A prescribed burn."For when the killing fires have devoured the leaves and thin resinous bark, many of the cones, only scorched, open as soon as the smoke clears away; the hoarded store of seeds is sown broadcast on the cleared ground, and a new growth immediately springs up triumphant out of the ashes."
The ecotone (my Word of the Day on my biodegradable wilderness toilet paper) is magnificent. Forest trees surrounded by prairie grasses remind visitors of the transition from one ecology to the other.
The springs in the foothills of the Arbuckle Wilderness set a scene for the wonderful transfer.
"The plants are as busy as the animals, every cell in a swirl of enjoyment, humming like a hive, singing the old new song of creation."
Following Travertine Creek to its origin, one will find several sycamore lining the stream.
"I never saw a discontented tree. They grip the ground as though they liked it; and though fast rooted, they travel about as far as we do."
Antelope Springs, a very sacred place to the original inhabitants, the Chickasaw.
"Tracing rivers to their fountains makes the most charming of travels. As the life blood of the landscapes, the best of the wilderness comes to their banks, and not one dull passage is found in all their eventful histories."
Bear Falls.
I wondered how the name was derived as bear are not common to these Southern latitudes. But looking at this picture, the mossy land mass takes on a Bev Doolittle semblance of a thirsty bear sticking its head out of the falls to lap up the falling water.
"...ungovernable energy, rushing down smooth inclines in wide foamy sheets fold over fold, springing up here and there in magnificent whirls, scattering crisp clashing spray for the sunbeams to iris, bursting with hoarse reverberating roar through ragged gorges and boulder dams, booming in falls, gliding, glancing with cool soothing, murmuring...."
