You Can Help
Dates: Saturdays and SundaysTime: 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. CSTLocation: 131 Fiery Gizzard Road, Tracy CityContact: Jason.Reynolds@tn.govMore info: meetup.com/Friends-of-South-Cumberland-State-Park
Ignoring the beads of sweat dripping down my forehead, I tug at the rope in my hand. And it tugs back. Hard.
My sneakers dig into the dirt but my body lurches forward a few inches. I nervously turn my eyes to the nearby ledge – about a 12-foot drop – before glaring back at the 350-pound stone block barely dangling from the other end of the rope. The goal is to move this Goliath over the edge and lower it, adding it to McAlloyd Branch’s newest rock staircase located on the Fiery Gizzard Trail.
I turn to Dustin Atkin, South Cumberland State Park’s seasonal interpretive recreator, and ask him how he does this by himself five days a week. He laughs and tells me that’s why he loves weekends: People come to volunteer. But on this particular Sunday in mid-July, it’s just me, him and one other. I stifle a smile and keep wrestling with the rope.
I am hot and filthy, but I have never felt more alive.