the smell of hunting season

Occasionally, while hiking around the local mountains, I will smell something growing that evokes memories.

Last week or so, Rocko and I were hiking somewhere near here when I smelled Hunting Season. Probably pheasant season.

Yesterday I figured out what that smell was: it is a plant. The ones I found were shrublike but they look like they could be trees when they get older. I brought a couple of leaves home to make sure that they were what I smelled, and they still smell like hunting season to me.

I don't know yet what exactly the plant is, but here is a picture of one of the leaves:

This leaf smells like hunting season. It was growing at Graveyard Fields.

We were hiking at Graveyard Fields, the most heavily visited site on our section of the Blue Ridge Parkway. The cloud cover was low, below 5,000 feet, and we were above that elevation. We were not only hiking in the rain; we were hiking within the raincloud.

Nobody else was on the trail, at least none that we encountered. There were only about four cars in the parking area. A couple of days ago, the parking area was filled to overflowing, but it was sunny.

We got soaked but we had a good time. It really is a pretty place but, as I often say, it is usually too crowded for my taste.