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.