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Sharp-lobed hepatica (H. acutiloba) blooming along Cove Hardwood Nature Trail the first spring after devastating wildfires scorched the area in November, 2016. Great Smoky Mountains National Park © 2017 Kristina Plaas Persistent (adj): lasting or enduring tenaciously. Every year at the time I take my camera out to find wildflowers. I look for them everywhere, but I have specific locations where I know I will find the flowers. One of those locations, a nature trail through old growth forest, was one of those places affected by the Chimney tops 2 wildfire last fall. The fire, once small and well-contained, was whipped up by hurricane-force winds to wreak much devastation in the Smokies. All winter wildflower lovers asked themselves, "What ab out Cove Hardwood, what will happen to the wildflowers?" In my first foray up the trail after it's reopening this week, I found the flowers. They were small and many were a bit bruised and banged up from recent rains and storms, b...

"Heavenly Light" Morning light illuminates the trees at the Missionary Baptist Church in Cades Cove.  Great Smoky Mountains National Park © 2014 Kristina Plaas, All Rights Reserved This was the featured image on the Great Smoky Mountains National Park Facebook page this morning. It's the perfect image for a Sunday morning, especially on Memorial Day weekend when we remember the lives of those lost in the service of our country. This weekend many of us also choose to remember the lives of family and friends that have passed on. And so the illuminating rays of sunlight over the Missionary Baptist Church in Cades Cove speak to each of us and to those no longer with us. It's not hard to feel the spirit and the peace portrayed. This morning my friend, Bryan Nowak, noted that the sunlight looked like heavenly beams. I smiled knowing I had titled this image "Heavenly Light" shortly after the photograph was taken last June. The name is inspired by a sacred ...

When I was a kid I had a favorite poem, The Swing, by Robert Louis Stevenson. How do you like to go up in a swing, Up in the air so blue? Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing Ever a child can do! Up in the air and over the wall, Till I can see so wide, Rivers and trees and cattle and all Over the countryside-- Till I look down on the garden green, Down on the roof so brown-- Up in the air I go flying again, Up in the air and down ! Back then I could often be found in the backyard giving the swingset a workout, usually while singing my favorite church songs at the top of my lungs. Childhood joys are so simple, aren't they? Now, decades later, some things haven't changed. I still love to go up in the air so blue, but now I drive a car to the top of the Smokies where I can see over the rock walls to the streams and green valleys below. My feet may be firmly planted on the mountaintop, but my spirit is flying -- up in the air and down! And yes, I...

"Come" West Prong Little Pigeon River, Sugarlands.  Great Smoky Mountains National Park © 2014 Kristina Plaas, All Rights Reserved On a sunny winter afternoon, I wandered where a path followed The river, cold and clear, As it descended from sugared mountains Towards the tourist-trap filled town. Some come seeking 'shine and souvenirs in crowded shops and clogged streets. I come seeking solace and solitude among the towering trees and water crashing over rounded rocks. Thirsty pilgrims journeying To the promised land. While promises of dubious worth are fast fleeting, The river remains steadfast -- Flowing through flood or snow Or drought of fall. Eternal water for the soul. And I come. I have been looking though my photos files for the year and selecting those that speak to me most for a year-in-review feature on my Facebook page. The problem is I'm finding more unedited images that i now have the skills to refine so I...

"Exalted" Sunset over the NC Smokies from Newfound Gap.  Great Smoky Mountains National Park  © 2014 Kristina Plaas, All Rights Reserved I was able to make space in my schedule to get away to the Smokies yesterday. My primary purpose was to stop at Sugarlands VC, Park Headquarters, and Oconaluftee VC to meet up with key individuals who have been such a blessing to me this year. I just wanted to say thank you to a dedicated group of GSMNP and GSMA staffers who were there for me when I needed a smile, an encouraging word, a hug, or a great opportunity to do something new. I went bearing gifts of homemade eggnog pound cake and it was so much fun! It just felt good to give back, to be grateful, and to think about someone besides myself. The highlight of the day was spending time with Coralie, the person responsible for the park Facebook page that I have worked with all year. Coralie is such a great lady. When I was stressed out over my family issues this summer, Coralie gla...

I'm not ashamed to admit that I've felt like a basket case more often than not lately. The demands of the holiday season added upon the demands of daily living in my "new" world are just an awful lot to deal with. Most days I make it through OK and other days, well, not so much. Every weekend there are more things I'd like to do than I have time or energy to do, so I prioritize, pick, and choose from among lots of wonderful options. For some reason I made no commitments for today, knowing I would need a Saturday off. This proved to be useful when I got an email from the volunteer coordinator at Great Smoky Mountains National Park on Thursday reminding me of a training class I had signed up for -- today! My schedule was open so I was able to meet my commitment. Whew! It's difficult to get into this class so I was thrilled for the opportunity to learn a little about baskets used by the pre-park residents of the Smokies. Each park volunteer/student in the cla...

