Tuesday morning. Still dark out. Tossing and turning in my sleeping bag when began the hammering of a lone woodpecker. As the sky grew lighter, other birds joined the chorus. Geese honking. A great blue heron squawking, announced its entry on the stage. Robins chirping. Cardinals, and other non-crows (a friend once said that birds are either crows or non-crows), created an orchestral blending of sound. Ornithologically challenged, I could not identify many of the individual players, but at sunrise, the symphony reached its crescendo. It was time to rise.
This natural entertainment occurred at a campsite in an area called The Land Between the Lakes. As an exercise, please leave the comfort of your computer and get a map or atlas of Tennessee and Kentucky. Mapquest or Google Maps will do in a pinch, but maps are better because you can see the big picture more clearly. Map in hand? Find Dover, TN which is 60 miles northwest of Nashville, as the crow flies. Now find Grand Rivers, KY. It's 40 miles due north of Dover, TN. See the big green area in between? That's The Land Between the Lakes National Wildlife Area. 400 square miles of wilderness. No towns. No McDonalds. Just trees, fields, paved and gravel country roads for biking, hiking trails, numerous boat ramps for access to the lakes, and pristine camping.
Readers, back to your maps. You will see that The Land Between the Lakes (LBL) is, as the name suggests, surrounded by two lakes, Barkley and Kentucky. However, they are really the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers respectively. Both rivers flow north so the dams that created the lakes are both in Grand Rivers, KY. The dams were built in the 1930's to provide flood control and hydroelectric power. Fortunately, The LBL was purchased by the federal government and is managed by local volunteers, who have worked hard to maintain this unspoiled nirvana. It is lucky that the area is strictly maintained because just north of Grand Rivers is a gravel strip mine that is as hideous as the LBL is beautiful. Oh, the contrasts of human existence.
Tuesday night. The camp fire has been reduced to ashes still smoldering, giving up their last remnants of smokey heat. The cloudless sky, stars glowing, a gentle breeze creates a chill. A coyote howls, "Good night".
1 comment:
I decided to comment on this post because my husband and I visited the LBTL area just last summer. It was marvelous. I am thoroughly enjoying your travels through your writing and getting to know you even more. I wish we would have had more time to visit. I look very forward to "traveling" with you the rest of the way.
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