The woods are Alive with sounds of change.

The leaves were crackling under my feet today as I took a short walk in the forest and enjoyed the wind with cooler temperatures. Tonight it'll be in the 30's in the mountains and no telling what the folks along the AT will feel. Cold weather, I love it! Bye to all the fair weather folks! Of course the traffic is increasing as the folks from all over the world come to see "the colors".

Fall Creek Falls

Weekends like this allow even the most novice hiker to enjoy a easy walk in the woods. I began my hike around 7:30am, with temperatures in the upper 60's, a layer of high thin clouds, and little wind. The route I took from the Inn to the falls was mostly paved and had little elevation gain or loss for most of the 2.5 mls, oneway. Now the descent to the base of the falls was steep and rocky requiring close attention to this approximately 1/2ml unpaved section. And made for some good "cardio work" coming out.
This Tennessee state park is located in Bledsoe and Van Buren counties, 11 miles east of Spencer and 18 miles west of Pikeville. It may be entered from Highway 111 or Highway 30, which can be accessed from I-24, or I-40, (click the link for the address)

Fall Creek Falls consist of more than 20,000 acres sitting across the eastern top of the rugged Cumberland Plateau, and is considered one of the most scenic SP's in America. The falls which the park is named after is the highest waterfall, at 256', in the eastern united states. Oak and Hickory forest atop the plateau fade into Tulip and Hemlock forest in the gorges. These protected areas within the park support abundant species diversity in both plant and animal life including Mountain Laurel and Rodo's.
May the forest be with you.

OTG

Dudes! and dudettes! What a relaxing walk today for about 4 mls, in and out, otg, near the Middle Prong. It was very pleasant with a cool morning temp, sunshine, and only animals to be heard. There were yellow and white flowers blooming, with the many shades of green still going on. My thoughts were more positive and open to the changes which must be considered. The changes in the trails I chose required some attention so as to stay on the chosen path. Peace

Cumberland Mountain State Park

This Tennessee state park is located really close to Crossville, on TN #127, and not too awful far from I-40.
I took the Pioneer Loop trail for about 4 miles+, completing the somewhat abbreviated loop. One of the bridges which crossed the main stream feeding Byrd Lake was out so modifications in the route were made. Though these changes still allowed for a complete appreciation of the biological diversity found in this 1720 acre park, with every native plant found on the entire Cumberland Plateau is found within this park.
This park provides hiking trails; the longest is 6 miles, fishing, boat rentals, and ranger led educational hikes. As a matter of fact I walked up on one of these interpretive hikes and it turned out I knew the Ranger, Randy Hedgepath, who also serves as an advisor to one of the organizations I am affiliated with in a similar way. Ranger Hedgepath was leading some folks who were w/ the Sierra Club and they commented on the "Stop Mountaintop Removal" button I was wearing. It was a nice way to make acquaintances and know that there are others speaking out on this crime against humanity.
Along the trail I viewed numerous rock shelters as seen in this photo. Note the color changes along the rock as a result of lighting being filtered through clouds and trees and then reflecting off the rocks. The other photo is off a pool of apparent quicksand, yea, that's it, deep quicksand! Oh, OK then it's a pool of water covered with ants joined at their legs to buoy themselves atop the water, yea maybe that's it, yea floating ants....Nope? OK, really it is a pool of water covered with pine or spruce needles. Peace