This time of year when the leaves are all gone, you can see for miles. When driving just a few miles from here, the bare trees afford a view of scenic faraway places. One can see mountain ranges in deepening shades of blue and purple. Waterfalls rushing to get to the valley. A mountaintop lodge with rockers lined up facing the setting sun. The shape of Atlanta's skyline. Small towns spread out in the valleys. Blue lakes reflecting the sky. A gold steeple shining in the evening sun. Houses of all shapes, sizes, and colors dotting the hillsides. Perfect rows of apple trees.A little closer one can see a rock chimney with mud chinking, standing alone, sparking the imagination as to what it was once attached. Low rock walls in the woods which were probably the site of a garden or orchard, the rocks being piled up at the edge when found in the soil. Remnants of a moonshine "still" in the valley with the ax marks still visible from the revenuers.
Property lines marked by brightly colored tape and paint. Property corners marked by wooden stakes, iron pins, and rock piles.
The leaves that have disappeared were also a screen for scenes not so pleasing. Logging roads cutting a maze through the hillsides. Land cleared of pines for pulpwood, hardwoods for timber. Evidence of dynamite for moving stubborn rock to clear for roads or foundations. Old cars rusting in a bed of leaves. Silt clogging up the mountain stream washed down from the development up the mountain. Discarded appliances and furniture on an abandoned road.
Local history documents the dwelling of the Cherokee civilization here in these valleys and hills, though little evidence is seen of it, the occasional trail tree or arrowhead. Sadly, I doubt the future inhabitants will be able to say the same about us.
Is this land really ours to do with what we please? Or in the grand scheme of things, aren't we just here for a little while, and shouldn't we be stewards for the land, looking out for it and protecting it?
Take only pictures, leave only footprints, kill only time
