springtime hike

Posted on | April 26, 2010 | 16 Comments

Yesterday morning we got up so early it was probably illegal and drove to Tullahoma, Tennessee, to hike in the Short Springs Natural Area.

The weather was perfect, there was a strong breeze blowing which was great because the temperature was borderline too-hot-to-hike.  Need I remind you that I do not hike in the summertime.

This area is known for its spring wildflowers, and it didn’t disappoint:

L-R, T-B:  red trillium, may apple, Jacob’s ladder, I don’t know – can anyone identify this white flower?, wild azalea, and I’m pretty sure this is prunella vulgaris, or heal-all.

The area is a series of loop trails totaling 5 miles – I hiked all but a half mile of it and then my feet said “enough.”

The first loop we hiked went to Machine Falls, which is off the trail.  I took this sitting on a rock, changing into my Crocs.  Rock-hopping was guaranteed to result in wet boots, but wading was very refreshing!

Here are the falls.  It was just gorgeous – we were the first people there!

We saw many butterflies, but most were camera shy.  I love the shadow in this pic!

I hope you had a lovely weekend!  I got quite a lot of knitting done during our 7 hours of driving, and will have pictures soon!

Category: Hiking

Comments

16 Responses to “springtime hike”

  1. Sgt. Britty
    April 26th, 2010 @ 1:35 pm

    “Yesterday morning we got up so early it was probably illegal…”

    One of these days, you need to go on one of my “leave the house at 5 a.m.” hikes! It was a long day, but a fun one~

    SB

  2. Marie
    April 26th, 2010 @ 1:38 pm

    What a beautiful day! What kind of temperature was it at the warmest part of the day? Did your long drive take you to cooler temperatures or warmer ones?

  3. Rue
    April 26th, 2010 @ 1:49 pm

    Sounds like you had a fantastic weekend – thanks for sharing the pics!

  4. Cookie
    April 26th, 2010 @ 2:08 pm

    So beautiful!

  5. Jodi
    April 26th, 2010 @ 2:21 pm

    What a beautiful way to spend the day! Isn’t the white flower another variety of trillium? We used to have tons of them in our native wildflower garden in Madison.

  6. Tonni
    April 26th, 2010 @ 2:58 pm

    Oh, how lovely!!!! Makes me want to take a vacation to the mountains again!

  7. Manise
    April 26th, 2010 @ 3:03 pm

    Bottom left is Tradescantia virginiana otherwise known as spiderwort. Up here it’s typically blue, though I occasionally get a lavender colored one. Apparently the white ones are rare in the wild. Lucky you!

  8. kmkat
    April 26th, 2010 @ 3:43 pm

    Yep, tradescantia something, although I have not seen it in white before. Gorgeous photos, all of them!

  9. Lynn in Tucson
    April 26th, 2010 @ 4:47 pm

    That sounds delightful!

  10. Brenda
    April 26th, 2010 @ 4:50 pm

    The hike sounds lovely. Not the 5 am start, though.

  11. Sandra
    April 27th, 2010 @ 8:02 am

    The white flower is a trillium. It’s the provincial flower of Ontario, hence me knowing what it is. Up here, they are far more abundant than the more elusive red trillium, and really, one of my favourites.

  12. Becky
    April 27th, 2010 @ 8:52 am

    We have lots of white trillium (bottom left) but I’ve never seen a red trillium. Beautiful! I wish we had such beautiful hiking spots here in SE Michigan. If you want to see waterfalls in Michigan, you have to go north. The UP (Upper Penninsula) has 122 waterfalls, depending on the time of year.

  13. Linda
    April 27th, 2010 @ 9:58 am

    Beautiful scenery! When we lived in CO, we hiked a lot in the mountians, in all seasons. Once we got near salt water, though, all DH watns to do is go on the boat. Glad you enojyed you hike and had better weather than we had in the Baltimore area (rain, fog, dreary weather all weekend)

  14. Robyn
    April 29th, 2010 @ 11:44 am

    What a gorgeous hike!

  15. Sinclair
    May 1st, 2010 @ 2:04 am

    Breathtaking!

  16. Rachel
    May 22nd, 2010 @ 9:33 am

    Ah…beautiful pictures E! It looks like a magical place to spend a day!