Nature on the Trace

There are multiple stops where you can hike a short trail.  We saw turtles, deer, turkey, and other animals that moved too fast to identify (or take pictures of them).

I liked the moss, Spanish moss, and whatever that is on these two sticks.  Oh, I got lost on one of my morning walks.  I took a turn early and it took a while before I realized I was on the wrong trail. Given that much of this whole area is without cell phone service, I was a bit worried but eventually found my way back.  Maybe I should concentrate on where I am versus looking at moss.

 

A hike though a water tupelo and cypress swamp.  Gorgeous looking (though the bugs were annoying).  I still love the look of the cypress knees sticking up in the water.

 

We saw this snake in a stream.  A family said it’s a water moccasin but John doesn’t agree.  Either way…cool!  I teased John about it (he doesn’t like snakes) but somehow I’m the one who had a nightmare about it.  It was 30’ long in my dream and when it moved toward me I ended up yelling and sitting up in bed to get away!

 

Raindrops in the tree after a hard rain.

 

We got a warning on John’s phone about flash floods.  These pictures were taken about 6 minutes apart.  We saw branches, logs, and even buckets traveling down this stream.  Normally it’s dry enough that people walk across it for a nature trail.  Today we only got this far on the trail!

 

 

Kids playing in the river.  There’s a tree rope swing here.  It’s great to see kids playing outside.

Fall Hollow - While most people were friendly and respectful of the trace (VERY little trash along the road), there were still some jerks.  At this spot someone had taken spray cans of orange paint and painted large areas of the rocks.  Why?  Also, we stopped at one of the campgrounds and found quite a bit of trash on the site.  I decided to be good and pick up the trash which filled maybe ¼ of the trash barrel.  Turns out someone had a party here.  Park maintenance had already cleaned up streamers, balloons, beer cans, and candy.  Not only did they have a kid’s party with candy and balloons, the “adults” were smoking and drinking.  Then they just left without cleaning up anything.  Like I said, jerks!