[KYPhotonut]

Right now the wife and I are have attentively earmark some vacation time to attend next years Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Brenda and I attended our first Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage this year. We went on the afternoon half-day hike on Wednesday afternoon and then did both morning and afternoon hikes/walks on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. We had lots of fun and I came home with three 2GB cards full of photographs to work with.

“The Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage is an annual five-day event in Great Smoky Mountains National Park consisting of a variety of wildflower, fauna, and natural history walks, motorcades, photographic tours, art classes, and indoor seminars. Most programs are outdoors in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, while indoor offerings are held in various venues throughout Gatlinburg, TN.”

The website has the the this years, 2008, program brochure is still up so that you can get an idea of what programs there are. The brochure gives descriptions of the morning, afternoon, all day, and evening programs are listed by date and time. Each description includes information on congregation points, walking distances, hiking difficulties, and registration limits. Driving times listed are from W. L. Mills Conference Center in Gatlinburg, TN. Popular programs are repeated at different times and days and are referenced under “similar programs.”

If you plan to go I strongly suggest that you use the online registration. According to the website online registration will begin on 03/09/2009 at 9 AM Eastern Time (ET) and will close on 04/13/2009 at 4 PM ET. After 04/13/2009, registration for programs is closed until on-site registration begins on 04/21/2009. Changes in registered programs can only be made at on-site registration.

When I find out the new program brochure has been posted I will post to this thread.

I have put two of the photographs from the 2008 trip in my gallery.

[NaClH2O]

That looks interesting. April is still a long ways away for me, and TN is a bit of a schlepp from NYC, but as a flower and nature lover it would be a lot of fun. Right now I'm having difficulty getting 3 days off in a row, but hopefully the situation should improve by next spring.

NaCl(wild flowers and eastern forests, a hard to beat combo)H2O

[KYPhotonut]

As promised here is the link to this years brochure for the Wildflower Pilgrimage held in the Great Smokey Mountains Natioal Park.

2009 Wildflower Pilgrimage Brochure

I have already regristered for the hikes my wife and will be doing this year.

I have also submitted two of my photographs from last years trip to this years photograph contest.