May! The rainy month! But, oh, how lush and green everything is growing. It is hard to believe it was all bare three weeks ago. Yesterday, we went up to Elk Garden to see the sights. In spite of the humidity and passing clouds, it was fog-free!
Okay, there was a little fog on Mount Rogers, but that's to be expected. I don't think I've mentioned that this is our state's highest peak at 5729'. It's around 7-9 miles round trip from any approach and the summit is entirely covered in a sort of relic boreal forest. Just my kind of place! It's on my list to return later this year.
Yesterday, however, we followed the Appalachian Trail just into the woods, after a little bouldering for the children. I met a lovely couple who had me take their picture, and we exchanged our stories of this wonderful place where we live. Even though 30 or more years separated us, we agreed the mountains never leave you.
Into the forest, to the place the children have named "Brambly Hedge." What a lovely carpet of Spring flowers, so pleasant to walk through. Not a stinging nettle in sight!
And then, back towards the trailhead and home. These weathered wooden posts and wind-beaten hawthorn trees will never leave me, either.
If this is any indication of all the rain we've gotten, here's the delightful little waterfall that the AT was yesterday. Those are the stairs leading into the woods toward Whitetop.
Every stream was rushing and roaring, water was flowing across the roads. I just wanted to lay down in a creek and let it flow across me.
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