Graveyard Fields II

The dark path led to some stairs that went down to the river and a wooden foot bridge across. And then we came to a set of steeper stairs to Second Falls. We could hear the rushing water from the top. At the bottom, we sat on the rocks for a while, watching the falls.

From the maps we had seen, it wasn't far to the Upper Falls. After climbing back up the stairs, we figured we didn't have far to go. The trail ran thru grassy moors and heather. It wound around bogs and pools and trickling streams where the Rhododendrons cast dark shadows along the banks. We passed blazing Maple trees and Huckleberry bushes with berries long gone.

And we passed five ladies hiking back from where we were going. They had determined looks in their eyes and were breathing hard. The last one said, Five miles!

Is that how much farther it is? I asked, for we were beginning to wonder.

No, but it seems like it, she said as she passed us.

We walked and we walked, and the path began to climb out of the lowlands. At each turn, we thought we heard the Upper Falls only to keep going. The ground got steeper, and we began picking our footsteps between rocks. On the ridge of a hill, we found ourselves in a Birch grove. The trees were growing out from between the massive boulders that were strewn across the hillside on either hand. Just beyond this grove, we finally found the Upper Falls.

We stopped, sat down on the rocks, drank our water, and ate some snacks. The sun began to show thru the clouds, and as we began the long hike back, we found that our shadows were stretching out before us.

The day had just begun, it seemed, but it was already getting late.

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Graveyard Fields
Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina

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