Tallassee Wildflower Walk 2018

Barren Strawberry blooms along the trail at Tallassee

Tallassee Wildflower Walk 2018

Dana Koogler solo 

Wednesday April 4, 2018

5.4 miles RT

Pictures are here starting with frame 225

   One of my favorite areas to hike in Spring for wildflowers is Tallassee.  It is 

seen on the map as Tallassee Recreation Area.    My history with this area began

about nine years ago when we leased it for a couple years.  It was leased by a group of us for the men to use for  deer hunting.   I first went to see it during January. It was a fun trip.

Along for that trip were myself, Kenny, Adam, Crystal, and Jason.  It was cold and snowy. I remember us being way up on top a mountain with a radar array near us. It was blowing snow horizontally.  Crystal was complaining because she was cold.  We went back that Spring

and I was smitten with what I saw.  It is one of the prettiest spots for wildflowers you could hope for.   It has the added advantage of being more secluded so its like having a chunk of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park all to yourself.   Summer wildflowers turned out to be 

nearly as pretty.  Autumn brought sage brush and purple disk sunflowers to the fields and color to the forest.   I dream of some of the places we visited in Tallassee.

I have one recurring dream that is beautiful and fun.  It is of a true event.

Kenny and I  are on the Grizzly riding up  the narrow spine of a ridge climbing higher and higher.  The fragrant pines are close around us brushing us as we pass.   The terrain falls away behind us and to our sides in a breath taking few moments.   Gold.  That one goes in the treasure chest of my memory.  

     I had not made it down here the previous Spring wildflower season.   I did take a walk
with the grandkids in early Summer to play in the creek.  I was really eager to get down 
there to take a quiet walk and enjoy seeing some Spring flowers.  One of the last hikes I took
I did not make it up into the Tapoco land part of this area.    It is especially pretty and I longed
to see it. It had been so long between walks back there I began to feel that my memories of that
area must be a part of my imagination only!    Today I'd make it there for sure to prove it to 
myself that it was real.  Kenny and I had done some exploring off the west side of 
Foothills Parkway hiking into the woods in the area of Chilogatee Gap.   I feel sure it would be possible to link the two treks together and come all the way from the lake up to the gap.

    I parked the jeep behind the church and gathered my gear. One of the first things I noticed
was that they have improved the gravel road.  They have also secured the gate and reduced the chances of anyone getting around it with motorized travel.  The only way you're going in there
on four wheels is with a key to the gate.    The creek was running pretty high and I was not
looking forward to having to don my water shoes for the first time of many today.   Imagine
my surprise when I looked over to my right to see a bridge has been constructed.  I was laughing about it since it is rickety and probably won't be there long. The first good flood waters will likely wash it away.  I figured I'd best use it while it stands if I ever plan on using it at all!   I made it across without crashing through into the creek!  

      

  Above:  The bridge of sketch at the first ford of Cochrans Creek.
Below: First ford of Cochran's Creek viewed from the side.  You can barely see the red gate 
in the top left of the frame.  The creek is never shallow enough to rock hop here.  Always too deep and wide!

    I walked along the sandy road and enjoyed the cool morning temperatures.  It was going to be

a perfect day for being outside.  It was sunny and beautiful and the air smelled fresh and clean.

I looked around me just taking in the beauty of the area.  Pink redbud trees, pale pea green leaf buds, red maples, bronze oaks shone against that blue sky.  

Spring comes to Tallassee in many shades.

 Once I passed the red dirt pull off on the left I continued to the next place I could make a left turn.
I took that little trail and walked up it just far enough to see the little log structure I like.  I don't know what it was supposed to be. It is either an animal pen or a corn crib.    Near it is an old claw foot tub turned upside down and a huge hole knocked in the bottom of it.  Also near is a plow and disk.
Some other pioneer junk lays around.  A spring trickles from up beyond this little structure.
A few wildflowers bloom near it, but it was a little early. I did see a green adders tongue fern.

 Little log building of some type.  It is neat looking whatever it is.

Tiny emerging adders tongue fern.  

