The sun was falling and dusk was rapidly approaching as the top crust of snow on a snow drift moved gently in an upward direction again and again as if some small creature were trying to poke through but couldn't quite make it. Then two tiny hands enclosed in soggy wool mittens grasped the edges of the new made hole trying to find purchase in order to pull the body up through to the surface. A head appeared covered with a beaked cap with brown earmuffs that were tied up with a string that went from one muff to the other across the top of the cap. The tiny little fellow, a child of 5 years, wriggled through the hole and tumbled down the side of the drift landing on his rear, a wide smile across his face. What a day it had been! Tonight was Christmas Eve and he could feel the excitement of the event growing within him. He ran to the house and stomped the snow from his five buckle over-boots before entering through the porch door. Mom had dinner on the table and the family said grace before eating. Everyone retired to the big room in the back of the house - the room that was appointed with the best furniture and was visited least by the family. That room was reserved for visitors and special times. In the corner stood the Christmas tree and on it's branch tips were mounted wax candles that were attached to square wooden bases. Grandma was 94 years old and as usual would say a Christmas prayer on this eve of Christmas. The little boy loved Grandma and was fixated on her long silver hair that reached to the floor at her heels when not rolled into two rams horns on her head. He often helped her comb it out on Saturday nights in preparation for Sunday church next day. This was one of the rare times a fire crackled in the fireplace at the opposite end of the room. His father didn't trust the chimney anymore and said that a spark could set the whole thing on fire. I guess fire wasn't a problem on Christmas.
His mother said it wouldn't be long before Santa arrived on the roof top and slid down the chimney with his bag of stuff. Of course the fire would have been put out by that time. But, the small boy didn't quite buy into this sliding down the chimney stuff - he hadn't bought any of it since the time he could rationalize and put two and two together. How could a fat man fit into a chimney? It didn't seem possible. Yet, his parents both had told him this and they don't lie so, it must be true. The fire was extinguished at 10 PM and the boy was told to go to bed. He crept on hands and knees to the fireplace and stuck his head inside and looked up the chimney. No way was Santa coming down there. And, if he could, surely the bag of stuff wouldn't fit through. Even if he could turn himself into smoke and get down - the bag couldn't make it. No way. He then thought about the roof on the house. It seemed impossible for a sleigh and reindeer to park on top the comb of a house, even if reindeer could fly, which he doubted. And yet, if he didn't believe in Santa he wouldn't get any stuff for Christmas. Better to humor his mom and dad and just act excited in the morning when the presents mysteriously appeared. Yep, it was time to get to bed. He crept one more time over to the hearth and looked up the chimney. It might be done if ---- No, no way. But on the way to the stairwell he walked to the window beside the fireplace, unlocked and raised the window sash an inch and plugged in the single electric candle light that sat on the sill -- just in case.
Wonder who that kid was...
This morning was gloomy, cold and wet. The rain was coming down in torrents, as usual lately. I love it!
I have been without my boat for three days due a serious engine issue and the parts have been slow to arrive at the marine shop. I've been visiting the various areas of responsibility in the truck, which leaves a lot to be desired. However, this morning I would be visiting an area along the Holston River that was bordered on one side by a narrow, long country road that saw practically no traffic at all. Imagine that. It rained hard the entire way to the river and I was on that road before daylight, or what could be construed as daylight. Dark clouds and driven rain prevailed over the entire area and I drove onto a pull-off to unwind a bit. I listened to the rain beating on the truck's roof and thought of the many, many nights I've spent in a tent under these same conditions. They were wonderful times I'll never forget. The early, dim light revealed whitetail deer slowly making their way across the expansive fields that lay to the left of the road.
This is a spot of rare beauty in this area where river, field and mountain combine to present the perfect picture of natural wildlife habitat. The presence of the deer was the crowning touch to the picture. I moved out onto the road and had to immediately stop for deer. I switched off the engine.
I didn't want them to be rushed as they slowly walked up to the road and carefully crossed the pavement to disappear into the heavy brush that lay across the road.
