This is my last hike with the Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage this year. It was led by DK Smith, curator of the UT herbarium. Easily it was the best hike of the program for me. We saw morels, a rare variant of trillium, a couple bears and the incredible fields of flowers on the ridgetop.
Starting up at the Cades Cove Picnicground on the Anthony Creek Trail, there were just 6 of us. The long slow pull up this trail and Bote Mountain Trail finally ended at Spence Field. We sat in the grass surrounded by spring beauties and trout lilies, eating lunch and listening to DK tell tales. We heard his adventures working on the Alaska pipeline, clearing ordinance in the Aleutians, exploring Denali and surviving the Alaska Railway train wreck of 1974.
We meandered along the ridgetop through what seemed like an endless field of flowers. At Russell Field and the AT shelter, we headed down Russell Field Trail. Almost at the end of the trail, I had gotten well ahead of the group when I spotted an unusual trillium with 5 series of triple pedals. I waited for the group, thinking DK would say,"Oh yeah that is such and such" and keep moving. He had a much different reaction. Apparently this is a very rare variant DK had seen only once before. He got his camera out for the first time on the hike and carefully took some pictures. It so happens that the world's leading expert on trillium was at the Pilgrimage and these photos would be of interest to him. While everyone was crouching on the ground giving this flower plenty of attention, I stood and saw 2 bears headed our way. Everyone looked up except DK. He kept on examining the flower.
We finished up at 6:30 on this 12 mile outing.
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