High Falls and Indian Springs: The Fall Line in middle Georgia

Work has been so tiring lately. Especially when it's getting warm in the afternoons and you're sent out on difficult missions in strange locations that aren't so welcoming. And if you want some shade and shelter from south metro Atlanta I-75 suburbia, there actually aren't many natural public spaces to choose from. However, just about halfway between Atlanta and Macon, there is a lush section along the fall line escarpment (an ancient coastline) which has two state parks, High Falls and Indian Springs. Both are within a few miles of the interstate, and have been visited/settled for hundreds of years.

The High Falls on the Towaliga River

It was an industrial town in the 1800's, a perfect location for a grist mill. Before that, it was a Creek Indian settlement. The Towaliga rises in Henry County and is mostly flat until the falls, and then it joins the Ocmulgee River just north of Macon. The elevation change is sudden and intense, and separates the upper and lower Piedmont right here. Below the falls, canoeing/kayaking are popular, one of the few locations in middle Georgia.
I arrived not long before sunset, finding the cool spray of the falls totally necessary to counter the humidity of a warm season in the Georgia piedmont. (pictured at top) Then below the falls a little hiding space on the river's edge, with lots of rabbits and other wildlife running past me really made me want to stay.


http://www.gastateparks.org/HighFall

INDIAN SPRINGS

A little further from I-75 is middle Georgia's "Indian Springs," which was also a Creek settlement, then incorporated as a town by the whites, and the land around the spring and the two streams that also join there was bought by the state in 1825 as Georgia's original state park. Recognizing the importance of preserving the spring, the state has resisted offers from private companies to sell the land (for bottling/selling water, for example) because of its renowned healing properties (similar to other cases around the world of the known healing properties of spring water, and the rise and fall of the health resort industry boom in the 20th century).


The Spring House - built by the CCC in the 1930's

The first person to capitalize on the springs' resort potential, ironically, was Creek Chief William McIntosh (the park's lake is named after him). He signed two fateful Treaties of Indian Springs here with the Georgia government; the first in 1821 gave him property of this land, where he built his second plantation and a hotel. It must not have been good enough, because in 1825, he caved in to the whites' quest for the land and signed the second treaty, giving these springs, the Towaliga river and falls, the Ocmulgee basin/Macon, and the area that would become the city of Atlanta (up to the Chattahoochee), including the very spot I am sitting in right now writing this.

I was almost out of water when I arrived at the park, and there were several travelers from Macon and Atlanta who regularly come here with empty jugs and take advantage of the forever free flowing fresh water. The water smells so good here, it smells like life. Not like a truckstop sink or cooler, or surrounded by a ritzy resort.
Thank you, state of Georgia, for preserving this spot!

http://www.gastateparks.org/IndianSprings

Coal, Interrupted

It's been two weeks since the latest coal mining disaster in West Virginia, and this one has received considerable media attention. This being an explosion inside a mine in the town of Montcoal, about 30 miles southwest of Charleston (the link just above has a detailed map and informative news video) where almost 30 miners were killed, the most deaths from a mining catastrophe since the early 70's.
It just so happens that I was only a few miles up the Coal River from Montcoal a week before the incident. (And not often do I find myself in West Virginia) It was an eye-opening, eye-burning experience, beautiful yet disturbing...
Only in the last year had I become aware of the horror known as Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining. For someone who has grown up with loving memories of Appalachian mountain holidays, beginning in childhood, this practice seems purely shocking and unnecessary (like the electric chair for mountains!) but apparently destroying these wonders of nature has a productive purpose. It's a tried and "true" tradition, going back to 1742 (see photo above) but much cheaper and with less human work involved (meaning, less jobs too of course!)
And it's happening all across southern West Virginia and eastern Kentucky, where the often-impoverished population will be powerless to stop it. And there is a movement toward the cleaner, more permanent alternative of wind energy, but so far the big coal companies (particularly Massey Energy) are making change difficult.

