Nature Notes: Nature on the road and trails

I got home yesterday from a road trip to the North Carolina mountains.

I live in central NC and it's interesting to see how much farther along the western mountains in my state are in terms of fall foliage.

This time we stayed in Brevard, NC which is near Asheville in the southern end of the NC mountains range. The northern NC mountain range are usually a week or so ahead of the southern NC mountain range in terms of fall colors.

The two shots above and one below are from the Graveyard Field Trail

I thought we might see some bears  because camping had been closed at that site although the trails were open.

When I read the sign about why they closed camping at the Graveyard Fields, it said that a bear had ripped open a tent gone inside to grab some food and that people were inside the tent when it happened.

 

The sign went on to say that no one was injured in that incident but that it was the latest of a string of recent human and bear encounters that made them decide to temporarily stop people from camping there.

The next shot is of Bearwallow Falls which is in a different forest from the Graveyard Field trail.

It's not unusual to see black bears in these mountains and they rarely bother people unless the cubs are threatened.

Still, I wouldn't want a bear coming in my tent when I was in it.

The shots above and below are ones I took in the NC Arboretum in Asheville.

The trail below is also at the Arboretum.

In addition to enjoying the fall trees on the trail at the arboretum it was a bonus that there were still some flowers and butterflies. 

Driving on the Blue Ridge Parkway is always fun. 

Below is a shot of Looking Glass Rock that I took from the Parkway.

It's nice to be a passenger in the car and be able to take photographs.

Every now and then Bill would spot something he thought I might want to photograph at a stand still and he'd pull over.

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