SHARING FRIENDSHIP AND WILDFLOWERS

Today was the second time Gary Baker and Dr. Julian Ahler have invited me on a “road trip” with them, and I was honored. The two have been friends a long time and have made many trips over the years, usually on a Saturday when their wives are busy doing something else. There is no set plan, destination, or other agenda, but the goal is always to have a good time and see something different and interesting before returning home.

The first time I was asked to tag along there was a mission: find watermelons for the annual “Music and Melons”. The “Babahatchie Community Band” holds a concert each year around the middle of August, at the Riverfront Park in Harriman, Tennessee. The local band, many of whom were “in band” together back in high school, provides free music and watermelon for the enjoyment of local residents, and anyone wishing to attend!

Yes, it can get pretty hot some years, but just the sight of watermelons floating in tubs of ice-water can cool you right down. We found the watermelons at a nearby truck market, after having driven about a hundred miles out through the country. However, we didn’t care; it was just the enjoyable part of the whole process.

Today they asked me if I knew somewhere we could go, and I asked if they had ever been to Black Mountain, and neither had been there. I’ve posted about Black Mountain and/or the Justin P. Wilson Cumberland Trail before, so I knew what a surprise it would be for them.

All along the narrow road to the top of the mountain, we could see many varieties of wildflowers, and Dr. Ahler began naming them off. He’s a walking encyclopedia, and not just on the subject of wildflowers. Having been a doctor in the East Tennessee area for several years, he’s been on just about every road, trail, and path there is in the area. He keeps us entertained with his stories from the past. He seems to know who lived, lives, or wanted to live in houses and on farms up and down the highways and back roads. It’s really a hoot to hear the old stories and listen to him chuckle over his memories.

At the top, we start down the main trail to the rock outcrops and he continues educating us with flower and weed names. He even stops occasionally to point out the same flowers to see if we remember! “There will be a test later,” he often teases!

We pass the old home places, marked only by the stone chimneys, and they marvel over the “spring house” and the large cavity carved in the spring’s bedrock, just the size of farmer’s milk can. Just think, it was less than a hundred years ago when the “spring house” was someone’s refrigerator!

We stood on top and surveyed the Grassy Cove valley below us! It was a beautiful day, low humidity, with lots of sunshine and big puffy white clouds against a deep blue sky. We tried to imagine how many eons of rain, wind, and ice it took to layer the sandstone with the pea-gravel, and carve out the many hydraulic holes, cracks, and brain cortex-like shapes in the huge rocks. It all made us feel very insignificant in the scheme of things.

Down along the face of one outcrop, (note the overhang in the background of the large photo) we thought about the days when this shelter protected Indians and settlers out on “long hunts” from cold winds, summer heat, and pouring rain. The temperature in the shade of these rocks was a good ten to fifteen degrees cooler than down in the valley. It made us think of the fall coming, and how much more we would be able to explore without the threat of bugs and snakes!

“We’ll have to come back soon,” Dr. Ahler promised, “there’s a lot more to see!”

God willing, we’ll all make the trip.

BLACK MOUNTAIN TENNESSEE

Thousands of people pass Black Mountain everyday, traveling between Crossville and Knoxville, Tennessee, but they never give it much thought, and that’s good for folks like Ron and me. I’m sure there are more people who get off at the Crab Orchard exit and travel the short distance up the mountain on the weekends, but during the week, we are privileged to have it mostly to ourselves.

At the top of the paved road, the trails of the Grassy Cove Segment or Section 5 of the Justin P. Wilson Cumberland Trail State Park begin. Along the trail up to the sandstone outcrops you will pass two old home places, now just rock foundations and chimneys. However, the old spring house still survives! Once on top you will see Grassy Cove spread out before you, some 1300 feet below.

You will also find, as Bob Fulcher describes, “…a maze of convoluted, fluted corridors, strange, stack-stoned chimney rocks and pillars, unexpected windows and passageways winding in glorious confusion. It is all bejeweled with pure white quartzite pebbles, hung with ferns and flowers and dyed in rose colors, and pinks, yellows, purples, brilliant white, handsome brown and grays. This is Tennessee's unsurpassed stonework.”(Bob Fulcher is an interpretive specialist for the Cumberland Trail State Park.)

This is where Ron and I found ourselves a week or so ago. For me, it was my first time and I was blown away with what my eyes beheld that day. I could not get over the huge rocks and how much it reminded me of old black and white cowboy movies I used to watch. I flashed back to outlaws or Indians hiding in the rocks shooting down at the posse or Calvary below. Simply spectacular and I long to go back soon, so, we're taking the ladies tomorrow!

I can not post all the photos here, but you can see others on my Flickr page.

I believe this ridge of rocks is identified on maps as Sand Rock Ridge, and it is well worth getting off I-40 and driving the 8 miles just to spend a few minutes walking among the huge boulders or just sitting on top of one and looking out across the valley. I can feel my heart rate going down as I type!