Sunday, November 20, 2011

Fall Draws Us Back to Morrow Mountain

Now honestly, if my title hadn't given it away,
could you have assumed the beautiful scene
below was near the Blue Ridge Parkway or
Virginia's Shenandoah Valley?

But these scenes were viewed by Judy and
me in the Uwharrie Mountains just one hour
from our home in Moore County, NC.
Specifically, Morrow Mountain State Park,
a refuge we visit at least twice a year, and
sometimes more.  We feel very fortunate to
have such a nice state park close enough to
zip away for a half day, a picnic, or a full day
without an exhausting or expensive drive.

I was surprised to see this flower in bloom
in November.  I had seen it during the summer
with no blossoms, and wondered what it would
look like.  Now I know.

I was not surprised to see the array of fall
colors across the mostly hardwood canopy
of the heavily wooded mountains.

We agreed we'd never seen more
vivid colors in all our visits here.


We picnicked in the mountaintop picnic
area, then drove to the riverside for an
afternoon of hiking.

This is the all-new concession building,
replacing the old, out-dated one.  I imagine
this one will be ready to open by spring.

There were 2 or 3 fishermen on the dock,
but things were pretty quiet.  We're pretty
lucky at picking quiet days for our visits.

This view across the still waters shows where
three rivers, the Yadkin, the Pee Dee, and
 the Uwharrie converge to form Lake Tillery.

Even before we got started hiking, these
crimson sweetgum leaves caught my eye.

Likewise, these golden beeches.

Today we had chosen a portion of the
Fall Mountain trail that we had never
hiked before.  Overall, the trail was
designated as "moderate difficulty," but
I referred to a topographic map to limit
most of our walk to fairly easy terrain.
Our trail was marked by orange triangles.

On visits over the years, we have walked the following trails:
Laurel Trail
Mountain Loop Trail
Quarry Trail
Rocks Trail
Three Rivers Trail

In hopes that some readers may be
inspired to visit Morrow Mountain, I'm
sharing these four sections from the park's
brochure.  They are very informative about
park services, history, trails, and more.
Click on these to enlarge and learn more.
(If you right-click, you can open in a new
window to view in full detail)




Here are some shots from the Fall
Mountain Trail we hiked.  It was a
nice, sunny day, with no jackets needed.

Fallen leaves painted the landscape, but
there were plenty more still clinging to branches.

There's much along every trail to make
one wonder, "What happened here?"
Playing "Nature Detective" is a favorite
pastime of mine.

For a good portion of our walk we
followed this gently meandering stream,
easily crossing it from time to time.

I'm glad I noticed this colorful view
of Morrow Mountain before we departed.

You'll have to strain your eyes to see one
of the deer that we happened upon as we
were driving out of the park.  It's exactly
in the center and blends in nicely.

And in closing, here's a dark little corner
of woods where four more deer bounded
silently away as I observed.
But the photo above was not taken at
Morrow Mountain.  When we arrived
home that evening, there were four deer
in the field in our own backyard.  I circled
through the woods to follow them as they
eased away.  I glimpsed them through the
underbrush, but never got a clear chance
at a picture.  That didn't matter; I was just
happy to be reminded that we don't have to
leave home to see and appreciate what God
has lovingly surrounded us with.  We just
have to open our eyes.

Please let me know if you visit Morrow Mountain.

1 comment:

Cindy said...

Excellent photos Mr. Loyd. I love Morrow Mtn!! Thanks for sharing.