Waterfalls and Wildflowers in the Southern Appalachians: Thirty Great Hikes - Paperback

by Timothy P. Spira (Author)

If you love waterfalls, here are some of the best hikes in the Southern Appalachians. And if you love plants -- or simply would like to learn more about them -- you will be in hiking heaven: naturalist Tim Spira's guidebook links waterfalls and wildflowers in a spectacularly beautiful region famous for both. Leading you to gorgeous waterfalls in Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, South Carolina, and Georgia, the book includes many hikes in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and along the Blue Ridge Parkway. As he surveys one of America's most biologically diverse regions, Spira introduces hikers to the "natural communities" approach for identifying and understanding plants within the context of the habitats they occupy -- equipping hikers to see and interpret landscapes in a new way.

Each of the 30 hikes includes:

* a detailed map and GPS coordinates
* a lively trail description highlighting the plants you are most likely to see, as well as birds and other animals along the way
* an associated plant species list

Also featured:

* beautiful color photographs of 30 destination waterfalls, 125 plants, and more
* detailed descriptions of 125 key plant species
* 22 drawings to help identify plant structures
* a glossary of botanical terms

Author Biography

Tim Spira's love for nature began in the mountains of California, where he studied alpine gentians as a graduate student and did rare plant surveys for the U.S. Forest Service. Since completing a Ph.D. in botany at the University of California, Berkeley, Tim has shared his passion for plants with students and colleagues for nearly 30 years, including 10 years as a faculty member at Georgia Southern University and 18 years at Clemson University, where he currently teaches plant ecology, field botany, and the natural history of wildflowers. Tim enjoys hiking, bicycling, gardening, and traveling to natural areas throughout the world, as well as exploring plants and habitats in the southern Appalachian mountains and adjoining piedmont. He has published more than 30 research papers in scientific journals, and his photographs have appeared in books, scientific journals, and magazines. Tim and his wife, Lisa Wagner, (along with their dog Mocha) divide their time between Clemson, South Carolina, and Asheville, North Carolina, where they've transformed their lawns into meadows, shrub borders, and woodlands featuring native plants.