Saturday, May 20, 2017

A Walk in the Woods

Well, folks, time for another re-wind!  Back in April, as part of our Nashville, Asheville, Charlotte, Virginia road trip, we visited a nephew in Lynchburg.  A fellow hiking enthusiast, he served up one for the memory banks – McAfee Knob.

The Knob, which falls along the Appalachian Trail (A.T.), is a quartzite and sandstone formation jutting horizontally from the ridge.  It has an almost 270-degree panorama of the Catawba Valley and North Mountain to the West, Tinker Cliffs to the North and the Roanoke Valley to the East.  Red-roofed farmhouses, dilapidated barns and winding country lanes are visible from the elevation of 3,197 feet atop Catawba Mountain.  The Knob is named after James McAfee, a Scotch-Irish immigrant who settled in the Catawba Valley in the late 1730s.
 
Spring flowers were out in abundance on the trail, and I was fairly trigger happy, as you can see in the collages below.  A shout out to fellow blogger Beth from Garden Grumbles  – she gave me a link to the US wildflowers site, which has been immensely helpful in identifying these beauties. 
 
I have a new appreciation for violets – who knew there were so many, with widely varying petal shapes and colors, and leaf formations.  I have definitely learned that I need to get a good shot of LEAVES – it is critical to the process of elimination when considering flowers that may look similar.
In preparing this post, I learned that McAfee Knob is one of the most photographed spots along the A.T.   I don’t think there is a correlation, but the Knob was featured in the 2015 major motion picture A Walk in the Woods, starring Robert Redford and Nick Nolte.  In fact, the movie poster shows Redford and Nolte standing on the Knob.  The movie is based on travel writer Bill Bryson’s 1998 autobiographical book, A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail.  Our family are big fans of Bryson – if you have never read one of his books, I highly recommend them.  They are funny, insightful about different cultures, thought-provoking and feature quirky trivia.  So, I love the serendipity of hiking somewhere that has also been trod by Bryson!

Linking to Mosaic Monday


18 comments:

  1. What a beautiful hike. It is so hard to identify flowers when there are so many and some look so similar ... glad to hear the wildflower guide was helpful. My Colorado boy had to read one of Bryson's books and write a paper on it. I had watched the movie but didn't even realize Bill Bryson was an actual person so even I learned something. :)

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  2. We are never too old to learn :-)
    We are heading off on another hike this morning - let's see what I can find to capture in film!

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  3. Hi Angie, what amazing scenery thanks for taking the Mosaic Monday crowd along on your hike this week.
    Love reading and listening to Bill Bryson, he has made the UK his home and written several books about his life there. Notes From A Small Island is very funny.

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    1. Hi Maggie - thanks for visiting my blog! My Spousal Unit is from the UK and that is also his favorite Bryson book.

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  4. Wow you sure had a nice hike thanks for sharing the mosaics, luv those wildflowers

    much love...

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    1. Gillena - much love back to you. Watch this space for more wildflowers.

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  5. Lovely to read about and see some of the beauty of The Knob area.
    Joy

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    1. Joy - I love your name - two of my family members have Joy in their names!

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  6. Well that looks like one amazing adventure! Yes, I've read some of Bryson's books and have them in our library. I love wildflowers, and appreciate them each time I walk in our country neighborhood. So nice to meet you, Angie. I have a cousin who relocated from Wisconsin to Great Falls.

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    1. And nice to meet you. The first time we ever came to Montana (at least 10 years ago), we flew into Great Falls. Nice town.

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  7. Great shots from your hike. I especially like the identification of all the wild flowers. Looking at the leaves is critical, isn't it? Happy Mosaic Monday!

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    1. I am a new blogger (only since March), so I am delighted to join the blogger community in general and the Mosaic Monday family specifically. Everyone is so supportive.

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  8. I can see why the McAfee Knob is one of the most photographed spots along the A.T. Gorgeous! And the wild flowers!

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  9. Wow - not sure I'd stand out there - but I'm a very well known chicken. But what a view - and the flowers are lovely - good to know the names too - thanks.

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    1. As I have gotten older, I have developed a fear of heights .... I just don't look down and hold tight to Spousal Unit!

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  10. You did great identifying the wildflowers. I still have to get the book out to help me! beautiful photos for Mosaic Monday! Hugs!

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    1. Thank you! It's time consuming but very fulfilling!

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