Chestnut Top

This walk covered about 4mls. RT, and was along the Chestnut Top trail beginning at the Townsend 'Y' parking. That is the river access area just as you enter the GSMNP from Townsend. As noted before the trail has a relatively steep ascent over the first quarter mile or so and then dips and climbs over the next 1.5 give or take. There had been some recent maintenance on the trail where it looked like a tree had fallen and it's root had pulled part of the trail with it and some drainage run-offs added within the first half mile.
The picture of the cut tree caught my attention as the "spikes" of the branches that once stretched from it poked back into the tree. "Meg the Hiker" should be asked about this if you have any questions, as she is the Master Gardener. And the other photo of the mosses shaped like a mushroom caused me to think of pizza at the Mellow Mushroom in Chattanooga, by the aquarium. I was on my way out when that occurred and it was a good thing for I was hungry!