Wildcat Creek Falls & Torino Falls Cherokee National Forest

Purple asters were in bloom today along the roads

Wildcat Creek Falls & Torino Falls --Cherokee National Forest

Dana & Kenny Koogler

Sunday Sept. 16, 2018

Pictures are here starting with frame #734

  We planned to go camping this weekend, but Kenny's heart was not in it nor his mind on it.

He was needing to work on the construction of the new shed.  He was needing to have time to 

get the new bumper installed on the camper.   He felt pressured.  I could see plans needed to change.

We talked it over and decided to go the next weekend. Weather was threatening from Hurricane 

Florence's approach to add more to the mix.    We stuck around home and he got the next phase of the

storage shed finished.  He got the bumper fabricated and the parts to attach it.   

  I was downhearted and Saturday sucked.   We decided to get out on Sunday and do something.

We headed toward Tellico Plains to do something best done while the weather is still warm enough, and river levels low enough.  We had three falls we were going to try to see.

Wildcat Creek Falls.  Sophia Falls and a revisit to Torino Falls.  I realized I had lost all but one photo of Torino and had NO video of it.  

       I did my customary research of each, but my main focus was on Wildcat Creek Falls.

I will later share what I found about it.   Visiting this falls requires fording the Tellico River 

which is about 150 feet wide at the confluence with Wildcat Creek.  I had never been in Tellico River

period, but had always thought it looked like a mess to try to navigate with all those ragged edges of rock standing up across it.   We parked at the nearest safe place Wildcat Overlook pull off. 

We walked down the road a bit and jumped the guardrail. We found a fisherman's path down to river level.  It looked like while not fun it would at least be manageable.  We got ready and started across.

It was not as bad as I had anticipated.  The rock is slippery, but some of it has that black moss on it that makes it like wet carpet.  You won't slip on that.    The current was strong, but I was stunned when I looked up from my feet to find we were already more than halfway across.  The next bit would be a little trickier.  The main channel of the water and the deepest holes and swiftest current was on that far left side.  It was probably the last twenty feet or so.   It just meant being extra careful and taking our time, but we made it safely over.   

   

 Above-Looking upstream on Wildcat Creek. 
Below--Looking downstream on Wildcat Creek to the confluence with the Tellico River. Kenny is in the shot.

     

     Wildcat Creek was no more than ankle deep at the start of it.  The stones in the bottom of the stream were colorful and pretty.    We continued a bit further and started seeing some of the same type bedrock that is in Tellico River. Rough and turned up on edge like fins.    The other thing that was both beautiful and a little treacherous was that the stream has pot holes in it along one section.  They are swirl holes bored out by the flow of water and rocks.   We managed to avoid those.  There is not much opportunity to get out of the water on the way up.   It ends up being easier to stay in the stream as the rocks are slick.    The little gorge it sits in is steep sided and deep green.  It is still Summer down in here.  Everything was green. I did see some fading cardinal flowers, spotted jewelweed, pale jewelweed and asters along the way.     It was supposed to be a very short jaunt up the creek only 0.10 mile.   It is hard to make any time and keep yourself from falling.  It was so short a walk that  it didn't take us any time to make it there. 

     Arriving at the spot where Wildcat Creek Falls is situated is quite a spectacle. 
It sits in a deep, dark gorge with walls of stone carved into shapes on the left. It is squeezed down into the gorge so tightly the only way to move past it would be to simply climb the falls itself.  It is only ten feet high, but what it lacks in size it more than makes up for in dramatic beauty.

     Above: First glimpse of Wildcat Creek Falls.  The water in front of me is about eight feet deep.
The hole in front of that rock in the center is deeper still.   I told Kenny that it looked like to me the only way to approach it was to swim for it.   He agreed and said it also was clear to him the only way past was climbing the falls.   I have to say this is one of the more satisfying things I've done lately.
We have had such a year of upsets and no can do's and changes of plans.   Snake Bit!   It feels wonderful to make a plan and actually see it through!   We'd been talking about visiting this spot for a year.   Here we were.  We were both thrilled.     We lingered and enjoyed the lovely setting for a good while.    I have a feeling this is only the beginning of things to come for us in  this area. 

   

 Above and below-- two additional, closer shots of Wildcat Creek Falls.

Below is a short video of the falls and the stream.




     We finally packed up our stuff and began our walk back out.  It was much easier except for one little snafu crossing the Tellico River.    I was in the middle of saying "Kenny, I feel sure we're too low in the river. We were up there on those ledges of rock on the way over." when I lost my footing and slipped down into the river.  I ended up sitting on my bottom on  a smooth boulder.  I was wet from the waist down.  Call me Tangle Foot.   I got my feet crossed up in a jumble of rocks and holes and down I went.   I was happy to find out my camera was dry and unharmed.    Sure enough we crossed where it was deeper and the current a bit more forceful.   It still was not any big deal. I had a
towel and a change of clothes in the jeep.  It wasn't a bit cold.  The rain drizzled on and off.

