Hiking In And Out Of The Walls Of Jericho

I spent the day yesterday hiking in and out of the Walls of Jericho tract, from the parking lot on Highway 79, to the Walls, and back to the parking lot. This was the first organized, themed hike organized by Nick Sharp, the Land Steward. Over 100 people showed up which was truly amazing. The leader of the hike was Jim Lacefield, a retired biologist/geologist from the University of North Alabama who pointed out features on the property speaking to the great age of the geology, back to the Carboniferous Period. In short, as on much of the Cumberland Plateau, there's a layer of sandstone that weathers slowly overlying deeper limestones that can weather quickly if the sandstone is removed or broken. That explains the deep valleys of the tributaries of the Paint Rock River as they flow south from Tennessee into Alabama, e.g. Hurricane Creek on the Walls property and Estill Fork to the west. We all made it to the Walls, proper, and below is a picture of Turkey Creek flowing away from the springs that emerge at the Walls on the way to joining Hurricane Creek. In the background, on the left, you can see the cliffs of exposed limestone that are slowly retreating.

I made it in and out with no injury or heat stroke, I'm proud to say. The trailhead is 1000 feet higher in elevation than Hurricane Creek, so at the end of the day we all climbed the two mile trail and gained 1000 feet. Forget about jogging, this kind of hiking is a full body workout. Today I'm only a little bit achy.

I stopped along Turkey Creek and caught a few small fish with an aquarium handnet I brought with me. I've always noticed these small fish in Turkey Creek but never had a chance to net them. The three I caught were all juvenile creek chubs, which makes sense. Turkey Creek is almost intermittent depending on the rate of spring flow at the Walls. Creek chubs are often the last fish to hold out in a shrinking creek so I'd guess that for much of Turkey Creek the only fish present is the creek chub. I still want to bring a seine net up to the Walls this summer and seine the big, deep pool there; I'm convinced there are other species present in this more permanent pool.

As I began to hike out I stopped on a big rock as I crossed Hurricane Creek at the mouth of Turkey Creek (see picture below). Sitting on the rock in the middle of the creek I was able to watch black darters spawning in the gravel and cobbles just upstream from this natural ford. Some of the aggregations of darters were surprisingly large, a dozen or more at a time. Large males were chasing each other and any other smaller darters that came near (and weren't receptive females, I guess). On the edge of these aggregations were small schools of striped shiners, maybe looking for eggs? I didn't see any active egg predation, that's also just a guess.

My next trip to Hurricane Creek is Saturday, April 7. My truck is being fixed up with a new timing belt, etc., so we should be ready to go.