Loose Leaf Notes

The new switchback trail up to Buffalo Mountain was lined with bright red fire pinks and May bluets waving in the breeze.  We took our time, stopping to photograph a snail on a rock and to admire every variety of wildflower.

We posed with boulders as if they were our long lost relatives and sat on a wood carved bench when it appeared.

Once on the summit, we perched on the highest outcropping and read Rumi poetry out loud to each other.  Black swallowtail butterflies darted about like bats.  They spun midair in groups and played tag like children.

The summit is nearly 4,000 feet up, scruffy, exposed to the elements.  Mountain Laurel were in bloom.   We ate sunflower seeds and a navel orange and saw all the way to Pilot Mountain in North Carolina.

A mother, father, baby, dog and mother-in-law from Houston beat us up the trail.  They were the only other people we saw.  We let them pass us because Joe likes to stroll up a mountain and I was happily busy running from flame azalea to purple spiderwort (pictured in the photo above this one).

Joe did chi gong.  I let myself be mesmerized by the butterflies and took video clips of them.

It was only the third time I had been on the Buffalo in the 25 years that I’ve lived in Floyd County.  Once, when my sons were young, we walked up the steep old road incline.  There was a tower on the top then.   The second time, we went up in Joe’s brother’s jeep.  I remember it being a hairy ride.  It was old and windy, and  I was wearing a beret and a scarf from Guatemala.  It was Thanksgiving.   Since then, the Buffalo and about 1,000 acres around it has become a Natural Area Preserve.

Nowhere did I see the hike mileage listed.  I’m guessing it took us an hour to get up and less to get down (we took the more direct but steep shortcut path).   Just a few miles off the Blue Ridge Parkway and only about a 20 minute drive from our house, we won’t wait so long to hike it again.  It was a welcome change of panoramic scenery and we both felt renewed by the experience.   Joe says, “You go up high to get grounded.”