Cumberland Falls

Saturday morning was crisp and clear after the Friday of threatening tornados.

J. proposed that we drive to Cumberland Falls, about an hour away, to view the waterway

during its spring spate.

We collected Devin, drove  into town for gas and were on our way.

Going through the junction and into Columbia we noted that damage from the storm seemed  limited to some broken windows and chipped and dented house siding, some torn roofing; quite a few cars and pickups parked alongside homes and shops were adorned with smashed windshields and sizeable dents. 

This was from the hail which ranged from a few minutes of a marble-sized pelting here to larger than golf ball poundings which occurred a short distance away.

I ducked out of the carport during the storm to take a photo of small hailstones rolling about in the herb garden; the photo was badly out of focus and I didn't save it.

Our local on-line 'magazine' posted' many photos of hail that looked like large frozen snowballs.

We visited Cumberland Falls two years ago in early summer. A large river tumbling over a rock formation is always impressive.

The river as is is now, roaring down its channel bringing mud and debris from miles above is a formidable sight, roiled and dirty.

There are walkways formed of large rock shelves which take visitors along the riverbed beyond the tumble of the falls. There are handrails and sections of sturdy metal barricade for safety.

Much of the path follows huge overhangs of layered rock which create dark low-ceilinged shallow 'caves.'

One can imagine travelers and hunters of bygone years following the river course and perhaps taking shelter for a night under these massive ledges, a fire built on the flat expanse of rock and gravel at the front.

An appalling amount of garbage had come downstream and washed onto the boulder-strewn river banks, catching in low-hanging branches.

A sign stated that the trash came from up-river and that as soon as lowered water brought a measure of safety, crews would be at work to snag and remove the garbage.

That said, we were not prepared to encounter the carcass of a cow lodged in an inlet, wedged about with branches and debris among the rocks!  Arrgh!

Need I say we did not take photos!

We took turns posing for a photo.

My camera didn't do well with the extreme contrast of the dark over-hanging rocks and the dazzle of sun on flung water.

Looking back at the falls from a curve in the pathway.

I tried several 'fixes' on this photo--still not good--too much white light in the background.

Still, it serves as a  reminder of the excursion.

We made our way out of the park [Daniel Boone National Forest] and stopped at a Subway shop.

It seemed I was just unwrapping my turkey sub and J. had taken a few bites of his favorite tuna on whole wheat when we noted that D. was clearing up his napkins and wrappers--he had finished a 'foot-long' pizzza sub while we were getting started!

Blogger has been incredibly slow to load photos for my last several posts.

Since I create my posts late in the evening as a rule, I gave up when an hour passed and only one photo out of six had appeared. Hopefully what passes as 'normal service' with blogger will soon resume.