Max Patch and Wolf Creek Falls

Painted trillium blooming in the Cherokee National Forest

Max Patch and Wolf Creek Falls 

Kenny & Dana Koogler 

Friday May 4, 2018

Pictures are here starting with frame #216

    We had a free Friday to do stuff together.   Kenny was still getting over his back surgery and
had to take it easy.  No long hikes.   I guess looking back that is why we chose to go to Max Patch, and then Wolf Creek Falls.    The problem with writing these blog entries nearly three months after they occurred is that I cannot recall all details.  Most of the time I at least recollect what prompted me
to want to visit a given place. Today thinking back I really can't with certainty.   I do know that Kenny's physical condition factored in.  Another motivator had to be the desire to see trilliums.
Max Patch is a great place for that.  Final motivator had to also be curiosity about historic
community of Wasp.   Last time I tried to go to Wolf Creek Falls via Round Mountain Road I bombed out on the attempt very badly.  I am sure redemption was a factor.  I have wanted for some time to
go back and try again to prove it could be done. 

         We packed us a lunch and hit the road.  Max Patch is not a long drive for us.  It takes about an hour and a half from home.    Mostly interstate so it goes by quick.    We arrived on the start of a
bluebird day.  It was sunny with blue skies and the temperatures here in the mountains were in the seventies.   We hiked up to Little Falls Branch waterfall first.  It was flowing great and pretty as ever.
Most of the wildflowers along here were done, but we saw a few things. Fair amount of showy orchis.  Some foam flower and Solomon's plume.  I did not see any puttyroot orchids today.  Too early for them I suppose.  We also saw red erect trillium, chickweed, golden ragwort, purple geranium, and jack in the pulpit. 

 Pretty stream at the start of the hike.

 Jack in the pulpit 

 Purple Wakerobin 

 Foam Flower 

 Kenny stands before Little Falls Branch waterfall 

Nice clump of Showy Orchis

  We enjoyed the falls and then drove back to the picnic area to eat lunch.   We were one of only two
groups eating there.    It was such a pretty spot beside the creek to enjoy the day.

The picnic area at Max Patch down at the base of the mountain is like something out of The Sound of Music.   They provide picnic tables, but no restroom facilities.   We passed restroom facilities down the road near the camp sites for Harmon Den.

       Once we finished eating a sandwich, we loaded up and started the drive up the mountain.  I told Kenny to take his time because this is one of those trips where I have to pull over every little bit to check out flowers.   Today was no exception. It was lovely.   I saw tons of beautiful Spring flowers.
I especially appreciated it this year since I had not gotten to see as many as usual.  I seem to always find new stuff along this old road no matter how many trips I make.  Sure enough today I found myself wading around in a bottomland I had never noticed before. Today it was laden with trilliums and dwarf larkspur of pale lavender and deep purple!

The photo that best shows how full of color that creek bottom was!

Pink form of trillium grandiflora

   We continued up the mountain.   We had partial views through the trees of the horizon.   

Pale green leafs and red bud maples and oaks bloomed.   We saw some sweet shrub in bloom also.

Slopes of the mountain were laden with too many pink and white trilliums to count.   I did not get out today and try to hunt for trilliums with phyllody or any of that.  I left off the more researchy parts of the trip for another time.   I just wanted to enjoy the day.    

 Below: partial view from Max Patch Road

Above: a perfect specimen of mountain bellwort one of my favorite flowers

  Near the top of the mountain I watched for painted trilliums. I did see one tiny flower. I got a photo, but was disappointed at how few they were this year.   We bypassed the Max Patch summit.  We have done that so many times.   We continued on the old road heading toward Wolf Creek Falls at the back of Round Mountain.  I was so hoping we'd find it today.   I had good directions so I figured we would.    We had the GPS just in case.    It was helpful in pointing us the way on unsigned roads.

The drive back those old roads was interesting and beautiful.  I saw a ton of wildflowers and the biggest trilliums I've ever seen in my life!   We had to stop at one point because of the road conditions.  Kenny was not sure he could tolerate the bumpy roads any longer.  We rested and stretched and he took a couple motrin tablets.     I sure hoped he'd feel better.  The motrin and stretching did the trick and we were able to continue thankfully.   

 Above and below.. huge trillium by the roadside.  My hand for scale.

 Nice painted trillium. Found a bunch more on the backroads heading to Wasp.

 Trillium simile..

At last we did see a sign that indicated we were on the right track.  

 Wild Oats were seen today.

 Clump of squaw root near the falls.

 Trilliums growing through a rotting, mossy log.

       We started seeing roads going off this way and that many were gated.  We could see below us to the right an area that was clear cut and all torn up.   We figured that must be the greater part of the old
community of Wasp.    We forded the creek and were able to drive right up to the camp site.
We only saw one other person there today. It was an older gentleman and his dogs who were camped there for the weekend.   He was very nice. Sorry to say I cannot recall his name, but I greeted him and spent some time talking with him.  I'm glad I did.   He was a knowledgeable guy and spent enough time camping in that vicinity he had some information for me and Kenny about Wasp.   He told us that the land was no longer part of the Cherokee National Forest. It was a private in holding by some group.   He also said that it had been logged and torn up.  He said prior to that going on he had spent time prowling around looking for signs of past human occupation.  He never found much of anything in all his  searching in the form of old chimneys, buildings, steps. No structures.  He said now and then he'd run across flowers or a shrub that were planted by the people who lived there.  He said it was the strangest thing he'd ever seen.   It was like all traces of the former homes, church, school, cemeteries even was erased.    I had looked on Google earth and found the satellite view just showed the torn up ground and downed trees from logging.   Cal Topo shows the old cemeteries, about eight structures.  A church and school.   That is to say it shows where they should have been.   It would be interesting to lift way points from the map and go stand in that spot and see if anything could be found.  I believe the old fellow.  He was as bewildered as he could be.   He had spent enough time looking for historic old structures elsewhere he knew how it should have looked if it was just left to time to wear down.

Wolf Creek Falls. It was beautiful today.  We really enjoyed it.  

    We visited the falls and said our good-byes to the man and his dogs.   We drove on til we got to Del Rio and then headed out toward Newport. We stopped and had dinner at Ruby Tuesdays. It was delicious. We filled the day up just right.    Not the most exciting day ,but better than sitting round home and when you are limited in your time as grown ups you appreciate it all the more!

Below is a short video of Wolf Creek Falls. We did it! We proved we could find it from Round Mountain Road.