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Approximately 22,000 years ago the North American continent was
mostly covered by glaciers advancing from the north. The last glacier
stopped advancing approximately 30 miles north of present-day Baton
Rouge, Louisiana.
As it retreated northward it left a narrow band of wind-blown soil
called "loess" soil. The loess soil was pushed into nearly-impenetrable
hills and dales in some places. One of those areas is now called The Tunica
Hills. They demark the border between Southwesternmost Mississippi
and central Louisiana near Louisiana's Angola State Penitentiary. The
state of Mississippi
has created a series of trails thru this wonderful wilderness called
the Clark Creek Natural Area . People visit from all over the
United States for
the scenic beauty, the strenuous hiking, and most wondrously : the
waterfalls that lie hidden at the foot of some of the hills.
There are waterfalls in these hill located physically
within the boundaries of the state of Louisiana - but all of the
falls in the pictures are (barely) in Mississippi.
My godchildren's mother, Julie, phoned me at 8am on Sunday October 7th, 2001,
and said she'd like to take the kids to see the hills. Since I love
the topology of the area, I readily accepted the invitation. The
drive is only 1.5 hours - but the change in geography is astonishing.
The trail is well maintained, even gravel-covered, from the parking
area to waterfalls #1 and
#2 .
After that, the creek-beds have to be
followed to get to the other waterfalls. We were at the
furthest waterfall from the parking
lot when Julie misstepped
on the slippery creek bottom and hyperextended her knee.
She hid her pain from the kids as well as she could, but I
was not fooled. I could see her blanche with agony everytime
the creekbottom's floor was not perfectly flat. Julie leaned
on me, and we slowly made our way 1.78 arduous miles back
(mostly) uphill to the parking lot.
Brittney, at eight years of age, seemed mostly unfazed by the
events of the day. Indeed, she seemed impatient with the
slow progress that Julie and I were making. Benjamin, age five,
grew tired. I managed to drag him to the car as I supported Julie.
I quickly
discovered the tyranny of gravity.
The steep incline, combined with the extra weight, quickly
reduced my legs to cheap rubberbands, and my lungs to furnace
bellows.
I was weak and shaky for about half an hour afterwards.
Lessons Learned:
- The kids learned that nature's beauty surrounds us at all times.
One has only to pay attention to the details to see it. There is
grace in the smallest blossom.
- Julie learned that she is no longer as nimble as she once was.
- I learned to appreciate the wonders of flat, flat, FLAT Louisiana.
For more information about Clark Creek see:
http://www.geol.lsu.edu/rferrell/class/ClarkCreek/Clark.html
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