The second hike for the day is in the South Cumberland State Park - a site known as Stone Door. My friend Dawn had suggested this spot and just like the previous hike, it didn't disappoint. Essentially, this entire area sits on a limestone plateau with the cliffs overlooking a bright green sea of deciduous forest. It's late in the afternoon and the skies are looking pretty gray, but with the trail distances listed as nothing more than about a mile each way, we are confident we can make it and back before the clouds open up - little did we know...
Before heading taking the right fork of the trail towards Stone Door, we decide to head to the left and visit a small, but interesting waterfall called Laurel Falls. The hike listed as only a couple of hundred yards, but the steep staircase down to the viewing area make it a good work out. This great setting allows the visitor to walk right out to the edge of the falls, which while flowing nicely are not truly raging at this moment. The falls is not all that tall, but plummets into a pool and rock pile below - better to watch my step here.
Returning to the parking lot, we take the other trail headed for the Stone Gate. The forest here is as lush as I remember them being in the mid-west of my child-hood. The trail starts on pavement, but quickly turns to well maintained dirt. We stop to survey the view from a wooden lookout. You can see for miles here and it's green all the way to the horizon. A few turkey buzzards fly by overhead to see who is invading their territory, but the seem to evaluate us as little or no threat and go on about their business.
Crossing a couple of small wooden bridges, we finally arrive at the feature known as Stone Door. Dawn says it reminds her of Hobbiton from Tolkien's great works, and I can definitely see why. The ancient boulders and cliffs make for a great setting. We scamper around the top of this magnificent cliff for a while taking a few shots. I'm amazed at the erosion beneath the cliff and ask how long she thinks it will be before the overhang breaks off. I think that thought startled her a little bit, but it looks safe enough for now.
As a few rain drops begin to fall, we decide to hurry up our itinerary a bit and make it over to the other side of this cliff to visit the Stone Door itself. It's just a few yards away. The cliff has already started to separate from the larger plateau and over the millennia and has opened up a narrow passage through the crag. A gnarled old tree greets us as we start down the human carved staircase through the crag. Looking back up, I'm reminded of Aragorn entering the mountain stronghold seeking assistance from the Army of the Dead in the great battle of the Pellenor Fields to come.
The rain begins to pick up and while we want to stay longer and take in more of this magnificent locale, we decide the wiser choice is to head back to the car. We push our pace a little bit, but it's not enough, the rain begins to beat down harder and harder. We are a mile into the woods with no rain gear when clouds eventually open up completely. Staying dry is a completely lost cause and by the time we reach the car, we are soaked to the bone. We only ended up hiking about two miles, but the company, the amazing vistas and monsoon adventure at the end made it well worth the trip.
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