After taking many wooden stairs down into the gorge, walking beside and close to Laurel Falls, and then circling back to the Ranger Station on a combination stairs and dirt trail, LC and Jamie and I finally headed down trail towards Stone Door.
I was surprised to see the paved trail.
A new addition since the last time I traveled this way and I wondered just how far the pavement went.
Did it go all the way to Stone Door?..............
The weather on this day could only be described as perfect.
Endless blue sky and never-ending sun.
Temperatures that were cool and dry.
It was a perfect day to be outside and in the mountains, and time and again throughout our wanderings the other day I was thankful to be in the place we were, spending time together in the very beautiful.
I stopped briefly when I saw this tree standing silently among the leaf-bare hardwoods.
There are black bears throughout the right third of Tennessee and I took the ravaged tree to be likely evidence of their presence here recently................
It turns out that this new paved trail only partially goes to Stone Door.
About 1/2 mile onto the trail we came to a wide overlook.
This place looked out over the flat mountains of the Cumberland as far as the eye could see.
An endless circle of mountains, endless blue sky, millions of bare trees covering almost every surface of the hills and mountains in front of me...............
LC called them woolly-boogers.
I have no idea if that is really the name of this little furry guy who was crawling slowly across the dirt trail in front of us or not.
But he looks like something that will eventually and soon transform into some kind of moth or butterfly or some such thing.................
From the overlook all the way to Stone Door we three quiet adventurers walked on open dirt trail that was mostly flat until close to the end.
We were all three greatly enjoying the day and enjoying the knowledge that we were headed towards rugged and beautiful views and rock formations..............
One more sign of recent bear activity..............
Except for the brief stop at the overlook LC, James and I had been making steady progress along the trail until we came to this tree.
No leaves, only a couple of tiny branches at the top of it, much shorter than the tall and straight hardwood trees that dominated both sides of the trail, a winding three part trunk - I had no idea what this thing was but it was unique in a warped, weird, sci-fi, creepy kind of way.
Almost like a timber-filled living creature.
I know...........too many Stephen King novels growing up................
And this very unusual thing on the side of one tree.
It looked almost as though it was a large wart on the trunk of the tree.
Or the scar of the tree after some type of severe trauma................
When we finally reached our destination I took a moment to orient myself to this place.
Looking around me I mentally reviewed.
New signs that were not there the last time I visited.
Overlooks to the left of me.
Stone Door to the right.
Here I am, stuck in the middle with you (as the song goes).
We first went left, following a small trail filled with rocks and roots, that led down to a very large flat outcropping that reached out into the valley...............
LC held back and stayed with Jamie, while I walked out onto the large tabletop to take pictures.
When I was done it was LC's turn to head out and look out over beautiful.................
I spent a long time walking carefully throughout the tabletop, wandering over and around rock and tree, taking in the.views all around me.
At the end of the tabletop it just simply........ended.......a drop-off into nothingness.
Millions of trees covering multiple hills that was a beautiful scene on this day, but would be extraordinary when the trees are all finally green again..................
This crevice between the two tabletops drops down uninterrupted close to a thousand feet.............
A circle of rock outcroppings seen regularly near the top of the mountains surrounding us.
Layers of rock that are rugged and ancient.
A vast sea once covered much of what is now the southeastern United States. For millions of years, sediments accumulated on the seabed and became compressed into layers of sandstone, limestone, shale, and siltstone. Then, between 310 and 275 million years ago, as the African and North American continental plates slowly collided, these layers of rock were squeezed upward to form the Appalachian Mountains. To the west, that same squeeze and uplift created a huge plateau, or tableland, which has since been dissected by river valleys. That tableland is now known as the Allegheny Plateau in West Virginia and Pennsylvania, and as the Cumberland Plateau from eastern Kentucky south through central Tennessee and northeastern Alabama.
This young couple approached me and asked if I would take their picture together.
They had become engaged at this place in the past, and I happily obliged them while they stood a little too close to the edge for comfort and smiled for their picture............
They left soon afterwards and finally LC and James and I had this place to ourselves.
I stood on the hard flat rock surface and looked around me and felt alone but not lonely, and again (and again and again) realized that there is much beauty here in Tennessee................
When I was done I carefully maneuvered back to where my guy and my dog were waiting.
Grabbing Jamie's leash it was my Mountain Boys' turn to explore................
Jamie first stood and then sat, watching intently the entire time as LC walked the tabletop.
There were too many drop-offs, too many crevices, too many places for unsuspecting puppies to get themselves into trouble.
She wanted to go, but instead silently sat watching and waiting for the return of her human.............
As with our hike at Fiery Gizzard Trail just a few days before, this outing was turning into a joyful excursion.
We headed back up the trail and continued on to Stone Door...............
