Audubon Swamp Garden

Audubon Swamp Garden in Charleston, South Carolina, is a unique nature and wildlife preserve. It boasts of a variety of plant life, birds and water-loving creatures. The beautiful area can be explored from the many boardwalks, bridges and dikes. I had a grand time exploring the place and could easily have spent the whole day there.

A Great Egret greets us as we enter the swamp

A paddling of ducks in the swamp

An Anole gives us a baleful look

Ah! Now that's a comforting sign!

Anhinga and Yellow-bellied Sliders enjoying the sunny day

This was a common sight in the swamp. An American Alligator and Sliders enjoying a nap

A Squirrel...

...who thinks he is a Lion!
Photographed somewhere on the Pacific Coast Highway.

Mariposa Grove

The beautiful grove with the Giant Sequoia Redwoods deserves a post of its own. We spent over 5 hours walking 14 miles, exploring the thousands of years old trees. A walk among them is truly an awesome experience. Some snapshots of the grove:

Mariposa Grove of the Giant Sequoias

I found this interesting sign near the entrance to the grove

The Grizzly Giant, the biggest tree in the grove, and a major crowd puller

A Chipmunk
Tannin rich bark of a Sequoia
Giant tree= giant cone. The tree grows from seeds.
A Mule Deer peeks out at us as we pass him

The Fallen Tunnel Tree
The Bachelor and Three Graces

A Woodpecker, pecking away, unmindful of the people trying to photograph him

The Faithful Couple Tree

Bird's eye view of Wawona from Wawona Vista Point

A Rattling Experience

Hiking in the deep woods has its share of dangers. I had a royal scare while hiking in the woods of NC last fall. It is still a surprise to me as to how I could have missed it. By inches. It was not just me; two other friends missed it too. We became aware of it only when the fourth person in the group managed to whisper in fear.

It was a huge long snake spread out on the side of the narrow hiking path. I was closest to it, maybe just a step or even half a step away from stepping on its rattler. I have had many encounters with these creepy crawlies before but this one really sends chills down my spine.

I don't want to scare myself silly ever time I open my blog, so I’m posting the link to the picture taken by my husband here. I wanted to write a brief note just to remember the incident.

I think the poor creature was more frightened than we were. I know that snakes are the most misunderstood creatures and I would never intentionally harm them in anyway. It's just that there is something about the way they look and slither about that terrifies me.

In the end, I'm glad that we both (the snake and the hikers) parted ways without anything unpleasant happening.