Jun 18 Chanterelle Season is in Full Swing

 

This season is one of the earliest starts to Chanterelle season that I can remember. We had lots of rain in mid May which got them started. Periodic rain after that initial glut, helped them immensely. I've had multiple 5+ pound forages already. Sunny and hot weather forecast for the end of June will put an end to this crop. I'll be waiting for the next round of rain, Maybe we'll have another crop or two this summer. 

Ten pound day

Chanterelles form on the rootlets of host trees. You can clearly see the mushrooms along a tree root in the photo. 

Jun 17 Andrews Bald

 

Today's hike is on the Forney Ridge Trail from the Clingman Dome parking area. It is, again, an early start before 8am. It is in the mid 50s and breezy. Very few cars are in the parking area but I did note on the drive up that Alum Cave parking areas were already maxxed out at 7:37 am on a Tuesday. 

Just after getting on the trail, there are these shapes in the rock face. I think they are naturally occurring but they are intriguing. I saw some in Andrews bald as well.

Round trip today is only a bit over 4 miles. The trail to the bald loses about 500 feet in elevation and there is some uphill along the way. 

Purple Fringed orchid

Spring (almost Summer) beauties

Once you enter the bald, a number of magenta colored Rhododendrons greet you. They were putting on a show. Some had already dropped a lot of pedals creating a pink carpet. I was expecting to see many Flame azalea here but they were just coming along, it being 500 feet higher that Gregory Bald. 

British Soldiers in battle formation

Hay scented fern

Narrow boardwalk through the bald

After a 30 minute jaunt through the bald, I retraced my way back, passing many many hikers on their was to the bald.

Carrion Flower

It was quite misty. There was no view at the bald today although I think one opened up for many of the hikers I passed on their way to the bald. I got back to the parking area at 10:45. There were a few of the 167 parking spaces open. As I drove back to the main road on the 7 mile spur road, I passed about 60 vehicles, most of which were not going to be able to park.

Jun 16 Gregory Bald

 

I got an early start on the Gregory Ridge Trail. There were 6 cars in the parking area at 7am. The forecast was for some rain coming through late morning so I carried rain gear. The 13 mile roundtrip prompted me to load extra water and quick energy snacks. This is my 7th trip to Gregory Bald. I really expected more people to be hiking today but the blooms weren't quite at peak. My guess is that the weekend would be peak and quite crowded. 

The trail, initially, follows Forge Creek and crosses it a few times in the first mile. At about the 2 mile mark, I passed by campsite 12. There was one tent set up but I did not see anyone. It would be a long hike and the 3300 feet of elevation gain was going to be tough. I stopped about every 30 minutes to hydrate and catch my breath. 

At 4.9 miles, I arrived at the junction with Gregory Bald Trail and knew I was just a half mile from the bald. That last leg, starts up steep and ends steep but in between in a nice easy walk. It was here that I encountered the first hikers of the day. There were 7 of them and they had stayed last night at campsite 13, now headed down the way I had come. 

Prior to entering the bald, I put on my snake gaiters. The bald has lots of tall grass and I knew I wanted to meander about and didn't want to have to worry about snakes. Rattlesnakes are often encountered here but I have never seen one. 

I spent an hour in the bald, trying to see all the azalea bushes. There was one bush in particular I wanted to find. It was the candy-striped one. I never found it but did find all the other colors I knew to be there. Take a look at the various colors and shades. Notice that several bushes were just budding. More were budding that declining.  

I began to run into hikers, not many, but a few. I ate lunch with a couple guys from Farragut TN. While there, 3 rangers on horseback with a mule hauling fuel passed by. I later spoke with them while they ate their lunch. They had come up hauling fuel so they could mow pathways for the expected crowds still to come. They have a couple mowers hidden up there. They are self propelled and had been walked up years ago. These guys came up from Twenty-Mile Ranger Station which is the only access open to horses. As they crossed the bald, a rattlesnake buzzed them. I'm glad I missed that during my walkabout. While I was speaking with them, one of the horses was getting stung by some bees. So, there is that hazard up there too. 

Walking down, I joined the Farragut guys for most of the way. There were probably 40 hikers headed up on my return hike. Three of them were ranger gals headed up to address an issue somewhere other than the bald. They did not say what that issue was. I was just about at my limit when I stepped into the parking area. Great Hike!! Maybe I'll do it again.

