Day #158 – Fourth Spring

Wytheville VA to Boggsville PA
 

I felt a bit of a sore throat when I woke up this morning, but didn’t think anything of it.  Kelly had had one for a day, plus my allergies were making me crazy.  This is our fourth spring – Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, and now Pennsylvania.  The further we drove into Pennsylvania, the worse I felt.  We were blasting the air conditioner and we could see the yellow pollen dust on all the inside surfaces of the truck.  I took antihistamines and soldiered on.

We arrived at Debbie and Linda’s house in the early evening.  We played cards late into the night.  Yet again, Linda and I whooped Debbie and Kelly.

Day #157 – Road Trip!

Gatlinburg TN to Wytheville VA

Kelly reported this morning that her sore throat was gone.  Blaming it on allergies, I stopped taking Zycam.

We had a productive day.   We pulled everything out of the pass-through storage under the front and back portions of the trailer and organized.  We took everything out of the truck, too.  We can now get to all our gear more easily.  We still need to organize the bunk house in the back of the trailer, and figure out under-sink storage, but we’re moving along.

Late in the afternoon, Kelly asked me what I’d like to do for the weekend.  Weekends are scary around here.  Hundreds, probably thousands, of people arrive for weekend getaways.  The roads become clogged and walking the trails feels like being at a big store with crowded aisles.  We generally stay close to home, but I was feeling restless.  Jokingly, I suggested a road trip to the ‘Burgh to surprise Lori for her 50th birthday.  Not jokingly, Kelly agreed.

We packed in a fury, throwing kayak gear and warm weather clothes in a heap on the trailer floor.  Kelly called Debbie for a place to stay and I called Beth to ensure there’d be room for us at the Sunday surprise party.

We didn’t leave until 7:00-ish and drove as far as Wytheville.  You might remember – Wytheville was our first stop when we left Pennsylvania back in November.  It felt great to be on the road and we were excited about seeing our friends.

Day #156 – Walker Sisters’ Cabin

Gatlinburg TN

Today we planned to hike the Metcalf Bottoms trail to the school house, and then connect to the Little Brier Gap trail to visit the Walker Sisters’ cabin.

From the Metcalf Bottoms trailhead parking lot, we had the choice of either hiking the trail up to the school house or driving up a twisty, turny, two-way one-lane dirt road.  I was surprised when Kelly did not park the car, but headed up the mountain road.  I had chosen this hike for a couple reasons – first I wanted to see these two preserved buildings, and second, I wanted to hike through meadow and take a break from the steep inclines we’d been experiencing on our waterfall walks.

We were surprised to find a large, well maintained parking lot with an adjacent HP-accessible port-a-jane.  As more and more cars arrived, it began to make sense – those kinds of improvements end up lessening the environmental impact of heavy, intense use.

The school was built in 1882 and the last class was held in 1936.  There was a cemetery next to the school, which should not have surprised us because the school did double-duty as a church until 1924.  Again, we saw many children’s graves with dates within a month or week of one another.  This is the third cemetery where we’ve seen this pattern, but surprisingly, we have not seen a similar pattern for the deaths of adults or the elderly.

From the school, we hiked up the Little Brier Gap Trail to the Walker Sisters’ cabin.  The original part of the cabin was built in the 1840s and was added to in the 1870s.  The cabin was made from tuliptree logs, notched so skillfully that no nails or pegs were needed.  The roof shingles were from white oak trees.  The spring house was situated away from the cabin and placed a bit downstream from the spring.  This ensured clean drinking water in the event of a spill in the spring house. 

Mr. Walker was a skilled builder.  On his farm he built a barn, corncrib, blacksmith yard, poultry pens, apple house, smokehouse, pigpen, and grist mill.  The mill even had a lathe for turning wood.  There was never an outhouse on the property – women walked uphill and men walked downhill.  Mrs. Walker, an “herb doctor”, was credited with raising all eleven of her children to adulthood.  Both these people had skills that made them an asset to their community, as well as ensuring they had a productive and comfortable farmstead.  Despite the opportunities for modern conveniences, they refused all because they believed indulgences were sinful. 

