Gardens not kept by human hands

"Walk away quietly in any direction and taste the freedom of the mountaineer. Camp out among the grass and gentians of glacier meadows, in craggy garden nooks full of Nature's darlings. Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves. As age comes on, one source of enjoyment after another is closed, but Nature's sources never fail. ... The petty discomforts that beset the awkward guest, the unskilled camper, are quickly forgotten, while all that is precious remains. Fears vanish as soon as one is fairly free in the wilderness."

John Muir

This picture is from Cahokia in Illinois.

May Nature's peace fill you so that you experience it in you.

In us

"Life is a great adventure... accept it in such a spirit."  Theodore Roosevelt

"We little know how much wildness there is in us."   John Muir 

"If you wish to advance into the infinite, explore the finite in all directions."       
  Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe 

See more, hear more and do it soon.  Theodore Roosevelt, John Muir and Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe have provided the path for you.

Memory

We pause today to remember those in the uniformed services who went to far away places for this land.
To remember the B-24 crews over Palau. To remember the families of the missing. The news that your loved one is missing; awful news. We pause today to remember the sacrifice.

Tall trees

This is a tall tree I photographed in the Blanton Forest in Harlan County, Kentucky in April 2014.
The parents that owned this land told the children that their intention was that the trees never be cut down.  Now the Blanton Forest is a state nature preserve.  The state nature preserves staff does a big job with a small staff.  Perhaps a letter or a call to a state legislator would help keep nature preserves in Kentucky protected.


The eastern hemlocks are one of the tall trees in the Blanton Forest.  Will Blanton's eastern hemlocks survive the infestation of the wooly adelgid? These are some of the largest and likely oldest living trees in Kentucky.  

Indiana natural place

I saw this bench at the foot of this tree in Turkey Run State Park in Indiana on an October day.   Going into these woods is a moving experience.  The water, the trees and the rocks combine to show a great sight. Rocky Hollow-Falls Canyon Nature Preserve, located within  the Turkey Run State Park is a National Natural Landmark.  The canyon contains forested areas of virgin beech-maple stands and steep sandstone gorges that have eastern hemlocks and Canada yew. Some of the largest black walnut in the Midwest can be found in the gorges.  Will some of the eastern hemlocks survive the infestation of the wooly adelgid?  What I have seen is discouraging.  I feel like I am witnessing the end of the hemlock era in the America.  It feels like it must have been for that generation when the change of the forests happened with the loss of  the American Chestnut. It was a huge change when the American Chestnut succumbed to the chestnut blight.

Kentucky Soldiers at Omaha Beach

This is the memorial marker for the medical troops that went from Kentucky to England to France.
They trained at Camp Breckinridge. They treated troops while under fire on Omaha Beach in Normandy. They deserve much recognition for their bravery and hard work to help the injured on the battlefield. The Camp was located near Morganfield, KY.  Today the marker is inside the Earle C. Clements Job Corps Center.  When going out there are connections to the past.  If you look for them you will see them.   The Higginson-Henry Wildlife Management Area is near the Earle C. Clements Job Corps Center.

Pine Mountain Kentucky

 

This relief map shows the highlands of Kentucky and Virginia.  Pine Mountain and the Cumberland Mountains are so close to each other that it is understandable that sometimes people misnamed features for one or the other.  Pineville, KY is visable in the lower picture.

These pictures were taken at the Pine Mountain Settlement School in Harlan County.  This institution has affected the lives of so many people for the good.  And the school just had its 100th anniversary in 2013.  I appreciate the hard work that has given Pine Mountain Settlement School to the Commonwealth of Kentucky and maintained it for all of these years.

Everyone Can Benefit

Newfound Gap Road, Great Smoky Mountains National Park

There are two benefits to getting out.  First you can keep off unwanted pounds and feel better.  But there is a lot more that happens.  There is the spiritual.  The writings of Theodore Roosevelt and John Muir say this with great clarity. 

The picture is from the road to the parking area for the Chimney Tops trail on the Tennessee side of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  This was a December day in the National Park. There was snow on the ground and in the tree branches.   The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the most visited National Park in the nation. 

Nature Now

There is a lot to see. Our world has been contaminated. Nature is not the place that our forebears saw.
It is up to us to see what we can.  It is up to us to care.  It is up to us to protect nature for our grandchildren.