Rock Island and Burgess Falls and State Parks - Tennessee

Continuing my series of posts about my trip to Tennessee several weeks ago - today the focus is on two more state parks: Rock Island and Burgess Falls. Both of these parks are all about water…Center Hill Lake and the falling water around it. Rock Island has falls that come out of a cavern mid-way up a cliff. The road over the dam is closed so it takes some driving around to see the whole park…but is well worth the effort. There is a charming spring house associated with the ruins of a textile mill. Burgess Falls is more water over rocks. Both parks have interesting hikes. The best time to go is probably late spring/early summer or in the fall…not in the heat of summer unless you are going to actually get in the water! Enjoy the slide show below - I’ve marked the pictures by park.

Other Tennessee posts: 

• Falls Creek Falls and Cumberland Mountain State Parks - Tennessee
• Museum Strategies
• Water Lilies
• Cheekwood Garden and Art Museum
• Cheekwood’s Howe Garden
• Cheekwood Tree Houses

Gleanings of the Week Ending April 21, 2012

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles I read this past week:

Trekking Poles - A comparison of 3 hiking sticks. I am eventually buy a pair

Innovate or Evaporate commentary - from Norm Augustine - After a major study of the ever widening education gap, Management Consultant McKinsey and Co. concluded that "if U.S. youth could match the academic performance of students in Finland, our economy would be between 9 and 16 percent larger."

4 feet of hail near Amarillo TX on 4/11 - Wow…and then came flash flooding when it melted

Traveler’s Checklist: Petrified Forest National Park - Things to do and see

1000 Days of Infrared Wonders - 10 images from the Infrared Array Camera aboard NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope (there is a ‘tornado’ nebula!)

Magnifying the Universe - Click on the graphic…and start looking at the relative size of things…from the observable universe to a hydrogen atom

Space Shuttle Discovery Flies Over the National Mall - En route to its museum home on 4/17

Atul Gawande: How do we heal medicine (TED talk)

The Worrying Consequences of the Wikipedia Gender Gap - Almost half the readers of Wikipedia are women but they make up only 13% of those that contribute…and it appears to be impacting the content

State of Flux - NASA’s images of change…mining growth in Chile, Dead Sea, plus more…in time for Earth Day on 4/22 (look at the bottom to see more before and after images…there is a series of pictures of the Dallas-Fort Worth area from 1974 to 2003)

15 Earth Day Tips that Really Make a Difference