Getting the flavor of...Staying cool in eastern Tennessee

Staying cool in eastern Tennessee

Eastern Tennessee “offers two sure cures for cooling the body and clearing the mind: waterfalls and caves,” said Robin Soslow in The Washington Post. The state’s swath of the Cumberland Plateau is rich in both, and a friend and I chose Lost Creek Cave, just east of Nashville, for a day of spelunking. Headlamps lit our way, and inside I felt the refreshing spray of a 60-foot waterfall. We found an “ancient room of rock” and clicked off our lights for a moment of sensory deprivation that felt like “a perfect antidote to traffic, babble, ringtones.” The next day, another friend and I hiked Fall Creek Falls State Park, about 25,000 acres of great spots, including creeks, swimming holes, and the namesake 256-foot falls. We crossed a swinging footbridge while enjoying views of ospreys and red-tailed hawks, then passed through one of the world’s largest hemlock stands. At Cane Creek Falls, we “slipped into the 60-foot-deep pool for baptism by the 85-foot plunge.”

A Michigan outdoor-skills camp

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You can keep your doomsday-survival-skills camps, said Ellen Creager in the Detroit Free Press. When I signed up for a five-day camp program in northern Michigan, the proprietor’s sensible attitude was a definite draw. Jim Miller of Willow Winds (jmwillowwinds.com) believes people should learn the basics of survival—“how to make fire and shelter and find water”—because it enriches life. “Miller does not babysit”: He expects participants to know how to pitch a tent and cook, but with all the unexpected skills I picked up, it felt as if “every single thing I saw at Willow Winds was a revelation.” I made birch bark malleable over a flame to create a basket, pulled roots to find nuts, and ate part of a cattail plant. At $225 for the five days, it was an inexpensive vacation too. Next summer, maybe I’ll join one of Miller’s classes on making a canoe.