The issues surrounding coal mining and its ties to the history of the middle Appalachians are so complex, I can not discuss them all here and do them justice. Plus, I'm still learning about it, and I live three states away. But I have seen enough to realize how dangerous and destructive the coal industry currently is, and that not enough people are aware of these appalling practices! Once you have been here in person and see it – or even feel it happening all around you – your eyes will burn in mourning too.

There are three ways environmental and human disasters can occur from industry coal mining:

1. Traditional underground mining. Montcoal and Sylvester. Massey Energy operates several large-scale mines around West Virginia, including the one at Montcoal and another several miles downriver at Sylvester. I passed Massey's Elk Run complex next to Sylvester, where I was greeted with beautiful vallery scenery:

   In 2003, the coal dust was so bad in this town that residents were constantly sick, and so a lawsuit was filed, ordering Massey to cover the (open) cleaning facility with a cloth dome cover.
   
   Isn't it wonderful going to school next to this? Seeing the giant mine complex across from mobile homes and eroding highway is sickening, especially with the disaster down the road in a similar situation.

   Here is a 2006 letter from Elk Run Coal regarding changes at the facility: http://www.ilovemountains.org/memorial/c295/37
   
   

2. Mountaintop Removal Mining. Also dominated by Massey in West Virginia and by other companies in Kentucky, this method was started to reduce labor costs and extract the coal more quickly. Of course, MRM is permanent, and destroys animal habitats, all plant life, and has pushed many people from their homes! One well-known case of the latter is of Larry Gibson of Kayford Mountain (just east of Sylvester and Whiteville), who refuses to give his mountainside land to the coal companies. Kayford, which has been mostly desecrated by MRM, has become a center for environmental activism and collegiate studies.

   Larry's website, and more info about Kayford Mountain: http://www.mountainkeeper.org/
   An introductory video about MRM (very graphic):
   \
   More about MRM:
   http://endmtr.com/
   www.ilovemountains.org
   
   

3. Slurry Dams, built high above mining facilities on mountainsides so people below cannot see them. However, they are dangerous, and could overflow at any time! I saw plenty of these too, especially along US-119 from Charleston through Pikeville, Kentucky.
   Notable Slurry/Coal Sludge Dam disasters include:
   -Buffalo Creek Flood in Logan County, WV in 1972 – LOTS of people killed and homes destroyed
   -Wolf Creek in Martin County, Kentucky in October 2008
   -the TVA Impoundment near Kingston, Tennessee, in December 2008

   Read more about Buffalo Creek, Wolf Creek and other slurry disasters here: http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Buffalo_Creek_Flood

Read a recent blog post from Grist about Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship:
http://www.grist.org/article/don-blankenship-seventh-scariest-person-in-america/

I SAW PAINTED FACES IN THE ROCKS AND CUT EARTH. FACES OF THOSE WHO HAVE PASSED. UNDER MOONLIGHT I SAW AN OLD MINER TRAPPED INSIDE A ROCK. THEIR EXPRESSIONS WERE OF PAIN. HIS FACE FRAMED THE “TRAIL OF THE LONESOME PINE” : IF YOU BRING THE COAL, THE SLURRY WILL BE MINE.

(Walhonde Village on Kayford Mountain with a strip mine visible in the background. The area in the middle used to be a much higher mountain)

But, the middle Appalachians are a place of much natural beauty, and the possibility of keeping it beautiful is still strong. Hope for wind farms like one proposed near Montcoal!!
www.coalriverwind.org

go forth into the waterfall

GO FORTH INTO THE WATERFALL:
PISGAH and DUPONT forests, on APRIL afternoons


Jessica Powell and Brian Goforth want to bathe in a waterfall as a wedding ritual. Her dress will not just sit in the closet for years after their wedding, wearable but unworn; she will let the water and the rocks rip the dress into a mess of memories. And they will keep the torn dress and the moment. They're just shopping for waterfalls, now.

