A Narrow Fellow in the Grass

Tags

photography, Poetry

Hopi and Black-tailed rattlesnakes

A narrow fellow in the grass
Occasionally rides;
You may have met him,–did you not,
His notice sudden is.

The grass divides as with a comb,
A spotted shaft is seen;
And then it closes at your feet
And opens further on.

He likes a boggy acre,
A floor to cool for corn.
Yet when a child, and barefoot,
I more than once, at morn,

Have passed, I thought, a whiplash
Unbraiding in the sun, —
When, stooping to secure it,
It wrinkled, and was gone.

Several of nature’s people
I know, and they know me;
I feel for them a transport
Of cordiality;

But never met this fellow,
Attended or alone,
Without a tighter breathing,
And zero at the bone.

~~Emily Dickinson

Scattered

Four State Parks today with very different trails, and add to that a scattered chance of thunderstorms, and you get–exhausted. First park. Short and strenuous but easily done because it was only two trails–one to the overlook of the falls and one downstream of the falls, and only a total of less than two miles.

Cummins Falls

 

The second park was challenging to say the least. It said it was a 4.7 mile trail and maybe it was when the CCC built it in the 1930s, but by the time we hiked it, the four foot treadway was often down to less than a foot due to erosion, and badly maintained as well, and lots of poison ivy, and was more than more than 5 miles. Not excessively off, but considering some of the brush we had to cut through and side hill trail that disappeared into gullies and lake . . . it took a lot out of us.

The plants are taking over!

And then we hiked a couple of short but nice trails that made up for it. Two parks that only had one trail each and both significantly historic because they were related to Tennessee personages–Cordell Hull (Nobel Peace Prize for forming the United Nations) and the famous Alvin C. York (yes, the movie–Sergeant York with Gary Cooper). SO, exhausting day, but awesome, and sometimes trying trails, but all in all, worth the effort.

A woodland walk along the Bunkum Cave trail.

 

Walking across the suspension bridge to the York grave site.

And just for fun–snakes on the trail today__

Look at that color!

The Re-hikes

I left early this morning to drive back up to Tennessee and re-hike the Council of Trees Trail at Red Clay State Park and the Bay Loop Trail at Harrison Bay State Park. The first hike was pleasant but not far different from the first time I hiked it. But, the second hike today was wonderful. The weather was perfect and this time I saw loads of wildlife.

In addition to meeting two snakes, I also passed some mallards floating on the lake, a

The first snake.

 

great blue heron and five deer. The first two deer looked up, briefly, as I walked by, but then went back to grazing. The second deer nearly took my breath away. She was only about three feet away and looked at me with the very definition of doe eyes. She stamped her foot and I felt like she was saying, “please don’t make me regret standing here.” I smiled and continued walking. Later, I passed another couple of deer who barely glanced up as I passed by.

Now Rémy and I are ensconced in our campsite, and as it heads toward sunset, the temperature is cooling rapidly. Time to make dinner.

 

Rémy is not sure about the idea of green tea.