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Upper Buffalo Wilderness Area
12/14/2012
Friday morning...3:30 a.m.........breakfast at the South Park Restaurant in Clarksville. Then!....north up Hwy 21...the sky was clear with no moon. I saw at least six large meteors on the way falling straight down. I arrived at my parking spot on Cave Mountain Rd and headed into the forest at 6:00. It was still dark as usual. After walking north down the road for about a mile I entered the Upper Buffalo Wilderness...which is separate from the Upper Buffalo Wilderness Area... with a red sky ahead. The clouds were already moving in. There was a 40% chance of rain for tonight but I had hoped the day would stay fairly clear for a while, but this was not to be. I made it to the bluff line and proceeded to follow this to the south until I came to a lovely point overlooking the Upper Buffalo River. It was 42 degrees coming in and the wind had now picked up from the south bringing in mostly cloudy skies. There were many levels to this bluff with nice overhangs below. I explored them thoroughly. Evidence of animals was noted by the numerous little trails running all over this area.
After a while I headed on into Dug Hollow and found some more rocky outcroppings with really interesting lower levels with large overhangs and a shelf that ran for a good ways...with some spots that required crawling to get to the next spot. This is a pretty cool hollow with many falls down below...not enough water today to make it worth going down there, though. By noon I had eaten lunch and made the decision not to spend the night. The wind, clouds and call for rain was enough to make the time hanging around not worthwhile...so I headed in. The high was in the low 50's and the hike was around 5.5 miles. I did see an immature eagle and parent fly in close to the bluff earlier in the day. I can't say I have ever seen a young eagle before...it was very cool. I was out by 12:45.
