Baskins Falls! A Beary Great Day!

On a recent trip to Great Smoky Mountain National Park, we were going to hike a short 1 1/2 mile trail to Baskins Falls. Little did we know that on the very pleasant drive to get to the trail head we would have one of those chance encounters that really adds that something extra to an already beautiful day.

Just a mile or so before we arrived at the trail head this mama black bear jumped out right in front of our car. Needless to say, I didn't have my camera ready but managed to quickly grab it and point it in the general direction of the bear. I had my focus set on auto and trying to shoot through the windshield of the car made the pics a little blurry but was still very glad to get off this single shot before she crossed the road and went out of sight.

But little did I know that as I sat fussing about only getting one shot instead of paying attention, here came two little cubs scooting across the road in hot pursuit of mama. I flipped the camera on again and pointed it in time to take these two shots(sorry for the blur) through the windshield again.

They wasted no time as they quickly followed mamas trail and out of sight. This was really exciting and they were also headed into the same area that we intended to hike in just a few minutes.  

Well on to the trail head and the hike at hand. We walked the 1 1/2 miles to Baskins Falls and we were torn between excitement from seeing the bear and cubs to a little nervous about being in the same woods as they were, hoping to see them again but at the same time hoping not to see them again in the wrong situation.

Baskins Creek Falls is a beautiful water fall that is very much overlooked in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. It is located toward the base of the western slopes of Mt. LeConte originally known as the Bear Skin area. It was once prized among the early settlers for the amount of bear in the area and was a prime hunting spot for black bear. Somewhere along the way the name got changed from Bear Skin Creek to Baskins Creek and Falls.

We saw a family or two on the hike to the falls but we had the entire falls to ourselves when we arrived. The hike was moderate in nature and the trail was very good with only one moderately steep portion that descends down to the creek and falls.

Needless to say, it is still a prime area to see bear also. We didn't see the mama bear and cubs again, which was ok, but we were sure glad to have spent a little quality time in their woods.

"The woods were made for the hunters of dreams,

 The brooks for the fishers of songs,

 To the hunters who hunt for the gunless game

 The streams and the woods belong."

             Sam Walter Foss ( 1858-1911): Librarian and poet

And Spring Arose!

Beautiful spring blossoms at Bay Springs Lake in North Mississippi.

"And Spring arose on the garden fair,
Like the Spirit of Love felt everywhere;
And each flower and herb on Earth's dark breast
rose from the dreams of it's wintery rest."
   Percy Bysshe Shelley(1792-1822): English Poet

Brown and Bare!

The trees and shrubs are showing that first sign of life after a long, cold and snowy winter in the deep south. The buds are emerging from their winter hiding place and each day brings a little more to see.


Yesterday the twig was brown and bare;
To-day the glint of green is there;
Tomorrow will be leaflets spare;
I know no thing so wondrous fair
No miracle so strangely rare.
I wonder what will next be there!
     L.H.Bailey(1858-1954): American Horticulturists, Botnists

Snow Sleding in Dixie!

        Snowflakes
Out of the bosom of the air.
Out of the clould-folds of her garments shaken,
Over the woodlands brown and bare,
Over the harvest-fields forsaken,
Silent and soft and slow
Descends the snow.
     Henry Wadsworth Longfellow(1807-1882): American Poet and Educator

Well we just had the first white Christmas in memory in Mississippi and now we get a 6-10" snow a couple of weeks later! Wow! Who was that feller that was talking about global warming? Jessica and Ryan just had to break out the sleds and have some fun courtesy of ole man winter.

Sugar Maple

             Trees
I think that I shall never see
A poem as lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.
Joyce Kilmer (1886-1918) American Journalist, Poet

A sugar maple has to be one of the most beautiful trees in the fall. It often turns multiple colors with parts of the tree showing various shades of green, gold, orange and red all at the same time. This shot was taken at the farmstead in the back of the Cades Cove Loop Road, one of my favorite places in the Smoky Mountain National Park.