Walking Through Winter: Cumberland Mountain State Park, TN

The bridge leading to the lodge.

If you're ever near Crossville, TN, take a break and walk one of

the trails at Cumberland Mountain State Park.

On this Winter Solstice, I decided to walk on the Pioneer Trail,

south of the bridge.

Click here for info about this park.

I parked in the lot next to the lodge.

To get to this trailhead, face the lodge from the parking lot and
walk to your right down the road until you see this sign on your left.
Refer to the map (below) at any time as you read this post.

Every year I try to take a good walk on the Winter Solstice,
remembering that this is the day with the longest amount of darkness.
After today the arch (path) of the sun gets higher with each day,
bringing more direct sunlight which means more warmth!!
This was a great time for celebration for ancient cultures and, also,
for me as well as other people who observe sun/earth events.
I consider this to be New Year's Day, because this is the beginning
of a new solar cycle.
See my blog post below for information about the seasons.
Click here for Info on The Solar Calendar

For this walk I parked at the lodge (see fork/knife icon on map) and
walked along the lake past the Overlook and to the suspension
bridge. I then crossed the bridge and walked back along
the other side back to the lodge.
This is only a small portion of the Pioneer Loop.
Click here to see a map of all the trails.

There are beavers, here. Many of the trees have been carved
at their base, telling you that they are here...somewhere.

Gnawed tree trunks in snow;
Fresh hour-glass cuttings...
A beaver is near.

Information on Beavers

This image was found here.

I heard and saw many Cardinals,

like this female, below.

Photo taken from the Cornell website, below.
Information on Cardinals

Mosses grow year round. These look like tiny pine trees.

A frosty Polytrichum species of moss.
Information on Polytrichum moss.

Mini-pine trees,

Covered in snow and ice;

Juniper moss.

Believe it or not, mushrooms were growing on this frigid day,
like this one, covered in ice!

Looking like
Fungal ice sculptures;
Frozen mushrooms!

What you may not know is that the main body (mycelium)
of the fungus lies within the fallen tree, decomposing the wood.
When it decides to reproduce, it creates this structure that we
call a mushroom. The mycelium is there, year round,
absorbing its nutrients.

I'm way up high, now.
You can see the lake far below me from this point.

I heard the soft ringing sound

of a golden-crowned kinglet.

The photo above and information about

this species came from here.

There are many conifers here at Cumberland State Park. A conifer is a tree that bears cones. These cones are produced instead of flowers, but they perform the same function...reproduction.

White Pine trees possess very large cones and dominate the conifers, here. Another trait of white pines is that their needles are in bundles of 5. One needle for each letter in "w-h-i-t-e."

Photo taken from the website, below.

Information on White Pines

Then I descended to the level of the lake.

At this point I could have continued straight (see map),
but I decided to turn left and cross the suspension bridge.

As you can guess it was slippery.

The view from the middle of the bridge.

I then turned left and headed back toward the lodge,
but I will be on the other side of the lake (see map).

Tulip trees are everywhere. They are also called tulip poplars and

yellow poplars, although they are not poplars. They're called

tulip trees because their flowers and their seedpods both

look like tulips.

If you look up at the limbs of the Tulip Tree,
you'll see the seed pods sitting upright on the limbs.
Information on Tulip Poplar

Moss grows during all the seasons, in Kentucky. You can see their

gametophytes here, with ice stalactites extending down below them.

This is a fantastically beautiful walk, with the hemlock trees and the

rhododendrons growing side-by-side. It's a magical landscape!

I'll have to come back when the rhododendrons
are blooming in June.

Information on Rhododendrons

More hardy mushrooms next to some moss,
neither of which make flowers.

Mosses are nonvascular plants, not fungi. They are different
from plants that you are usually familiar with, in that they do not
have vessels (xylem and phloem), and they reproduce by
spreading spores, not seeds.
They are different from fungi (the mushrooms) in that they
can make their own food through photosynthesis, while
fungi cannot.

Just look at this magical sight!

Hemlocks are another common tree, here. They produce cones,

as do the pines, but the hemlock cones are only about one inch

long, while pine cones are many inches long.

Information on Hemlocks

I was very lucky to run across this rare plant!

Here's an uncommon fern called Climbing Fern.

Ferns are different from most other plants in that they do not make
seeds. They reproduce by releasing spores. These spores will grow
into a different looking plant, which is still a Climbing Fern but it's
the gametophyte of this species, meaning it produces sperm and
eggs (gametes). The gametes will fuse, forming the sporophyte of
the species, which is shown in the photo.

Information on Climbing Ferns

There are some very neat little ferns growing on that boulder ahead!