Les Jones

East Tennessee > Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage April 25-May 1

The Spring Wildflower Pilgrimmage starts today in the Smoky Mountains National Park and runs through next Sunday. It's a week of exhibits, nature walks, and lectures. Good stuff. The walks are an especially good way to learn spring wildflowers. There are also bird walks, illustration classes, and photography workshops on the schedule.

If that's your thing, you should also check out the Smoky Mountain Field School. It's pricier, but the clases are scheduled throughout the year and last an entire day or more. I took Jack Sharp's mosses class back in the day, and I've been meaning to take some others. The Cataloochee hike (bottom of the page) looks interesting. Charles Taylor was telling me about Cataloochee, which is a ghost town in the Smokies. The September orienteering class looks good, too.

The wildflowers are out in full in the park. I took that picture yesterday at White Oak Sinks. Trillium and May Apple were everywhere, along with some Columbine. Whatever the purple flower is (Phlox?), it was carpeting the meadow around White Oak Sinks.