There were some jack in the pulpit flowering along the pond.
After passing the pond, the trail continued following Sims Branch upstream with a couple easy creek crossings.
The creek was scenic in the early morning light.
After crossing under the parkway, the trail then started climbing up Green Knob through an open area.
There were some cows up near the top and another group as we headed back into the woods. They seemed a little nervous around Alex and hightailed it up the slope and watched him pass by carefully.
Alex wasn't particularly interested in the cows though.
We passed through another open area and saw some spiderwort following. The trail then descended back to the parkway at the overlook where we started. Next, we drove just up the road and parked at the picnic area. A short hike on Boone Fork Trail led to a spur to the lake to get on Price Lake Loop Trail.
It was very popular on a such a nice summer day, both on the trail and on the lake.
We saw quite a few butterflies nectaring on mountain laurel.
There were a couple spots to go down to the lake on a little beach.
The mountain laurel was really popping.
We also saw some very large tadpoles of American bullfrogs.
As the trail continued around the east end of the lake, there was a cool tree growing out of a mess of boulders.
Near the end of the loop was a great view of Grandfather Mountain towering over the lake.
We finished the loop and took the spur back to the picnic area.
We planned to get lunch in Blowing Rock, but it was really busy, so we headed to Wilkesboro and got lunch at Dooleys before heading home.
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