Tuesday, April 28, 2015

West Fentress Weekend

Prairie trillium 

West Fentress Weekend 

Dana & Kenny Koogler

Saturday April 25 & Sunday April 26, 2015

pictures are here: 
West Fentress Weekend




    We had wanted very much to get back over to Fentress County to do some more exploring.
The forecast called for a nasty weekend with potential not only for rain, but tornadoes.
We also had a massive brush pile that needed to be hauled off to the land fill Saturday morning.
We decided to stick around home on Saturday and get that brush hauled away and watch
the weather.  We figured we'd head over later Saturday evening.  We got our land fill run over with.  Kenny checked the weather and it was clearing!  We quickly threw some things in the truck
and loaded up and off we went.    We were going to have better weather than had been expected.
Off into the Wild Blue Yonder .. a pretty day at Woo Hoo! 
        
We got to Woo Hoo, Sharon's place and parked the truck.  We had decided to try spending our first night in the shabin. Sharon had offered many times, but thus far we had not taken her up on it.  Since we'd only be over for a single night and since part of our purpose was to try to help work on the ATVs for her and John... it made sense to be here close.    We threw what we needed
on the back of the RZR and took off.  We stopped to hunt mushrooms, but they were done for the season.  The wildflowers were still pretty, but the season for some of them is fading.    

 Few large flowered trilliums and yellow trilliums blooming. 

  We had realized in the past couple months that there was an entire portion of Lost Cane 
we were missing out on.    We had wanted to try to find a way down in there this trip.   One of our
main goals was to find access into that unexplored area.    We tried first going up the ridge above 
Bill's Creek so we could attempt to drop off the back side of it into Lost Cane.  We had cut that trail out completely last time here so we figured it would be a cakewalk by comparison.  
We were disappointed to find that another massive tree had fallen across the trail near the start of it.   Kenny said "Oh no. I'm just not in the mood to start that so early today." We went ahead up the trail and decided to try two other points of potential access into that area.  My read on the 
topography was that the trail he tried next up top was going to head out the ridge with no 
way off into the bottom.  

        The trail we tried did got out the ridge.  The first part of it was a good trail and we liked it.
It snaked out the ridge with partial views off to the sides.  We could see off both sides in places.
Eventually it began to trend downward giving us hope that there might be a way down off the ridge here?!  The problem then became one downed tree after another.  Small trees were also grown up
in the path.  Past a certain point it appears this trail doesn't get traveled.  We finally turned and headed back.  I wanted to go back and try the Upper Bill's Creek Trail and drop off into Lost Cane there.   Kenny wanted to go out the road and try to find another trail he'd seen visible from 
Google Earth.   We went out the road and tried to find it.  It was nowhere to be seen.  

       We saw this at the end of Bill's Creek. 

The photo is of a sign on a tree in the middle of nowhere in Fentress County. The overlook it speaks of is located along the Cherohala Skyway about 150 miles south of this point by road and about 90 miles as the crow flies.   Always vet your way points before going! 
Plug them into your GPS and check them first. This is a prank someone is trying to pull.  
I admire their black sense of humor.   :-)


         I told Kenny he needed to study that google earth map more and set a way point on it
for us to have any hope of locating it.  Out here in the real world you cannot get that birds eye view
that you get with Google Earth satellites.   You have to have help to make it stick.  Like many things.. its not a good idea until its HIS idea.   We went round another way to get into Lost Cane.
Oy! A hard way it turned out to be.  We were mighty lumberjacks again today.  Cutting out more 
fallen trees on the short cut trail we'd found.   What a mess.  It is so pretty in there, but muddy.
We encountered one deep mud hole after another filled to the brim with tadpoles and frogs!
We cleared trees.   He showed me a cut across trail he and Buck had found.  On that one I got a nasty reminder about KEEPING ALL BODY PARTS IN THE RZR!   I reached a hand up to push some hanging limbs over the top of the RZR. Two saplings snapped my pinky finger and ring finger back so hard I thought they'd be torn off.  It hurt so bad I could not make any sound.
It took my breath away.    I got my fingers freed and sat holding my hand checking it.  It only scratched the skin on my fingers, but they hurt.  I knew they'd be fat and swollen and later they were black and blue and all puffed up.   It scared me.  I pulled my t-shirt up over my face
and cried a little.  Then I got alright and was over it.  We did end up making a connection
as to how the trails came together so it was worth it.  The short cut trail is now cleared.