As I have mentioned, there is a long cluster of waterfalls around the tri-state meeting point of Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, along a long escarpment where the Blue Ridge mountains meets the Piedmont foothills.
Really, there are so many to see, you could spend a four day trip here just visiting waterfalls starting around Tallulah Gorge in Georgia (see "Tallulah" two chapters below) moving up through Brevard, NC. Actually Transylvania County/Brevard calls itself "land of waterfalls."
In the quick warmth of one April Asheville afternoon, I sought a waterfall or more to cool off by, and I was about an hour from the "land of waterfalls." So I arrived near Brevard, at the literal gateway to the Pisgah National Forest (Pisgah ranger district) and stopped at the first waterfall I came to, Looking Glass Falls.
Looking Glass, popular because of its height and majesty yet close roadside access, is where I met Jessica and Brian (pictured at LGF). Their wedding is in July in a town nearby, so they are scouting for the perfect waterfall location, starting here.
People are allowed to play in the pool below this falls, but the rocks just beneath the flume where Jessica's dress will tear are slippery and dangerous. So, they visit their next option, Moore's Cove Falls just a mile up highway 276, where I am also going.
Moore's Cove Falls (both pictures at the top) is about a half-mile hike from the road: smaller, much more private, and you can go behind the waterfall and sit and stay dry! There are several other falls where you can do this, like "Dry Falls" about an hour further west, but this one is close and the afternoon sunlight glowed beautifully through the spill of water off the overhang. It was otherworldly, and so relaxingly cool...
Jessica and Brian seemed to like this place better for their post-wedding dress tearing, and I agree. As they left, I took off my shoes and hopped into the falling flume, standing sprite-like in the sunlight, hair getting wet, basking in the cool and warm of the moment.

After leaving the Pisgah forest district I drove to the also-recommended Dupont (NC) State Forest, a multi-use area of land near the NC/SC border. It's a watershed (Little River), plant and animal wildlife preserve previously owned by the Dupont company, and has suffered from erosion from Tropical Storm Ivan in 2004. There are also several major waterfalls on the premises, including four on the Little River. Before sunset, I was able to visit High Falls...

Triple Falls...


....and Hooker Falls, featured in the film "The Last of the Mohicans."


By now, the sun was setting and the air was already getting cool again.
Looking westward to Brevard and the valley, I pranced away. Hope and safety for a happy couple standing faces to the mist...

For more about Dupont SF:
http://www.dupontforest.com/ecology.asp

For Pisgah NF and those falls:
http://www.pisgahforest.com/photogallery/waterfalls/index.htm

Dark Days at Black Rock (Spring in highplaces part 2)

BLACK ROCK MOUNTAIN STATE PARK
Mountain City, GA...the highest (elevation) park in GA.
It was cloudy, late, and rainy. You could barely see the mountain through the fog. Not really exploring weather!
But the Spring House amid the rhododendron - you can see the rhododendron begin in thick washes as you go up the mountain - here was a spot of peace that you could drink, and Trahlyta would have liked it here even though it isn't big enough for bathing...

Tallulah: "You don't want to lose her" (early Spring in high places, part 1)

TALLULAH GORGE

There are many natural and geologic features that come together in the corner where Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina meet. It is the southeastern edge escarpment of the Appalachian range, so there are lots of waterfalls and breaks as you move from southwest to northeast, far too many to visit on a single trip! There are some really beautiful ones in each state. The falls on the Tallulah River are one set of the most famous in Georgia, partly because of a major road (and once, railroad) going north-south through her, partly because it is a really major drop in such a short distance (almost 1000 feet!) and travelers can see this from the old road.

