Whiteside Mountain

We've been here before.

The trail...

...will show you epic mountain vistas...

...and small scenes of quiet beauty.

The trail...

...will put you between a rock and a hard place...

...and give you a soft bed to lie on.

The trail...

...will introduce you to the slowest of hikers...

...and the fastest animal in the world, the peregrine falcon. (Okay, not in the picture, but glimpsed from here at Fool's Rock.)

The summit, of course...

...is the summit...

...but also a garden of moss and lichen...

...and of wildflowers.

Hit the trail.

Silver Run Falls

Another repeat visit from five years ago.

[Silver Run below the falls. I saw trout here but was not fishing.]

[All that glitters is not gold, nor even silver. The streambed here is abundantly decorated with flecks of mica.]

Dry Falls

On the Cullasaja River west of Highlands, North Carolina, is Dry Falls. (One can walk behind the falls and stay relatively dry.) Alternate names have included High Falls, Pitcher Falls, and (Upper) Cullasaja Falls.

Jessa spotted this denizen of the falls. I've tentatively put him down as part of the dusky salamander complex (Desmognathus sp.) but can go no further; informed speculation is welcomed in the comments section.

Mountain laurel, in its glory and just past:

Assorted rocks, ferns, etc. (all photos by Jessa):

Bridal Veil Falls

We last posted from Bridal Veil Falls five years ago. We were back recently with Jessa's cousin Kristina, so here are new photos.

Bucketmouth

Not great pictures—all I had was my flip phone and an obliging passer-by—but this was a nice largemouth bass, caught on a small nymph tossed close to a rocky shoreline at Holmes Lake.

This was early June. More recent material to follow shortly.

Fishing the flood

Ellie and I fished the floodwaters at Holmes Lake here in Lincoln yesterday. It was fun to wet-wade the fishing pier, and as a bonus we had it all to ourselves. The fishing was slow, just one fish each, but mine at least had the charm of novelty: the first walleye I've caught on a fly. It attacked a garishly tinselled woolly bugger variant (Postfly calls it an Olive Leech) and, thanks to the relatively cool water, put up a stout fight.

A toothy critter...

Ellie's one was a pretty black crappie, which I thought went very nicely with her light blue fishing shirt, watch band, and nail polish. A well-coordinated angler, to be sure!

Redear sunfish

Ellie and I were skidding in bluegill after bluegill the other day when this redear sunfish (Lepomis microlophus) made an appearance, not far from where we caught a couple last spring.

Redears spend most of their time deep in the water column, where they eat primarily snails and other molluscs, but come shallow to spawn. (At one time I planned to buy or tie some flies to imitate snails, but fortunately redears will take nymphs as well.) Their specialised diet has earned them the nickname "shellcracker" down South, except for Louisiana, where they are "chinquapins".

Bull snake

While out fishing this afternoon, I encountered a good-sized bull snake (Pituophis catenifer sayi). I won't hazard a guess as to length, but I have no problem believing that they can reach 8 feet.

Bull snakes have a well-earned reputation for defensiveness, often mistaken for aggression. This description of bull snake posturing, from Wikipedia, is spot on; today's snake did the whole routine when I got close with my mobile phone, the only camera I had with me:

Owing to its coloration, dorsal pattern, and semikeeled scalation, the bullsnake superficially resembles the western diamondback rattler (Crotalus atrox), which is also common within the same range. The bullsnake capitalizes on this similarity by performing an impressive rattlesnake impression when threatened. First, it hisses, or forcibly exhales through a glottis or extension of the windpipe. The end of the glottis is covered by a piece of cartilage known as the epiglottis which flaps back and forth when air is exhaled from the right lung, producing a convincing rattling sound. It also adopts a rattlesnake-like "S-curve" body posture as though about to strike. It commonly vibrates its tail rapidly in brush or leaves, and flattens its head to resemble the characteristic triangular shape of the rattlesnake. These defensive behaviors are meant to scare away threats, however, and not to sound an attack.

This specimen was on a narrow spit of land between a lake and pond; I'm sure it meant to pillage one or more of the red-winged blackbird nests nearby.

A beauty.

"Good Friday"

This performance is from 2008, but I'm happy to say the Junkies can still bring it. Jessa and I saw them do this one at the City Winery in Atlanta last month. Great show from one of my all-time favourite bands...
 

Stickball, 1828

Just a quick link to a CNN story on cave writing, in Cherokee syllabary, by the son of its developer, Sequoyah. The topic? Stickball.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/11/us/cherokee-cave-writings-alabama-trnd/index.html 

Enjoy.

An seabhac

We ended our hawking season right before our trip to Georgia—a bit later than usual, thanks to some late snow—but here are some photos of the hawk (an seabhac in Irish) that Jessa took before we wrapped things up.