         Down in Lost Cane at last we realized that only some of the waterfalls would be flowing.
The first pair had only a trickle going over one and the other dry.    We had decided we'd go down 
so far and if we found anyone else had been in and cleared even one more log out of the way we'd continue.  Here is what we found. 

              
Thankfully someone had started cutting where Kenny, Sharon and I had stopped.
We found that the way was cleared down into Brer Rabbitt's Briar Patch so we went that far and quit.   The lower end of the trail is full of briars and vegetation.  Beyond the overgrown briar patch is a really rocky stretch. Kenny was not in the mood and neither was I to deal with that today.
It looks like perfect snake territory and today was nice and warm.  

       We stopped on the way through and visited two of the waterfalls we could hear running.
There is no trail down to them.  You just have to climb for it.

           First waterfall you come to here is about fifteen feet high and comes out of a cave and goes into a swallet.  

          

This boulder is massive. I'm guessing thirty feet high and about thirty to forty feet wide.
I finally managed to set the camera up to capture what this sinkhole looked like at five pm.
It was dark down here! This is right by the two waterfalls.

No trail here.  Just steep sides around you everywhere and house sized boulders.

The second waterfall at this spot is long and tall and falls between massive boulders.
It is about thirty feet high. By it is a rectangular boulder that is fifty feet high from its top point.


The camera lightens things up so the images here show the beautiful Spring greens which I love.
It does not show without using the flash to darken it how it really looks to the human eye at five p.m.


  We crept back up the bank and rode down a little further and came to the spot where we could hear the next waterfall flowing. Only one of this pair was running today.  It has had water on it every time.
The Spring wildflowers were still pretty. Prairie trillium, Southern Red trillium, Appalachian bugbane, yellow trillium, a rare large flowered trillium, and lots of dwarf larkspur were present along with Canada violets.
Mayapples stood like small green umbrellas along the slopes.

Down in the rocks and dry washes of Lost Cane.

Last waterfall today. Out of a spring above it and into two swallets!
The other one of this pair was dry today.


Dwarf larkspur bloomed profusely down here today.

    It was growing darker so we turned and headed back up the way we'd come.
On the way back I was dreading getting smacked in the face again, eyes poked, by twigs, limbs, briars.
My fingers were beginning to thump now.   It wasn't as bad as I anticipated, but we did see two or three spots which bear further and closer investigation on return trips.   One spot caught my eye as we were looking at one on the left side.. I noticed a foot path going up on the right.  Next thing I knew I was out of the RZR and on the run. I trotted up the slopes and started hearing water.  I popped over an embankment and there before me was a cave with a waterfall coming over it.  It wasn't really a cave, but a wide slit in a dirt bank.   I kept going and hooted back for Kenny to come on and bring the camera.  It was a very cool
finding and we enjoyed checking it out.
 
The photo above and below show the rock house with the small waterfall. It is rough in there. Not groomed
at all. No trail to it.  Just a rough footpath to get up the bank.




          We went back to the RZR, but will have to return and continue above this as the path keeps going.
It may lead to nothing, but we want to know for sure.  I'm still looking for Frank's Flume. Maybe this will be it!  You never can tell, but finding things is fun. Here is a link to the visit to this rockhouse falls.
Newly Visited Rock House and waterfall


Sun is setting in the west.  We stopped on the way back at an overlook I knew of.  Kenny has been to it.
Sharon has been to it, but Kenny did not remember it.   He checked that infernal phone of his since it had a signal here.  It told us that a very bad storm was on the way in about an hour.  We had to get going he said.
Here is a link to a short video of the quiet beauty of that moment. Skinner Mountain Sunset

         Back at the shabin we unlocked everything and got about the business of cooking dinner.
He grilled us up some excellent burgers. I used the propane stove to boil up some mac and cheese.
We were both tired and wanted to hurry and keep it simple.  We ate well and after dinner I cleaned up our small mess while Kenny made up a bed for us.   We both washed up with baby wipes and went to bed.
Sometime during the next hour or so after lights out I began hearing thunder.  Soon after that the rain arrived.
We had quite a thunderstorm. One crack of lightning and boom of thunder shook the shabin and woke us out of a sound sleep! It was close!   Neither of us slept well thanks to that, but our first experience in the shabin was good!   Thanks Sharon and John!

