Saturday, May 7, 2011

Island Creek area of Tellico

Island Creek is located south of the Vonore Beach public access ramp.  The actual "creek" proceeds from the impoundment into this sheltered area and I was able to paddle about 1.5 miles up the creek until the vegetation prevented me from going any farther.   This is BEAUTIFUL and should be included in anyone's exploration of Tellico!

This is the only cactus I have located in the Little T drainage.   Surely this was planted by someone long ago since I cannot recall cactus being native to Tennessee.  For a good scavenger hunt item, this can be located in the Island Creek portion of Tellico Lake about a mile on the right after you depart from the Vonore boat ramp heading toward the main channel.  Does anyone know anything about this cactus or who lived here?

2 comments:

sleahcim said...

Hey Jeff. I can't say who lived there but those are Prickly Pear cactus. The fruit can be eaten (just don't pick them with your bare hands unless you like tiny spines in your fingers which are nearly impossible to get out). While they aren't really a native to our area they do fine given the right conditions.

September 15, 2013 at 10:14 AM
Unknown said...

Actually, the Prickly Pear cactus IS native to Tennessee. I've found it mostly in NC, but it does occur in the mountains. Given the location, I would think that most likely someone living there, would have planted the cactus there as a native ornamental, for the color and use of it as a natural hedge.

September 25, 2014 at 8:43 AM

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)