| My
wife Ann and I are at the base of the Alum Cave Bluff
Trail. We have made a reservation to spend the night
at LeConte Lodge on the summit. There are five hiking
trails that lead to the top, but no vehicle access.
Since
meals, bed, and shelter will be provided, our daypacks
are lightly loaded. All we need is lunch, a canteen,
rain gear, a couple of extra layers of warm clothing,
sunscreen, bug repellant, and a map. We step onto the
trail that heads into the nearly inpenetrable, verdant
woods. The air is thick and warm on this July day. Diffused
sunlight and warbler songs filter down through a dense
canopy of branches and leaves.
The trail follows the meandering Alum Cave Creek through
massive eastern hemlocks, an indicator that this area
was never attacked by ax or saw. Mixed in with the hemlocks
are yellow birch trees, some perched on stilts. When
a yellow birch seedling begins growing on a fallen log,
the roots of the birch grow downward through the rotting
wood. Once the log has completely decomposed, the birch
is left standing on its prop roots.
...Great Smoky Mountains National Park, located within
a two-day drive of half of the nation’s population,
is the country’s most visited park with more than
nine million annually.
Within the approximately 800-square-mile park are over
520,000 acres of forest, more than 850 miles of hiking
trails, and at least 735 miles of fishable streams.
Yet only about six percent of the visitors get out of
their cars to explore the backcountry.
—From
“The Mountains of Blue Smoke” by Stewart
Aitchison
The
Mountains of Blue Smoke
Stewart Aitchison
64 pages. Oversized 10”x13”
ISBN 978-1-58071-063-3
$9.95 (Due Spring 2011)
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