IF YOU GO
The Pocket, Crockford-Pigeon Mountain Wildlife Area, Walker County, Ga.
The Shirley Miller Wildflower Trail (wheelchair-accessible) is an 800-foot-long boardwalk that takes visitors through the Pocket’s lush assemblage of numerous wildflower species. A rugged foot trail, which begins at the end of the board, runs next to a swift-flowing mountain stream and ends at a beautiful high waterfall.
Directions: From LaFayette, take Ga. 193 north for 8 miles to Davis Cross Roads. Turn left onto Hog Jowl Road and go nearly 3 miles. At the top of the hill, turn left onto Pocket Road. Continue on this road, which becomes a gravel road, for 1.2 miles, crossing a creek, to the parking area. Walk down the gravel driveway through the handicap parking area to get to the wildflower trail.
The Georgia Department of Natural Resources designates the Pocket as a user fee area; a Georgia Outdoor Recreation Pass is required for all visitors ages 16-64.
For wildflower enthusiasts, a visit to the Pocket at Pigeon Mountain in North Georgia’s Walker County can be a sure cure for spring fever.
The Pocket is regarded as Georgia’s premier site for early spring mountain wildflowers. “Many people consider it to be the best wildflower walk in the state from mid-March to mid-April,” said photographers Hugh and Carol Nourse in their book “Favorite Wildflower Walks in Georgia.”
They likely won’t get any argument from their fellow Georgia Botanical Society members, including me. An early spring visit to the Pocket — like our trip there last weekend — has become an annual rite for the society.
As the Nourses also note, the Pocket is a photographer’s delight. That was evident last weekend: Members of the Rome Photo Club were photographing the colorful flowers and the Pocket’s breathtaking scenery.
The state-owned Pocket is within a deep, wooded, north-facing cove through which a rushing mountain stream flows. The profusion of blooms can be seen from the Shirley Miller Wildflower Trail (named for the wife of former Gov. Zell Miller), which consists of an 800-foot boardwalk built to prevent visitors from trampling the flowers. At the end of the cove is a beautiful waterfall reached by a rugged, wildflower-lined trail that starts from the boardwalk.
The wildflower blooms seem to be nearly on time this year, noted our leader, Mike Christison. Last year, blooms were a couple of weeks early because of an unusually warm winter.
We were particularly delighted to see the beautiful blossoms of the Pocket’s signature flower, the Virginia bluebell. Its blue flowers, mixed with the bright yellow blooms of celandine poppies, were a glorious sight. Also in gorgeous bloom were toothworts, trout lily, rue anemone, Canada violet, yellow woodland violet, chickweed, toadshade trillium, bent trillium, spring beauty, foamflower, blue phlox, hepaticas, blood root, Dutchman’s breeches and many others.
One reason for the Pocket’s botanical richness is that calcium from surrounding limestone cliffs washes into the cove and produces neutral soils rather than acid soils.
Other wildflower species, including wild columbine, mayapple and several other trilliums, will bloom over the next couple of weeks. By late April, however, most of the flowers will have faded or turned to seed.
IN THE SKY: The moon will be new on Wednesday, said David Dundee, Tellus Science Museum astronomer. Mercury is low in the east just before sunrise and will appear near the moon on Monday morning. Jupiter is very low in the west just after dark. Saturn rises out of the east just after dark. Venus and Mars are too close to the sun for easy observation.
About the Author