The Walkers were one of the last families to live in the Great Smoky Mountains.  In fact, when the park was formed in 1936, five of the daughters decided to continue living on their farm.  Until the last sister died in 1964, the women collected and harvested, and prepared and preserved their own food.  They spun fiber and wove their own cloth for their clothing.  They tended their livestock and worked their fields.  (I’m not making this up or exaggerating - many people in these mountains still live this way.)  They lived their belief, “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.”  For many years, this area was known as Five Sisters Cove in honor of these women and their way of life.

After wandering around the farm and exploring the cabin, we started back down the trail.  We stopped along the way to eat our lunch.  Since there were no big rocks by a creek to sit on, and there was poison ivy everywhere, we were very happy to have our new chairs.  Yet again, a Kelly Idea to the rescue!







Our round-trip hike was 2.8 miles, on a gentle grade and an easy trail.  When we returned to the truck, we couldn’t figure out why we were so tired. 

On our way back to the campground, I began lamenting the lack of opportunity to just sit and watch nature.  I threatened to take up fishing, being willing to stand in the middle of moving water and holding a string in my hands just so I could be quiet and watch.  I miss being quiet.  So, Kelly pulled off by the side of the road.  There was a steep incline down to a creek.  My knees were too sore to even try that bank, so I plopped on a big comfy rock and watched Kelly do her mountain goat routine to the bottom.  She found a rock, too.  It was great for a few minutes….until the mosquitoes found me.  Later, she told me how peaceful she felt and how wonderful it was to just be quiet.  She felt sorry for me, so preoccupied with swatting at bugs.

Later, Kelly told me she’d had a sore throat all day and that was why she’d driven to the school.  If she had told me she’d felt so lousy, we would have stayed home and played cards.  Or, found big comfy rocks on which to sit and stare at nature.  I took Zycam and we went to bed early.

Day #155 – Fighting Creek Trail

Gatlinburg TN

Today was a slow day – the first we’ve ventured outdoors since the last blogging marathon.

Our first stop was the outfitter for socks. When you take only a few pairs of socks on the road, and use laundromats, they wear out pretty quickly. Kelly decided she wanted to switch from cotton to wool. Along the way to the sock department, she found some camp chairs and I found several necessary additions to the first aid kit. We definitely stimulated the local economy.

Next stop was the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (http://www.nps.gov/grsm/index.htm) Sugarlands Visitor Center. No shopping here. We headed directly for the Fighting Creek Trail. This 1.5-mile self-guided nature trail wanders up and down a mountainside that was once the home of several families. The settlers couldn’t decide where to build their school, hence the name “Fighting Creek.” 

The first settlers arrived in the early 1800s and began cutting down trees to build cabins and clear fields. By 1935, when the park acquired the land, there was a community of 25 farmsteads, plus a school, church, post office and store, grist mill, and saw mill. We learned that tuliptrees and pines are indicators of formerly open areas. Non-native plants, such as yucca and boxwood, indicated a homestead. Yards were small to allow maximum space for gardens and fields. Corn was planted on all but the steepest mountainsides. The steepest land was reserved for pasture. Because of the terrain, wagons weren’t of much use. People used sleds to haul materials and harvests. Beans were interplanted with corn so the corn stalks would support the bean vines. Fences were made from rocks that had been cleared from fields.

This area is gradually returning to its original state. New forest growth has taken hold, making it hard to see the remains of buildings and fields. White and pitch pines came back first, followed by hemlocks and hardwoods. As the forest developed, it became more shady, making it difficult for the pines to live. Oaks and hickory trees are taking their places. The wildlife has returned, too. Deer were very scarce by 1920, but have returned. Bear had retreated to higher ground to avoid human contact, but can now be found at all elevations in the Smokies. Birds in particular have changed over the years, based on the types of trees and shrubs available for nesting.