Cheaha Mountain
Alabama
November 2013
This is some tough climbing. It’s a 1.2-mile hike that gains 1143 feet in altitude. What makes it more fun is that almost all of that uphill is in the second half of the hike and as you get closer to the summit, it just keeps getting steeper. Okay, that’s what we’re here for.
On the steep uphill trail, just when we feel like taking a break, what do we see on a switchback but a Tarot card, lying propped up on a rock.
In the Tarot, the Strength card depicts a young maiden subduing a lion. But to look at the serene expression on her face, you see that her strength may not be physical so much as internal, a strength of spirit. Her inner power is made of compassion, love and patience. Reminds me of Lisa on these uphill climbs.
In the absence of any additional information, I interpret this card, seemingly randomly placed on the steep uphill of our hike, to mean, “Hey, here’s some strength for you. Be serene, one foot in front of the other. Keep on climbing!” I would settle for an ONWARD card, but I’m pretty sure they don’t make those. Strength is good.
Bunker Tower is placed firmly at the top of Alabama, a rustic stone building that originally housed park offices and a gift shop.
Inside the Tower, we climb the steps to the highest room in Alabama. It is barren, cold stone. There is graffiti on the walls and even on the window panes. Ordinarily I have unflattering things to say about the psyche of graffiti hacks, but there is one graffito here that appeals to us. Top window, facing southeast. Remember the Tarot card is the Strength card, depicting a woman subduing a lion. In the grime of the window, some shoddy artist has scrawled the word LION.
We have this room to ourselves at the top of Alabama until another couple comes up the staircase. He’s carrying a French poodle in his arms. I keep my opinion to myself — that poodles are the crabgrass on the lawn of life — and say something unoffensive: “Why, that’s the highest poodle in Alabama.” The woman says, “The sweetest too.” It’s all I can do not to say, “Don’t push it, lady. It’s a poodle.”
He offers to sell us the dog if he could be spared from having to carry it down. Again, I bite my lip and I do not say, “Just toss it out the window, save us all the trouble.”
After not commenting on the French poodle, and after we have done our high point dance and congratulated ourselves to the degree which is appropriate, Lisa and I descend.
One of the lower rooms in Bunker Tower I call the “Graham Cracker Room.”
A sign in the Graham Cracker Room indicates that someone else calls it the “Cheaha Puppet Theater.” Based on the clues, including the yucky smell and shiny appearance, Lisa suggests that the graham crackers will become gingerbread houses, or graham cracker houses, and that they have been shellacked to be more durable, so they can last for many performances. In fact, I don’t know how long they will last, but I can say with confidence, they stink up the joint.
Contrary to the cold/wet/rainy forecast for the day, it is warm and dry enough for us to have our lunch at a picnic table on the front yard of Bunker Tower, this building at the summit. Our al fresco lunch affords us the opportunity to hear lots of conversation among the tourists, all of whom drove up on the paved road. In the time we are here, only three people do not speak in a Southern accent. Lisa is one, I’m another. The third is a man who is speaking French.
In French, “oui” is one syllable. In Southern, “we” is about two or three.
“This is a high mountain.”
“C’est une haute montagne.”
“There are many tourists here today.”
“Il y a beaucoup de touristes ici aujourd’hui.”
“Poodles are the crabgrass on the lawn of life.”
“Les caniches sont le crabgrass sur le gazon de vie.”
