Three Fire Towers and Joe Mill Falls

White Milkweed on Clinch Mountain, TN 

Three Fire Towers and Joe Mill Falls 

Kenny & Dana Koogler 

Tuesday June 12, 2018

Pictures are here: 

Cumberland Mountain Pix

Joe Mill Falls waypoint on Tennessee Landforms

   Kenny and I had such a good time on our first trip to Hancock County that we turned around and went back  the next week.   It was so much fun exploring in a new area for us. It was also extremely pretty.  We just couldn't believe how pretty it was , and that we had not come to visit sooner.   The little corner of East Tennessee almost at the Virginia state line is exquisitely beautiful.   It is rich with history as well as natural beauty. It also is a great place for solitude.

You won't see nearly the hikers to even well known places that you would in the Smoky Mountains area.    

        I had been so thrilled at the finding of an unknown falls in the area and being able to add it to the Tennessee Landforms database. I was also captivated by the incredibly clear spring waters that form the falls in this area.   When you can look down into the stream and count each pebble that is some clear water!    We had seen one interesting lookout tower on our travels.  We had finally figured out how to access it.  I did some additional checking and learned that there were quite a few more in the area.  Some of them were really cool looking.

We found enough to fill the day and probably overflow it. 

    We managed to avoid the dumb navigation mistakes of the previous trip.   It made the drive much smoother and we wasted less time.  We stopped at Little War Gap where SR 70 cuts through the mountain just past Bean Station heading toward Rogersville.    We pulled over at a gravel spot along the road.   A gate lay just to our right and lots of litter around.   We got out and started looking for our path to the Little War Gap Lookout Tower.  It sits perched atop the mountain on a rock outcrop.   It is visible from Google Earth Satellite view.     The path to it
was not hard to find, but while it is traveled, you can tell it is not heavily used.    It was very skinny and unmaintained.    The forest was pretty and green.  It smelled sweet and fresh.  
I never did figure what that heavenly floral smell was, but I enjoyed it.  I saw some type of new flower for me.    It was tiny and white and reminded me of stitchwort.  Don Hunter finally ID'd it for me. It is Southern Rockbell.  Wahlenbergia marginata.  

Narrow leaf Houstonia.. or bluets Houstonia tenuifolia 

Path to the Little War Gap Tower.  

  The hike up was short and steep.  It did have switchbacks, but it also had some blown down trees and one real narrow, slick, rocky patch to overcome.   It was an odd trail situation for sure.  It appears that the trail is at least partly maintained by someone despite the bad places on it.   Someone had notched out steps in the earth at one part.   

   We wound up and up until we arrived at the rocky summit where the tower is found.
It sits on a rock outcrop.  Behind the outcrop is one of the neatest watchman cabins we'd ever seen.  It was a true log cabin.   It is down behind a cliff.  

 Above: First glimpse of the watchman's cabin below the tower site.  
Below: You can see a little of how the cabin lies below and behind a rock cliff.  

Below: Another view of the rock cliff the cabin sits by. You can see two legged pigs have been busy with their spray cans defacing the rock.   You can also see in the bottom left of the frame more of where the cabin sits in relation to the cliff. 

  You walk on past the above shown rock bluff and then at the far end of the mountain summit, you climb up a rocky spot that looks like steps.   I could not tell if it was man made or if the rock formation was just as it occurred naturally.    
Climb up here





Then you have to duck under these limbs and work your way out the rock face.



Little War Gap Tower is sitting out in the very edge of the mountain.


Here is the view from the rocks. It is not possible to gain access to the cab of the tower for that vantage. All the steps are gone and the cab is in extremely poor repair.

Above is a view of the tower from down in the valley.  It looks tiny from here. 
Click the link to view a short video of the visit to the tower site.  Little War Gap Tower Video

  We enjoyed climbing around in the rocks.  We saw a box turtle. The view was blue and beautiful.
It is part of the Trail of the Lonesome Pine.  It was a trail that started to run from up in Kentucky to Clinch Mountain. It was abandoned due to problems with lots of tracts of private property and permission to access those.    The day was nice and cool up here and good for hiking.  We were tickled to finally have figured a way to reach this special place.   We hiked back down after taking in the view and continued on toward River Place on the Clinch.

