Favorite time of the year
As I ride up and down Second Avenue at this time of year, I am thrilled by the beauty of the Oklahoma redbud trees and tulips that have been in full bloom for the last couple of weeks. When I ride through the Between the Rivers residential district, it’s the glory of the azalea bushes and dogwood trees. They are tangible signs of a reawakening that happens about this time every year.
As much as I love the flowers and blooming trees in Rome, this is also the time of year that I love to meander through the Marshall Forest off Horseleg Creek Road and the Blacks Bluff Preserve along the Coosa River. Both are home to colonies of the federally endangered large-flowered skullcaps. They are purplish flowers that drop from a stem like a Smurf’s cap.
One of my friends, Jake Hager, executive director of the South Rome Alliance, dropped by my office the other day to show me some pictures he had taken of the wildflowers up along the Shirley Miller Wildflower Trail in the Pocket of Walker County.
It’s off Hog Jowl Road (love that name) and features an easy to maneuver boardwalk that takes the visitor past bloodroot, bluebells, four-leaved milkweed, hooked buttercup, purple phacelia, wild stonecrop, wood poppy, and yellow mandarin, just to name a few of the nearly 50 species that are on display.
A little later, in another five to six weeks, the Coosa Valley Prairie southwest of Cave Spring off Melson Road will be in full bloom. It is not as accessible as the Shirley Miller Wildflower Trail, but maybe more spectacular.
It includes species like the Alabama leatherflower, the wavyleaf purple coneflower, wild quinine, whorled coreopsis and an amazing variety of milkweed. The Mohr’s Barbara’s buttons, another endangered species, can be found in the prairie, which is managed by The Nature Conservancy. You’ve almost got to find a TNC- or Georgia Botanical Society-organized field trip to see this area.
Then comes the first of June and my uber favorite time to venture across the mountains of Northwest Georgia, particularly the Fort Mountain and Cloudland Canyon state parks to see the rhododendron and mountain laurel in bloom.
In addition to the state parks, I suspect my top favorite drive is back into the Cohutta Wilderness off Old Ga. 2 from Cisco to the confluence of the Conasauga and Jacks rivers. Where Old Ga. 2 T-bones into another Forest Service road, take a left and go maybe a quarter of a mile. You’ll actually cross over just a few feet into Tennessee and you’ll find the snorkeling hole. The opposite side of the river, the Conasauga at that point, is just covered up with rhododendron.
We’ve had a wet enough first three months of the year that I can only imagine that the floral display wil be off the charts spectacular this year.
If you go up there on the weekend, you might be able to find a camping pad along the river and make a whole weekend of it. The water in the Conasauga is generally about waist-deep and easy to wade. If it’s really hot, the water flowing out of the mountains can be refreshingly cool.
The Conasauga is also kayak-able and a pretty good place to practice for those who don’t generally kayak in a river but prefer the placid water of some of the area lakes. If for some reason you tip over, just stand up.
Another reason I love this time of the year — because I am an old person and not yet used to year-round trout fishing — is that the trout stocking has gotten started. And I love to wade the waters of Johns Creek, Cedar Creek, the previously mentioned Jacks and Conasauga, along with Coopers Creek closer to Blue Ridge and Mountaintown Creek between Chatsworth and Ellijay. If I don’t catch any trout that’s OK, because I’ll enjoy getting away from the bustle of daily life and enjoy nature at its finest.
There’s just something about standing in calf or knee deep water on a warm day that is soothing to the soul.
I’m planning a couple of road trips to try to do some photography up in the Cataloochee Valley of North Carolina, where I hope to find some of the elk that were returned to the area a number of years ago. The sound of a bugling elk is one of the most majestic sounds in nature. It’s about a two and a half hour drive, which makes it a nice day trip if you leave early enough in the morning.
I also want to get down to the coast, the Harris Neck Wildlife Refuge in particular, to photograph nesting wood storks. Those birds are so ugly that they’re pretty. The Harris Neck Refuge, near Darien, is one of the largest breeding grounds in the southeast.
Right now the only thing holding me back is the price of gasoline!