I let them cross the road and I continued on around the corner only to stop again and switch off the engine. Good heavens, there were deer everywhere! How sweet is this!
The camera would work well as I could brace it on the window opening of the truck and simply fire away. The amazing thing is that these deer do not show the slightest regard for my presence. This means they have not been hunted or even shot at. You see, there are enormous farms here with thousands of acres with not even one house in sight and the land is posted "No Trespassing." These deer live on a natural wildlife refuge and don't know it. How neat is that?
This little guy insisted on posing for me and I took advantage of the opportunity.
I started the truck and the deer didn't even care. I noted how many deer I had seen so far. There were large groups of deer assembled at a great distance where the enormous pasture fields touched the start of the forest. More deer were clustered behind some bushes at the edge of an open field.
This was like a barn yard. I started smiling to myself and even let out a low chuckle. And yet more deer were around the next bend in the narrow road.
This is really something. Surely there can be no more! But ----
That has to be it. I started moving a bit faster until yet another group of animals appeared.
I counted 90 deer in a one mile stretch of river road. I may be off by two or three animals but, 90 is a good number. I remember thinking how difficult it must be for the farms to produce a successful grain crop with this deer population. But then, I look out across the vast uninhabited land and see how enormous the fields are and I think that these deer must not negatively affect the crops that much. I don't know. The success of these deer is due to a seemingly endless habitat for them - something that was not considered down near Cherokee Lake where houses line the shorelines and the habitat is ruined. Nothing was set aside for the critters. People and big dollars rule in that part of East Tennessee. Critters be damned down there. Wonder how long this habitat will last here along this river and mountain. Probably until the farmer leaves his land to his children who will sell it to the first real estate agent that comes along.
I noticed a movement while Shade and I were sitting in the grass while hiking through the woods. It was a deer. She was slowly moving our way. Shade had her back to her and was unaware. I wished I had the big camera.
Then the deer saw us but, couldn't figure what we were.
S
hade turned and instantly noticed the deer. She stood dead still.
They stared at each other for minutes. I giggled to myself.
The deer bounced once on her front feet.
Still, Shade was unmoving. What was she thinking?
I watched this standoff for over a minute. I didn't know any dog could be so still and intent.
The deer dove into the brush to her right and that did it. Shade did not give chase but, sniffed the area and instantly returned to me.
Millions of years ago, East Tennessee was covered by a shallow ocean. The geology under this ocean was comprised largely of limestone rock. Wow - how bout that! This shines an entirely different light on the rocks that surround the waters of Cherokee Reservoir. Wow! Maybe I've been too hasty in my assessment of the lake. It's quite possible that I've been looking at something beautiful without seeing it. Remember, one has to not only look but he must see also. Limestone is subject to erosion and millions of years of erosion has created fissures and caves in the rock strata that can eventually lead to the water table that we use for our supply of clean water. Guess we have to be careful not to pollute our lakes, streams and reservoirs so that pollution does not seep down through fissures in the rock layer and contaminate our fresh water supplies. Is it too late to worry about this, I wonder?
Early morning found Shade and I at the boat ramp located in Panther Creek Park. She's a long one for sure. I couldn't wait to get out on the lake and ponder the beautiful shorelines covered with interesting boulders and rocks. How shallow of me to assume the shorelines of Cherokee Lake were ugly and bland! Armed with my new found appreciation for the lake - we were off.
I immediately tried to determine if there was any pattern to the rocks. Were they laying in a horizontal line or were they stacked upon each other. No - couldn't see anything here on this shoreline. Maybe it would be different out on the main lake.
We got to the end of Panther Creek and turned right to follow the beautiful rocky shoreline upstream where some really interesting and impressive rocks were. The rocks so far amounted to just so much scree.
I think that even Shade sort of was gaining interest in the rocks as she stared and stared at them.
Ah - the trees and water are accented by this magnificent display of rocks. They don't appear to be limestone rocks though. They are however, eroded and etched deeply by the constant erosion of time. Another impressive formation is below in the following picture.