Ramsey Prong, Greenbrier Great Smoky Mountains National Park © 2014 Kristina Plaas, All Rights Reserved I got home from a late church meeting tonight feeling very tired and sort of brain-dead. I remembered I had not yet written my daily gratitude posts but, in the moment, couldn't think of anything to acknowledge feeling grateful for. It's not that I'm not grateful for lots of stuff, I am, but sometimes I'm just too tired to think. I reflected back on the evening and could only seem to think about how stressed I was over the music and everything I needed to get done. In the middle of the meeting I had to give myself permission to relax and breathe. I took such a deep breath I'm sure I disturbed my friends in the surrounding pews. Seriously. Part way through the talks there was a piano solo by Lynette James of the YSA Branch. I had asked Lynette to play this specific number, her own arrangement of Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing , because I had heard her pla...

"Miller's Sunrise" Sunrise over East Miller's Cove and the western crest of the Great Smoky Mountains. Foothills Parkway West © 2014 Kristina Plaas, All Rights Reserved One of the things I love most about life is the never-ending opportunity to learn new things. I'm a naturally curious person and am interested in learning about a ridiculously diverse number of things. Yes, the kind of stuff one learns in school, but even better, the stuff one learns simply because it's there and you see it. In knitting it's about combining stitches and manipulating yarn to create something beautiful, or useful, or both! In nature it's about the earth, the critters, the sky, and the water. For me its started when I was a kid and wanted to understand rock formations and geology. After college it was wildflowers, an obsession to this day. Not only do I want to know what the common name(s) of the wildflower is, I've learned that common names aren't precise or...

"Frozen Over" Frost and rime ice covers the trees along Newfound Gap Road. Great Smoky Mountains National Park. © 2014 Kristina Plaas, All Rights Reserved Heavenly Father's plan for us, His children, includes time where we can learn, grow, and develop into the men and women He designed us to become. Growth is an essential part of the plan. I can look back on my life and see the times when I have learned and grown a lot. Other times I have been less aware of how I have changed and needed others to thoughtfully share their insights with me. Kind, loving affirmation of growth is one of the greatest gifts a person can give or receive. Let's face it, we all like to be told we've done a good job on things we've worked hard at. It's encouraging to have valued others tell us they are pleased with what we've accomplished. Atta-boy moments are awesome, in part, because they are uncommon. In the real world you hear a lot more about what you messed up that w...

"Frost Away" The fog was just beginning to lift near the Walker Camp Prong Crossing on Newfound Gap Road. Great Smoky Mountains National Park © 2014 Kristina Plaas, All Rights Reserved Sundays are always very hectic for me in late fall. It's what happens when you are a church musician who is given the added responsibility of organizing programs for large regional meetings and Christmas. Most of us love Christmas music but making those musical events happen is a huge challenge. Given the changes in my life the last few months I haven't been as effective in meeting those challenges as I would like. I see everything that either needs to be done or that I haven't done well and feel, um, discouraged. I keep giving myself the guilty "should" lecture, listing everything I should have done but haven't. Add Sunday night fatigue to the mix and the results aren't good. Tonight, just as I was about to cave and have a very nice, personal pity party I...

"Sunstar and Ice" Rime ice covers the trees along Clingmans Dome Road.  Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  © 2014  Kristina Plaas, All Rights Reserved I was not born loving the wintry season. Darkness, cold, and snow were my sworn enemies all the years I lived in Salt Lake City. Bundling up to go outside is what you did when absolutely necessary. Rejoicing in frigid weather conditions is a new thing for me. Blame Clingmans Dome. Blame my photography addiction. Blame getting older and losing part of my senses. Blame technology which turns used plastic Coke bottles into soft, insulating fuzzy things to wear. Blame knitting, where woolly socks, hats, and scarves are inevitable. Never in a million years did I think I would ever wear longjohns (aka microfiber cuddle-duds) let alone be grateful for them, and polarfleece, and woolly socks, mitts, and hats. But as I was hiking to the top of Clingmans Dome yesterday or stopping to snap photos of cool things like sunrays bur...

"Dome's Eye View" Rime ice clings to trees on the slopes of Mt. Collins, Sugarland Mountain, and Mt. Le Conte as inversion clouds cover the valleys north and west of Clingmans Dome. Great Smoky Mountains National Park © 2014 Kristina Plaas, All Rights Reserved “Sometimes all it takes is a tiny shift of perspective to see something familiar in a totally new light.”  Dan Brown ,  The Lost Symbol I learned a great deal about weather during the years I lived in Salt Lake City. In particular, I learned about temperature inversions -- a situation when atmospheric conditions keep clouds (and smog and pollution and germs) trapped in the valley between mountain ranges and clear, blue skies aloft. It's the one time when it's colder down in the valley than it is at the top of the mountain. After listening to local weather reports, I knew yesterday would be a perfect set-up for an inversion and blue skies at Clingmans Dome.  Most days the valley fog rises up, s...

