"Pleasure in The Pathless Woods"

These are random photos of different rivers and woods I took at Deep Creek and within the Smoky Mountain Park.  It was approaching sunset and the orange glow within the trees is from the sun rays hitting the mountain side in the background.  I took over thousand pictures on this trip and only used a select few to post on this blog.  The mountains and forest with its many rivers and waterfalls brings me great pleasure.  Lord Byron describes my feelings of nature best...excerpt from "The Deep Sea."

"There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man less, but Nature more
From these our interviews, in which I steal
From all I may be, or have been before,
To mingle with the Universe, and feel
What I can ne'er express, yet cannot all conceal."

By Lord Byron

Author George Gordon Byron [1788-1824] quote 'I can never get people to understand that poetry is the expression of excited passion, and that there is no such thing as a life of passion any more than a continuous earthquake, or an eternal fever.' 

"Tumbling Waters" Amicalola Falls

 

We hike the trail up to the falls and drove to the top level and walked the trail with the deck in front of the falls.  There was no way I could get a complete shot of the falls.  Amicalola Falls State Park is an 829 acre Georgia state park located between Ellijay and Dahlonega in Dawsonville, Georgia. The park's name is derived from a Cherokee language word meaning "tumbling waters".

Poole's Mill Bridge

 

Poole's Mill Bridge is a historic century-old wooden covered bridge crossing over Settendown Creek in Forsyth County, Georgia. Circa 1820 Cherokee Chief George Welch constructed a grist mill, saw mill, and a simple open bridge at the site on this tributary of the Etowah River. Welch continued to run and maintain the mills and bridge until the Cherokee removal in 1838.  The bridge is located in Ball Ground, Georgia.  It is now converted to a park where locals can go swimming. From the photos you can see how crooked the bridge is.

Eagle Bluff Lighthouse, Door County

 

 

We visited Eagle Bluff Lighthouse in Door County.  It is perched on a bluff 76 feet above Green Bay’s glistening waters, The historical Lighthouse’s lamp brought solace to many a sailor suffering through a storm’s gale or the dark of night. Eagle Bluff Lighthouse Museum is a tribute to the keepers who kept the lamp lit on many a dark and stormy night. 

Vogue State Park

We visited Vogue State Park and the waterfall is not as spectacular as the one we saw at Amicalola Falls.  These photos were taken from the road because we did not have time to hike the trail from the top starting at the lake to the bottom of the falls.  There is a hiking trail around the lake and it was a nice day to hike among the trees and the shoreline.

Door County Wisconsin

 

Door County has 5 parks and 11 lighthouses and is located on Lake Michigan near Green Bay, Wisconsin.  We tried to see as many lighthouses as possible and visited several of the parks.  It is a great vacation area with a large coast line, small towns, cherry orchards, Tea and coffee houses, unique shops.  These photos are just a few of the park areas that we visited.

Old Georgia Barn

I love old barns and this one was located at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Georgia. 

Cooper Creek Georgia

Mt. Le Conte

In the top photo, Mt. Le Conte is in the background descending into the clouds. That picture was taken at mid morning when the air was misty.  The photo below was taken later in the afternoon when the sun was bright and any time you take photos at mid day, it washes the colors out.  You can see all 4 subpeaks. The four subpeaks are above 6,000 ft on the mountain (referred to as the LeConte massif): West Point (6,344 ft/1,934 m), High Top (6,593 ft/2,010 m), Cliff Tops (6,555 ft/1,998 m), and Myrtle Point (6,200 ft/1,890 m). In addition, Balsam Point (5,840+ ft/1,780+ m) serves as the dramatic west end of the massif.

Icicle Trees

 

 Early morning, the tree branches had beautiful shaped icicle branches when we drive over the Smoky Mountains.  Later in the day, the ice melted and icicles were falling everywhere.

Entering "Happily Ever After"

While driving to Brasstown Bald Mountain, we turned at a sign that read "Entering Happily Every After".  Within a few miles, the valley had pastoral rolling hills similar to New Zealand. Where are the dwarfs?  Where is Snow White?

"Happily Ever After - Snow White"

If Once Upon a Time is when we all first met,
Our smiling future among the stars is set.
Welcome bright mornings of romance and laughter,
For these two and us, it's
Happily Ever After...

Kephart Prong Trail

We hiked Kephart Prong Trail for a short distance.  It branches into several trails of various lengths. I enjoyed the colorful leaves floating in the water over the rocks.

Before Winter Grey

The lovely paintings of brilliant colors are now memories.  These pictures were taken in November before the leaves have fallen. The roads are now closed to many of the mountain trails and winter grey has painted a new picture.

The Wood Nymph

The Wood Nymph

A glint of her hair or a flash of her shoulder —
That is the most I can boast to have seen,
Then all is lost as the shadows enfold her,
Forest glades making a screen of their green,
Could I cast off all the cares of tomorrow— Could I forget all the fret of today
Then, my heart free from the burdens I borrow,
Nature’s chaste spirit her face would display.

By Ellis Parker Butler

Ellis Parker Butler (December 5, 1869 – September 13, 1937) was an American author. He was the author of more than 30 books and more than 2,000 stories and essays and is most famous for his short story " Pigs Is Pigs ", in which a bureaucratic stationmaster insists on levying the livestock rate for a shipment of two pet guinea pigs, which soon start proliferating geometrically. His most famous character was Philo Gubb .

A Mountain Riddle

 

 Riddles in the Dark
 by J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit

Riddle 1:What has roots as nobody sees,
Is taller than trees,
Up, up it goes,
And yet never grows?

Riddle 2:
Voiceless it cries,
Wingless flutters,
Toothless bites,
Mouthless mutters.

Riddle 3:
It cannot be seen, cannot be felt,
Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt.
It lies behind stars and under hills,
And empty holes it fills.
It comes out first and follows after,
Ends life, kills laughter.

Riddle 4:
Alive without breath,
As cold as death;
Never thirsty, ever drinking,
All in mail never clinking.

Riddle 5:
This thing all things devours;
Birds, beasts, trees, flowers;
Gnaws iron, bites steel;
Grinds hard stones to meal;
Slays king, ruins town,
And beats mountain down.

Answers: (1) mountain, (2) wind, (3) dark, (4) fish, (5) time

Deep Creek Loop Hike

There are so many creeks and streams in the Smoky Mountains.  This one was located in the Deep Creek Trailhead located north of Bryson City, North Carolina.  We hiked to one of the waterfalls in the loop.

Clingmans Dome Smoky Mountains

The view from top of Clingmans Dome which is a mountain in the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina.  At 6,643 feet, it is the highest point in Tennessee and the second highest point east of the Mississippi.  The view is spectacular on a clear day you can see over a 100 miles and into seven states.  I prefer the Smoky Mountains over the Rocky Mountains in Colorado because of the beautiful evergreen trees and gorgeous hardwoods. It is a sea of green beauty with the clouds flowing among the blue horizon.