Asheville and the Blue Ridge Mountains – Wildflowers and Bears

 

Last week, we spent four days in Asheville, North Carolina, and the local mountains. Asheville is a small town nestled in the Blue ridge Mountains. You can walk across downtown Asheville in 15-20 minutes. It has several breweries, a variety of restaurants, crafts, and bookstores. We like to explore the used book store. We stayed in an apartment around the corner from the Green Man brewery. The top photo shows the view of the mountains from where we stayed. We hiked in the local mountains including Bearwallow Mountain and a section of the Appalachian Trail.

View from the bald top of Bearwallow Mountain. 

 Unexpected visitors in downtown Asheville. We left our apartment to walk to a restaurant on evening and watched a mother bear with two well-grown cubs cross the street. 

 Spring wildflowers blooming in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Dwarf larkspur is on the left. It grows at lower elevations. Most flowers are deep purple, although a few were pale blue. In the top center, you can see a speckled form of the great white trillium. Below the trillium, is a picture of wild geraniums. On the right is a bloodroot flower.