The first part of the trail is an old road bed, so it really isn't hard. We walked slow, searching for the Lady Slippers. After about a mile, we turned off the Schoolhouse Gap trail toward the sinks. This trail narrows and we began our slow walk, looking for the flower. It didn't take too long before we came across a couple who told us where they had seen one. And I saw my first Lady's Slipper. It wasn't easy to get to, on a hillside. It was hard to get a good position to get a shot of the whole flower and I spent a lot of time trying. We also found some a little ways down the path that were much easier to get to, but they were in bright sun.
I was so thrilled that I found what I had sought. I remembered the promise from the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7:7-11
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him?"
So my Lady Slipper pictures will remind me to ask and seek and knock. For before my camera I would never have thought to ask to find a Pink Lady's Slipper, but through my seeking with my camera I have found so much of God's world and so much of his beauty has filled my life. There was and still is some fear in the asking. There are wild things in the mountains. We didn't make it all the way to the sinks. When we saw fresh bear scat in the middle of the trail we decided to head back to the safety of the car. So there is more asking and more seeking and more learning to do; and more wildflowers to find. But most importantly there is more trusting of God to give good gifts.
Here are the rest of my pictures of the Pink Lady's Silppers