Around Big Creek and a Book Milestone!

We saw a patch of blue sky in the morning!  It has been dark, damp, and raining for days so I was thrilled to see the blue.  It did not last long though. By the time we got to the campground, the sun was gone. I took this picture from the parking lot, where we have a little more sky.

I took this picture standing on Site 10.  Big Creek is about two feet above normal and the little side stream (bottom right) is rushing.  Normally, it is barely a trickle.

There were some creative campfire builders in Site 3.  They were gone and had left this stack of wood atop the fire ring.

I don't know if they were the same ones who chopped off some of this tree along the creek path.

The creek path is lush after all the rain.

These two little waterfalls (two or three feet high) are normally three tiny streams running over the rocks.  I love this spot.  When the water is normal, one can walk across the rocks to the far side (an island in Big Creek) and not get the feet wet.

Does anyone know what these are?   They are just a few inches tall.  They look good enough to eat, but I haven't tried them

Here is Site 12.  This is the group that has come to Big Creek every year (the week before Memorial Day) for over thirty years.  I love these guys!  We have three generations in two campsites.  You can tell they are experienced Big Creek campers by the size and number of tarps they hang over their campsite.  They know it rains here - a lot.

I realize now that I did not include the young boys in my photos. Two of the middle generation are chefs.  We should have accepted their offers to eat dinner with them.

The man with two little girls in Site 11 wanted to cancel his campsite reservation in Cataloochee since he got a prime site here.  He did not have a phone signal so we let him use our phone to call the reservation office. He got put on hold for a long time and gave the phone to one of the girls to listen to the music while he put up the tent.  She was supposed to give him the phone when the reservation person came back on the line.  But, the girl got tired of listening to music and gave the phone back to Daddy with the music still playing. The tent was not fully set up either.

This bug was on the bridge railing. I thought he was a particularly handsome fellow.  The colors remind me of a race car or a fast motorcycle.  It probably is not very fast though.  Look at those tiny wings.

Since the water level in the creek was high, I walked to the far side of the creek to take a picture of the creek-wide waterfall below the bridge.  Normally, the drop is three or four feet.  Today it was closer to one foot. That's Andy on the bridge.

This cluster is near the group picnic table.  It looks like daylilies to me, but I've never seen any blooms here.

Take a closer look.  The Swallowtails were gathered under the bent leaves.

I saved the big news for last.  Hugo House sent me an electronic proof of Big Creek for me to approve.  I found two more errors in it!  I made note of them for George and approved the proof.  The next step is that they will print one copy for me to approve.  When I do, they will print however many I want to buy.  I should get books a week or so after that!!!  Is it really going to happen?  I think it might this time.