Noah "Bud" Ogle Cabin and LeConte Creek

Much of the Roaring Fork Motor Trail in the Smoky Mountains National Park is still closed while they repave the road.   The road was in such bad shape it will be a great improvement and well worth the wait when they are done.  We were able to drive to the Bud Ogle cabin, stopped to do some exploring. We have driven past this cabin several times in the past but never took the time to stop.   We were there early enough in the morning that there were very few other people at the cabin or on the Nature Trail, which made the photography much easier.

The cabin and barn are right next to the road and easy to get to.   It is actually two attached cabins built about 5 years apart with a chimney in the middle.   The cabin was built in the last 1880's.  The barn can be seen behind the cabin.   I took several pictures around and inside the cabin, which are available in the Bud Ogle photo album.

There is a short nature trail that starts behind the cabin which loops around to come back behind the barn.  It's a nice little trail that is very flat and easy to walk on.

Spring in the Smokies is a pretty wet time, which is great for growing moss and mushrooms.   We found these growing on a dead tree along the trail.   The sunlight cooperated and shined through the trees to light these up.

LeConte Creek, which is what flows over Rainbow Falls, runs along next to the trail.  There was a thick carpet of bright green moss covering the rocks in the creek and along the banks.   We got there just before the sun got high enough to shine on the creek.   Just a few minutes after this shot the sunlight became too bright to get decent shots.

I have a new pair of hiking sandals and used this opportunity to try them out by standing in the middle of the creek to get this and other photos.   The water was a little cool, but not numbing. 

There is also an old tub mill on the creek.  You can see part of it in the upper left of this photo.

This is a nice short little nature trail that is well worth stopping and hiking it.   There are more photos available in the Bud Ogle photo album.  The wildflower blooms were all gone but I bet it is beautiful around the second weekend of May.