Mother's Day: Overall Run Waterfall

Sunday, Mother's Day, found us headed down Skyline Drive to Mathews Arm Campground to take advantage of a 24-hour break in the rain to hike to Overall Run Waterfall. Though the trail was muddy and had water running in it in places, and though we had to ford Overall Run in high water a few times, the weather could not have been nicer for our 8-plus mile hike. As a bonus for dealing with all that water, the falls had more water in them than I have ever seen in any photo.

A Lot of Water in the Falls on Sunday

The 29' Cascade Just Before the Main Falls

The View from the Falls is Spectacular

Hummus, Provolone, and Canadian Bacon Wraps

The trails in this area are confusing and not well marked and at one point, we went right when we should have gone left and ended up three-quarters of a mile later on the AT, a place that we did not really want to be. It was a pleasant back track to the correct trail, but it did add a mile and a half to our day. We ended up at the falls about 12:30 and after a morning of hard work, those hummus, provolone, and Canadian bacon wraps sure hit the spot.

We Goofed a Turn and Ended at the AT in the Lower Right

Some Steep Sections

The camera flattens out the perspective, but you can still see that this trail has some pretty steep sections as well as some creek fords.

Annie Crossing Overall Run on the Way Back

Velvet Buck and a Doe Near the Campground

Star Chickweed

Winter Cress

Chicken of the Woods Resplendent in Dayglow Orange

Wood Betony

Bluets

Lots and Lots of Squawroot on This Trail

Rue Anemone

An Unknown Type of Wild Parsnip

Birdfoot Violet

Wild Azalea

Mountain Laurel Starting to Bud Out

Wild Geranium Everywhere

Showy Orchis

Found a Big Patch of Wood Anemone

One of the Bellworts, not Sure Which

I Was Surprised to See Vetch in the Woods

Choke Cherry in Full Bloom

Ragwort in the Campground

We Were Serenaded by Several Catbirds in the Campground

We Found Ourselves in a Flock of American Redstarts

A Very Late Blooming Dogwood

Very Tired Annie with a Glass of Barolo on our Patio

One of Only About Ten Wisteria Blooms This Year

On the way back, we stopped at Costco to get a bottle of Barolo, a loaf of bread and some tomatoes as well as to fill up on gas. After showers, we collapsed into chairs on the patio under the now leafed out wisteria. Because of the hard freeze a few weeks back, we have about ten blooms among the three vines when we should have hundreds. Once the sun started to go down and it started to chill, we came in and devoured bruschetta topped with tomatoes in balsamic vinegar and passed out at 8:30pm. Note to self, in current state of conditioning, two glasses of wine on top of 8+ miles is a buttkicker!