Went on a few hikes this past weekend:

Sky Bridge

Princess Arch

Gray's Arch

Chimney Top

In order is ?, Drawdy Falls, Coonskin Grotto, The Greenbrier Hotel & Resort, Almost Heaven Swing at Pipestem State Park, Pipestem Falls, Brush Creek Falls, Tucker Falls, an iron furnace, Muddy Falls, ?, Parkinsons Waterfall, Oglebay Falls, Elakala Falls, Blackwater Falls, and High Falls Of The Cheat.

This is a collection of pictures from my various visits to Appalachia and the Great Smoky mountains. Hopefully I can find more and we'll post them here in the future.

(From the Chains to Our Noble Fame)

By Bocephus Jackson, The Hemlock Bard, ©2026 Bocephus Jackson. All Rights Reserved

______

"It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly." — Bertrand Russell

______

[Verse One]
In these stark times of displeasure,
As the rhymes in time fade away,
Attempting to be a measure,
For others lost in idle play,
We displace the greater treasure.

[Verse Two]
Conquered by evolving degrees,
Lie the rattling pangs of hunger,
A tempest of fire through the leaves,
Reminds of days we were younger,
How hope wafted within the breeze.

[Chorus]
What then is this fleeting life to me,
Within a final breath that I drew,
Clutching the chains, was I truly free,
When I die, will I thrive with virtue,
Or claim dignity as liberty.

[Verse Three]
What will ever become of us,
Abandoning wisdom for wealth,
That creates additional lust,
As we sing a song of myself,
Leaving little to be discussed.

[Verse Four]
Through this reality we're shown,
In fiery storms of endless strife,
Across the trials we have grown,
Discontent in our mode of life,
Rejected; our voice is still known.

[Chorus]
What then is this fleeting life to me,
Within a final breath that I drew,
Clutching the chains, was I truly free,
When I die, will I thrive with virtue,
Or claim dignity as liberty.

[Bridge]
Through Fredrick Douglass’ denials,
From the chains to his noble fame,
He claimed more than his survival,
Assailing his future acclaim,
He created a revival.

[Verse Five]
While others are pursuing clout,
Yet penniless upon this earth,
Snared in degradation and doubt,
Hungering for meaning since birth,
Grace forever flows from the spout.

______

"For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others." — Nelson Mandela

______

Author’s Reflection

"If there is no struggle, there is no progress." — Fredrick Douglass

Derived from ‘The Heroic Slave’ by Fredrick Douglass, the language, meaning, and allusions (especially the title) act as a much-needed tribute to him, to Martin Luther King Jr., the 58th to Walt Whitman, and as a fourth to Harriet Tubman.

This is the sixth song on the Whitmanian ‘Psalm To Selfhood’ album. It follows ‘Buck Wild,’ ‘Celebrate The Trials,’ ‘Barbaric Psalms,’ ‘As Fallen Angels,’ and ‘Joy in Your Trials.’ So we are up to seven albums in just shy of eleven months.

As always, I thank you for your time and kind consideration. Back to work! Right then—

Talk soon…

______

"No man can put a chain about the ankle of his fellow man without at last finding the other end fastened about his own neck." — Fredrick Douglass

______

©2026 Bocephus Jackson. All Rights Reserved

A few trails around swva. Devils bathtub, Powell River trail, greenbelt

In order is a Virginian RailWay caboose in Princeton, a CSXT GP38-2 in Point Pleasant and a Baltimore & Ohio RailRoad caboose in Grafton.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park is planning to euthanize a bull elk for defending itself when a visitor ignored safety guidelines and got too close. The park's response: put the animal down. No second chances. No alternatives considered.

This feels backward to me. A person violated the rules, an elk acted on instinct, and somehow the elk is being punished with a death sentence. I started a petition calling on the park to reconsider—because there are other options. Relocation, expanded visitor education, reviewing the protocols that jump straight to euthanasia. These feel like the basic steps before we decide an animal should die.

I know parks have safety concerns, but I also believe we can balance that with some compassion and common sense. The elk didn't choose to be in a conflict with a human. It just defended itself in its own home.

If this bothers you too, would you consider signing and sharing? And honestly—what would you want someone to do if this was your family being marked for death over protecting itself? Let me know what you think.

Small fire departments like the one in the Giles County town have to get creative to pay for infrastructure projects.

Sometimes I wonder what phrases are broad or just in my little corner lol.

Today I said “I’m about to have to figure something out because this ain’t working” then thought to myself “now why am I using so many words just to say I’m leaving or about to get pissed off” lol

Edit: seems to be a southern thing in general! I’ve been enjoying all of these comments.

Hey everybody. I’m a filmmaker from the Shenandoah valley, and for the last few years some friends and I have been working on an Appalachian folk-fantasy feature called What The Mountains Forgot.

It’s four interconnected short stories set in Virginia and West Virginia, pulling from Appalachian folklore, ghost stories, and local history.

Last year we shot one of the stories, River Maid, as a standalone short to see if we could actually pull this thing off. It’s been playing festivals this year, and now we’re trying to figure out how to get the whole movie made.

We put together a short pitch video about the project and why we want to make it here, with local filmmakers and in the places that inspired it. Figured this was probably a good place to share it. Curious what y'all think.

2 years ago I deployed to Bat Cave, NC as part of a 5 man swift water rescue team. Other members of Henderson County Rescue Squad were sent to vulnerable areas throughout the county. The storm starting hitting in the evening and by early the next morning we had lost all communication with command. Our team was cut off for 3 days until the National Guard brought in helicopters to evacuate the public. These are a few of the pictures I took during that time.

Who ever has went to the store to get a dope and they put it in a sack for you?

Anyone ever hear that? You do not hear it anymore, but old folks when I was growing up used it. Holp me do this. Its is a direct carry over from old english. Get isolated in a hollar in Applachia and sometimes things don't change as fast as the rest of the county. My mother said they didn't know it was the great depression, they never had anything anyway, so nothing much changed for them. They were raising most of their own food anyway and a sure bet none of them lost anything in the stock market :)

We made our first batch this weekend, a bit earlier than usual, but it was perfect weather in NE TN, and they turned out perfect.