Adventures of a NATURE Guide S to r y a nd photog r a phs b y S H ERLE N E S P I CER
Discovering the Walls of Jericho M
arch winds, April showers, May flowers. . . . We had it all in the past month. Unusually warm and rainy weather has our trees and flowers bursting into bloom. Red bud trees with their heartwarming pink blossoms bordered our roadsides while maples and dogwoods began to show signs of color throughout the hillsides. Serviceberry, a white flowering tree, is a native tree and one of our earliest bloomers. My weekends were spent hiking to see the wildflowers that were, like magic, carpeting our forests. Early in the season, I traveled south to see trout lilies, toothwort and hepatica. Often I missed the bloodroot and trailing arbutus, both of which bloomed early to mid-March. Some of my favorite wildflower viewing locations include Shakerag Hollow, part of the perimeter trail at Sewanee, Short Springs out of Tullahoma.Closer to home Warner Park had very nice sections of wildflowers and of course Radnor Lake. Dutchman’s britches, spring beauties and short larkspur covered the hillside at Radnor. The trail from Garrison Creek to theTennessee Divide along the Natchez Trace has very interesting native plants; try Falls Hollow and Devil’s Backbone further down the Trace for the ferns and native azaleas. his year I finally made a new location. I joined the Clarksville Chapter of Tennessee Trails on a hike into the Walls of Jericho. Considered “difficult,” 14 of us marched across a plateau and dropped, dropped, dropped down into a very unique section of the Tennessee/Alabama border. The weather was perfect. Sunny and 60s, it was a great day for a hike. All along the trail, I enjoyed hints of future plants
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that I enjoy seeing bloom. Once into the bottom of the plateau, we delighted in a surprising groundcover of hepatica, twinleaf and Virginia bluebells. I had never seen so much hepatica or twinleaf. A wonderful stream tumbled alongside our rolling trail. The stream’s bottom was white rather than the usual dark slate bottoms found around my part of the state. The trail wandered on for a couple of miles and I still did not know exactly what the Walls of Jericho would look like. The stream widened and limestone bluffs increased. Pretty soon I find myself in the streambed boulder hopping which led to wall climbing. Waterfalls poured out of the hillsides from different directions. The landscape widened out. The white limestone walls that we had to climb had a sort of moonscape appearance. We walked narrow, foot-wide terraces that led to more narrow toe- and hand-hold openings up to the next wide open space. The last spot we came to was a narrow opening that had a large amount of water falling from nowhere down into an open pit and then disappearing again. As I decided to go barefoot for the final descent, mist from the waterfall gently sprayed over me. At the bottom, we found a gravel bar and a deep green pool of cold water. After a long hard hike a wade in the edge of this pool was very welcomed. We hiked in the Tennessee-side and out the Alabama-side. The out consisted of a series of long switchbacks back up. Finally at the top, there were nine and a half miles of fascinating country that ended at a primitive campsite. Sometime in the future, I will do this trail again with a light pack over a couple of days.
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he birds are on their way. Rubythroated hummingbirds will probably arrive by mid-April. So out go my feeders. The sugar water that I extend to my weary travelers will be welcomed. Migrating warblers will be showing up also in the coming weeks. They are hard to see but well worth the trying. Their sounds are easy to identify. Hang out in the woods along a stream and listen to all the new birds. I enjoy the sounds of spring visitors almost as much as I enjoy seeing them. The butterflies may float by as you listen to the birds and wildflowers are everywhere. We will plant lady-in-red salvia, pineapple sage, penstemon, butterfly bushes, petunias, pentas, zinnias and lantanas to attract our hummingbird and butterfly visitors. Have a wonderful spring. Williamson County native Sherlene Spicer shares her travels in remote and nearby areas through her writing and photography. The deep green pool found at the end of a hike at The Walls of Jericho.
Write It Down Put It In Be Still & Wait
Place hopes ∙ Cast burdens ∙ Send blessings Request fulfillments ∙ Give thanks The God Box
is a sturdy receptacle carved with an Alpha and an Omega to remind its users of the Eternal Circle of Life. Placed in Leiper’s Fork on the front of the United Country building —4151 Old Hillsboro Road— the community and its visitors are invited to ANONYMOUSLY share their petitions, desires and gratitude. The written prayers of the people will be offered in quiet fire ceremonies by the resident who follows a dream to provide this to her recently adopted community—Terri Hightower. Please call Terri at
615.794.9858
if you would like to be part of this.
Dutchman’s breeches, a favorite among wildflower aficionados. w w w. h i l l s N h a m l e t s . c o m
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HILLS & HAMLETS
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