Teen High Adventure Camp – today was the day that we dropped Teeny off for an exciting adventure of backpacking on the Appalachian Trail in the Smokey Mountains with 600 million years of ecological studies available. 
She & I were both nervous…this was going to be a long time apart for a first camp, but what an awesome opportunity!! 
After getting checked in and feeling comfortable knowing her cousin was close by we left her for ten whole days!!!!!!!! Travis and I went with Kay, Kristian and their friends to hike the Panther Creek branch of the Middle Prong Trail. 
We only hiked about half of the 2.3 mile trail as we had already had a very long drive and unfortunately my foot was hurting due to the possible re-growth of my neuroma. We did see some fascinating “puddles of butterflies”, however! 
The most brilliant blue butterflies, pipevine swallowtail, with an occasionally yellow one in the middle were all over the ground in puddle-shaped clusters. 
They didn’t move for anything either…so I was totally enthralled in picking them up and taking pictures! 
Samson loved the hike 
but was not amused with the butterflies. 
I found out later, from our guide on the raft trip who had a degree in biology, that the butterflies are getting the mineral urea from the ground where another animal has previously urinated. AHHHH – I’m feeling the need for some serious hand sanitizer!
We left there and went to dinner at a lovely restaurant, the River’s End, that sits right on the Nantahala River then to the cabin in Murphy. My SIL invited us to stay a few nights with her, so we will put off the camping until the end of the vacation. After we got settled in for the night she informed us they were having a scorpion problem in our room. Sleep tight!! Uh…uh…uh…good night?
She & I were both nervous…this was going to be a long time apart for a first camp, but what an awesome opportunity!! After getting checked in and feeling comfortable knowing her cousin was close by we left her for ten whole days!!!!!!!! Travis and I went with Kay, Kristian and their friends to hike the Panther Creek branch of the Middle Prong Trail. We only hiked about half of the 2.3 mile trail as we had already had a very long drive and unfortunately my foot was hurting due to the possible re-growth of my neuroma. We did see some fascinating “puddles of butterflies”, however! The most brilliant blue butterflies, pipevine swallowtail, with an occasionally yellow one in the middle were all over the ground in puddle-shaped clusters. They didn’t move for anything either…so I was totally enthralled in picking them up and taking pictures! Samson loved the hike but was not amused with the butterflies. I found out later, from our guide on the raft trip who had a degree in biology, that the butterflies are getting the mineral urea from the ground where another animal has previously urinated. AHHHH – I’m feeling the need for some serious hand sanitizer!We left there and went to dinner at a lovely restaurant, the River’s End, that sits right on the Nantahala River then to the cabin in Murphy. My SIL invited us to stay a few nights with her, so we will put off the camping until the end of the vacation. After we got settled in for the night she informed us they were having a scorpion problem in our room. Sleep tight!! Uh…uh…uh…good night?
1 comments:
Beautiful buttie-flies! The urea thing is pretty gross, though. Did he tell you why the butterflies needed the urea?
Have a wonderful trip!
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