Recently I have mentioned a number of times in this blog that Winter in Middle Tennessee is mostly a world of grey and brown.
Although there are some evergreens (primarily in the mountains) this area is filled with hardwood trees.
Trees that bound to life with buds in the Spring.
That are filled with an abundance of green throughout the Summer and early Fall.
That light the world up with reds and oranges and yellows in late Fall.
And that drop their leaves and hibernate in quiet and empty starkness throughout the Winter.
One day last week LC and Jamie and I walked at Old Stone Fort State Park just outside of Manchester, on yet one more grey day.
This park is the Exhibit A that underscores the grey and brown world that we currently live in.
The sky was yet again grey and threatening rain.
The tall and straight trees enveloping the entire park were bare.
And the park was covered with stone - a visual testament to the extraordinary history that fills this place.
The last time we were at Old Stone Fort was in late November.
On that day the rivers were not running as fast nor were they filled with as much water as they were last week, but two months later the weather and the environment was almost a mirror image of our last trip.
A quick stop inside the wonderful stone museum that is partially buried into a hill side close to a set of falls, and we headed onto the user-friendly flat trails, taking the left fork this trip................
The trail quickly opens up into a wide open pasture.
In the dead of Winter this pasture is a world of muted browns and yellows and greens.
It is a quiet place as all outdoor places here are in Winter.
This state park is located only a few miles from downtown Manchester.
A wonderful place containing history, trees, fast moving rivers, walking trails, waterfalls, the remnants of old structures.
A place for locals to walk without having to journey far from home.
As LC and James and I continued our walk I looked around me.
There were a few others walking, but we did not have to share this park with many...................
The trail that we were on worked its way through the open field and continued until we hit the tree line.
At the tree line we picked up one more trail that meandered along a ridge and looked down over the very fast moving river.
I looked down through the trees and was surprised to see a bright blue balloon caught in the branches of a fallen tree that was lying on the surface of the water.
I smiled at the unexpectedness of my find..................
If you click on the picture below the balloon is still there............
The trail was moderately technical - alternating between open and completely flat, and winding and root filled.
Among the fallen leaves that covered the rock ledges leading down to the river I could see moss.
Moss on the flat rocks of each ledge. Moss at the base of each tree.
I cannot look at moss without thinking of Juneau..................
A few minutes down river I was surprised to see blue balloons again.
And then a few more minutes later, still more balloons.
I had no idea why they were there.
As we continued to walk the trail, and as I continued to see the balloons I smiled at them.
One was a random occurrence. Seeing them every few minutes was a trend and when I realized that I smiled.
I never did find out what they were all about, but I smiled because it reminded me of things I used to do with my two small sons when we walked and wandered together.
We would do such things as setting out blue balloons in unlikely places.
Wind up all the wind-up toys at the same time in a store and then skulk away to the sweet sound of music.
Set up GI Joe soldiers with toy guns pointed at the Barbies in the girlie-pink Barbie aisle of the toy store.
Build snow castles instead of sand castles at the lake in the middle of Winter in Canada, and decorate them with colorful little umbrellas.
Because I knew that doing those kinds of random things would cause people to wonder, and making people wonder would greatly please my little boys.
Two trending blue balloons caught up in the river among fallen tree branches and frothy white scum whose origin I prefer not to speculate about................
One tiny, fragile and white flower growing close to the base of an old tree on the side of the trail.
The only flower that I saw on that day..................
The trail that we were happily walking on, on this unseasonably warm day, eventually veered away from the water................
We were surrounded by deep woods.
Naked trees standing tall silently watching our progress.
I held back, looking around me again, and then watching my Mountain Boy and my sweet puppy make their way through the complex system of roots that filled this section of trail.
In the past years of change and sometimes uncertainty they have both been my rock.
I smiled as I watched them.
LC carefully stepping over roots and rocks on the unstable and now uneven trail.
Jamie walking with wagging tail, happy - no - ecstatic - to be on this great adventure.
She adores exploration.
A wanderer and gypsy, much as her people are................
One last look back into the deep woods before finishing our climb up the wooden set of steps, and before picking up yet one more trail that we both knew from experience would take us close to the river and the falls...............
Jamie joyfully exploring one more trail................
We were walking on an upper trail and when we came to a side trail that I could see led directly down to the very fast moving river I told LC that I was going to head down closer to it so that I could take pictures.
He and James continued walking on the upper trail, wandering slowly so they would not get too far ahead of me.
I happily worked my way down this root filled trail.
James was not the only one who was joyfully exploring................
Only a day or two before our trip to Old Stone Fort I had walked to the top of the waterfall at Short Spring Natural Area.
It was the first time I had ever been to the top of a waterfall and I loved the excitement of the adventure and the sheer newness of the experience.
Standing on the huge flat rocks that extended into the water at Old Stone Fort, I excitedly realized that I was again standing at the top of a waterfall.
This one was smaller, wider, more accessible, not as dramatic.
But still beautiful and powerful none-the-less.................
Still standing on the flat rocks looking down river through the trees................
This place looked so different from the last time we visited in November.
There was so much more water.
Suddenly there was water all around me.
Flowing quickly and crashing in all directions.................
Carefully I walked further up river to the second waterfall, and as I stood watching the power of the water I was enthralled.
I was RIGHT THERE.
Right beside the fast moving and fast dropping water.....................
One more small but fast moving waterfall flowing down from the hills on the opposite side of the river................
I turned to look back up the hill, scanning the area for my guy and my dog.
When I saw them I smiled, motioned them further along the trail, snapped a few more pictures and then bushwhacked back up the hill to meet them.
I was suddenly very glad that we had come to this park.......................
It is not so much for its beauty that the forest makes a claim upon men's hearts, as for that subtle something, that quality of air, that emanation from old trees, that so wonderfully changes and renews a weary spirit...................Robert Louis Stevenson
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