     We had visited River Place on the Clinch and eaten lunch about a week earlier.  It was great.
Today worked out just right.  Between the drive and the short hike we arrived right at lunch time.
We'd sit out on the porch and have a meal before continuing our adventure. I packed a bag with stuff to swim and snorkel, but the mighty Clinch River was still flowing too swift and muddy to be any fun swimming or snorkeling.   

 River Place on the Clinch

Very tame Papa Redbird kept coming over to visit with me while I ate lunch with Kenny. Mr. Lizard kept checking me out too.  Yikes!  

  We  had a good lunch. I bought a River Place t shirt I'd had my eye on.  I left word for a lady who works there.. Cathy.. as to how to reach the Little War Gap Tower.  She and her hubby were interested in going.    I told her we'd figure it out and share the information.  

     Next we continued in the direction of Sneedville.  We were heading for Newman's Ridge and the lookout tower there.   I have been told my heritage is "melungeon" which essentially translates to mixed race persons.  I had decided I was not going to take the DNA test, but now think I should. My sister took it and it was fascinating.   It bore out the whole Melungeon thing.  Mixed race doesn't even start to describe. If my DNA test comes out looking anything close to hers.. which it should....... we got the most mixed up pie chart you ever saw.   Ireland, England, (Isle of Man) Scotland, Iberian peninsula (Spain/Portugal) the Caucasus Mountains, the Middle East are a few I remember.  

Some of these we knew.  Some we merely suspected. It was back to the source of it all.. Newman's Ridge.  I had not known previously that there was a lookout atop the pinnacle of Newmans' Ridge.

     We got through Sneedville and if you blink you'd miss it.  It is a tiny town.  We followed the road ever upward toward Newman's Ridge looming over the town.  It was quite pretty up there.   Lots of old houses falling down.   The fire tower road we needed was gated off, but the work arounds were wide open.  We took my jeep on her first challenging four wheel drive.  It pulled like a boss.  

We made it up onto the road and continued.   Not a lot to see up there, but a few old buildings. The fire tower is fenced in heavily.  The bottom rungs of the steps are also gone.   Bummer. We managed to make it up there only to be foiled by a fence and a damaged set of steps.  

Someone has put up a  cross on Newman's Ridge.   

Some sort of old shelter atop the mountain.

 

Fire Tower on Newman's Ridge

Only view we got from the top of Newman's Ridge was from part way down.  Looking out over a well tended cemetery.   

  While the view and the trip up there was a little disappointing it was still cool to me to finally have stood in the place where Vardy Collins and family lived.  We headed back down the mountain and out of Sneedville toward the next tower.. the Clinch Mountain Tower.  I had actually seen a photo of that tower and a photo of the view from up there.  I figured it must be more visited.  We found the road for it without too much trouble.   We followed it out past all sorts of homes. A couple of them were nice and neat.  Most of them were tumble down shacks.   The road dead ended at the tower site.

Clinch Mountain Tower.  Third and final one for the day.

Once again.. the tower was in such bad repair that climbing it was not possible.

Steps missing and tower in bad repair. 

We had to settle for a view from the mountain, but what a view it was!

View from the Clinch mountain tower site.  of course the site had the usual graffiti tags on the surrounding rocks.   Some litter too.  

Way off in the distance we could see this big blue green lake or pond in the middle of some white sandy looking area.  I later learned it is the Lime Pile Spring. I found info on Pinterest regarding this spot.  Lime Pile Spring Grainger Co TN  Click the link to see the image of the place. Not my image.

We enjoyed the view, but still had a couple other spots we wanted to visit.  The rest were waterfalls so we continued onward.

      We planned our route today very well.  We were heading back toward Thorn Hill and both waterfalls we were interested in seeing were located here.   We figured we'd visit these and probably head back toward Knoxville via Rutledge Pike.   We started off with Joe Mill Falls since that was the first one we'd come to.  It was not hard to find, but there are three or four drops to it and they are spread out along a country road.   The first two are easy. The third is hard. The fourth is easy.

All are on private property and it appears the owners don't mind you going but they do NOT want littering.  The day we were there I saw no litter.  They have constructed a small bench near the main falls.  The grounds are mowed and kept and it is a park like setting.   We visited the lower falls and took a few pictures.   We went on and parked at the boulders for the main falls.  We walked up there and I spent time taking lots of photos.  It was just too pretty for words.   Orange daylilies were all over the place, but I was able to compose a shot of the falls with them in the foreground.  It was a nice effect.    

