We went for a hike up Blood Mountain on Thursday.  It was a gorgeous day:  70-something degrees, a bit overcast, nice breeze.  

 

This picture shows the beginning of the trail.  7/10 of a mile later, we connect to the Appalachian Trail.  This section is about 30 miles from the terminus at Springer Mountain, in Georgia.  So, we see lots of through hikers in March, but mostly day hikers this time of year.  It's always interesting to stop and chat a bit.  "Where are you from?" elicits many, many answers.  We've met people from all over the world on this trail!!

 

We've done this hike lots of times, and it's always fun.  We do a 4.4 mile round trip, up and back;  that's about 13,000 steps, if you're interested in that sort of thing. It usually takes us about 2 hours, but this time, it took us over 3 hours!!!  There were so many wildflowers in bloom, I couldn't keep up the pace.  I had to stop and explore each one.  Some, I had to use my Seek app to identify.  Others, I just had to take pictures.  It made this walk one of the most special for both of us.   

 

I'll be sharing wildflower pix the next few days, cause I know you'll love seeing some of the things we saw.

 

HAPPY HIKING!!!