Lewis Mountain Top

Wedesday May 23, 2018                                                             Most Recent Posts:
Lewis Mountain Campground                                                        More Wonder Headed North
Shenandoah National Park, Virginia                                             Celia Turns Two

At the exact spot where the AT comes to the campground there are actually 3 directions you can go.  I’ve gone to the right *south”, to the left “north” and now I’m going straight ahead and UP.  I’m going to the top of Lewis Mountain for which the campground is named.

In one section, wild azalea lines the path

Seeing such bright pink in the midst of all the green is always such a great surprise.

When I reach the top I know this first view is not the only one but you’d really have to know that since the path between them is well grown over.

The second view is my favorite.     Love those rolling Blue Ridges.

I’m looking East toward Madison County Virginia.

It’s a lovely spot to stay a while and I do.  It’s an easy 1 mile hike from the campground which I do nearly every day either in the morning or the evening.

This is not a loop hike.  It’s an  out and back retracing the same way I came up.  Many folks prefer loops.  They don’t want to travel the same route back.  I’ve always been convinced that it’s not the same trail if you are going a different direction and today really proves me right in spades.

Coming up I did not see these lovely yellow lady slippers but they jump right out at me on my way back.

I’m back at the bottom now and headed for another section of the AT between Bearfence Mountain and Bootens Gap.

I find a nice big tree to hug.

Some lovely little white and purple violets with more road markers pointing the way.

With all the rain we’ve had, everything is green and wild looking.  If it weren’t for all the feet the trail would be over grown as it gets narrower and narrower from the overgrowth.

I think these may be wood poppies.

But what interested me most was this close up shot of the over reaching Daddy Long Legs.  Wonder what he’s reaching for?  Can you see his thread thin legs?

The wildflower of this hike was the False Solomon Seal.  In a previous post I showed the Solomon Seal.  Both have long arching stems and look almost identical.  But the Solomon Seal has bell shapped flowers that hang down from the stem underneath.  The False Solomon Seal has one cluster at the end of the long stem.

Today I see them everywhere and their clusters are all different.

Pretty hard to tell them apart when their flowers are gone.  At least for me.

Not sure why millipedes always make me laugh.  Maybe it’s the visual of all those little feet marching in a row.  Of course they don’t have 1000 feet but still it’s a funny image.  Apparently there a many many types of milipedes in different colors and they’ve been around for thousands of years.  Who knew?

There are often giant rocks along the way.  I know they aren’t glacial eratics, the glaciers didn’t reach here so I suppose they are simply the bones of Mother Earth weathered into view.

I also showed a picture of the dark brown Squaw Root in a previous post.  Today I come upon the lighter colored one.

It doesn’t produce chlorophyll.  It is parasitic on trees, mainly oaks for its nutrition.

The Appalachian Trail is a simply beautiful trail wherever I hike it.

Once upon a time I wanted to through hike the AT from Georgia to Maine and read all the through hiker journals I could get my hands on,  really researched it and started making a plan.  But then I realized that push hiking just isn’t my style and I’d feel like I was missing a lot having to make a certain number of miles each day.  I am seldom after the “goal” but rather just what I can find along the way.

So now I just wander the trail to my heart’s content.  Although I admit, I’m still looking for my first black bear this visit.   In 2015 I saw quite a few but we were here longer than we’ll be this year.  Still, I keep looking.  One day soon, I’ll be lucky.