Amicalola Falls

My dear friend Nikki and I took a trip to Amicalola Falls here in Georgia. We headed there to see the waterfall, of course, but also just to get away and spend some quality time with mother earth, which too many people don't seem to do anymore.

There is something about a waterfall that is awe-inspiring. Maybe it is the idea that something as simple as water and gravity, two things that are not uncommon in our daily lives, can make something so magnificent. Possibly it is the sense of power that this simple act of falling water gives off. You can hear some people talking and a bit of wind noise in this one, but you get the sense of what the waterfall sounded like: noise.

  Amicalola Falls by Googe

Yes, I do realize that water and gravity are not simple things at all. And that in reality, all sound is noise.

We continued our trek through the woods enjoying the conversation and world around us. We noticed that the path that we were now walking on was recycled rubber, and that the newly patched areas were very bouncy. So we bounced our way down this path. I'm sure that anyone who saw us thought we were insane, and I am perfectly content with them thinking that.

We reached a spot a little ways into the woods away from the falls. There wasn't anyone in this area, I suppose most people were there to see the falls, not the forest surrounding it. I noticed a lovely bird singing it's song so I stopped and got a recording of it with the falls in the background.

  Birds Chirping Distant Waterfall by Googe

By this point we were starting to get pretty tired. We had already hiked a bit and climbed 175 stairs and there were 425 more steps to climb to get to the top of the falls.. We decided to turn around and head back to the car and drive to the top.

Upon reaching the top we jumped out of the car and headed towards the top of the falls. The first thing Nikki noticed was that there was a coconut in the water.

 We stood there and contemplated why there was a coconut in the water. It seemed completely bizarre to me that someone would throw a coconut in. Nikki finally came to the conclusion that it was some kind of tradition. I questioned this and then we shrugged it off and Nikki noticed something else. There was a spider slowly makes its way between the trees above the water, suspended in mid-air.

That little black dot in the middle of the picture is the spider.

Noticing this spider brought me to the question: "How did the spider get it's web from one side to the other?" I just did a search for "spider webs" and checked the wikipedia page "Spider web" which brought me to an interesting study done on spiders in zero gravity.

Here's a beautiful picture of the mountains that we saw when we found our way down another path that no one seemed to be using:

In the Middle of the Night

About a month ago Frankie Loscavio and I took a walk out into the woods one nice night to record some ambiance. On the way out there, before the eyes have adjusted to the darkness, you expect something to jump out and bite your feet off. Because we live in an urban jungle, many sounds are unfamiliar, and you get a shiver down your spine every time a tree creaks or a limb falls. Once the eyes had adjusted to the unsettling darkness, your nerves calm just a bit, but you are still a little on edge.

We set up our field recorders and began to record the barrage of crickets and frogs that inhabit the woods around us. Here is a snippet of what we got:

  Forest Ambiance by Googe


After recording for a while we decided to head further in. We walked for a ways and came upon a spot that seemed completed void of insect life. The only thing we heard was the sound of the breeze through the trees. We stopped to start recording again. As soon as we hit "record" a lone cricket began to play us his melody. Whether it was welcoming us to its domain or cursing at us for intruding upon its home, I can not say. It was beautiful nonetheless and I felt honored to be chosen to be serenaded by this majestic insect.


Quiet Forest Single Cricket by Googe


On the way back to the car I began to ponder on why urbanites get that tiny fear that something is going to grab them while in the darkness of the woods. Perhaps it is from watching movies of people wondering into the woods and confronted by a creature of some sort, or hearing stories of people disappearing into the forest to never be heard from again. Whatever it is, it is silly to be so afraid (being cautious is different) of something so harmless. The forests are not there to harm us, most of the time they are welcoming us, and the creatures within only wish to be left to themselves.

Upon reaching the edge of the woods we noticed that there was water dripping into the stream under a bridge. We made our way under the bridge where it was almost pitch black, which brought on another feeling of caution that something was going to grab my ankles and pull me into the depths of hades. We set our recorders once again and began recording. This recording is one of my favorites that we have captured. It feels so peaceful, despite the way I felt when we entered the area.

Water Under Bridge forest Ambiance by Googe