(Click to enlarge pictures)
Pinson Mounds is one of my favorite Tennessee
State Parks. It is thoroughly interesting because it has a little bit of
everything, and something for everybody. Hiking, archaeological sites, a unique
and fascinating interpretive center, and some pretty amazing scenery along a
cool boardwalk through a cypress swamp.
Just a few
of the fascinating exhibits in the Visitor’s Center. There’s plenty of spearpoints
and arrowheads, of course, and more. Preds fans,
doesn’t the skull on the left look like Gnash? It should: they’re both Smilodons!
Left to right: That’s one
wicked looking mortar round…bottle collector P. J. wanted this specimen of Gerst Old Jug Lager…and a couple of examples of the
interior structures of some of the mounds. Fascinating stuff,
this.
Mastadons? In
But there is much to do, so we cannot
tarry long. Out the back door then, looking toward Saul’s
Mound in the distance.
A good portion of the walk is along gravel
or asphalt and is very pleasant hoofing.
There are some enormous trees at Pinson.
Peej at left is lost beneath one!
Another big tree.
Actually, massive might be a better
word…
There are mounds and walls and
“structures” everywhere. Some obviously require more extrapolation than others.
People more learned than I have interpreted this one!
Some, though are
pretty apparent, as is this one. Interesting!
Eventually you leave the pavement behind
and take to the trail, and there’s a different kind of fun. The path is quite
nice, not too hilly, and the scenery is at times amazing. You’d swear you’d
left
A nest P. J. spotted along the trail. Not
a very tidy one, either…
Good thing Peej’s
eyes are sharp, else we would’ve missed this snake
just off the trail. It was pretty torpid (being sort of a chilly day) so I got
a nice close-up, then left it alone.
This is probably a pretty common plant,
but I thought its fuzziness was photogenic.
Another case of, what the hell is it?
Stumps, sure, but what is that vivid lime-green goo?
Some kind of alien sap, I’d reckon, parasitic probably, trying to take over our
trees…
Eventually you leave the trail and climb onto
a boardwalk, which you follow the remainder of the lower half of the walk. You
enter a splendid little forest complete with
Here’s a little tree army on the march…
…as not far away, another surrounds its
leader, waiting for orders! Seriously, this is neat-looking and a lot of fun to
walk amongst.
Left to right: a particularly
gnarly-looking tree, the waterlogged base of a cypress, and finally, the
inevitable bark shot!
This rotted-out stump looks more like the
remnant of a volcanic cone than a tree.
The boardwalk is itself photogenic in
spots; on the left, zig-zagging amongst the trees and
on the right, a nifty t-junction.
The Barrow Pit,
says the sign, the source of the material used to build Saul’s Mound…
…which is impressive
indeed. At just over seventy feet high, it towers over the relatively
flat terrain surrounding it and is in fact believed to have been the tallest
man-made structure in the continental US prior to the seventh century or so.
What was its purpose? Other than a lookout point, anyway?
Well, being as its corners are more-or-less cardinal (how did they know?) it had to serve some
purpose. Certain of the mounds appear to be markers for where the sun would
rise during the Summer Equinox and Winter Solstice as viewed from the top of
Saul’s Mound. Consider the work involved in such a
undertaking. It’s staggering!
Peej heads back toward the Visitor’s
Center after a busy day. This was his first trip to Pinson and my second, and
yes, I do believe we will be going back. This is one of those places that
demands return visits because you never seem to see it all, and even if you do,
it always looks different the next time. If you don’t have a good time while
you’re visiting here, well, you’re just not trying very hard.
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