Gatlinburg in bloom for Wildflower Pilgrimage
GATLINBURG — On a partly cloudy, cool late-March morning, Tom Harrington of Knoxville set out to hike Porter’s Creek Trail in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, east of Gatlinburg. Harrington is a park volunteer and interpreter who hikes year-round and has led wildflower walks, and his goal this morning was to report on the wildflowers.
He found them in abundance: rue anemone, star chickweed and Robin’s plantain. The large-flowered trillium was just starting to bloom. There were sweet white violets, cream violets, longspurred violets. Trout lilies, Dutchman’s breeches, and much more.
This same walk along Porters Creek Trail will be one of many walks, hikes, workshops and other events planned during the 68th annual Wildflower Pilgrimage in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, April 24-28.
When the annual Wildflower Pilgrimage began 68 years ago, the focus was primarily wildflowers to bring visitors to the park, explained Joey Shaw, professor at the Department of Biology, Geology and Environmental Science at The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, who organizes the event. “Now, it really encompasses all of the biodiversity of the Smokies,” he said.
“About 800 people come in to go on any one of about 150 different programs. And we bring in about 120 biologists or conservationists from throughout the east, most of them university professors, who come to lead these hikes and lend their expertise to the public.”
The Pilgrimage is headquartered in Gatlinburg but covers a vast area across the mountains and valleys of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and exhibits a wide range of biological diversity.
“That’s one of the things we talk to people about while they’re here,” Shaw said. The diversity is the result of many rounds of ice ages over the eons: “This area was never glaciated, but when the glaciers pushed south, they pushed northern species southward, then the ice retreated and northern species became trapped.
“So there’s a representative of all these northern species of plants and animals at higher elevations, but southern species at the lower elevations.” The topography and changes in elevation, bedrock and soil diversity also contribute to the area’s vast collection of different organisms.
This year, there are also hikes into areas that were affected by the wildfires that raged through Gatlinburg in 2016.
“We have permission to go into some of the areas now, and we’ve added some fire ecologists to lead hikes through the areas,” Shaw said. “What we’re seeing now is a lot of wildflower species that are re-emerging from the seed bank.”
Programs scheduled from Wednesday through Saturday of the Pilgrimage include hikes of several lengths and difficulty levels, from short, easy walks to longer and more challenging treks. Birding, photography, sketching, mushroom identification and other activities are among the choices. There are morning, afternoon or evening programs, as well as day-long excursions. Some events begin in Gatlinburg at the Mills Conference Center or nearby; others are within a 30-45-minute drive. Vans are provided for transportation to some of the programs.
On a Porter’s Creek hike, where park volunteer Tom Harrington found an abundance of wildflowers a couple of weeks ago, the trail can be tricky; the first mile is gravel, but it gradually gets more challenging with roots and rocks. This day, the challenge was worth it.
“About a mile and a half up, you cross a footbridge, and then, in maybe 100 feet, you see the white-fringed phacelia (plants with small, white, cupped flowers with fringed petals) on both sides of the trail. The ground is covered. It looks like it snowed! There’s not a lot of places you can see that,” Harrington said.
That rare treat was not the end of the wildflowers along the trail. “There was hepatica, and bishop’s caps just starting to bloom. And the dwarf ginseng, I’ve never seen it as profuse as it was today.” The wood sorrel is “just ready to go to town — hundreds of them on the trail, a beautiful pure white,” he said.
“We are really blessed to have the Smokies.”
Gloria Ballard is a freelance travel and garden writer in Nashville. Contact her at gloria@gloriaballard.com.