Above: bathtub with the bottom busted out.
    I went back and rejoined the main road and walked on. I passed a spot where the Lunsford's have parked several campers and built a little base camp for themselves.   It was their generous gift that makes it possible to hike here now.  They left it to the state of Tennessee to honor their
departed parents and for people to enjoy on foot.   I looked to my right where Cochrans creek snaked its way along the bottom land.  It is a pretty stream and has lots of bends in it.  
The terrain rises gradually make it possible to look back and see it wind through the forest.
I finally came to a spot where I remembered to go into the woods to reach the banks of the stream.  I wanted to look along here for wildflowers.  I had seen good ones in the past.  Today was weird. All the trout lilies were done, yet the later wildflowers were not really out either!
The stream was still pretty and the rocks and roots around it are mossy.  The sunbeams coming 
down over the hills lit this spot differently than I have ever experienced it before.  In evening or late afternoon the golden light comes in from a different angle creating another mood.

 Looking downstream on Cochrans Creek.

 Upstream view from the same spot on Cochrans Creek.

The morning light illuminates the forest waking it up and creating a joyful mood here.
In the afternoon the light comes in gold and low and creates a more melancholy scene. 
 I did not tarry as long here today since the wildflowers were scarce. 
I rejoined the main road again and soon came to  my next left turn.   

   The trail turns left just past Lunsford's  base camp.  Ahead is Lamar Amburn's drive way to his get away house.  The left turn trail becomes very muddy and rutted, but the flower display along here is still pretty.    I saw catesbys trillium, phlox, barren strawberry, rue anemone to name a few.    I did not see any snakes here in this spot today. I usually do!

 Catesbys trillium

 Rue Anemone

The trail looks pretty good along this stretch.  No ruts here!


     It wasn't long until I had to ford the creek again.  This time I donned my water shoes.
I left them on because I thought I had several more in quick succession.   The trail here winds 
 past another part of the creek.  Above me stood the knife edged ridge Kenny and I rode up on the grizzly.   Three weeks ago there would have been a magnificent patch of hepaticas in bloom here, but they were all finished today.    I didn't walk much further til I came to the Sardine Can Trailer.  Here is an important intersection.  I had to hang a right here if I wanted to reach
the part of the hike I missed a few years earlier.   I will tell you the story of the sardine can
before I continue.  

   Below: The Sardine Can viewed from the end. 

 Below: The sardine can campsite viewed from the front approach. 

 Below: The cascade that sits by the sardine can campsite.

The Story of the Sardine Can Camper

I can't forget the first time I saw this odd little piece of hillbilly paradise.  I remember thinking

1. how pretty it was and 2.  who in the sam hill took the trouble to drag that camper back in this hole?  I figured they were either the most determined somebodies or craziest  gluttons for punishment.  Little did I know when I had that thought that the person responsible was one of my own fambly!   Years later Adam Lindsey.. my son in law told me his own dear daddy.. Mike Lindsey and Vic McClanahan Sr. were the two fellers who dragged that camper up there and left it!  I stood dumbstruck just thinking on it.   I later talked to Mike about it and he said it wasn't really as hard as all that.   I think they used a farm tractor to do it.  It looks like it has not been stayed in for a long, long time.     So now you know.  Mind how you talk about foolish

stunts because the fool may be your own kin.  

    Sardine Can Intersection

  A right at the Sardine Can camper will bring you along the bottom lands that follow Cochran's Creek as it hugs the bottom of a holler.   A left will ford a stream and  soon you

pass a second cascade very similar to the first one.   Staying straight then takes you into a

meadow or what once was a wildlife clearing meadow.   It is now very overgrown.  

          Following Cochrans Creek to the Tapoco Property

   Above: one of many bridged stream crossings way on back the trail. If you look closely you can see a broom hanging on a tree on the far side!  

