Final day trip and orchid foray to Mt. Mitchell State Park, North Carolina — 2014-06-28

This day trip to Mt. Mitchell was set up several months ago with friends from the Smithsonian Institution who wanted to conduct research on Platanthera psycodes or Small Purple Fringed orchid. The folks from the Smithsonian were Tom Mirenda, orchid specialist who is responsible for maintaining the national orchid collection of 8,000+ specimens, and Lisa Horth, Associate Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia — she is also serving as an intern at the Smithsonian. In addition, I met some new friends from the Asheville, North Carolina area: photographers Brett Hopkins and his wife, Julie McMillan, and Marc Burchette — orchid specialist at the Biltmore Estate.

We met at the Folk Art Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway, just east of Asheville, North Carolina where we carpooled and then headed up the Parkway toward our destination of Mt. Mitchell State Park. Along the way, we stopped at a couple of places to look for another fringed orchid, Platanthera grandiflora or Large Purple Fringed orchid. This species is very closely related to the Small Purple Fringed orchid which is so prevalent at Mt. Michell, but it usually blooms a week to ten days ahead of the Small Purple Fringed orchid. Brett knew of a site that we would pass on the way up the Parkway, where he had seen many of the Large Purple Fringed orchids in the past. We stopped at that spot and got out of our vehicles to try to find the plants. After a bit of searching, we did find them but they were long past — all of the flowers were withered and brown. Bummer!

Here is a shot of Platanthera psycodes or Small Purple Fringed orchid — our objective at Mt. Mitchell:

So, we got back in our vehicles and headed up the Parkway. As we neared Mt. Mitchell, the weather fell apart — dense fog caused us to slow to a crawl. There was one spot along the way where I had seen several blooming plants of the Large Purple Fringed orchid just three days prior to this trip, and I wanted to try to locate them again so that Lisa could photograph them for her research in ultraviolet patterns on orchid flowers. By this time, the fog was so thick that I could barely see the center line on the road, much less spot orchids growing along the roadside. Naturally, we missed the spot, but I promised that we would catch it on trip back down the mountain.

Soon, we reached the turnoff to Mt. Mitchell State Park. I had mentioned to the group that we would begin seeing the orchid plants in the ditch as we drove up the access road. After less than a mile (~1.6 km), we spotted a small group of orchids in full bloom. I know that the others wanted to stop at this spot to see the plants, but I continued to drive toward the Restaurant parking lot, where we could park the vehicles and take our time with a number of plants which were just next to the parking lot. Parking along the access road is very limited, and in the fog, it would be quite hazardous for the six of us to try to photograph the plants along the narrow roadside.

As we expected, the fog (actually we were in the clouds) was quite dense, and in a short while, we were all covered with mist. Fortunately, the temperature was mild, so being wet was not so much of a problem for us. The group wasted no time setting up their camera gear, and soon we began photographing the orchid plants which were in perfect bloom. Here is a shot of a plant that was host to a small, mist-covered spider web:

Photography note: The dense fog played havoc with the color balance on my images, and I had to spend an inordinate amount of time in the post-processing work on them. Even at close range, the heavy mist greatly affected the image quality.

In any case, here are some shots of the plants we found at the Restaurant parking lot:

Although most of the plants were well along in their blooming, there was one plant that was just getting started:

Tom had wandered down to a spot below the Restaurant where there were a number of orchid plants growing on a grassy slope. He had seen an image of me that was taken at that spot several years ago, and he wanted to check it out. Here is the image taken in 2006:

I asked Lisa if she wanted to join me in driving up the road about a mile to a site where Walter Ezell and I had recently seen some various color forms of this orchid species. She readily agreed, so we packed our gear and headed up the mountain toward a steep roadside site, located just off of sharp curve in the road. The fog was still quite thick, so we were quite careful as we got out of the vehicle which was parked just on the edge of the road.

Taking our time descending the treacherous slope, we finally were able to set up our tripods and photograph these colorful specimens — one light pink and one bi-color:

Scrambling our way back up the steep, rocky slope, we worked our way back down the road a short distance to a nice patch of the orchids. These were in perfect form, and we proceeded to photograph many of the plants — at times with our butts stuck out into the highway because of the tiny bit of roadside that provided habitat for the orchids. From time to time, we could hear cars coming down the road, but we couldn’t see them because of the fog and mist. It was dangerous, I admit, but we were very careful to jump into the bushes as the cars passed! Here are some of the shots we got at that spot:

Here is a group shot of some of these roadside orchid plants:

We had told the rest of the group that we would be gone for only a few minutes, but we had been gone for about a half-hour, so we decided to hike back up the road to the vehicle and head back to the Restaurant parking lot. Once we arrived, Brett and Julie decided to head back to their home in Asheville. The rest of us (Marc, Lisa, Tom and I) were hungry, so I suggested that we get some lunch at the Restaurant. Walter Ezell and I had eaten there on our visit a few days prior to this trip. The “special of the day” was a grilled cheese sandwich with a large bowl of tomato soup, and it was very tasty. Luckily, they were serving the same special on this day, so I talked Lisa into trying it, since she said that it was probably her favorite.

Once we finished, we headed back to the parking lot, ready to head back down the mountain. Just as I got into my truck, Walter called and said he was close by and was heading to the restaurant. He had been on a photo shoot in Asheville and had planned on joining us if he finished in time. So we went back into the Restaurant where we waited for him to show up. Eventually, he arrived and we decided to head back to that Large Purple Fringed orchid spot I missed on the drive up. I really wanted Lisa and Tom to be able to photograph this orchid species.

The fog and mist were even worse than before (if that is possible), so we crept along at 25 mph (15 kph) with our windows rolled down so that we could spot the orchids along the roadside. Well, we finally reached a spot along the Parkway that told me we had passed the area, so we turned around and headed back in the direction of Mt. Mitchell, knowing that we would pass the spot again. Finally, after slowly creeping along the highway, I spotted the several plants in the roadside ditch. We pulled off on the other side of the road and gathered our camera gear. One of us was acting as spotter, letting the others know when traffic was approaching, since visibility was less than 100 feet (30 meters).

Eventually, we finished photographing at that spot and headed back to the Folk Art Center where we had met that morning and carpooled. Brett and Julie were kind enough to invite us to their place for drinks and socializing, so we headed there. Their yard is landscaped with native plants and has a long stream with a waterfall that Brett had constructed from local boulders. This waterfall ended in a large pool filled with native water lilies and other aquatic plants. The sound of the water splashing in the pool effectively masked any of the roadside and neighborhood noises and provided a relaxing place to reflect on our special day together.

That’s what the best of living is about, I think — friends, new and old, sharing a common experience in the field — telling tales of wildflowers, photography, and wild animals that pay the occasional visit to the backyard. We ordered pizza from a local restaurant and shared some fine wine and local cheeses. Too soon, it was time for Walter and me to head back to Greenville, South Carolina. We parted with hugs and a promise to get back together, soon — even considering the ever-changing weather, what a great day it was for a trip into the mountains of North Carolina…

–Jim