Apple Store,  we headed to the east side of the Smokies at Cosby.  We decided to hike part of the Gabes Mountain Trail (toward Hen Wallow Falls)...

The hike is rated moderate because of its steepness... It's 2.2 miles one way to the waterfall which is not that far...   However,  since it was VERY hot and VERY humid on the 23rd,  we hiked for about a mile and a half --and turned around there.   SO---instead of a 4.4 miler,  we had a 3 mile hike  which seemed like a long enough hike to me!!!!

Even though we didn't see the waterfall,  we did stop several times along the way so that we could get lots of great pictures...Today I'll share with you some of what we saw along the trail on that hot summer day.

Above is a picture I took from our trail...  Other than being steep,  this area is a great place to hike.  Be sure to enlarge all of the pictures in order to see them bigger.

I took this picture of George on a little bridge at one of our water crossings...  This is a pretty area ---and we enjoyed our day,  despite the high humidity.

As I was resting along the trail --while George took more pictures of the creek,  I got some good pictures of the trees ---as I pointed my camera UP toward the sky... Pretty area,  don't you think?

George got more great pictures of the creek using his tripod and 'special' filter....  Isn't this an awesome photo???

They have had more rain in the Cosby area recently than we have had on the Cumberland Plateau....  I got several pictures of mushrooms along the damp trail...  One even had a pretty yellow stem...  Aren't these pretty little mushrooms --with moss all around them?

George took this picture of me on the trail...  Since it was so hot,  I was wearing my white headband --and carrying my 'sweat' towel!!!!!   I also was wearing my camera vest --which I love.

This little blue butterfly followed us for awhile.  I love its color.  Anyone know what kind of butterfly this is????   I do NOT know my butterflies ---like I do our flowers.

This is a 'creative' picture I took of a big leaf with the sunshine peeking through and shining perfectly on it!!!!!   You like it?

This little ground cover was EVERYWHERE along the trail... I loved it.  It is very tiny with little red berries.... Anyone know its name?????  SO PRETTY!

Finally,  here is a picture we took of the two of us using the tripod---beside the creek....  As you can imagine,  even though we didn't make it all of the way to the waterfall,  we did have a great day!!!

Do you like my new header?  Thought you might!!!!   We DID see the sunflowers when we were at Biltmore on Monday... Had a wonderful day!!!

Hope you have a great day today!!!
Hugs,
Betsy

The End of our Beautiful Lilies

Black Beauty Tiger Lily

Here's my final group of pictures of our 19 varieties of LILIES in our yard this year.  If you missed any of these 5 blog posts,  click  HERE.   Hope you enjoy this final group!

The picture above is one of our little tiger lilies...  I LOVE these little lilies... This one is named is Black Beauty...  Pretty, isn't it? Be sure to click on all of the pictures in order to see them larger.

Several of you have asked to see 'group' pictures of the lilies.  That is never easy to do since the lilies (and daylilies) all bloom at different times... That is a good thing though since we enjoy lily blooms for a couple of months.. When one variety quits blooming, another takes its place.  SO---that is why it is hard to get a 'group' picture of all of them!!!!  

The picture above is of our 'road flowerbed' ---and you can see lilies,  daylilies and roses all blooming.

Golden Splendor Lily

This beauty is named Golden Splendor...  It is such a beautiful lily.

Gold Band Lily

The last lily to bloom in our yard  (there are only a couple of blooms left in this one),  named Gold Band...  We enjoyed it for about 3 weeks...  Someone asked how long lilies bloom...  I think most of the buds will stay pretty for about 2-3 weeks....(Daylilies are different in that each blossom only blooms for ONE day.. BUT--there are usually lots and lots of blossoms --which keep the plant blooming for several weeks.)

This  is another view of several of the lilies in bloom in our side flowerbed... As I have previously said,  most of our lilies are planted in this long bed ---and in the road and the lamppost beds.

Trebbiano Lily

This little beauty is named Trebbiano.  As you can tell,  this lily is very pale yellow  (almost white) in color... This lily is located in the side flowerbed (not far from our swing)...

Sarina Lily

And this lily is named Sarina.   George took this photo --and this lily was one of several varieties in our lamppost flowerbed.   Yellow is one of my favorite colors this time of year,  and this one with its spots is quite unique.

Garden Pleasure Lily AND Touching Lily

Here is a picture showing you how many lilies were blooming at the same time in our road flowerbed...  Aren't they just gorgeous?  That is Touching on the right and Garden Pleasure on the left....

Garden Pleasure Lily

Finally,  besides Pink Perfection and Touching and Gold Band,  here is the 4th group of lilies in the road flowerbed that bloomed and bloomed and bloomed this year...  This one is Garden Pleasure---and a pleasure it was!!!!    As I said above,  a couple of Gold Band lilies are all that are left in our yard now... We'll have to wait 'til next year to see all of these again....

Hope you enjoyed seeing our lilies this year.  It's hard for me to pick a favorite... I loved Lollypop and Montenegro --since they were some of the early bloomers.   But there are others I love --such as this one (Garden Pleasure) and also Touching...  Overall though,  I guess,  if I had to pick a 2012 favorite lily,  I would choose Pink Perfection...  After looking at all of the lily posts,  you need to pick a favorite also....

Have a wonderful Monday. We are going to see the sunflowers at Biltmore....  Hope they are gorgeous  like they were last year when we were there.

Hope you are watching the OLYMPICS...  They are great... so many wonderful,  hard-working athletes.   SO proud of them!!!!

Hugs,
Betsy