Just As Louis Said… 10/13/2024

By: Jennifer Richardson Holt

I have always loved being immersed in nature.  Not in the taking a casual walk about the front lawn type of way but more of a walking through a quiet forest in the middle of nowhere type of way.  These past few days my experiences with nature have been the kind of encounters that will always stick in my memory. The wide, wild world has been up close and personal with me as of late and I thought I would tell you about the experiences where precious moments were seized and other than taking pictures to document them, not a single bit of technology was involved.

If you read last week, you know I was recently in the Great Smoky Mountains. It is definitely a place that you can wholly allow the great outdoors to take you and do with you what it wills. There was one place though, in crossing over the ridges that travel from the state of Tennessee to North Carolina where my family always stops at this particular lookout.  A thin walkway carries you out along the top of a ridge for a view that seems like it would be for hundreds of miles.  There are ridges of mountains that go on until they fade into invisibility. I should have counted how many I could see.  The blue faded until it was indiscernible from the sky.  There were clouds and the infamous “smoke” that had settled in the low spots making it look as if the peaks were hilltops poking out of a field of snow.  It was so immense it felt like I was looking at a gigantic painting. It didn’t seem that the expanse of earth and sky before me could possibly be real. It was so quiet up that high which only added to the impossibility of it all. Maybe you’ve seen something that was just so incredible that your mind just wouldn’t accept it as reality. This was the case here. The smell, that glorious, sweet smell of the mountain air was the one thing that really let my mind accept it. I was really there in front of this masterpiece of forest and cloud.

Dozens of pictures that will never do the scene justice later, we were in a valley near the Cherokee Reservation. While walking by a river draped with birches that were beginning to fade from green to gold we heard the distinctive call of an elk. Now this location is known for its herds, so this wasn’t surprising nor was it when we saw a cow elk moseying just across the river from us.  Now, I must clarify.  While it wasn’t surprising it was exciting because we do not have elk back home so it’s exciting to see an animal that you don’t get to see every day.  Well, the excitement grew as we saw this large creature was wading into the river to cross toward where we were.  The excitement grew into mild concern as she came out of the water on our side of the river and was headed our way. When she was maybe two or 3 yards from us, we began to ever so casually back away. She paused, seemed a tad offended and proceeded to head our way yet again. We proceeded with this game of follow the nonconsenting leader all the way into the parking lot. We were convinced she had every intention of riding with us until a park ranger came out to shoo her away from the crowds of people.  A wild and very large animal seemingly wishing to make my acquaintance was a moment in the wild that I cannot say I have ever experienced.

Then there was another occurrence once I was returned home. I had settled into the less than thrilling old grind that was work and school.  I had heard on the weather forecast that due to some magnetic storms the northern lights would possibly be visible this far south. Now, they had told us this I think it was back in the summer and I went outside to see. I was greeted by a sky full of darkness despite people in my area posting these pics of a glowing sky. I was frustrated as I didn’t expect to get another chance to see the northern lights unless my world travels picked up significantly.  This announcement on the news seemed suspect at best.  However, despite my skepticism I went outside and looked up. I saw the faintest glow at the tree line. It looked like perhaps where the sun had gone down, and the sky had the faintest glow. To say I was underwhelmed was an understatement. I tried to take pictures as I happened to hear that your camera on your phone could possibly see things better than your eyes. For some reason I didn’t even look at the pictures I took.  I suppose I was too busy being annoyed by yet again missing this opportunity to see something I’ve always wanted to see.  I don’t remember what it was that made me scroll through the pictures I took but when I did there was a huge and disconcertingly loud gasp that escaped my person.  The pictures I had taken of what I thought I was a black sky were glowing hot pink.  The colors I never thought I’d see were right there clearly visible to my camera’s eye. My daughter was thrilled to see the northern lights for her first time. I couldn’t quite express to her how fortunate she was as it was all of our first time and who knows if there would be a second.

Nature in all its glory has been an overwhelming part of my last few days. I have experienced things that I have seen many times, but they have never lost their magnificence.  I have witnessed things that I have never seen before, and I feel amazingly blessed to have had the experience.  I treasure both the new and the old.  I’ve seen trees of green and clouds of white; the bright blessed day and the dark sacred night, and I think to myself; what a wonderful world.