My brother and his wife are always very gracious and hospitable to allow us to stay at their house when we come to visit family.
The extended family was going to watch the football game together. My brother wanted to do a short enough hike to get back. Travel time to the trailhead is a major consideration. This commute was about an hour. The hike goes up a deep draw between two ridges. Cold drainage was chilling with a slight frigid breeze coming downstream at our faces. About halfway up off to the right is 12' Debord Falls.
The next picture I took accidentally, but I kept it because of the curious tree it captured. You wonder how some trees remain upright.
Right next to the falls was this odd Hemlock trunk. Unlike most Hemlocks of any size, this one is still alive. It appears to be plagued by shelf fungus, maybe, certainly overgrown with moss and algae in this moist environment. The woodpecker holes tell you that it was/is full of bugs. Still, it hangs on.
Pictures don't always suggest temperature, but my brother's clothing does.
The next falls was Emory Gap Falls, just barely visible atop the boulder field at left. I saw this couple and their dog, and I offered to take their picture. I am confident that they got a better picture than I did when they offered. I got up close to them so you could see their faces and the falls. I thought about saying something when she stepped back to take the picture, but it wasn't worth the bother.
Emory Gap Falls is 19' high. As with any Cumberland Plateau falls or creek, it barely flows unless there is a big rain event. The soil is shallow and has very little storage capacity which makes the high water higher and low water lower and more common.
The "cave" only goes about ten feet back, but there were several parallel fissures in this limestone, suggesting that there may be caves in the area.
Between the ice and the hornworts, I am reminded not only of the cold, but also of the fact that splash zones are a very unique and isolated micro-environment.
It had rained the day before, but evidently dried before the freeze, since the splash zone was the only place we saw ice cycles.
It was good to get out again and catch up with my brother. In the new year, I plan to reveal why I have not been blogging so much and hiking even less. Thank you to those who do read my entries. Having an audience pushes me to write better. Of course, you can't know what I write like without an audience, so you will have to take it on faith that this is better.
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