I'm really trying hard to realize the beauty that I've missed over the past three years and I'm having difficulty finding it. I guess my mind isn't quite open to the idea that rocks are pretty. I'll keep trying.
Ah, now we're getting someplace. This formation juts out into the water and comes to a point. I can't see beauty in it but, the shape and form of the abundant rocks is indeed impressive. They are sort of - well - just there.
Now we're getting somewhere. This formation probably was a solid wall of rock at one time. Erosion and freeze cycles evidently invaded the tiny fissures and crevasses prying the stone apart, eventually breaking them into various sized pieces. Oh, the excitement mounts!
The islands are in actuality mountain tops that protrude from the surface. The shale and gravel shorelines of these mountain tops are normally under water. During their underwater tenures the rocks have collected sediment and have been transformed into what you see above. The rocks are covered by sediment. But don't be deceived. Under that smooth shore lies rocks.
I can add no information about the above shot. It's just a pile of rocks. Below, however, is a formation indicative of severe freeze, thaw cycles that have broken the strata into what appears like blocks of rocks. Notice that the broken rocks have been attacked by erosion down near the water line. This anomaly will no doubt transform the broken rocks above into rock litter over time.
I think the shot below is simply a rock slide. Hope nobody was camped on the shoreline when it happened.
One has to remember that these are mountains and I'd bet that the rock above continues on uphill to the top of the mountain. It's covered by a thin soil layer comprised of decayed plant life (trees etc) over millions of years.
Sonar indicates the surface water temperature is 54.2 degrees. Burr!!! Also the little winged images represent striped bass down near the bottom. There are a few fish at the 25 and 30 foot depths. But, there are a bunch of fish laying on the bottom in that depression. Neat, huh?
I've labeled all the dangerous sections of the lake on the sonar map unit that I could over the years. This is one place to use extreme caution when near. And below is why:
Above: This entire bay area is inundated by rock piles (mountain tops). Many, many of them do not show above the surface of the water but, lie just inches under the surface waiting for some inattentive navigator to strike them and send a boat down to rest with Davy Jones. Nice lake - huh?
It was just about here that the engine quit on my boat. We were about two miles upstream from the boat ramp and almost helpless. The engine just quit and it would not start. We were adrift and cast out to an unknown fate.
Being the resourceful and experienced navigator I am - I did the only thing I could do. I dropped the electric motor (troll motor) and headed back toward Panther Creek a the brisk speed of 1.7 miles per hour. Lets see - about 2.5 miles away from the truck would require - lets see - about two weeks to get back.
Lets see - a gaze toward the horizon downstream indicated we would die of thirst and malnutrition out here.
Perhaps a call to the agency would be prudent due to the unique circumstances. No power, no food, not much liquid to drink, cold, no extra clothes to change into after I fell in the water. Yep - it's time to call for a tow.
Shade didn't seem to care much. She was deep in thought over when I was going to give her a biscuit.
We had been blasting down the lake at the phenomenal speed of one mile per hour for the past almost 3 hours when suddenly the point marker sign that said point 8 appeared on the left. Wow! This was the mouth of Panther Creek. Amazing! The bad thing was that the electric motor was running a lot slower. The batteries were just about done for. We continued on.
In the above shot you can see a waterway that cuts of to the left. That leads to the boat ramp. We were just about dead in the water right here but, the little electric motor kept running.
If you look just left of center you can see the cavalry coming out to get us in another boat. It's a tiny but welcome spec. I don't think the tiny electric motor would have got us back. If not, it would be a tremendous hike around the shoreline over all those boulders and rocks to the truck and the boat would still have to sit out against some shoreline roped off to some boulder. A long story short - my coworkers tied a rope to my boat and pulled us on in to shore where I backed up the trailer and struggled to load it on. Whew. I think Cherokee Lake was getting me back for all the bad mouthing I had been giving it for the past three years. I still can't see the beauty of all the rocks surrounding this big puddle and I still think it's one of the ugliest lakes in the world. I can find no succor in the geology of the place. So, in my mind it remains a stone quarry filled with water - the devil's bathtub. But then, you knew that would be my final determination. LOL