             Next morning we woke and the rain had quit.  All that was left was the spatter of drops off the trees
when the wind would blow.   I had a cup of instant coffee while we got ready. We headed to town to McDonald's for a quick breakfast and to replenish our ice in the cooler.   A check of the weather revealed
the day should be clearing up.   We went back to Woo Hoo and Kenny got to work on the four-wheelers.
I cleaned up and packed up.   We ended up calling Sharon later when we had a phone signal and just bringing the ATVs home to service them here in Kenny's garage.  It was a hilarious process figuring out
how to load them and haul them, but he did it!  I helped all I could.

           We were not in the mood to ride in that nasty wet today.  We decided instead to go hike
and then we'd head home at a reasonable hour.  I talked Kenny into taking me back to visit Big Sunk Cane Falls.  I knew the hike was short, the waterfall was pretty and the Spring wildflowers beautiful.
We found it this time with no trouble.  It is clear across into Overton County in a separate part of Nowheresville.    Long drive. Short hike.   It was worth it.

Big Sunk Cane Falls is about 70 ft high. It comes out of the ground at the top of this rock in a spring stream.
It enters the ground at the bottom of this sink.    It is a cave.  The sunk cane is the entire surface depression which starts out at the road.  You cross the main part of the sink to get here. The only cane left is along the edges.   You enter woods and the sink ends at the waterfall.  Here is a link to a video of Big Sunk Cane Falls

Big Sunk Cane had lots of dwarf larkspur in deep purple, lavender and almost white!

Prairie trillium, southern red trillium, bugbane, canada violets, yellow trillium,  and mayapples were also present.  I saw large flowered trillium, but it was past peak bloom and fading fast.  I did not see any Catesby's trillium today, but it is here.

        On our long drive back the sun began coming out!
Kenny exclaimed at a waterfall he saw down over the bank along the road.  We stopped to check it out.
It was a great find!

Big Indian Creek Falls.. not on the database yet, but has been submitted now!

        We did not tarry long here as we were not able to find the property owner for permission.
No one lives in the house we found.     Back at the shabin we loaded stuff up and got ready to roll home.
We were both tired.  It had been an odd weekend, but better weather than had been called for.
We avoided any tornadoes!   We'll be back to bring the ATV's and cut more wood and clear more trails.

Below are a couple of the best videos from this weekend. Big Indian Creek Falls and Lost Cane.









Friday, April 24, 2015

Ballplay Falls 2015

Fire pinks along the road to the trail head for Ballplay Falls 


Ballplay Falls 

Dana Koogler

Thurs. April 16, 2015
and Return Visit Thurs. April 23, 2015

Total hike distance 3 miles approx. today.
**This blog will give clear directions at the end for
how to reach Ballplay Falls. It does not divulge the locations
of all the wildflowers. Not all the wildflowers pictured
were found on the Ballplay Falls hike. **
Pictures are here:
Ballplay Falls Pix



     I started off to go do two hikes Thursday April 16, 2015.  I hiked to Jeffrey Hell and it began
raining on me rather hard.  I decided to eat lunch and head back toward Ballplay and hike to the falls. I was hoping going in that direction and a little time passing the sun would come back out.
I figured I'd just finish up the rest of my day elsewhere.   I got there and when I arrived the sun was out and I was so tickled.  I was taking pictures still at the trail head and the rain began again.
I was cold and tired and what I wanted was not happening.  What I wanted was a pretty day to visit this spot and enjoy it.   I decided I'd try again next Thursday.


Next Thursday April 23, 2015



   A week rolled around and the pretty day dawned that I had prayed for and longed for.  
I went to fulfill a couple things on my wish list.  I had wanted to check out a spot down along the Hiwassee River where a friend told me I could view Bent Trillium in bloom for the first time.
I found lots of it in bud when I was in Georgia.  I was not going to have the time to go back to 
Georgia this Spring.   I would have found it already finished blooming had I gone there.
I know it sounds silly to some people, but when I have a wish for something like that I pray
and ask God to help me get the chance if it is part of His plan.   I had to do some searching, but
I found the trilliums and while they were past peak bloom.. they were still pretty and I was thrilled
to see them.  Trillium flexipes is a pure white variety.  Very beautiful.

Trillium flexipes is the binomial for this flower.  It is also called Bent trillium or Jennison's White trillium.  It is erect like white wake robin with its bloom up on a stalk.  The ovary and stamens are
all white.   This is the 2nd different trillium I've seen this Spring.  The other being Trailing trillium
which is down on the ground!

