Porters Creek

Date: 4/11/2015
Distance: 7.4 miles

Today I started early for Porters Creek.  I had seen on the Facebook Smokies Group page that the wildflowers were blooming, so I chose to use the morning to go check it out.  I left the house about 6:30 and was hiking a bit before 8:00.

It was a glorious spring day for a hike.  The trail starts with a 1 mile walk up a gravel road where the trail changes to a classic single track trail.  I opted to not visit the barn or the cabin that sits near this junction as time was limited.

One of the 1st interesting sights on the trail was an impressive foot bridge which consisted of 3 sections.  The Creek was quite beautiful this morning.

Shortly after the bridge, the wildflowers began to make their appearance in earnest.  The forest floor was just covered with these small white flowers.

About 2 miles from the car, there is a nice waterfall

 

 Beyond the falls, the Trillium really started showing up in bunches.  The forest was just covered with it.  The pictures don't do it justice.

 
 The trail was extra nice as it followed the creek all of the way up to the end of the trail at a campsite.

 There was a huge tree right next to the trail that was cool to see.

I arrived at the campsite about 9:20.  The sun was just making its way above the surrounding mountains.  The campsite was large with 2 or 3 different group spots.

 On the way back down, I had to stop and shoot a few more pictures of the Trillium now that the sun was shining.

 On the way down, I noticed this old decaying log that was covered with purple flowers that were living on it.

 Back on the gravel road, I noticed a few steps going up the side of the trail and found a cemetery.

 These purple flowers were along the gravel road as well.

I didn't think it was much of a climb, but it looks to have been about 1500' over 3.8 miles.  Great morning in the park and back home by noon.