Jun 10 Joara, Remembering Lost History

 

Artifacts get sorted and identified

We know it now as Joara. Hernando de Soto called it Xuala. Juan Pardo named it Cuenca. It is also known as the Berry Site, for the landowners, the Berry family. Soto visited in 1540. Pardo came in 1567 and 1568. It's located in Burke County NC just outside Morganton. 

The landowners, the Berry family allow the Joara Foundation to conduct an archeological dig on part of their property. I was able to visit the site with the Swannanoa Valley Museum of Black Mountain NC.  

Archeological evidence tells us that the site has a long history from Clovis Indians to modern day. Artifacts from various Native American cultures and 16th century Spanish are weaving a fascinating narrative here. One that possibly changed history.

The Native American presence can be traced back to 12 - 13,000 years ago evidenced by the discovery of a Clovis spear point found in the 1970s. Other stone points, tools and pottery from various Native American cultures have also surfaced. The earlier Native presence would have been temporary or seasonal encampments. Later during the Mississippian culture a much larger and important settlement developed. The Mississippians were mound builders. My first question was where is the mound. Our guide for the visit is Mike Cunningham, a Joara volunteer. He replied that there was a mound investigated by the Smithsonian in 1891. It was measured as 200 feet wide and 20 feet tall. Sometime in the 1950s, the landowners bulldozed it away to level their agricultural field. At that time, no one knew the significance of this place.

We know from the scribes and chroniclers of the Soto and Pardo expeditions that both had passed through this area. We still don't know where Soto stayed but recent discoveries have pinpointed the spot Pardo visited. Juan Pardo and 120 men left the Spanish capital of Florida, St Helena (now Parris Island, SC) in 1567 to establish a land road to silver mines in Mexico. The Spaniards had grossly miscalculated the distance. They thought the Blue Ridge was the same mountain chain that ran through Mexico. Pardo's orders were to establish a land route and secure it with forts. They wanted to protect their claim to the land, mainly from the French.  

Pardo arrived at Joara and, at first he had a good reciprocal relationship with the Catawba Indians who occupied the site. He ordered a fort built, named it Fort San Juan. It consisted of a palisade and a moat around it. Their quarters were several houses built outside the fort. Pardo was called back to St Helena and left 30 men to man the fort. The Natives convinced the soldiers to settle some scores with their enemies. The Spaniards and Catawbas raided several tribes in the Saltville VA and East Tennessee areas. They killed many of the Catawba enemies and burned a couple villages. The Spaniards were captured near Asheville and held captive. Pardo, already nearby, came to their aid. Pardo found the solders and was in the process of returning with them to Fort San Juan when they learned of an ambush. That delayed them but they finally made it back to Fort San Juan. After recuperating for 20 days, Pardo left Fort San Juan on Nov 24 1567 for St Helena, leaving 30 solders to man the fort.    

In May 1568, news reached St Helena that Fort San Juan and 5 other forts had been burned and all solders killed except one. The one survivor claimed to have hidden during the raid and then made his way back to St Helena traveling at night and resting during the day. However, his story didn't add up and it is more likely he was spared because of a relationship with a Native woman. Although, I can't find any documentation for this, we were told that the Native woman must have accompanied him back to St Helena and years later filed for his military pension after his death. 

Enough history! Let's walk around the Joara site. The Spanish built their fort and living quarters in close proximity to what is likely the Native cacique's home and a ceremonial pole. The fort had a V shaped moat around it. The fort's footprint showed up on ground penetrating radar as did the living quarters and  the Native house which was likely occupied by the local cacique. These have all been excavated. It is likely the Natives swept the fort clean before burning it and killing the soldiers, so nothing much was recovered there except for a few items the Natives would not have found useful. It is speculated that the bodies were dumped in the moat and covered over. The moat has yet to be excavated. 

The cacique's house located nearby is being excavated now. Below is a piece of metal from a wedge or chisel. There is a record that Pardo gave this type of item to Natives along his journey. It was found in the cacique's house along with many other artifacts that were likely gifts from Spaniards and other Natives. The metal piece was dug the day before and found in the wash station earlier in the day. The head archeologist was very excited about it.  