Lowest drop of Joe Mill Falls

Main falls.. Joe Mill Falls with the daylilies in front. 

Below is a shot of the falls front on.  I'm standing in the water for this one. 

I kept fooling with the picture taking until I realized I was very hot.  That water looked so beautiful and clear and refreshing.  I put the camera away and just dived in.  It was a bit of a shock to the system, but that only lasted a second or two.   The water smelled fresh and sweet and clean.   I swam around for a little while. I swam up to the falls and rubbed the moss on the rocks. It was not slick, but felt like damp carpet.  The day was perfect and sunny with a brilliant blue sky.  It was one of those moments I'll treasure forever.  I flipped over and did the back stroke across the pool looking up into the clear blue sky. All I could hear was the water, and the birds singing.   The sun's warm beams shone down on me like a blessing from Heaven itself.   I was glad I did not hesitate to waller in the experience and enjoy it fully.   Kenny sat on the bench and refused to get in.  He doesn't know what he is missing.    Finally I climbed out and wrapped up in a towel to dry off.  I did not bother changing clothes or any of that nonsense.  I knew the other falls was just up the road a short distance.  I might want to get in and swim again.   

     We passed a couple cars on our way to the next falls.  We also passed some very rough looking trailer homes.  One had an above ground pool that had been let fill up with icky water and leaves. 

We scarcely had any room to pull off when we spotted the third falls.   It was really nice, but reaching it was an ordeal. The weeds were thick and included a lot of poison ivy and briars.  Lots of litter was down there along the edges of the stream.  The banks were steep, rocky and snakey looking.   

So close but yet so far.  Finally I was just determined I was not going to wuss out today.  I was going to reach the base or bust.  I'd chance it.   We climbed down and did not get hurt, but it was tricky.  

I did wade out into the middle of the stream to take pictures and look around.   My photos of this falls did not do it justice.  Lots of tiny fish swam round my ankles in the water and nibbled at me. 

Third drop of Joe Mill Falls.  Not easy to make it down the bank in Summer.  Climbing back up turned out to be no easier.   We helped one another and managed to get back up without incident. 

We did not tarry long at this spot.  The road is narrow and it is not a good place to pull over. You really can't get out of the road here.   A Fed Ex truck came flying past us on that road. 

We went up the road to the final drop.  It was small, but scenic.  I got out and went down there to photograph it.  I got in and swam one last time. It is not as good a swimming hole as the first place, but is deep enough to cool off.   

Fourth and final drop of Joe Mill Falls.  Nothing is near this spot far as houses or such.  we were past bad trailer land.  

  I was cooled off considerably and felt better.  I did finally change clothes and put something dry on. 

We headed back down the road past where the main falls was.  The area was crawling with people! Where as we'd had the place to ourselves... it was  now filled with people going swimming. Hard to find a place to park.  It must be a popular hang out.   

   We went back to the main road and tried to find the way to Cedar Creek Springs Falls.  It was supposed to be only 0.10 mile from the road across a pasture field.   We did not find it, because Kenny took a wrong turn.  He took us the wrong direction so we'll have to try that one another day.

We were growing tired and had a pretty good drive home yet.   We wrapped up our visit to this area and headed home.    On the way we passed a surprise! I had wanted to visit Tate Springs.  I did not realize we were going right past it on the way home.  It was pretty.   I would not make a special trip just to see this, but since we were passing by it was worth a side trip.  It was one of those places that people used to come to "take the waters". Therapeutic springs.   It was now a childrens home run by the church.  

Historic Tate Spring.

View out across the grounds from the top of the gazebo.  You can see the childrens school in the distance.  

Below is a glimpse of the pretty wildflower meadow across from the spring.

    We had a loooong rather boring drive home. Blaine and some of those areas are scenic, but the drive is still a bit on the monotonous side.   All in all it was an excellent day.    Joe Mill Falls is more than worth the trip.    I look forward to going back to find Cedar Springs Creek Falls.  I also want to find the falls along Falls Branch. It is another series of roadside falls that look like a sure bet.   Tennessee Landforms shows lots of waterfalls in the area and lookout towers.  You can easily put together a trip that should be enough to make it worth the drive and fill up your day.

Last of all is a pretty video of all the drops of Joe Mill Falls.