The view from the gap includes Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia, plus the small historic town of Cumberland Gap itself, which has a surprisingly good restaurant, Nineteen19. It’s difficult to think of a more historic spot in the country than this gap, where Native Americans, trappers, traders, frontier families, soldiers and slaves passed through over centuries. While most traffic zooms through the modern tunnel below, it’s an easy drive up near the top, where the ”object lesson” trail offers a short hike to the “saddle” of the gap or to the tri-state meeting point. In order to encourage more modern road construction techniques, the government improved the road here as an object lesson or proof of concept, that transportation can be improved even in challenging terrain. This blog is an object lesson that EV travel is possible, even over long distances cross country.
The “trace” or trail from Natchez to Nashville is now a parkway, under strict protection of the park service which limits development. The National Scenic Trail, also a park unit, has miles of hiking & equestrian trails along the way. I’ve more or less driven the length now, with lots of side trips to nearby sights, and the dense spring foliage is beautiful, soothing and seems endless. The first stop traditionally is at Mount Locust pictured above, and the route was typically used northbound, returning by boat. The trail is far older than our country, as French fur traders followed Native American trading routes that had been used for thousands of years. After the steamship was invented, most people stopped walking, which put an end to the proprietor’s lucrative business of selling whiskey, food and basic shelter at the ”stand” or simple roadside inn.
We tend to see history as inevitable, and don’t often think about what might or should have been different. But the people back then were constantly trying to learn, make changes and adapt. The land in the photo belonged to Native Americans, then was claimed by England, then by America, then worked by slaves who turned sharecroppers, and is now run by the park service. At each transition there was loss and opportunity. Only fortunate and adaptable people made it through turbulent changes. Injustice was resolved by war. No success or failure was inevitable. In hindsight, better choices could and should have been made.
I need to believe that we’re capable of learning, making changes and adapting. Dramatic change is inevitable, common behaviors suddenly become unthinkable, and those who can’t change usually suffer most. The extent of damage from the climate crisis has not yet been determined. Not all the coming extinctions are inevitable. The actions we take today make a difference to our future. We must stop burning carbon now, no matter how inconvenient, and we must prepare for the coming challenges.
Flooding has always been an issue here. French traders established the first trading post near here in 1686, buying pelts from the Quapaw and shipping them down the Mississippi. They build a fort, which is abandoned due to flooding. Then they build another nearby and again move due to flood. After the French and Indian War, the Spanish take over the fur trade and reestablish a fort on the original location. The French get it back and then sell the whole “Louisiana” territory to the US. The post is briefly an important territorial capital, but the Union shells the confederates here during the Civil War destroying much of the town. And what’s left over becomes a backwater as the Arkansas River shifts away in 1912 and the remnants slowly erode into the bayous.
The photo shows the Little Post Bayou in the foreground and the Arkansas River in the background. With climate change increasing flooding broadly, the River has now risen again, reconnecting with the Post. Most of the history is now underwater, including French, Spanish, British, Native American and Civil War battlegrounds. But some foundations remain, along with subtle signs of confederate trenches in the woods. The post is a wonderful place to view wildlife, with many geese, a few deer, a red headed woodpecker, alligators, and a snowy egret on a tiny island in a little lake. The ranger, who loves wildlife, repeatedly assured me that the alligators here were adorable loving creatures and perfectly safe for people. I kept my distance from the large one I spotted.
Wilderness exploration is nice, but I really enjoyed spending a couple nights here to rest and look for inspiration. Unfortunately I couldn’t literally recharge, as the nearest supercharger is in Little Rock, and I doubted my hotel would let me run an extension cord out into the parking lot. The entire area is full of hills, forests and lakes, but the downtown area is unique, being both historic and still thriving. There are fancy restaurants, stylish hotels, and, of course, bathhouse row. There seems to have been a few boom & bust cycles that created a few winners, some losers and some interesting adaptations. The longest running, original and most traditional bathhouse is Buckstaff. I’m up early, but there was already a line outside when I walked past, as they don’t take reservations. Maybe I’ll come back someday for a spa treatment. For now, it’s enough to just wander around, put my hands in the hot water public fountains, peer in the shop windows, admire the Art Deco and other architecture and hike up the hill into the trees.
Yes, there’s also a new fort, and no, I didn’t go there. The fort is a beautiful reconstruction made for the US Bicentennial. You might notice the fire damage around the edges. Just a few days earlier, a fire (under investigation) burned the fields and trees surrounding the fort. Fortunately, the fire department and rangers saved the fort and the animals. Even though I could still smell smoke, the ranger/ volunteer firewoman gave a full tour in period costume.
The Bents were merchants who traded buffalo bison hides and other goods on the Santa Fe trail. The fort was more of a commercial trading post than an active military base, but the lines were blurred. Kit Carson spent some of his early years around here hunting shooting bison. The US government used forts along the trail to protect the mail and to replace the Natives with white settlers.
Racism drove cultural hegemony. Before the arrival of Europeans, the Native Americans built homes, ate bison, hunted, fished, and grew mixed crops of corn, beans & squash. The superior settlers introduced a completely new way of using the land by building homes, eating beef, hunting, fishing and growing wheat. Oh wait, that’s exactly the same.
This rock is interesting. Rock climbers would enjoy the many tall vertical crevices. There’s a spring with a pool in an alcove at the base. At the top, there’s a ruin with a good view of the surrounding valley. And all along the base there are carvings made centuries ago by travelers, from those who didn’t have a formal written language, to Spanish speakers who named this place ‘El Morro’ meaning ‘the hill’, to other pioneers.
This park unit has nine free campsites in a pleasant loop with toilets, tables and water (except during the winter). Since New Mexico offers many electric sites at their reasonably priced state campgrounds where I can charge my EV overnight, I generally try to stay there. Sometimes I stay at a private RV campground, and sometimes I stay at a hotel, especially when I really need a shower. The Tesla easily powers my 12v camping fridge. The least common denominator everywhere is a toilet and a trashcan. The model 3 is small, but I manage to sleep in it. Without a big rig to pull, I can easily park anywhere, and I don’t have to burn a gallon of fossil fuel every 10 miles.
The post is still in use today, selling jewelry, blankets and other handcrafted goods. Navajo Nation spans a large part of northeast Arizona, and its border extends into Utah and New Mexico. Note well that they follow daylight savings time (unlike the rest of Arizona).
In the 1860’s, US troops under Kit Carson “burned villages, slaughtered livestock, destroyed water sources” and force marched thousands of Navajo to internment camps in New Mexico. The Long Walk and subsequent re-education programs damaged Navajo culture, breaking ancient familial bonds of language and traditions.
America has not dealt with this tragic history nor its consequences. And I’m not talking about Kit Carson’s legacy or that his name is ubiquitous in the west. I mean the US government’s responsibility for ordering people like Carson to execute this atrocity, against his personal views. We need to understand the mistakes of the past, atone and choose more wisely in the future.
Zero Carbon Travel 