Today was a triple crown day for wildlife - four if you count the guys shown above.

There was elk behind the Woody House. The two females were so quiet that I didn't notice them until the Deep Creek Trail Crew pointed them out. These five young men maintain trails from Clingmans Dome to Deep Creek. I'm not sure why they visited Cataloochee. They rode in a pick-up truck and asked me about the Woody House and elk, so I obliged. I also made sure to let them know that I was a Smokies 900 member and that people do really hike the trails.

When I drove back to the Caldwell House, I tried to get some kids interested in the antlers I had in the back of my car but they had live wildlife to look at - a broadband water snake. It was a long thing which wrapped itself around the post under the bridge to the house. I didn't even attempt to take a picture. Instead we all just watched it in amazement.

The picture above is of mushrooms in a ring patterns which people call fairy rings.

I felt pretty good about my shift. I talked to 62 people including a guy who asked some hiking questions. I even met a young active couple from Poland. They were amazed by the park. They did say that in the NE section of Poland where they lived, there was some real wilderness and white wolves. I tried to find some information about white wolves but whitewolf is a game and its website completely took over my computer and I had a hard time killing it.

As I drove back to World Headquarters, I felt pretty good about my sightings. And then I saw a bear cub on the side of the road. It was hugging a tree when I first saw it. I quietly turned off the engine and it ambled away.

What a day!

Bookmania in Waynesville brought together over 40 authors on Saturday, in the First Presbyterian Church. It brought us together, all right. It was quite crowded.

I shared a table with Phil Bowie, a mystery writer, on my left and Cecil Bothwell, on my right. I had brought several photographs and my book of pictures, but I had room for only a couple of things.

It seemed that most visitors came first thing in the morning,  went to panel discussions and then left. So you really had to grab them as they passed by your table. I always offer a bookmark - something for them to take home.

Most of us were on a panel. I was paired with a guy who had written a history of whitewater paddling and another who was involved in the North Carolina Birding Trail. It wasn't really a panel, with discussion back and forth. Rather, we each had 10 minutes to talk and then the audience asked questions.

I left at 4 P.M. completely exhausted. I seemed to have talked and talked for hours but also sat for that many hours. I went hiking the next day.

Was it worth the day? I don't want to think about that. If I'm invited, I go. I certainly got a lot of exposure.