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.