Thomas Divide to Kanati Trail (441 to 441) 2/22

(Updated 2/26) The screenshot below from Google Earth shows our route. According to the AllTrails app data, the Thomas Divide Trailhead begins off Hwy 441 at 4,652 feet and follows the ridges to the Kanati Trail intersection at around 4,697 feet, a climb of just some 45 feet over 1.8. So nice! From there the trail descends to 2,851 feet, a drop of 1,846 feet over 2.8 miles. It traverses the slopes and sounds of the small babbling brooks (example above) of 6 small watersheds, all feeding the Kanati Fork stream below. Though normally meeting at Poteet Park at 9 am, the time was pushed back an hour to let a rainy weather-front clear the area. A car shuttle was arranged to make the one way hike possible.

Winter hiking has its advantages. This great view will be gone when the leaves come out.

This hike contained a rich collection of green winter flora. If I have mis-identified anything, please comment below. There is much to learn and I will continue to make changes to this post in the days ahead.

pincushion moss

trailing arbutus

brook lettuce saxifrage

seersucker sedge

partridgeberry

snakewort

two-leaved toothwort (cardamine diphylla)

sedge

A patch of adam & eve orchids. Each plant puts up a heavily striped single leaf thru the winter.

Appalachian rockcap fern (polypodium appalachianum)

So many names for dryopteris intermedia: Evergreen wood fern, fancy fern, glandular wood fern, intermediate shield fern, intermediate wood fern.

Is it turkey tail or false turkey tail mushroom? Looking at the underside is the key and hopefully next time I will.

lesser smoothcap moss

We took a fine sunny lunch break at the intersection with the Thomas Divide and Kanati Trails.

smooth lungwort lichen

the basal leaves of the slender toothwort

Perhaps shield lichen, any ideas? The GSMNP has 909 confirmed lichen species.

Whitewash lichen

a single leaf of the foam flower plant emerging from the winter leaves

bear corn

competitive wrestling match of vines and tree

a rich community of different types of mosses on a downed log

silver bell tree (not shagbark hickory as I originally thought)

hairy woodrush

many-forked cladonia lichen

The lungwort lichens, such as this fruiting smooth lungwort swell with the rain and then with sufficient dryness becomes brown and papery. Look for it on the shadiest sides of trees and other structures. As it is sensitive to air pollution, its presence is a good sign.

tree lungwort lichen

two-leaved toothwort (cardamine diphylla)

running cedar moss (a type of club moss)

The Kanati Fork Creek flows directly into the Oconoluftee, just across the road and below the trailhead.

This hike started with light jackets on and rain gear at the ready, in our packs and ended with some folks in short sleeve shirts and 70 degree temperatures, a delicious sunny blue-sky day.

-rsh-