Crawley, The Crawdad

I took the grandsons to Cumberland Falls State Park last week for our annual (or semi-annual) State Park trip.  We arrived on a beautiful afternoon that felt a lot like fall, with temperatures in the upper 70's.  We were way early for check-in but the helpful girl at the front desk located a cabin that was ready and allowed us to check in early.  After dumping our stuff in the compact, brown cabin we headed out to see the falls.  Surprisingly, I don't remember ever visiting this park as a child of park visiting parents.  It's possible I did but kid-like just don't remember.  So I was a little unprepared for the overwhelming experience of seeing the Falls themselves. 

The Cumberland River tumbles down the steep gorge, full from all the recent rains.  The broad expanse looks serene as the sun sparkles off he little riffs and white ripples of the green water as it moves toward the drop-off.  We first walked down to the shore above the falls, which is mostly limestone rock that has been worn smooth over time.  The kids soon tired of wandering along the rocks and we moved on down to the overlook area.  We could hear the falls thundering and see a mist rising above the river but it wasn't until we reached the edge of the overlook that we could see the falls themselves.  The river rushes into a drop of 65 feet, literally pouring thousands of gallons of water a second in a cascade that can reach 300 feet across at flood stage.  The curving expanse of water is breathtaking.  Even for a five and seven year old.

After several seconds of amazement (about as long as the little boys could take without climbing on something) we decided to take the trail down to the lower look-out.  The well traveled trail led to a lower over-look that let us view the expanse of water from about the middle level.  We then continued on the trail to the area below the Falls.  Here the river spreads to a fast moving but deceptively placid looking body of water.  We exited the trail onto a smooth rock, sand and mud beach that had obviously been created by surging overflow from the river.  Several downed trees had been left, providing seating for watching the river and the children enjoying the space.  A constant flow of visitors provided ample people watching while the little boys dug in the sand and happily got filthy.

We finally moved to go back up to the visitor's center driven by thirst and a need for a potty break.  Not ready to leave yet the little boys wanted to go back to the rock area above the falls.  There they spent their time exploring the various spots where water had collected in dips in the rocky ledge along the shore.  Soon I was called to watch as they discovered the various puddles were home to dozens of crawdads, mudbugs to some, or crayfish if you like.  It wasn't long until the seven year old had captured a lovely, big crawdad, who looked around in surprise at viewing the world from such a lofty height.  He rinsed out his cup from our slushy earlier, and filling it with river water placed his new friend inside.  Capping the cup with the lid, he continued his exploration with his friend, Crawley, carefully carried along.

When we left for the truck, nothing would do but for Crawley to come along.  Now I know some of you are starting to think about cruelty and environmental issues and maybe even the legal issues of removing a creature from a State Park.  You are right, but he's seven and logic and demands are met with determination and frustration.  Also, I know from experience that crawdads are resilient, adaptable and tough.  So, Crawley came along.  Did you know that crawdads can actually live for quite a while out of water?  The kids and I once spotted one trudging across the back field heading for the creek.  How he got there we have no clue--dropped by a predator, moving to a new location, who knows, but there he was, seemingly unperturbed by a stroll through a cow pasture.  So I wasn't too concerned about his ability to survive for a while in a cup of water. 

For the next two days, Crawley was our constant companion.  He slept (?) on the bedside table, watched t.v. from the living room table, went to craft classes and supervised the painting of a wooden snake, and rode in the truck as we moved around the park.  I thought we might lose him when the five year old decided he needed clean water and dumped him in the bathroom sink and refilled his cup with tap water.  I figured the tap water chemicals would do him in by morning, but he greeted us with feelers waving the next day.  (We did make a trip to the river to refill his cup with river water.)

The morning arrived to leave and I began to wonder if I could make a two hour trip with a crawdad without them dumping him out in Hubby's new truck--which was already suffering from feet returning from trails and muddy pursuits.  Sitting down with the boys I wondered how to reach a small boy with logic.  "You know, Crawley has had a pretty amazing experience."  I started.  "He has gotten to go to craft class, visit a cabin, see a playground, and make new friends.  However, he is probably missing his brothers and sisters and wishing he could tell them all about his adventure."  Blue eyes looked at he seriously, "But I'm going to take him home and put him in the creek at the farm.  There are lots of crawdads there for him to be with." (Hmmm.  Now what?) ."Well, but they won't be his family.  How would you feel if we stopped on the corner in Somerset and just dropped you off by the street.  There are lots of people there, would you feel right at home?"  He thought about this for a few minutes and the steady gaze began to waver.  Rushing in for the coups de grace I hurried on, "Just think.  He has had a grand adventure and he must really want to tell everyone at home about it.  Just like you want to tell your parents and sister about your trip!"  Finally, his face lit up and he agreed, "OK, let's take him to his home!"

So in a drizzly rain we trooped back to the river one last time and placed Crawley in the same hole of water to tell his friends all about his grand adventure!

(We also spent a couple of hours the next day scrubbing all the evidence of our great adventure out of Hubby's truck!)