Once an area has been excavated, it is covered with plastic and then fill dirt is placed over it. The landowner has given the Joara Foundation permission to dig in an area that does not encompass the entire Native village. There were a number of other native houses that are not be investigated at this time. Volunteers come daily to dig. They are permitted to dig down to a certain level where artifacts are revealed. The pros take over at that point and dig down until artifacts disappear. Each grid section's dirt is screened. Whatever is left is taken to the wash station where dirt is washed away. Archeologists sift through everything, separating stone tools, pottery chards, lithics and anything else. It is all bagged up with the grid from which it was located noted. Looking at this process, I saw lots of pottery chards. 

During our visit, there must have been 30 people working various tasks at the site. Most looked like grad students but there were also many volunteers there. You can arrange a work visit through the Joara Foundation. 

I mentioned earlier that events here possibly changed history. The Spanish abandoned the forts and road they were attempting to build to the Mexican silver mines. Had they succeeded in creating a presence here, they would have created settlements and defended their claim. It was decades before The English even attempted to colonize the area. There would have been a strong Spanish presence along the coast and in the interior. Instead, the Spanish abandoned the project and St Helena and concentrated on the Caribbean, Central and South America, allowing the England to fill the void. 

May 19 Watkins Glen

 

One of the top 10 state parks in the US, Watkins Glen sits right beside the town of the same name, the race track of the same name and at the southern end of Seneca Lake. It is a narrow 400' deep gorge that takes the water of Glen Creek to Seneca Lake. An interpretive sign at the park tells us that it takes the water flowing in front of you 25 years to reach the Atlantic Ocean. I contemplated tossing a plastic duck in the creek but I might be 100 years old if the duck actually made the entire journey. Although there is an outlet on the southern end of the lake, most water exits at the northern end, taking it to the ocean via Lake Ontario and the St Lawrence. It is believed that recessional moraines created dams on the southern lake end during the recent Wisconsin glaciation 26,000 to 10,000 years ago.

The origins of the gorge go back to the Pleistocene glaciation two millions years ago. The ice sheet carved the Finger lakes, deepening Seneca Valley to create waterfalls and rapids.  Besides creeks like Glen Creek, the lake receives most of its water from underground springs. Due to that, the lake's flow is circular preventing it to ice over. 1912 was the last time the lake froze over. Those ice sheets dug deep. Seneca lake is over 600 feet deep at its deepest point, making it below sea level. LIDAR shows there is as much as 250 feet of sediment at the bottom of the lake. That includes many boats and barges. 

The final flow to the lake

Watkins Glen's recent history picks up in 1794 when John Watkins and a partner bought the area, 325,000 acres of it. John Watkins died leaving the gorge to his brother Samuel. He built several mills in the "Big Gully", as it was known at the time. After his death, the town was renamed in 1852 from Jefferson to Watkins Glen in his honor. His widow inherited the gorge and remarried George Freer who inherited it when she died. 

In 1856 Morvaten Ells, a newspaperman from Elmira moved to the area and began exploring the gorge. He was so enthused, he partnered with George Freer and began building stairways, pathways and other infrastructure to turn it into a tourist attraction. In 1863 they opened it up as Freer's Glen and sold 10,000 tickets the first year. 

In 1869 they sold out to EB Parsons of Troy who continued to build and run it until 1906. The State of New York purchased it. Watkins Glen State Reservation was run by a concessionaire until the state fully took control in 1911.

The Great Flood of 1935 wiped out most of the infrastructure. Locals claimed the gorge nearly filled to the top during the flood. Much of the current infrastructure was built by the CCC during the 1930s. 

The current layout has a main trail, Gorge Trail, that follows the creek at the bottom of the gorge, winding its way over and under the creek on a series of bridges and grottoes behind waterfalls. Did I forget to mention the 800 steps? That's 832 stone steps to be precise. 

Two other trails go along each rim of the gorge, so you can see the place up close and from above. A circuit hike up one trail and down the other is less than 3 miles. There is no entrance fee except for the $10 parking charge. The town of Watkins Glen comes right up to the entrance. You can walk to restaurants, shops and throughout the town from the parking area. I bet that ice cream shop scoops a ton of ice cream during the summer. 

Looking down at Glen Creek

Nearby, another State Park features Taughannock waterfall. At 215' it is the highest single drop waterfall east of the Mississippi River. It flows into Cayuga Lake, another and second largest Finger Lake. Has Glen Creek not carved the gorge it did, it might have looked like this.