Road Trip Photos April 2017

The base of the dam.

Last blog post I said I would post some more photos from our latest road trip today.  We really worked hard while we were up at the cabin.  After four days of working on splitting and stacking wood, laying rock on the road, raking the yard, cleaning the cabin and painting we decided that we needed to take a day off.  We decided to take a road trip to see what we could see.  Since it was raining, I did not want to take an expensive camera with us.  These photos were snapped on my phone.  The quality of the photos is not great.

My husband and I have made the drive from our cabin to my mother's home for years.  Every time we made the trip we drove by a sign that said there was  the Lynchburg dam in one direction and a state fish hatchery in the other direction.  This time we decided that we would go take a look at the dam.  Why?  Because it was there and we had never seen it.  You never know in advance what you will see when you decide to take a different route.  There are so many things in the world that we pass by as we go about our business.  There is always something new around the next corner if we take the time to look.

Driftwood folk art.

Our trip took us about six miles through the National Forest.  For the most part, it looked just like our neck of the woods; in other words trees, rocks, streams and ridges.  The trees were mostly still bare here, so we had a good look at the woods without a lot of undergrowth.  The road was well maintained although there were a few bumpy spots.  However, I would say that the gravel road going to the dam is better maintained than the road leading to our cabin. 

On the way to the dam we came upon a one lane bridge.  There were a few fishermen on the bridge.  Some of them were fishing.  Others were just standing there talking.  They had to move close to the sides in order for us to get across the bridge.  They did not seem to happy about that.  In our section of the forest, if you pass someone or see someone camping, people wave to each other.  We waved to the people as we went by.  They just stared at us and did not wave back.  It is strange that there was such a difference in behavior in such a relatively short distance from our cabin.  Other than the fishermen, we only saw maybe three other cars in the forest.  It was a chilly, rainy, misty day and I think a lot of people decided that it was a good day to stay home. 

The edge of the burn area.

The road we took finally dead ended at the dam.  It is not a large dam compared to the dam I saw in Maryland, ( I have only seen two other dams, so I don't have a lot of reference for this.) but the reservoir that is behind the dam is huge.  Since few trees had leafed out yet, we were able to get a good look at the lake.  Once the leaves are out, some of those spectacular views will be obscured.  I am glad that we decided to go there while we could still see so much of the lake.   It is a very beautiful place. 

There were a few signs on the side of the building next to the dam.  One of them said the dam had received an award for being one of the best maintained dams in the country.  Another sign said to ring the bell on the other side of the building to call the caretaker.  I expected that it would be some type of mechanical buzzer.  When we went around the building, we found that it was a large brass bell.  We did not call the caretaker, but I expect that he or she might live in the house next to the building.  I am sure that you could hear that bell for quite a long way.  Speaking of signs, there were multiple signs saying that no dogs were allowed.  Also signs saying that there was no swimming or wading, but fishing was allowed with a permit.

There were four john boats in the water.  There was no information on rentals, so I do not know if they were for rent or for dam personnel to go out and check on things.  I guess I could check online if we wanted to see about boating there this summer.  I don't think it is a good idea to get very close to a dam but you could go quite a ways in the other direction.  

Then, there was a surprise.  I am a folk artist.  I love folk art: art made by people for their own pleasure.  And here, at this dam, sitting on a table was a beautiful piece of folk art.  Someone had made a small tableau of a boathouse and some boats tied up to pilings.  It was made of wood and metal on a base of driftwood.  Most likely the driftwood was from this very lake.  I snapped a picture for the blog. It was an unexpected pleasure.

We  could have walked out along the walkway across the top of the dam.  However, the rain was picking up so we decided that we would head on to our next destination rather than get soaking wet and cold.  So we came, we snapped pictures, and we left.  Now that we know what is there, we may come back again some day.

Our next destination was to the Mount Pleasant hiking area.  We were not planning on hiking in the rain.  We went because there was a forest fire there last year.  It was a big fire covering thousands of acres.  At Mount Pleasant firefighters made a final stand to put out the fire before it started burning homes.  This area is about two and a half miles from our cabin by road, but only about a mile as the crow flies.  There was a tremendous effort by firefighters to save the homes in this area.  The road through the Mount Pleasant area was the fire break.  They made a thirteen hundred yard fire break line to turn back the fire.  The area is all plowed up where they bulldozed in roads so they could get into the burn area.

We only went in a short ways into the fire area.  This was where the fire was finally put out.  Here, mostly the undergrowth was burned, but you could see where the trees were singed.  I expect that many of the trees at the edge of the fire will survive, but a lot of them are going to fall down.  It was almost surreal to see that on one side of the road trees are black and burned while everything on the other side of the road looks completely normal. 

I was almost in tears when I saw how close the fire came to one home.  It was stopped only yards away.  I know that everyone with cabins near ours was watching the fire line on the internet, feeling completely helpless while watching the fire come closer and closer.  A mile away in not very far when you are talking about wildfire.  It is very painful when you think that something you love so much can be gone in a matter of minutes.

We did not go very far into the area, so we did not see the worst of the burned areas.  The road is very torn up there.  The ride was just bone jarring.  Also, we had read that trees in the area would be falling for quite some time.  We turned around as soon as we could find a place wide enough.  Even, the edge of the burned area was a dismal sight.

Anyway, that was our side trip.  I have a few more pictures, that I will share in my next blog post.  Check back on Sunday.