    
  I will NOT divulge the directions for this location. It was shared with me by someone else and 
if I go blabbing everything I know .. no one will want to help me anymore.  I will share some things
with some people, but I will NEVER become part of the hive mind and tell all that I know. I will
ask folks sometimes to assist me when I have had difficulty locating something I've never seen.
Just because a person has shared one of their secrets with me I do NOT expect them to tell me
all they know either.   It would not be fair of me to expect it.  It would also not be very much fun
for me to always have everything handed to me.   I have seen areas where good wildflowers are located become well known and the flowers trampled out of existence.  

            

 Rock ledges covered in stonecrop. 

Stonecrop close up. Very lacy. 


Above are some of the photos from the Hiwassee area.  




Dicentra eximia--wild bleeding hearts above.



The start of my bluebird day along the banks of the Hiwassee looking at the sides of Starr Mountain.

    

              Once I had satisfied my soul with what was around the Hiwassee I ate an early lunch looking at the river and headed on up toward Tellico Plains to hike to Ballplay Falls.

 Two Off Trail Dumb Asses Bushwack to Ballplay Falls!
The Back Story

             I will  tell you the back story on how I first came to learn of Ballplay Falls and my first visit.
I should not tell it on myself because it is so silly, but it will demonstrate both my foolishness and dogged 
determination.    I learned of Ballplay Falls from the internet.  Waterfalls of Monroe County
Once I saw the photo of it on that link.. that was all she wrote.  I was going to see it.  I tried once with Kenny to find it.  We got in the general vicinity, but people filled our heads up with wild stories about the old Buck Highway and we'd get ourselves shot messing around out there.  I now know for a fact that SOME of that stuff is true having cared for people who've gotten shot or beaten out in those parts. I also know for a fact that some of those stories were intended to scare us off and keep us from finding good things.  The person who did the most of the telling turned out to be a treacherous bitch. 

             I was friends with Bill Stowell and he was also interested in finding it.   We decided we'd go 
hunt it with the waypoints off Tennessee landforms.  Bill had a real good GPS and knew how to use it.
I had one, but it was a sorry one and I lacked skill in using it.  I remember it was cold when we went.
I want to say it was late February or early March.  We found the beginning point at the trail.   We did 
see Ballplay Creek.  We saw a path going up the creek by it.  We followed it.  The first trail played out.
We jumped onto a rough old road one notch up from the first one. Eventually that played out too.
We were damn well going to find that falls so we just got in the creek and started rock hopping.
We went from side to side of the creek, forded back and forth.  After hours of floundering, struggling, 
bushwhacking, and having a worms eye view of the world... we rounded a bend in the creek.
The GPS indicated we were getting close. The terrain was changing and went from being flat... to looking like a place a waterfall might actually be found. Part of what intrigued me about Ballplay Falls was the fact it occurs in an area that you'd never expect to find a waterfall!  Ballplay gets its name from the fact it is mainly flat and the Cherokee played their ballgames there on that lovely flat ground.   Part of the intrigue was 
how out of the way and little known it was.   Part of the sell for me is the hunt.  Bill and I were having a grand hunt for sure, but we were also suffering to get there.   Finally we found it.  We were elated!

              The rest of the story jumps forward to several years later with me being in the Tellico Plains visitor center.   I was talking to an older lady who works there. I was talking to her about the area waterfalls. I asked her if she had ever been to or heard of Ballplay Falls? She said yes!  I told her about how rough that trip was and how hard it was to find.  The look on her face let me know I'd made a SERIOUS mistake!
I hung my head before her. I then looked up and said "There is a trail to it, isn't there?" She nodded
yes.  She then went on to tell me that you go behind the old house and pick up a good trail there
that will take you right to the falls.   I was embarrassed, but relieved to know the truth.  We went
and re-visited Ballplay Falls that day.  Kenny and I went and found the trail and walked right to it
without the first problem.  One of the worst cases ever for me of making something way harder than it had to be.   It is funny now though.  I'm the kind of woman if I want a mountain moved I'll do it .. If I have to do it a teaspoon at a time.  


 Today's Visit to Ballplay Falls ON the Trail 

       
  Now I'm an older, fatter,slightly smarter woman.  I still mess up bad sometimes, but wouldn't life
being boring if things were always perfect?!   Today I needed a perfect day and so far it was going swell.
I was not scared of the Buck Highway legends that had been told. I was not going to mess up and do dumb stuff.  I was just going to have fun and see pretty things.    I arrived at the trail head with no problem.
I enjoyed the view and the wildflower display on the drive there!  The old houses and buildings are neat 
to see on the drive there.  My favorite old house ever is located where you park.

