Walking Through Winter: Bowie Nature Park, TN

Lake Van named after Dr. Evangeline Bowie.

November 1st: We celebrated this first day of Winter at Bowie Nature Park, in Fairview, TN,

a beautiful place to walk, with 700 acres of woods and lakes
and 17 miles of walking trails. It's open sunrise
to sunset, year round, and has a great nature center.

To understand why I, and many others, call Nov. 1st

the first day of Winter just click here.

Info about Winter Begins

Map of Bowie Nature Park
To enlarge this map, you must double click the map and
open it in a new tab.

Click here for General Information about Bowie Nature Park

We began our walk at Shelter #1 next to Lake Van,
and walked around the lake in a counter-clockwise
direction, until we reached the Loblolly Loop Trail.
Refer to the map at any time.

The Lake Van Trail, which encircles the lake.

We're now on the opposite side of the lake from where we started our walk.

The beginning of the Loblolly Loop trail (see map).
We came to this sign at the "top" of the lake.

This loop trail is divided into an upper trail and a lower trail.

We stayed on this trail until we reached
the Twin Lakes Loop Trail.

The Loblolly Trail, named after all the tall
loblolly pines along the way.

The Upper Lake next to the Loblolly trail.

These lakes are gorgeous mirrors!

Natural mirrors -

Perfectly still;

Bowie Park ponds.

This is where we heard and saw a
Golden-crowned Kinglet!
Kai also saw a Ruby-crowned Kinglet!!
Click here to get info about Kinglets.

Kinglets are such beautiful, tiny birds...about the size of a hummingbird. They are extremely hardy animals, surviving in severely harsh weather. That's what amazes me...they are so tiny, yet so hardy!! I love them. Listen for a high-pitched ringing sound.

Continue straight on the Loblolly Loop.

Remember to open this image in a new tab, to enlarge it.

Turn right here and get onto the Twin Lakes Loop.
This is the connector trail, connecting the Loblolly Loop
with the Twin Lakes Loop.

Ripe persimmons.

Persimmons are very tasty, if they are ripe. You can tell they are ripe, by their dark color and wrinkly appearance.

A plant called Heal All.

Now you're on the Twin Lakes Loop,
next to Lake Byrd.

Lake Byrd

Just beyond Lake Byrd is the third main lake, Lake Anna.

Lake Anna
Just to the right of the sign is the trailhead
of the White Pine Trail (see the map).

Turn right to walk on the White Pine Trail (see map),
but take a break first, here, at Lake Anna, and
appreciate the sounds of birds, frogs, and insects.

Why don't you take a short break here at Lake Anna. Whenever you are on a hike, be sure to take breaks once in awhile to appreciate the many different sounds and to observe all the living things around you...animals (butterflies, deer, turkey, and the sounds of birds, grass hoppers, and frogs; plants (the many different kinds of trees, and the great variety of wildflowers), and fungi (mushrooms, puffballs, and jelly fungi on trees). There's so much to see and hear and smell!

Kai, looking for birds at Lake Anna.

Continue on the White Pine Trail (to the right),
or take the Lake Anna trail and go around the lake.

The White Pine Trail.

If you continue on this trail you will end up on

the Perimeter Trail, which encircles the park,

or you can turn left (below photo) and get onto the Bluff Trail.

We bypassed this connector trail.

Take a left here if you want to walk to the Bluff Trail,
which circles back toward Lake Anna.

At this point we chose to turn left onto the Bluff Trail.

Take the Bluff Trail...turn left.

The top of an odd looking fungus
called a bolete.

As soon as we got onto the Bluff Trail we got off of it

and got onto a side trail that took us to a beautiful creek.

This is a side trail that leads to Little Turnbull Creek.

Open this map in a new tab to enlarge it.

Hearts-a-Burstin', a very odd name for a flowering plant.

At the bottom of the hill is Little Turnbull Creek.

We crossed the creek and got onto the Perimeter Trail
heading back toward the Twin Lakes Loop.
This gets very confusing unless you can see a map.

The bluff next to Little Turnbull Creek.

Very soon we crossed the creek again

to get onto the Turnbull Trail,

which ends up at the Twin Lakes Loop.

Here, we crossed Little Turnbull Creek, a second time.

The Turnbull Trail.

Little Turnbull Creek is on our right, now.

A bridge, which is very close to Lake Anna.

We're back at Lake Anna.

What species of tree did this leaf fall from?
(The answer is in the caption of the next photo)

This is the Sycamore Springs Trail (see map),
which leads back to the picnic area where we began our walk.
(That is a Sweetgum leaf...the previous photo)