The blackberries are not looking to hot this year. They are drying up as soon as they ripen. This is part of the problem for the bears. The berry crops are not producing enough food for the bears to eat.  We have also heard tells of a lot of yellow jacket issues. If you are allergic to any type of insect sting, please make sure you have the appropriate medicine with you in case you come in contact with these little devils. We have seen several yellow jacket nests that looks like a bear may have dug up the nest. It is always good to be well equipped when out in the backcountry.

You asked for it so here it is. The food storage comparison post.

I will add another picture in November to let you see how empty it gets.

Another amazing day up top. Sunny and cool. Great day for a hike.

It was a great day for reading a good book and soaking up the sun. The high yesterday was 66 and the low was 43. The sky was bright blue with a lot of sunshine. I watched the butterflies enjoy the snake root. It is blooming everywhere on the hillside. I will try and photograph some of the beautiful butterflies we have in camp at the moment.

It was a cloudy, cold, dreary day on the mountain yesterday. The high was 57. Fortunately, the rain held off. Today is a different story. We awoke to a beautiful blue sky. It is looking like a gorgeous day to hike the mountain. The jewelweed is starting to bloom around the lodge. Just in time. I have a few spots of poison ivy that are begging for some relief. The leaves and the juice from the stem of the plant are used as a natural treatment for poison ivy. I learned about jewelweed, or also known as "touch me not", from a mountain man my parents met on a family vacation. My dad was into geodes and he met a man in Franklin, North Carolina who said he would take us geode hunting. I was around 8 or 9 years old. He showed us natural springs, geodes, and he taught us about "touch me not", or "tach me naught" as he called it. To this day, every time I see jewelweed, I think of that old mountain man.

The weather forecast for today says sunny. So far, I am looking at pea soup. It is super thick fog out side. I can't complain. We have had some amazing weather the past few days. Mountain traffic seems to be slowing down. I am sure a lot of kids have returned to school. Fall is in the air. One of my favorite times of the season on the mountain.

Fall is in the air. The coneflowers are on their way out. The nights are nice and cool. The days have been beautiful in the high 60's to low 70's. People have been asking what is in store for us with the hurricane. From what I can tell, we are not going to get any of the aftermath. But, who knows. Our philosophy on the mountain is "We get what we get".

The Grass of Parnassus is out in full force. We received word from one of the Park's plant specialists that this is a particularly great year for the amazing flowers. If you have not ever seen one in person, you should get your hiking boots and make a trip up the mountain to take a peek. They are blooming on Boulevard trail, Trillium trail, and the top of Alum Cave trail. I was also asked if the monks hoods were still in bloom. They are. I would suggest getting up here soon, I don't think they will be around much longer.

Chris and I hiked down on Sunday to meet up with Chris's sister. We brought our nieces and nephew back up the mountain for a night. It was great to get to share the mountain with our family. They had a blast running and exploring the mountain. We took them salamander hunting. That was so much fun, they had to go back and say goodbye to their little friends when they left the next morning.

It's a beautiful sunny day here atop the mountains of Tennessee!  We have been blessed with sunshine and a nice breeze.  Yesterday was amazing.  It reached 68 and stayed sunny all day.  We did get some light wispy clouds later in the afternoon that set it up for a great sunset.  It didn't get as cool last night as the day before.  It only dropped to 50. 

We are looking forward to the arrival of the llamas today, who will be bringing us fresh goodies.  I hope to be able to spend some time in the sun today.  Of course, there are those pesky tasks of laundry and cleaning that need to be finished! I hope everyone down below gets to enjoy some wonderful sunshine today! 

Good day!  Still having some computer/internet problems.  I'm going to try to get a picture posted for you!  It's a wonderful day on the mountain; the most beautiful in quite a while.  There is not one single cloud in the sky.

The high yesterday was 62 and it dropped amazingly low overnight to 42.  Fall may have arrived on the mountain!  (We'll see if it stays!) 

Meredith reports that the high yesterday was 68 low in the mid-50's, with no rain.  Lower humidity is predicted over the next few days so it should make for some night hi A little computer glitch this morning, so Meredith will try again later today to post some pictures.