 Old house you will see at the start of the Ballplay Falls hike.  I come from people who lived
like this so this sort of place will always be special to me.   It is break your heart beautiful here.


There is a bridge that is very narrow and muddy. 
 My jeep parked by the old barn.  Tires are muddy, but that's what its meant to do.









You've got to remember since I've shared how I first arrived at Ballplay Falls off trail that ANY trail to me seems great!   I am a rough dog so I often tell people its good when they might not
agree with me.  If you don't like vegetation touching you. If you don't like crawling over and under trees... if you are accustomed to very groomed trails like in the Smoky Mountains National Park or state parks you will probably not care for this hike.   The trail is an unofficial one and I don't 
think it is maintained.   It is getting visited a little more now so that helps keep it open.


Here the trail starts.. The old grassy path goes straight along the creek behind the house, but you can see here the turn to the right to start up on the path to the falls.  It starts off good.


The hike stays pretty good most of the way, but it has  some spot that  go through briars and stuff that looks like this.  Not too many.  

Downed trees.. two side by side along the path. 

I had   to negotiate two side by side .  


Gives you a small taste of my worm's eye view for just a few minutes.




But then the path is good again and wanders through piney woods. It smells good. 
Parts of the hike are through lush, green plants. Parts are through pine forest.


  The path bends sharply right here.  There is an old animal path or something heading down and left here.  

        


 pictured above.  The path splits.  

     Here I am still high above the creek.  I came out 
at the top of the falls eventually.  It is a relatively short  hike.    
 This is where the path meets Ballplay Creek just above the falls. 
The falls is about forty five feet high and has two drops.  


Above the leaf and bloom of Shuttleworth's Ginger. It is in the birthwort family of plants.
It likes piney woods.  Its binomial is Hexastylis shuttleworthii

I love a path through a pine forest.


Catesby's trillium blooms profusely just before the top of the falls.

I followed the path down to the base of the falls. It was prettier than ever.
More water coming over the falls today than I had ever seen on it!

Bottom portion of Ballplay Falls.  

Beautiful blue skies above me today!


This is the very bottom part of the path you have to take to reach
the base of the falls.  It is not even a manway.  It is slick.


I am posting a video that shows Ballplay Creek and both the upper and lower drops
of the falls. It shows off the beauty of it better than a mere photo. Plus it is set to
music by John Cowan who is one of my all time favorites.  The mood of this 
really captures the tone of the day and the place for me. 





    I  loved being here today! I found it myself.  No help.  No worries. I was not scared.
It was lovely and perfect.  I did go off trail just a little bit to try to find the waterfall Paul Gamble told me about that is above Ballplay Falls. I found the creek and could see movement through the rhodo.
I was 100% alone and there is no trail to that one at all so I decided I'd play it smart and safe and go back
to hunt that one when I have Kenny with me.    It would be better to hit that one up when it is Winter. Snakes are awake. I did not see any today, but Mike Gourley reminded me I see an inordinate amount
of snakes.


               The wildflowers and greenery of Spring were amazing!  Partial views are along the path.


   I found tea berries growing here and ate some.  I remember hiking in the George Washington National Forest with my parents. They taught me what teaberry was and how good it is!


Tea berry grows red and round on a tiny shrub that grows UP.  It is tasty and safe to eat.


Partridge berries grow thick around where the tea berries were too.  They are flat to the ground, and egg shaped.  I don't know if they are poison, but I don't eat them.

   

Ballplay Creek. I walked way up it today just recalling that I had gone all the way up this pretty stream
to the falls. Wow!  While I don't want to do that again........ I saw things I would never have seen if I hadn't done it.   Those are good memories too.  Me laughing so hard at the mess we were in laying on a tiny shred of rock with the creek flowing past and looking at Bill's hind quarters.  I was wearing that darn pink coat of mine.



Old photo of me in the pink coat


Back of the old house.   I was back at my jeep. Tired and happy and ready to go home.

The wildflower display at Ballplay Falls is excellent. It begins on your drive there and continues all the way to the falls.


Large cluster of fire pinks along the bank on the way.


Trillium cuneatum is abundant here in maroon and brown.


Unusual form of dwarf crested iris. White with a tinge of purple!



**Ballplay Falls is actually situated in the Cherokee National Forest, but the access is across private property.  I have been given the okay to visit by the landowner, but I am removing directions to it.