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Yesterday, we went to Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest. Why? Because it is in the Cheoah District of the Nantahala National Forest. I was looking up the history of the word Cheoah and was reminded of that trail.
Though the forest itself is not very convenient to get to, the trail itself is a very easy trail that has a double loop. A great description can be found here.
Old growth forests are relatively rare in the Eastern US and the Yellow Poplars here are absolutely enormous – over 100 feet tall and some as wide as 20 feet. Even the Herd was impressed at the size (Cheoah, Rusty and Kodiak):
In an ode to Joyce Kilmer, here is the poem “Trees:”
I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.
