Roadside and lakeside maples are flowering and near or at peak now, providing our first taste of spring. Redbuds should begin appearing in the next week, with dogwoods likely in two.
Posted by Lori Kincaid on March 16, 2010 at 10:41 AM
Wow, Matthew! I can only wish. There are two or three inches of fresh, slushy snow on the ground at my house.
The redbuds are beginning to pop in the urban neighborhoods. I expect them to begin to appear in a few more days.
Spring is definitely on the late side here in the Raleigh area. Are we going to have a late spring in the Smokies this year, too?
Posted by Steve Hamley on March 22, 2010 at 10:14 AM
I think yes. I did Big Creek Saturday and the trees in the Pigeon gorge are just beginning to bloom, and March was predicted - and has been - cooler than normal.
So if it stays cool, then I expect spring to be late, and the next ten days are not expected to top 70. But at some point, the weather will turn and I'd then expect things to happen very fast.
Cheers, Steve
Posted by Bruce Painter on March 22, 2010 at 1:54 PM
I know at this point it is just a guess but if you had the choice of the third week or the last week of April for the Smokies (mostly the Tenn. side) which would you take for this year. I have to put in for my Vacation soon and right now I'm thinking maybe the last week. I usually do the third week.
Bruce
Posted by Steve Hamley on March 25, 2010 at 9:29 AM
Went to Elkmont yesterday (3/24) and did the Cucumber Gap loop and saw the first anemone and bloodroot blooming on the west-facing ridges descending to Jake's Creek. Trillium are up here too, but of course not blooming.
I spent the past 5 days in Charleston, SC and if the conditions are any indication as to the timing of the rest of the Southeast, things are going to be late - at least a week or more.
I've done my Charleston SC Photo Workshop in this exact date (the last weekend in March) for the past 5 or 6 years and this year is way, way behind compared to the previous. There were hardly any azaleas blooming at either Cypress Gardens or Magnolia Plantation and the buds were far from bursting out. Usually, this is a peak weekend.
Richard, how are the nesting birds progressing at the Audubon Swamp at Magnolia? I've been down there the past several Easter weekends and they are usually fairly good. Thanks!
Right on schedule, Bill. All kinds of nest-building and copulating going on.
Posted by Steve Hamley on April 11, 2010 at 8:47 AM
Folks
I did Tremont, Little River road, and on to the Blue Ridge Parkway.
The bad news is that nearly all the dogwoods in Tremont/LRR are going to leaf. The "bonsai" dogwood and all his brethren are leaf, and occasionally I'd see a dogwood that had one branch with decent blooms, but all the other branches had little or no blooms. I did see one, and only one, decent dogwood in the Sugarlands area, but the blooms seemed small. I think I counted 6-7 dogwoods that some kind of bloom between the Tremont upper parking area and the Sugarlands. I don't recall seeing blooms along 441 past the Sugarlands. The dogwood and redbud just past the Wye isn't shootable if you want the dogwood, no bloom.
Redbuds are good and at peak, time to go for them. The large trillium are in full bloom along the LRR and it's time for them too.
I'd had reports of storm damage on the Parkway and decided to go see. There's significant damage - fallen trees - around Soco Gap and trees with a lot of broken branches from the Courthouse tunnel down to Graveyard Fields. The fields themselves seem O.K. but I did not hike down. The damage in this area seems limited to the ridge tops. I did not go beyond Graveyard Fields because the road was gated just beyond the parking lot, which was not indicated on the website or on the signs posted along the Parkway. I'd planned to go down 276 but went down 215 instead.
The damage around Soco Gap is heavy but limited to a small area, maybe a hundred yards or so.
They've bush hogged 215, so the rhodies along the road have taken a hit, but bubbling springs looked O.K. and the idiots did not bush hog the brush making the falls shot more difficult. The area around the falls looked fine from the road.
Cheers, Steve
Posted by Robin Neville on April 11, 2010 at 9:51 PM
Thanks for the update Steve.
Robin
Posted by Steve Hamley on April 22, 2010 at 11:03 AM
Folks,
White oak Sink is at peak with redbuds a little past. The purple phlox is splendid this year, as good as I've seen it. Time to go if you want it.
Smokies -- not much of any dogwoods anywhere I went. A bust.
Wildflowers -- White Oak Sink is happening! Thanks Steve for the heads-up. The phlox looked great yesterday, with lots of other wildflowers still at peak. Didn't see much very impressive at the other wildflower hotspots in the park that I visited, though.
Early spring color looked good from 3500-5000 feet in the Smokies and along the parkway. Graveyard Fields was a touch early but still shootable especially the waterfall and surroundings just north of the "official" pullout with sarvis and maple providing whites and reds. I would bet on peak about a week away.
