Natural Tunnel, Virginia

Natural Tunnel State Park
Some Place in Virginia off Route 23

I have always found atlases and maps rather intriguing. The idea that even the tiniest dot on a map represents hundreds, if not thousands of interesting lives entrances me. Those little specks on the paper represent an entire world of hopes, dreams, challenges and possibilities to those living in them. Alas, nowadays most of us stay on the Interstates and see nothing but the stainless steel franchise fast food places we just left at home. We never see much of what makes travel a joy. Map Quest and other assorted computer-aided mapping devices always find the fastest most efficient ways to get from A to B, forgetting that point C in between might just be the best place to be. Sometimes it is worth the extra gas to find those little universes hidden away in remote regions, even at $4 a gallon.

While planning my return journey from Kentucky to South Carolina it occurred to me to consider something other than the four-lane super slab for my return. A thin serpentine blue line seemed much more interesting than the straight thick red one I had traversed a few days ago. I also would avoid a lot of tollbooths on assorted turnpikes. Map Quest would never had selected this route. It was too interesting. As it turns out, it was nearly a hundred miles shorter than the Interstate routing and easy to follow. That thin blue line took me from Ashland, Kentucky to Ashville, North Carolina where it became an Interstate leading me into South Carolina via the beautiful southern Appalachian Mountains.

Route 23 ended up taking me through Pikeville where my grandfather had been the town banker a century ago. A hundred years ago the Hatfields and McCoys had their infamous smolder family feuds that gave the town such great notoriety. It also was cause for my ancestors suddenly being driven out of town in the middle of the night. I never did learn what that was all about. I did have opportunity to pay homage to my past and save a hundred miles of driving in the process.

Not far below Pikeville in Virginia is one of those brown roadside signs suggesting a break from driving was in order. I was at Natural Bridge a few days ago so it seemed only natural to see if Natural Tunnel was as interesting. Actually, it was. A drive of three miles took me through one of those small dots on the map – a fine little well kept village where everyone knows everyone – a place I would like to live. Just beyond it was one of Virginia’s state parks containing some of the most intriguing geologic formations I have encountered. Somehow, a mysterious natural process had bored out a tunnel of perhaps a thousand feet through a massive outcropping of limestone. A hundred years ago a railroad put a set of tracks through the tunnel. These tracks are still active, carrying tourists through the Virginia Mountains. The well-maintained hiking trails afforded me an hour of relaxed wandering and picture taking. Like Natural Bridge, this park had a chair lift for those without sufficient stamina to hike to the top of steep canyons or the floors of deep gorges. I am grateful that I have the stamina to easily climb in such places.

I never saw anyone on the trails. A remote state park on a weekday off a thin blue line is not likely to have many visitors. However, at the information office I did encounter a pleasant English couple taking in the scenery. The English are good about traveling on the thin blue lines of life and finding what is interesting. The English call a walk outside a ramble. They are not in a hurry.

I resumed my southern journey along Route 23 as it traversed Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina where I stopped for a late lunch of eggplant parmesan in a newly constructed Italian Bistro outside of Ashville.

I had fine cerulean skies all day as I traverse five states to arrive just in time for a chicken parmesan dinner.