Great Meadows, Peters Mountain, John Muir OV, Big South Fork

October 9 & 10, Mile 255 - 245: The Big South Fork is a study in the cyclical progression of a landscape. 200 hundred years ago, pioneer families came across Cumberland Gap and settled these narrow valleys. They lived in self-sufficient communities and the No Business Creek community is a great example of pioneer homestead. The chimney of a long-destroyed home stands as gravestone to the community. What killed this settlement and many more like them in the Big South Fork? The industrial revolution and its need for coal and timber. Mining and logging destroyed the landscape and any chance for these communities to live as they had. The land was so fouled, that it came under federal stewardship, similar to many of our recreation lands. Today it is slowly progressing back to its pre-industrial conditions. However, you will see evidence of industry; logging pulled only profitable trees from the forest, but the then-unprofitable trees were left to stand and today you can see mature, majestic beech and hemlock trees. That alone is worth the trip.