We hiked through Clifton Gorge this morning.  The gorge was high and rushing far below, and the woods were cool and wet from rain.  We ate handfuls of black raspberries growing wild.  Many wildflowers and trees were blooming.  The Blue Hole was high and full of turtles, water snakes, fish, and water birds swooping.  Large raptors soared overhead.  We met a fellow hiker who was wearing a Great Smoky Mountains National Park emblem, and who turned out to be from, of all places, Maryville, TN, with family there!  What a small world.  We took it as a sign–of what, I’m not sure.

If you look closely, you’ll catch a rare sighting of some cave dwellers on the trail.