An Element Of Nature On Johnson Mill Creek

Winter Falls: Johnson Mill Creek

As I tried to cross the creek , the seemingly stable rock suddenly tilted and my foot plunged into the rain flooded water. I immediately felt the chill of the cold mountain stream water fill my boots as I held tightly to a small sapling that was growing fortuitously over the stream. Although the water was only knee deep, the roar of the waterfall and the pull of the water on my bark-twisting grip dignified the water's force. If it had not been for the small tree, I probably would have been washed over the 10 feet of falls, off the mountain, and into the Sequatchie Valley. After I crawled out of the creek, and leaned back on a big hemlock, I realized that I had almost become a statistic. Thoughts of life insurance, loved ones, and how the events would have been discovered, flashed through my mind. I watched the water plumet down the gorge and over the falls. My calculated risk had been incorrect. A few moments later it didn't matter. The peacefulness of being alone in the woods, beside a roaring mountain stream, and smelling the freshness of a hemlock forest overtook my senses. I realized how fortunate I was to be experiencing this moment in time. Then, for a brief moment while I looked up through the branches of the old hemlock, I felt the harmony of nature, the peacefullness of the woods, and wondered if the pre-archaic Indians who roamed this forest a thousand years ago had similar thoughts....... I think they did.