Sunrise -- my favorite is Foothills Parkway at the first 2-3 pullouts on the left starting at the Townsend side. Great place to go shoot storm clouds also. Cades Cove is also great after a storm, or early morning with the fog happening. Big Creek is my favorite for streams shots.
I'd definitely recommend you check out Graveyard Fields -- but remember there is a road closure between Asheville and the Pisgah inn so you have to come up through Waynesville or Brevard on 276. The parkway color should be even better next weekend and hopefully the Sink will still be rocking then. . .
Planning a trip to the Smokies on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. (May 6-7-8) Any updates on the status of wildflowers? Planning Cades Cove and perhaps Cataloochee. Any suggestions? Looking for wildflowers, wildlife and waterfalls. How the weather cooperates.
Reports from the Parkway (Richard B., Jerry G.) indicate the sarvis is at or near peak at Graveyard Fields. It's a BSOD (blue sky of death) for the next couple of days for color shooters, but good light could maybe be had very early or very late.
Cheers, Steve
Posted by Leann Greene on May 24, 2010 at 11:32 AM
Catawba Rhododendron starting to show themselves in the Linville Area. Landscaped bushes in yards are in bloom from Jonas Ridge area up to Crossnore/Newland area. . Mounatian Laurel budding but not open yet.
Discussion
21 repliesHere's the latest on Smokies road openings and closings
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2010/mar/10/smokies-openings-delayed/
Cheers, Steve
Roadside and lakeside maples are flowering and near or at peak now, providing our first taste of spring. Redbuds should begin appearing in the next week, with dogwoods likely in two.
Lori
Spring is definitely on the late side here in the Raleigh area. Are we going to have a late spring in the Smokies this year, too?
So if it stays cool, then I expect spring to be late, and the next ten days are not expected to top 70. But at some point, the weather will turn and I'd then expect things to happen very fast.
Cheers, Steve
Bruce
Cheers, Steve
I've done my Charleston SC Photo Workshop in this exact date (the last weekend in March) for the past 5 or 6 years and this year is way, way behind compared to the previous. There were hardly any azaleas blooming at either Cypress Gardens or Magnolia Plantation and the buds were far from bursting out. Usually, this is a peak weekend.
I did Tremont, Little River road, and on to the Blue Ridge Parkway.
The bad news is that nearly all the dogwoods in Tremont/LRR are going to leaf. The "bonsai" dogwood and all his brethren are leaf, and occasionally I'd see a dogwood that had one branch with decent blooms, but all the other branches had little or no blooms. I did see one, and only one, decent dogwood in the Sugarlands area, but the blooms seemed small. I think I counted 6-7 dogwoods that some kind of bloom between the Tremont upper parking area and the Sugarlands. I don't recall seeing blooms along 441 past the Sugarlands. The dogwood and redbud just past the Wye isn't shootable if you want the dogwood, no bloom.
Redbuds are good and at peak, time to go for them. The large trillium are in full bloom along the LRR and it's time for them too.
I'd had reports of storm damage on the Parkway and decided to go see. There's significant damage - fallen trees - around Soco Gap and trees with a lot of broken branches from the Courthouse tunnel down to Graveyard Fields. The fields themselves seem O.K. but I did not hike down. The damage in this area seems limited to the ridge tops. I did not go beyond Graveyard Fields because the road was gated just beyond the parking lot, which was not indicated on the website or on the signs posted along the Parkway. I'd planned to go down 276 but went down 215 instead.
The damage around Soco Gap is heavy but limited to a small area, maybe a hundred yards or so.
They've bush hogged 215, so the rhodies along the road have taken a hit, but bubbling springs looked O.K. and the idiots did not bush hog the brush making the falls shot more difficult. The area around the falls looked fine from the road.
Cheers, Steve
Robin
White oak Sink is at peak with redbuds a little past. The purple phlox is splendid this year, as good as I've seen it. Time to go if you want it.
Cheers, Steve
Wildflowers -- White Oak Sink is happening! Thanks Steve for the heads-up. The phlox looked great yesterday, with lots of other wildflowers still at peak. Didn't see much very impressive at the other wildflower hotspots in the park that I visited, though.
Early spring color looked good from 3500-5000 feet in the Smokies and along the parkway. Graveyard Fields was a touch early but still shootable especially the waterfall and surroundings just north of the "official" pullout with sarvis and maple providing whites and reds. I would bet on peak about a week away.
Sunrise -- my favorite is Foothills Parkway at the first 2-3 pullouts on the left starting at the Townsend side. Great place to go shoot storm clouds also. Cades Cove is also great after a storm, or early morning with the fog happening. Big Creek is my favorite for streams shots.
I'd definitely recommend you check out Graveyard Fields -- but remember there is a road closure between Asheville and the Pisgah inn so you have to come up through Waynesville or Brevard on 276. The parkway color should be even better next weekend and hopefully the Sink will still be rocking then. . .
Cheers, Steve