Panola Mountain Hike - PERFECT Day!

Saturday, the 5th of April, was a lovely day.  In Georgia, we can go from winter to summer in a heartbeat but Saturday was a true Spring day, the high for the day was about 67 degrees.  A wonderful day for a hike through the woods and up Panola Mountain!  Our hike was from 10 AM until 1PM.
Perfect!

The dogwood trees were in full bloom and were blooming all through the woods.

 Ready?  Let's go!  This is at the very beginning of the hike which must be led by a guide, as Panola Mountain is a protected state park, and a National Natural Landmark.  Our leader was Phil Delestrez, who is also the Resource Manager at Hard Labor Creek State Park in Rutledge.  (If anyone remembers Rutledge from my blog, I have mentioned it before, that is where my Dad lives...not at the park, mind you, just in the same area...Rutledge, Georgia!)  It was great to have someone so knowledgeable about trees, geology, birds, dragonflies, butterflies, and wildflowers as our guide! I think that any readers of  my blog might guess that I pestered poor Phil with all my questions!

 So many trees, and can you see that they are almost all hardwood trees in this area...this was about the only spot where I could see the sky, there were just that many trees! 

 Anybody remember this same photo from a few weeks back?  I miss my son holding up that tree on the left! (Wish you could have been on this hike, Christopher!).  What a great bunch of folks on this hike! In fact, if you look over on the side of my blog, my newest follower is Sherri and she was one of those on this hike! Thanks, Sherri!  Hope to see you again on this trail or at Arabia Mountain!

This lake is just at the base of Panola Mountain and you should have heard the birdsong here! One bird's call sounded like "Sweet, sweet, sweet...I'm so sweet"!  Phil told us what bird that it was...but I can't remember the name! Never mind, the bird's song was lovely to hear.

Here we are hiking up the mountain.  Sherri, isn't that you just behind Phil? Bless you, I must have been quiet when I was taking photos.  Too bad that I didn't take many photos, right?  HA!

As we were hiking on the mountain, I looked down and noticed...how can I put this, something that I did not want to step upon!  "Uh, Phil, what animal dropping is this", I said, one of many questions from yours truly!!  Phil, turning around to see, was quite happy that I noticed this and telling us that he hoped not to freak anybody out...picked up the animal droppings and proceeded to pull it apart (with his bare hands!) He told us it was coyote scat and he could tell that it was mostly fur, bones and he even found ONE whisker (a feral cat, was his guess).  For me, it was like being on a hike with David Attenborough (but one with a bit of a Chicago accent!): it was perfectly fine with me! Tell me more!  I want to know everything!

The sandwort (white flowers) were dazzling in the sunshine...

 As were the red diamorpha which now have these lovely white blooms!  Look how thickly they grow in this protected area of Panola Mountain!

One of the MAIN flowers that I wanted to see was the Atamsco lily, which unfortunately, was not blooming just yet...but wait, I told you it was a perfect day...

One brilliant white Atamsco lily in the bright Georgia sun, so very happy to see it that I could hardly hold the camera steady!




We saw this Fulcate Orange-Tip Butterfly on this hike! (Richard took this photo last year at a butterfly hike on Panola Mountain.) Richard couldn't go on this hike with me, which was a shame because he would have loved it!

As our hike neared the end at 1:00PM, Phil told us that he was going to lead a bird walk at Alexander Lake (also part of the Panola Mountain State Park) which would last from 2PM until 4PM and would anybody be interested in going to that?



Dear reader of my blog, what do you think that I said?   You will find out in a future post!