Until I returned, I’d forgotten I’d left a piece of my soul here.
A stop on the Blue Ridge Parkway looks down into an area called Graveyard Fields. A geologic event killed the trees leaving stumps and mounds and looking like a graveyard. Later, a devastating fire in the 1920s reinforced the look. While working at a nearby summer camp, I’d lead hikes into this area. We’d sometimes camp in the fields, watching shooting stars while sleeping under the open sky. Camping is now prohibited here, and trees and larger growth have replaced the open field. Time changes things.
Graveyard Fields trail, Pisgah National Forest, North Carolina
Part of the trail runs along the Yellowstone Prong of the Pigeon River. A college roommate lived nearby in North Carolina. He returned home for a long weekend while I was in law school, and I went along so I could hike again along the Pigeon River. Rain started just as I got the tent up. It rained all night. Before light, I heard strange sounds and looked out. The river was flooding and surrounding my tent! I hurriedly broke camp. Since most of the trail was flooded, I bushwhacked my way to the road where John would pick me up.
This was my first time back to the trail after that adventure.
Yellowstone Prong, Pigeon River
Water falls nearly everywhere you look, including these lower falls of the Yellowstone Prong in Graveyard Fields.
Second Falls, Graveyard Fields, North Carolina
An overlook on the Parkway provides a distant view of the falls.
Yellowstone Prong falls
Near where we camped in 1978, were several branches of the trail. I wasn’t sure which was the main trail. Following one led to these rocks on a bend in the river. I was suddenly taken back 40 years. I’d bring the young campers to this very spot to swim and play. I hadn’t thought of it in all that time, and the memory opened as I placed my feet on the spot.
Swimming hole, Yellowstone Prong, Pisgah National Forest
Memory catcher