Back On The Mountain

7/27/2012

Purple Gentian

I finally made it up the mountain yesterday. After asking for no rain for so long, the one day I would have liked some rain, the sun kept shining. It made for a hot day hiking up. If you are out hiking in this heat, make sure you have plenty of water. I was excited to see the purple gentian and one grass of parnasis was blooming on the top section of Alum Cave. These flowers are usually not in bloom until the later part of August. I did hear one day hiker say they saw a bear on the lower section of Alum Cave trail. I, however, did not see it. It feels good to be back on the top in the nice 70 degree weather. The high yesterday 73 degrees with a low of 58.

Debi link

7/27/2012 01:21:24 am

Raining here. Beautiful picture! Welcome back.

doug

7/27/2012 03:38:49 am

It's very dark here right now, and beginniing to rain; I can sense your excitement and satisfaction of returning to the mountain, to the lodge; I wish I were there; Your flower photos are always nice and appreciated as are your comments; To me, I would expect to see bears above Alum Cave rather than below because most of the tourist traffic ends there with most returning to the trailhead; But, of course, anywhere in the Park at any given time one can encounter a bear; When I set foot on any trail to the lodge my excitement level increases and Alum Cave trail especially. Within just a few yards of leaving Alum Cave (and realizing that I'm leaving behind most of the people) that level increases dramatically and rises with each ridge or turn in the trail I pass ! There's one particular spot not far above Alum where one can look up to see Cliff Tops and the ridge on which Myrtle Point is and when I see that I feel like I'm already there; When I reach the ridge and turn right out toward the lodge on the level trail my feet are almost treading on clouds ! The mountain and the lodge affect me this way ! Hope you all have a great weekend !

Ben

7/27/2012 05:27:10 am

Very nice Doug! You just put that view in my mind. I too always look over my left shoulder up to that spectacular view of the ridge meeting the sky when I pass that spot above Alum. Thank You!

Barbara

7/27/2012 05:30:40 pm

You must write for a living. What a gift you have.

Ken T

7/27/2012 04:21:56 am

Welcome back to the blog ! Hope some wild flowers will be around in mid-august when we come up. We appreciated you showing us what we're missing. One blogger said they came up a different month each year. We are going to do that also.......will be 78 when we make 6 more to cover the season........maybe we should think about doing 2 per year ?

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