Fanning Cove in the Paint Rock Valley
Fanning Cove is framed by Hodge Mountain to the North and Maxwell mountain to the South. Our Eastern view includes Round Top Mountain, Miller Mountain and a portion of Brewer Mountain.
The convergence of these mountain ridges makes possible the beautiful waterfalls. This valley also creates its own microclimate. We receive more annual rainfall than Huntsville, Al and are generally 5 to 7 degrees cooler. The combination of extra moisture and cooler temperatures makes for some really foggy mornings, hence the farm’s name.
How big are those mountains?
My West coast friends tease me that they don’t consider anything a mountain unless it exceeds 2,000 ASL.
Our perspective is “how bad would it hurt if you fell off of this one?
Minimum City, Maximum Nature
The sunrise over Larkin mountain is such a powerful show that the people who invented “stonehenge” have asked for rights to build something here.
Some days the sun teases its way through the trees. The effect makes one feel that there is “fire on the mountain”. On other days, the clouds dance over the ridge and down to the valley in a gossamer cascade that needs only Tchaikovsky’s music to be complete.
In Spring, Edvard Grieg’s “mountain king” calls from beyond the trees.
The annual flooding of many parts of the Paint Rock Valley scares most developers away. On our farm the Larkin Fork will jump its banks about 3 times per year. The flooding leaves a nice silt deposit for which the grass is grateful.
Some of the roads farther South, including State Highway 65 may be closed for up to 12 hours until the water recedes. We can only hope that this acts as buffer against the urban sprawl that plagues so much of America. There’s More to See Than You Know. There are houses on the mountain in this picture and roads up to them. They are so well hidden that the camera could not find them.
We Have a Few Caves.
The geologic formations of this area are remarkable. Caves and sinkholes catacomb certain areas. Blowing Cave is located about a mile West of us. Many cavers visit Russel Cave, which is farther North.
There is a transcendence and spirituality that one imbibes from these mountains. Or, it may be a higher ozone level and tree pheromones. Either way, once you spend a week here it makes it hard to go some place else.