We were stuck in traffic. This may not have been uncommon if we were back in Orlando, where we have the happiest congestion on Earth, but that’s not where we were. We were waiting on the entrance road to Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountains, an entirely new opportunity to inhale carbon monoxide fumes and allow your middle finger to get some exercise. It seemed apocalyptic; cars stretched in either direction as far as we would see. They were releasing women and children only. The vehicle in front of us had long since resorted to cannibalism.
Tag Archives: Smoky Mountains
2020/06/30 – Roaring Fork (Finally!)
Rounding a bend, and we were there. Except it wasn’t just one single solitary tier as I had imagined. Instead, the whole of Grotto Falls stretches out for a hundred yards or longer, and in direct contact with the trail as well. In fact, there was even a lower tier of Grotto Falls below the trail, though trying to access or view it was something far beyond my imagination on this day. It made such an awesome scene to see the trail run alongside the creek, with the well known main tier lying in the background. A long exposure of this unanticipated scene would have fit right in with some of my favorites in my portfolio, but alas, that was a lot of trail that would have to be kept free of people for far longer than was going to be possible at this time. I was sad, because this is singularly one of the most beautiful sights I’ve come across in a mountain range that is absolutely full of them.
2020/06/29 – Little River of Big Wonders
Step by step I worked my way up the gradual incline, trekking poles assisting me to make the burden of each step just a little less. The sound of two feet and the knobby end of two poles constantly pushing off the ground filled the air with the distinctive sound of crunching dirt. There was another sound permeating the air; that of the heavy breathing of the three people enjoying this hike with me, my wife Jess and our friend John and his wife Lauren, making their first trip to the Great Smoky Mountains. I paced onward, practically oblivious to their plight, my overriding concern being to push the group forward to minimize the possibility of us getting caught in a significant thunderstorm, something I had experienced before and wanted to protect my less experienced friends one. If I may be excused for being oblivious to the physical struggles of my group, one must understand that it almost unfathomable that I could outhike anyone; for in the days and weeks leading up to our Smoky Mountain trip, I had legitimately barely been able to walk.
2017/10/14 – High Falls State Park
I felt a pop in my hip as my right leg hit the ground with a lot of force. Clumsy me, I had tried to get out of my chair quickly and tripped over the mobile home sized box of Gold Fish I had left sitting on the floor. With my cat-like reflexes, I kept my balance and managed to avoid tripping. Unfortunately, I didn’t have cat-like joints, and I placed far more force on my hip joint than it was designed for according to the owner’s manual. I didn’t feel any pain, but I knew from the pop and knowing how hard I had landed that I might have an issue on my hands…er well..hip. But as I stated before, I’m clumsy, and I combine that superpower with what doctors have told me is a high pain tolerance. At any given time I generally have between 2-5 potential injuries, none of which ever really hurt that acutely, and I can usually only tell the bumps and bruises from the tears and fractures after 4-6 weeks of things kind of hurting for a bit. I logged that pop and new weakness in my hip in my mental inventory of potential injuries and moved on with my life, knowing that a genuine injury was bound to find a way to distinguish itself and make its mother proud.
J. Parker Nature Stories 