Petrifying Panoramas, Puritanical Pines, & Paw-Paw Paws

With the main waterfall hikes under our belt, we continued to look for more off-the-beaten-path paths that would still give us some quality trail time.  It was New Year’s Day and we wanted to ring-in the year with a traditional “first hike.”  We hit pay-dirt with the Paw-Paw Trail.

Over the edge view from the Fall Creek Falls Overlook (Paw-Paw Trail)

Not far from the trailhead we reached a diversionary trail that touted a view of Fall Creek Falls from a distant northern perspective.  Never being the type to pass up a waterfall sighting, we headed down this single-track pedestrian towards the gorge.  What we found at the end of this trail was impressive and alarming.  The trail dead-ended at a straight vertical cliff…down to the bottom of the gorge.  It did indeed have a distant view of Fall Creek Falls, but the 3-meter ledge that provided that spectacular view also left us in a state of acute awareness with regards to our footing.  The distant sounds of the falls accompanied the harmony of the river below and the wind in the trees around us. 

"In nature there are neither rewards nor punishments—there are consequences." ~ Robert Ingersoll

The casualties of weather warfare

Back on the trail, I took a sit in the leaf-litter while Kristy and The Boys checked out all the plants, shapes, and smells.  I was busy checking out the larger landscape features around me.  Off the trail was a  monstrous shell of a tree—blackened on the inside, with large sections of intact trunk strewn nearby.  Further uphill lay the remains of dozens of mature trees—their skeletons randomly piled onto one another.  

I realized that I was standing on a battlefield where the fury of nature lashed out at itself.  Thunderbolts rained from above, reducing decades of growth to carbon embers.  Invisible squalls blitzing through the weald—overwhelming their rooted anchors and leaving them prostrated on the substratum once deeded to them.  Nature can be hard.

Only moments prior we were breathlessly captivated by the view of the gorge; yet that view was the result of another prodigious show of natural force.  Some 450-million years ago, The "Great Pangaea Pileup of Cumberland County" formed these mountains which rivaled Everest (in height) before a 150-million year period of erosion left us with the smoothly polished ranges that we recognize today.  To sit beneath these centenary timbers while trying to appreciate the violent force that created the surrounding beauty leaves one both awestruck and humbled.

"And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore.”  ~ Dr. Seuss; How the Grinch Stole Christmas

With an acute awareness of my surroundings—and now with a LOT on my mind (more than I started the day with)—I thought a continued walk in the woods would help soothe the encephalon excitation.  It was shortly thereafter that we came upon an informational sign that gave some interesting facts about the “Virgin Forest” that we were hiking through.  Virgin Forest? Wha?

I had seen this term in the past, but didn't give much thought until I was standing amongst the aged giants that were labeled as such.  They didn't look like virgins.  They were several decades into their lives, sizable in stature as they towered over the forest floor, and bore the scars of a life-long battle against insects, woodpeckers, lightening strikes, and all the other plagues that nature could throw at them.  A cursory glance within the leaf litter revealed acorns and female Conifer cones (also known as "ovulate cones); as well as knee-high oak and pine saplings sprouting up from this composting blanket.  Apparently there is a bit of late-night promiscuity occurring within the virgin forest.  Nature may be hard and violent, but it is not abstinent.

The Immaculate Conifer-ception?

There’s nothing virgin about a forest.  These forests have been in their sprout-grow-REPRODUCE-die-compost cycle for…well...ever.  It would be the same as calling water from the deepest spring "virgin water"; ignoring the fact that everyone on our solar sphere drinks water that has been recycled over and over for tens of thousands of years (should make that high-priced bottled water less appealing now, eh?).   My assumption is that this term refers to man’s interaction with this forest.  Although this forest has been propagating for megannums, it has been spared the axe and saw…for now.

It may seem trivial to those who haven’t spent time amongst the tall timbers, but these are sacred places where Our Species gain inspiration.  I've never seen any paintings inspired by the inside of furniture factories; nor have I ever  read any classical passages that lauded the beauty and grandiose of a warehouse full of coffee tables.  For that, I am exceedingly grateful to both those who decided that this forest be spared from the "harvesting of renewable resources”; and the residents of The Volunteer State who bear the fiscal burden to keep this forest “chaste.”

"Ever wonder where you'd end up if you took your dog for a walk and never once pulled back on the leash?” ~ Robert Brault

Cable Trail: A Venturesome Venue

Our next intersection was the “Cable Trail”—a trail that you’re welcome to hike, but make sure you hitch yourself to the cable as you descend down to the valley floor.  We opted to save this one for a later date—convincing ourselves that The Hounds needed to be fed soon—but secretly knowing that we didn’t have enough gas in the tank to tackle a round-trip ravine run.  The Boys approved of our decision to put preservation ahead of pride and head back to camp; and rewarded us by patiently accommodating our desires to take a paronomasia photograph.

Eight Paws on the Paw-Paw Trail

With the sun buried in the western sky, full-bellies all-around, and the memories of an epic hiking day fresh in our minds; we discussed our next adventure.

"...those little words came to bear an ominous weight, the menace of an imminent tragedy."  - Neal Peart, Traveling Music: The Soundtrack to My Life and Times

Before midnight struck, a stranger calmly presented a difficult question.  Not difficult in the answer, but difficult in the realization of the potential impact it would have on our lives.

"Bledsoe EMS 911. What is the nature of your emergency?"

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