          
  Once you get to the camper and hang a right......... you are in for a treat far as natural beauty and a nice easy hike.  You will have to ford the stream numerous times.  There are some spots where the stream and the trail are one and the same.   Today I was fortunate in that 
I did not have to don my water shoes for these crossings.   The flooding has created enough shoals and gravel bars to make the fords more narrow and rock hops instead of over the boot tops wades.    You will see an old home site or two up in this direction.  Some of the crossings out further have had bridges constructed and a broom hanging on a tree at each one to sweep the bridge I guess?  I thought that was real odd.  Eventually you will come to a sign saying 
you are going onto property owned by Tapoco.    They don't mind you being back there.  

 Above: foam flowers were in bloom

 Pretty stretch of creek with a sandy bottom

 Closeup of wild heartleaf bloom. 

 

Little brown jug blooms.. a form of wild ginger

Yellow trillium in bloom was seen today.

     I realized in reviewing my photos from the past and from this hike that one of the things
I find so attractive and interesting about this hike is all the different ways the creek looks along its course!  It might be boring to some people, but I enjoy hikes with rock and water features.
I guess it is the Science nerd coming out in me.  

     

Above:  the bottom lands along here are speckled with lots of purple phlox, yellow trillium, foam flower, rue anemone, and catesbys trillium.  

Along these bottom lands you will come to a place that was someone's home.  Here is a chunk of a wall.  

Here are more stones piled up from the chimney or house structure.

Here is one of several chunks of an old vehicle that are just up from the house.

I love this little spot along the stream.  Beside the creek sits a huge beech tree.   It reminds me of a scene from A.A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh books.  I am in the Hundred Acre Wood!
Below is a video of the stream as it flows.


   Right across from this spot is a trail.. a very rough one coming down off a hillside.
I know I have been up and down that several times in the past.  I don't recall exactly how to make that connection. I wonder if we were able to bring the ATV down here and ride would we even be able to remember what way to go?  We covered a lot of ground. I've forgotten so much of it with the passing of time.  

        

 Above and Below: two pretty vistas along the same stream.   The coloring of the rocks and woods changes with the light!  

   I ambled along enjoying the various scenes on the creek and through the forest itself.  I stopped to see different wildflowers.  I stopped to ponder on where different side trails led. 

Some I remembered and some I still don't.    I sat down briefly at the home site with the

rock wall and ate lunch.   It was such a peaceful spot.  The birds were singing in the woods 

and it was very cheerful.

Another bridged crossing. Look over on the other side... a broom! This is the 2nd of these.

 And looky here...... a game cam!   

 Pretty bend in the stream near the game cam

 Bridged crossing #3......... and below.. another broom! 

Someone be a little on the OCD side for being a woodsman!

When I said every bridged crossing had a broom you thought
I'se just kiddin' didn't ya? 

    

 A pretty scene along the trail itself.  mossy logs and hemlocks

 Right along here you will start to see Tapoco Boundary signs.  

Eventually as I wound along the path in and out of the trees I came to this gate.  I went just beyond it about twenty feet. I stopped and marked it with a GPS waypoint.   I wanted to compare it to the rest of the terrain when I got home.   Though I stopped here and turned back the trail kept going.  It appears if you stayed with it you can come out on the trail that descends the mountain from Sixmile.  You would probably intersect the other trail in the vicinity of

Short Haul Gap.    I'd like to put a vehicle on each end and try it sometime.    

 On my way back I stopped to notice something else odd.  

Someone has driven rebar and chains into the brush near the gate. They are serious about keeping the motorized traffic out.  Fine by me, but it was real near this tiny bridge across a mushy spot. 

 Tiny bridge to another part of the trail system.  I was curious about all the rebar and chains and the purpose of the teeny tiny bridge over a trickle.  I crossed it to find that the trail looped back here.
I decided to follow it. I was glad I did. Because look what I found!

 Above: Spotted mandarin flowers! Aka Fairy Bells! First time finding these here!
It was a short, pretty section of trail and so worth the time to follow it.
It brought me right back to the other trail and one of the broom bridge #3.

 Red maple seed helicopters!

 Wood betony

 Pretty pebbles in the stream bed.

 

Jack in the pulpit

Above: I saw this hole in the rock, but more than just the rock interesting me...... what was it?

The rock itself and all the angles and cuts and the moss surface are just pretty.

