Dicken's famous line, It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, summarizes this experience for me. On one hand, clouds obscured the famous views from this Blue Ridge Mountain peak. On the other hand, I got to see several new (to me) species, enjoy being inside a cloud, and spend one on one time with my dad. This was the climax of a great vacation as well.
This trail is in North Carolina, along Blue Ridge Parkway, and the road is visible from the top when the weather permits. This region is one of the wettest in North America. Combined with strong elevation changes and varied soil types based on rock and exposure (north, south, east and west), the Blue Ridge Mountains and nearby Smoky Mountains are some of the most biodiverse regions of the U.S. I had no idea of this, and it was a grand surprise to me to see so many different plant species.
Craggy Pinnacle is located in a heath bald community a mountain plant community with low species diversity, but almost no Illinois-common species of plants. Rhododendrons dominate the environment, shading out most other species. However, at the same time, the heath bald along Craggy Pinnacle is changing over to an acidic cove forest, another mountain environment with more species diversity and, more importantly, northern species found only at high elevations this far south in the 6,000 foot high mountains.
Here's a look at the mountain itself.
As you can see, the plant cover is low. I doubt most trees are over thirty feet high. We parked in the parking lot and immediately I spotted more than one new plant, including this veronica in a mowed strip alongside the pavement. Note the amount of moss. This area is completely open, and next to a rock. It's just wet enough that moss grows everywhere.
We entered a tangle of bushes and trees, thick and mossy, with liverworts and lichens painting the trunks. The trail was steep and rugged, in a way that gave our flatlands legs a real challenge.
Here the ecosystem is mostly heath bald. with rhododendrons, primarily rosebay rhododendron. Ferns and sedges (Carex sp.) dominate the understory. A few warblers flit through the trees, none sticking around to pose for a photo. The plants do, so they get photographed. Gnarled sweet birch (Betula lenta) grow alongside the path, twisted into fantastical shapes by the cool winds.
Other, smaller plants grew in this area. The next few plants are northern plants that grow this far south due to the cooler temperatures at higher elevations. To explain how cool, this is early June in North Carolina, and there's still a bit of snow along the Blue Ridge Parkway in the highest spots. This is Canada or Maine temperatures in winter and summer. Combine that with frequent rain, and you get a lot of interesting plants.
Here are some large leaved Clintonia borealis, or blue-bead lily. Found mostly in boreal (northern) forests, south to Cook County, Illinois in the west and the mountains here, blue-bead lily has blue fruits. Here it is half out of flower. At certain points large clumps could be seen in the undergrowth.
Canada mayflower, Maianthemum canadense, here blooming in early June, are common residents of the undergrowth. These can be found in northern Illinois as well.
Oxalis montana, another species of the north woods that lives at high elevations in the mountains. This specimen grew on rock and moss alongside the path. This species is not as frequently encountered as the first two.
Many species,such as rock polypody ferns (Polypodium), grow in the moss covered rocks. Similar species grow in the jungles of tropical America as well as in Illinois canyons in Starved Rock State Park and the Shawnee Hills.
Cliff saxifrages (Micranthes petiolaris), lichens, and mosses grow on more exposed rocks. Note the full-flowered Catawba rhodie in the blurry background.
Mountain meadowrue, Thalictrum clavatum, are a species only found in this region of the world, unfortunately so for the rest of us. Dozens were in full flower on the trail.
Lady ferns (Athyrium) and sedges (Carex) form a major part of the groundcover in more open areas closer to the peak. As we reach the top, the clouds almost fully encircle the peak, leaving us this view below only briefly until thick fog settles in.
Ericaceae, the heath family, is well represented, as you can tell by the shrubs in the pictures above and below.
Catawba rhodies graced the summit, covered in purple flowers. Around them grew the larger rosebay rhodies, the dominant plant on Craggy Pinnacle. Blueberries and huckleberries grew around them in a few spots.
The fog restricted us from seeing the nearby mountains and would fade in and out, now fifty feet, now twenty feet of visibility. It was eerie.
So of course I focused on the lichens nearer at hand. This is one of the most lichen covered boulders I have ever seen. Other plants also grew on the rocks. Someday soon this trail is going to be closed on account of the plants seen center right in the following picture.
Note the grassy-looking plants growing out of the rock crevices? Those are special varieties of sedges (Carex), and they are only found on a few peaks in these mountains. That's it. Their habitat is easily damaged by careless hikers, so this popular trail is going to be closed over a few sedges. I understand why, but I still don't like the idea. Nevertheless, when the range of these plants is legitimately a few mountaintops, I get that they need protection. A new trail should be opened someday on a nearby peak to replace this one, so it's not a massive loss.
On our way back down, we spotted something running across the path. A shrew family had a nest hole alongside the path, and were scurrying around. The shrew moved too fast for a clear shot.
When we got back to the parking lot, the fog was a lot less at just a barely lower elevation (300 ft. or so) and so we got some really great views. The lake below was featured in the first Hunger Games movie. This is as close as you can get, since the lake is also Asheville, NC's water supply and is protected from disturbance.
We drove off on the Blue Ridge Parkway, seen below. Despite the lack of views from the top, it was an incredible hike nonetheless. I hope to return before the trail closes. I had an absolutely wonderful time, having never seen many of the plant species listed above until this hike, the last one of our trip.
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