Like many others I had passed by many times, but, as in the song of Trahlyta, on this cloudy, rainy day I had to stop and leave a stone. The park itself was almost empty but the rain stopped as soon as I walked in. So on down into the gorge I went, more than three hundred steps down past L'eau D'or Falls and Tempesta Falls on the way to Hurricane Falls.
Somewhere along the way the north and south rim trails cross the river gorge by a bridge. You can look down and see Hurricane Falls, far below. Like at the falls of Cloudland Canyon at Rising Fawn, to face the crashing water alone is wildly spiritual.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unlike the rounded bowl of rock below Cloudland's falls, and many of the falls in the Tennessee Valley, the rocks down here are of more sharp diagonal lines, pushing downward as a fault, and you may wish to listen for the the stories of Gorge's creation. Tallulah's childhood was believably difficult, and she had more breakups and breakdowns than her big sister Chattooga - who herself had a change of destination partway through her early life possibly due to the same event...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Trails on the rim are made from recycled rubber...

For more on Tallulah Gorge:
http://www.gabotsoc.org/articleTallulahgorge.htm
(botanical and geological history especially)

http://www.gastateparks.org/net/go/parks.aspx?LocationID=46&s=0.0.1.5


Next: The transition to Spring is slower in high places - Part 2, Dark Days at Black Rock Mtn

New Echota brings the spring

I celebrated this year's spring equinox with photographer Chuck Smith at New Echota State Historic Site (Georgia). It was a stunningly beautiful day to spend in such an eternal, peaceful place.

A few trees in the park have begun to flower, this one by the "middle-class" Cherokee homestead circa 1828, the same one I am standing next to in the first photo.



Beneath the pine, a turquoise sun, a cloud of calm...
the necklace I made with an orange heart charm from Jumping Mouse Beads in Ellijay, just up the Coosawattee River from here


In the print shop, Chelsea shares a copy of page one of the February 21 issue of the Cherokee Phoenix she just printed, then explains that it's from 1828, not a month ago! (This was the first issue of the first Indian newspaper of any Nation, and was printed in English and Cherokee and edited by Elias Boudinot. It is still in existence.)



Looking up at a picture of Rising Fawn George Lowrey in the Council House. (In 1828 he was the Assistant Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, next under John Ross, photo beside him on right)



A piney forest behind the site is a fine place for a fawn, so get on your hooves and come on out!

For more information about New Echota: http://www.gastateparks.org/Echota

For more on the Cherokee Phoenix: http://www.cherokeephoenix.org/

All photography by Chuck Smith (GA Aviation Photography) 2010
Special thanks to Chelsea, David, Yvey, and Will at New Echota.

To the season!

from a Broken Bridge, Sweetwater has never seemed sweeter

I've been thinking about ruins lately...
A trip to Sweetwater Creek State Park on the cusp of spring, a tear drop shed as I entered for hearing that amazing sound of rushing water not fifteen minutes from my home. And though it's warm, the trees are still bare, so there are so many clear views of the river all along.
The trail to the mill is well-traveled, so this time I chose to walk upstream, in solitude except for occasional joggers and dogs followed by tag-along men. I'd heard people talk about a bridge here, but I didn't see one, surprising given the lack of leaves. Then around a bend and under a mess of debris and fallen trees:


"It was September's flood that broke this bridge...
the hard work of 15 years by the Army Corps of Engineers!
a mass of green steel beams torn and thrown into the stream.
no human touch, only the hand of nature."
A jogger tells me this as he passes the ruin for the first time. It's going to change his route, he was expecting to cross as many others do.
Who would have thought, from a creek so Sweet, renewing itself again?
This could be a microcosm of the experience for those who lived through Hurricane Katrina, like my friend from Mississippi with whom I shared this story.

I sat on the concrete ledge which once was the bridge for a while, then as the sun was going down I walked down to the Mill area. Later in the day it's not so crowded and the rushing water over the shoals make for the best river experience in metro Atlanta! There is some boardwalk and trail damage too, down here, where volunteers have been working to clean some of this up.
Here's a beautiful view of the river through the mill you can only see when the trees are bare:


I love this park and I will come here again as soon as I can!

For more information about Sweetwater, check out http://www.gastateparks.org/Sweetwater