  I was now working my way back along the trail toward the sardine can camper.

I would now take the trail to the opposite side toward the meadow.  I had seen an old home site

back that way in previous years. I had also seen some good wildflowers in that area.  I climbed right through the camp site and down over the bank taking a short cut.   I saw some toothwort growing there by the cascade.  

 Toothwort

 Here is the trail as it goes on from the sardine can cascade heading toward the meadow.

 There are more creek fords and some pretty cascades.

It goes up a hill eventually and down along that leg of the trail are lots of cascades and falls.

 Yellow mandarin blooming near those falls.

A second cascade very similar to the sardine can cascade. It is just about 1/10th mile further on.

 The trail as it approaches the meadow.

 Meadow.. now being overgrown with brush and trees.

 Not near as pretty as it used to be. I think Vic and Mike were keeping it cleared and had planted a food plot for deer.  I remember that one corner of this field was plowed up and planted in turnips.

 The path through the edge of the field starts off pretty good but gets rougher as you go.

 It is still pretty despite how brushy it is getting.  The far edge of that meadow is a wetland or marsh.
It used to have lots of rhexia of two different kinds blooming.  Now if it is there it would be hard to reach.  The stream flows on the far side of that field.  It keeps the ground swampy and soft.

The largest cascade on the way to the meadow.  

Here is a video of it below from a previous Spring trip.

 
   I had been going out the trail across the meadow.  It was ugly and overgrown.  I was not seeing anything pretty.   I was getting tired.  I decided I'd turn around and start heading back.
Another limiting factor in my life is this: When you are raising a child at age 53 and you DO have a free day to get out....... you may not have the energy you'd hoped to do whatever.  I was doing good today to just keep my plans and go.  So many times I am too worn out to even bother.
This baby does not sleep all night.  He is still up and down at least twice per night.
It is driving me slowly insane from sleep deprivation. 

        I was running out of steam. I still had to make it back to the jeep.
So rather than turn the day into a misery trip I started easing on back toward the car.
I took my time and soaked up the beauty around me.   I was really pleased to get out and see
so many pretty spots today.  I was also tickled to have made it to my goal destination.
Many of the places I had begun to think of as imaginings were indeed real.  And they are still there!
Sounds strange, but it was very reassuring to me. My life and world have been knocked around
a lot in the past few years.  It makes me feel better to know that if and when I ever get things
back under wraps these places are still there and still wait for me.  I need that right now as I often feel like life is passing me by.

 Redbud trees along the path.

Looking up at this ridge...... it is the one from my memory and my recurring dream.  May not seem like much to some, but it is the world to me.

 I am coming back out to the main road and the first turn I took.  Just to the right is the Lunsford's base camp.

 Fire pinks bloom on the red clay sides of the road

 The stroll back to the jeep was leisurely and beautiful.  Dogwoods , redbuds, galore on my way.

Sarvis berry tree in bloom

 Above and below:  I'm already back at the first, main ford of Cochrans Creek.  What a lovely day today has been.  I even survived the return trip across the sketchy bridge!

    You can access Tallassee Recreation Area from its upper end all the way out Allegheny Loop Road in the Sixmile area of Blount County.  To access the lower end there is a gate on the right almost immediately at the end of Foothills Parkway.  It is on the right hand side of the road heading west on Hwy 129.   Know if you go: While this land is supposed to be WMA land and public access.. with the owner of record being the State of Tennessee per Tennessee Property Viewer..........
A friend recently had some fellow line him out for "trespassing" while he was on what the plat shows as public land.   He was very shaken up by this rude man.  I am not sure what has taken place here, but be warned if you go that you may encounter hostile private citizenry who believes they are leasing public land.

I have been wrestling within myself for some time now on the issue of making repeat visits to places over and over.  While there is nothing wrong with repeat trips to a place.. it does prevent me from
visiting and discovering new spots and having new experiences.   I think what my buddy encountered  shores up my own conviction  it is time to stop making so many repeat visits to the same areas.  There are too many wonderful places to experience and "discover" to waste time and worry on this sort of thing.