Nashville Tennessee Temple The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints © 2014 Kristina Plaas, All Rights Reserved Through my work in phenomenological research I have become more aware of the significance of place to a person's experience of everyday living. Ask someone to tell you about their childhood and they are likely to talk about not only family and friends but the places where meaningful things happened in their life. They may tell you about the house they lived in, the school they attended, or the place where the family went on vacations. As human beings we find connection in special places. I have many special places, but more importantly, I have a few sacred places that hold great meaning for me. As a faithful member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints I choose to spend time learning and serving in temples. Not only are all temples beautiful, but they are very peaceful places where I feel the inspiration of the Holy Ghost and receive guidance from...

"Benched" Colorful maple tree in front of the Sugarlands Visitors Center Great Smoky Mountains National Park © 2014 Kristina Plaas, All Rights Reserved Trees BY   JOYCE KILMER I think that I shall never see A poem lovely as a tree. A tree whose hungry mouth is prest Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast; A tree that looks at God all day, And lifts her leafy arms to pray; A tree that may in Summer wear A nest of robins in her hair; Upon whose bosom snow has lain; Who intimately lives with rain. Poems are made by fools like me, But only God can make a tree. I was blessed with the opportunity to escape to the Smokies today. I had a meeting in Pigeon Forge at 2 PM so it made perfect sense to take a leisurely drive along the Little River on my way. I was impressed with the amount of colorful leaves that still remain, mostly on the hillsides, but also some along the river. The sky was a brilliant blue and the trees were varying hu...

"Ephraim's Secret" Tucked away behind the Ephraim Bales place is a series of cascades on Roaring Fork. The rain had stopped and the sun was streaming through the thick mist  along the creek when this photograph was taken. Great Smoky Mountains National Park © 2014 Kristina Plaas, All Rights Reserved No, I'm not really grateful for mounds of dirty, stinky laundry that pile up really, really fast. Surely no one is grateful for dirty laundry. Instead I am grateful for a modern washer and dryer that both work and make the chore of doing laundry much easier than it might be otherwise. Just think, the mountain women had to haul in water and do laundry by streams such as this one in the Smokies. I waded into thigh-high water for this shot a few months ago. The weather was warm and the water felt good. Doing laundry here in January would not feel quite so good. Laundry has another positive -- clean sheets. I just finished putting clean sheets on my bed. Falling asleep o...

In the Christmas movie classic It's a Wonderful Life, Clarence, the angel, tells George Bailey (aka Jimmy Stewart) that "no man is a failure that has friends." When life gets hard you find out who your real friends are. You know the ones -- the people who call or text you just to see how you are doing, the ones who just show up with loving words and generous hugs, the ones who are happy when you call them at 11 PM or 6 AM because you're life is falling apart and you need someone to reassure you that things will be OK, and the ones that take you away from your troubles for a morning and surround you with love and laughter. I'm very grateful to have such friends, including the lovely women who took me hiking in the Smokies today. Thank you all so much!

Middlin' Middle Prong Little River, Tremont Great Smoky Mountains National Park © 2014 Kristina Plaas, All Rights Reserved Nothing Gold Can Stay Nature’s first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf’s a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay. Robert Frost, 1923 As a nature lover and photographer I eagerly await the first hints of buds emerging from the trees in early spring. I adore the bright, cheery green trees in the Smokies in April. That green evolves to a deep, velvety hue as summer progresses then, before you know it, hints of gold show up in early September. It's just a tease, of course, as the richest red and golds won't show up until late October. It's futile to wish those rich hues would remain. Fall always has it's way as wind, rain, and snow turn the golds to brown and down, down, down they come. Gone. The gold is gone. The leaves ar...

Winter woods aren't desolate As they would seem to be, For beauty dwells at every turn For searching eyes to see. The black of trees is ermine trimmed; Each bush is wearing lace And Nature's spread with lavish hand White velvet every place. Where winter sunrays lightly touch The ice-encrusted stream, Upon its crystal countenance A thousand diamonds gleam. No, winter woods aren't desolate-- There's beauty enough to spare; And those in search of loveliness Will surely find it there.    Virginia Blanck Moore   The Best of Ideals ©1978

I am blessed to live in the shadows of the Great Smoky Mountains and work as a National Park Volunteer at Clingmans Dome. I spend as much time as I can in the Smokies enjoying my love for nature and photography. I love the time I spend in the park and the opportunity I have to interact with park visitors. One thing I have learned as a volunteer is to watch out for visitors who might be in difficulty. It is not uncommon to find distressed visitors at Clingmans Dome, due in large part to the effects of high altitude. Looking for someone who might be having an issue has become almost second nature to me. It was a chilly and rainy day at the Dome yesterday, though it was not too terribly cold. We were in the clouds all day so we didn't have nearly the volume of visitors we might have on a clear day. Frankly, there wasn't enough activity to require the service of three volunteers and two GSMA employees. I felt prompted to go ahead and leave before the scheduled end of my shift a...