The other side of the gorge

The Rocky Broad River flows eastward from areas like Etoah and Brevard, through a narrows where nice swimming can be had, then past Chimney Rock and into Lake Lure.  The gorge it flows through has this high escarpment on both sides, and some folks know of the trails on the northern side.  I don't.  Since I no longer can hike, I'm only a little interested in where trails are.

The Rocky Broad River flows under the new highway bridge next to the old one, now Flower Bridge. 

Chimney Rock keeps an eye on a Pink sculptural pelican.

But I love vistas...even if mine now are from the ground up (or the roads that traverse the edges of mountains.)

Looking over the balustrade of the old bridge at the channel of the Rocky Broad River going into Lake Lure.  And then came tropical storm Alberto's rains at the end of May...

As you may have noticed, on May 29-31 there was flash flooding, or catastrophic flooding, depending on where you were, along the very same river...leaving a lot of mud, and closing off many roads.  Here's the entrance to the Chimney Rock State Park, which is closed of course.  But it should be cleared off soon, and the waters have receded and the sun has come back out again! (I need to go see how the gardens have fared!

The mountain overlooking the gorge opposite Chimney Rock (out of picture on left side)...with the Flower Bridge in foreground.

 this is a curly leaf willow, which was a nice friend giving shade.

I have no idea how much of the garden was damaged by the flood waters...but I can imagine that it doesn't look like any of these pictures now.  I hope it can be brought back to beauty soon.

May seems to go on forever!

And then there's August.  It must be the months with 31 days.  I vote we change the last day of these months to a new name...maybe in honor of a goddess, or lazy day, or whatever...anything to keep from the drudgery of all those days in one month.

 Some edible plants...well, if this ornamental cabbage wasn't quite so big!

 But a bit of crook neck squash will be lovely to pop into a pot soon!

 A typical garden swing...want to set a spell?

 Looking under the new bridge at the Broad River (Rocky Broad) as it flows into Lake Lure...from the old bridge now a garden!

The Garden of Weedin' includes an overgrown rowboat, of which you can just see the stern here.

I note that on the news yesterday these river photos looked very different, because of flash flooding from the rains we've had in Western North Carolina.  You can enjoy what it looked like on May 23, before the Alberto influence.

And here's a photo of the highway we drove through Chimney Rock on..taken May 30, 2018...near the Esmerelda Inn...a tree and mudslide. I only have videos of the river at flood stage, and can't figure out how to capture them from Facebook.