Joyce Kilmer revisited
The Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest is turning 75 this year, on July 30. The 3,800-acre forest is part of the Joyce Kilmer-Slickrock Wilderness, part of the Nantahala National Forest in the far western reaches of North Carolina. The 2-mile Memorial Loop Trail (Hike No. 15 in Best Hikes with Dogs) is known worldwide for the towering old-growth trees sprinkled around the trail.
The Forest Service is throwing a big bash for the Memorial Forest, a living memorial to poet-soldier Joyce Kilmer, who penned the famous poem "Trees," and was killed during World War I in France. The party will be this coming Saturday, July 30, including a 5K and 10K race on roads in the forest, guided hikes, exhibits and presentations by Forest Service partners, and a 1 p.m. ceremony with dignitaries, and even Joyce Kilmer's granddaughter, who will read "Trees."
When writing a story for the Citizen-Times about the upcoming anniversary, I took a trip back out to Joyce Kilmer. I had been hiking out there a few times in the past, but not for the past few years. If you haven't been out there in a while, brace yourself. The forest is not what is used to be.
An invasive little pest known as the hemlock woolly adelgid has been systematically munching on and destroying the old-growth hemlock trees, some of which have been standing in Joyce Kilmer for more than 400 years. Just about all dead, and posing a risk to hikers on the trail who might get lobbed in the head or killed by falling limbs, the Forest Service in November dynamited some 150 of the dead hemlocks to knock them down.
The idea was to make it look like a powerful storm blew through, rather than sawing and chopping the trees down. Since the Joyce Kilmer is a wilderness area, no motorized equipment such as chainsaws are allowed.
I was only able to see one of the blown-apart hemlocks myself, since I am just starting to wean off the crutches and still wasn't able to walk very far on the trail. It kind of looks like a monstrous-sized blooming onion. I don't know how "natural" it looked, but there is a section further up the Memorial Loop where a large swath of the hemlocks were taken down. Most people out there came out of the forest asking when the storm came through, or what happened to the trees. So just prepare yourself for a different kind of Joyce Kilmer.
For me, it's terribly sad to think that these giant trees growing in the woods of Western North Carolina since long before there was a North Carolina, or a United States, are now gone. There are still the old-growth tulip poplars, but you have to think, it's only a matter of time before a pest starts chewing them to pieces, like the American chestnut blight of the 1930s.
I was happy, though, to be able to make the trip from Asheville out to the Nantahala, and the woods, even if I didn't get to hike very far. I'm hoping to be off the crutches for good sometime this summer and get to do some proper hiking again.
The Forest Service is throwing a big bash for the Memorial Forest, a living memorial to poet-soldier Joyce Kilmer, who penned the famous poem "Trees," and was killed during World War I in France. The party will be this coming Saturday, July 30, including a 5K and 10K race on roads in the forest, guided hikes, exhibits and presentations by Forest Service partners, and a 1 p.m. ceremony with dignitaries, and even Joyce Kilmer's granddaughter, who will read "Trees."
When writing a story for the Citizen-Times about the upcoming anniversary, I took a trip back out to Joyce Kilmer. I had been hiking out there a few times in the past, but not for the past few years. If you haven't been out there in a while, brace yourself. The forest is not what is used to be.
An invasive little pest known as the hemlock woolly adelgid has been systematically munching on and destroying the old-growth hemlock trees, some of which have been standing in Joyce Kilmer for more than 400 years. Just about all dead, and posing a risk to hikers on the trail who might get lobbed in the head or killed by falling limbs, the Forest Service in November dynamited some 150 of the dead hemlocks to knock them down.
The idea was to make it look like a powerful storm blew through, rather than sawing and chopping the trees down. Since the Joyce Kilmer is a wilderness area, no motorized equipment such as chainsaws are allowed.
I was only able to see one of the blown-apart hemlocks myself, since I am just starting to wean off the crutches and still wasn't able to walk very far on the trail. It kind of looks like a monstrous-sized blooming onion. I don't know how "natural" it looked, but there is a section further up the Memorial Loop where a large swath of the hemlocks were taken down. Most people out there came out of the forest asking when the storm came through, or what happened to the trees. So just prepare yourself for a different kind of Joyce Kilmer.
For me, it's terribly sad to think that these giant trees growing in the woods of Western North Carolina since long before there was a North Carolina, or a United States, are now gone. There are still the old-growth tulip poplars, but you have to think, it's only a matter of time before a pest starts chewing them to pieces, like the American chestnut blight of the 1930s.
I was happy, though, to be able to make the trip from Asheville out to the Nantahala, and the woods, even if I didn't get to hike very far. I'm hoping to be off the crutches for good sometime this summer and get to do some proper hiking again.
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