The Greening of the Mountains

In late April the little hamlet of Sylva NC celebrates the first hint of Spring with a street fair — The Greening of the Mountains.  When we arrived this year it was reported that the greening was at least three weeks early. The Mountain Laurel is blooming in the sunny places along the creeks right now and the rhododendrons  are getting ready, but the greening of the trees is Spectacular. 
In the Spring, new leaves are just getting their color and the green is tender and mellow and faintly translucent.  We watched the trees at high elevations, dark green conifers set in pale green, give way to lowland species leafed out with that super abundance of leaves that cannot possibly be sustained through the winds and heat of summer.     In the backlight of the partly cloudy morning on our way through the park, everything seemed to have leapt to full  height along the bushy edges and shafts of light made the light green understory glow.  We hardly know how to choose, but Spring is for us the most beautiful, rich and rewarding season to be in the Mountains.