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Coweeta Hydrologic Lab: 2018-1 First Visit of 2018 - Early May |
All Text & Images: Copyright (2018) |
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Coweeta Hydrologic Lab: 2018-1 First Visit of 2018 - Early May |
All Text & Images: Copyright (2018) |
| Elaine joined me for her first visit to Coweeta. (A chance to get a few photos of me for a change!) First, we visited The Rockhouse on Rockhouse Knob: |
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| Entrance to the Rock House |
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| One of the rock cairns at the entrance |
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| Inside the Rockhouse |
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| This shot of Elaine provides some scale for this huge place. |
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| Looking back toward the entrance |
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| Zoomed in, showing the cairns near the entrance |
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| I'm standing on a huge boulder that apparently separated from the cliff long ago to create the Rock House. |
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| A closer view... |
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| Looking down at Elaine, at the base of the cliff |
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| Slightly wider view of the cliff... |
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| Example of the patterns in the rock wall |
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| More rock folds |
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| Heading back to the truck: |
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| The path follows along the base of this cliff |
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| I stopped to take some photos of one of my favorite flowers |
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| Cliff Saxifrage, aka Michaux's saxifrage (Hydatica petiolaris, syn. Micranthes petiolaris) |
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| These plants love to grow on wet cliff faces. |
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| Our next stop was the rock outcrop at Devil's Ball Alley: |
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| Elaine spotted this Serviceberry (Amelanchier laevis) in bloom |
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| The main attraction here was the Rock Harlequin (Corydalis sempervirens) |
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| With the wind blowing on the exposed outcrop, it's surprising I got any clear shots. |
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| Photographing the Rock Harlequin... |
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| A few more images of these colorful little flowers... |
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| Leaving the outcrop, we came across a clump of Pink Lady's Slippers (Cypripedium acaule) |
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| Next, we walked up into Dryman Branch, to see what might be in bloom: |
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| The creekbank's were lush with herbal growth, but nothing special was blooming yet. We also checked out the upper headwaters of the Branch for the large colony of Speckled Wood Lilies I'd found there last year, but they were just starting to put out flower stalks. |
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| Heading down the mountain, we stopped at the upper Ball Creek Weir, a relaxing spot for eats and drinks |