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COMMENTARY
All the leaves are brown
and the sky is grey
We went looking signs of an early
spring. We found snow.
Really.
In March. On the banks of the Chat
tahoochee River. The sky spit flurries
of the stuff. Not enough to stick to the
ground, of course, but brief flurries of
actual snow. Time and time again.
At first, everyone made jokes. We
were here in search of warmer weather,
after all. Maybe these flakes falling all
around us were really white flower blos
soms floating on the first spring breezes,
someone suggested.
They weren’t.
Winter had played a trick on us.
During the first weekend of March, at
the end of a mild winter, grey clouds
filled the sky. Chilly breezes blew. Every
one wore layers. Snowflakes dusted our
jackets and caps. Somewhere, no doubt,
groundhogs were laughing at our all-
too-human inability to predict a change
in the seasons.
“I feel like we should run to the gro
cery store and buy milk and bread,” one
hiker joked.
But we weren’t daunted by a few fro
zen flakes. The 20 of us marched on, de
termined to find proof that spring was
near, if not really here.
We were on a “Harbingers of Spring
Discovery Hike,” a spring-themed walk
along the Chattahoochee River held
March 2. We bundled-up hikers in
tended to track down the first bloom of
spring in the Chattahoochee River Na
tional Recreation Area.
Veteran National Park Service Rang
er Jerry Hightower served as our guide.
Hightower knows his way around the
river. He grew up nearby and has shown
visitors the string of parks headquar
tered in Sandy Springs for 35 of the 37
years he’s worked for the park service.
He hadn’t counted on snow, either.
“We had a winter walk on Jan. 12
and we were
watching
snakes and
everybody
was in their
shirtsleeves.
Then, we do
the first walk
of spring...,”
Hightower
said, his voice
drifting into
the chilly air.
“You never
know. Luck
ily, I know
how to treat hypothermia.”
Cold comfort, that.
The hikers came from all over met
ro Atlanta — Sandy Springs, Buckhead,
Mableton, Marietta, Sharpsburg, Wat-
kinsville. Some in the group wanted to
see flowers and birds or just to meet oth
er people who shared their interests in
the outdoors. Others, including Randie
Cowan of Sandy Springs, came for the
exercise. “The nature is just a bonus,”
she said. “We’re
just trying, af
ter 21 years of
living here, to
get to know the
>5
area.
Jackie Miller
knew what lured
her out that
chilly morning.
“Spring,” she
said before the
hike started.
“Wishful
thinking,” Mar
ilyn Haggerty of
Sharpsburg re
plied.
Along the
trail, Hightow
er mixed history
and natural his
tory lessons as
he talked of ev
erything from
ancient Indian
settlements to grist mills to the uses of
the red sap in bloodroot. And he dili
gently searched out those early indica
tors that a change in the weather was
due. He found them: trilliums and trout
lilies.
The trout lily, he said, “is one of the
true harbingers of spring.” Here, hill
sides were covered in them. The prob
lem? It was just too wintry a day for the
lilies to truly strut their stuff. The flow
ers needed to be warmed by the sun to
open up. “If you want to see something
spectacular,” Hightower said, “come
back when the sun is out.”
Winter had played one last trick. The
bright flowers of spring were taking a
grey day off.
Spring would have to bloom anoth
er day.
JOE EARLE
Jackie Miller, left, chats with National Park
Service Ranger Jerry Hightower, right, at the
Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area,
while Marie deVenoge, center, listens in.
AROUND
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