Researching Wildcat Creek Before the Trip 

   Before I move on to the next leg of the journey I will share with you what I've learned from many sources in researching this before going and what others have shared after seeing the photos.
You're gonna like this!   One of the only bits of info prior to going that I was able to find was a video
on YouTube of a creek kayaker's run.  It is amazing. This video is by Wade Harrison.

It is amazing. On watching it a second time the terrain is still imposing, but not as scary and jaw dropping as the first time I watched this.  I was trying to help him by leaning and so forth!
           

Discussion and Things Learned After the Trip 

   Once I got home and posted a few photos of the falls and shared them on Facebook I found out
that there is far more to this than I could have guessed.   Tipi Walter who is another one of those backpacking/outdoor gurus. He is the real deal... shared some info with me about the area.  He remarked that he was familiar with the drainage and that there is a road that leads into the headwaters
off Old Furnace Road.   That was good to know.  In re-watching the kayak video the second time you can see where they put in and the trail sign there.    Another fascinating bit of info came from
David Harris who beat me there by many years.  He has been back and taken his friends and family up that gorge geocaching!  He was generous enough to share the link to the Geocache info. He has done a beautiful job on his photos, directions and advice.   He doesn't miss a trick.  He also said that
when they go they pick up any litter they find.  We never saw a single thing of man up that holler.

David Harris' Wildcat Creek Geocache

  Finally the funniest part comes from Neal and Benji Shaw who are Kenny's co-workers at Barnhart.
They are from Coker Creek.  Benji wanted to know what in the devil we were doing up Wildcat Creek?  He said there were more snakes in that holler than anywhere he'd ever seen.   I don't doubt it, but  I've also had folks tell me that about White Oak Sinks and Fall Branch Falls in Summer.  I have been to both places in high Summer and have yet to see the first snake.   I figure it like this.  We're on their turf. I expect to see whatever. Snakes. Bears. Wild Boars.  You never know.   They went on to
tell the same bit of info about the trail leading in there off Old Furnace Road.  They shared lots of info about Lower Smithfield Road. So much so that Kenny is busting to get the time to just go explore again!   Ya don't have to twist my arm to convince me to go.   Hunters and trout fisherman and kids exploring are the ones who have seen so much they forget a lot of it until someone like me comes along and brings up the subject.

 Sophia Falls 

  The second falls we were to hunt for the day was Sophia Falls.  It is a newer find by Brian Solomon.
It was in the direct path between Wildcat Creek Falls and Torino Falls.  We headed out and took our usual wrong turn for the day.  Ended up at the Miller Cemetery.  Had to backtrack.   The vegetation
and the steep grade down the mountain from there to Sophia Falls were discouraging.  The final insult was the downpour of rain.    The sky opened up and poured there for awhile.   We figured  we'd hit that one another day. Glad we did because Benji and Neal's info prompted a far better approach than what we had planned. It also opens up the possibility of finding additional waterfalls.

       Torino Falls

   The third and final falls we'd planned on seeing for the day was a re-visit to Torino Falls.
It is not huge, but is especially beautiful.   I have a photo on the wall from the first visit there ever.
Saw a copperhead in the road that day. I realized I had no video of it and only the one photo.
The hike to it is super short and we figured even with the rain we could put up with a 0.4 mile round trip hike.   Gregory Plumb, the author of Waterfalls of Tennessee  said in his write up of the most recent edition that he had to bushwhack to the falls despite the fact there is a trail.  It is still a wilderness and gets little maintenance.   We found that to be the case today.  The trail is there, but badly overgrown with brush and littered with downfall.   We had on rain gear, but I ended up
with my shorts soaking wet again thanks to having to wallow through all the wet brush and crawling over and under logs.    We made it though and the falls was pretty as we remembered.  The rain
had the water churned up and a little muddy.  The optimal water level is a bit less in my opinion for this falls.   Too much water and all you have is a wedge of white in your photo.   We were were wet.
We were tired. We were hungry. We were over the rough road for the day and it wasn't over us yet!
We had the rest of the way to go on Bald River Road until we reached Pheasant Fields and the hatchery.   

Above: Torino Fall is a 12 ft high falls, but the additional water flow hides the drops of it.

   Below is a short video of Torino Falls





     We finally made it back to the hard top road.  A twenty mile drive back to Tellico Plains. We were planning on stopping to eat at Bert's in Madisonville, but we were way too dirty and wet.    We stopped at Sonic instead so we did not have to go in.   Kenny called Jared since he is living in Madisonville now.   He turned out to be right next door that moment with a couple buddies doing some shopping.    He came over and visited with us and he and his friends had dessert with Kenny.
None for me thanks.  Pass the Rolaids though.   It turned out to be a good day despite the rain.
It was great to get home and get clean and dry.   Any future trips into that area we will try to come in from Coker Creek instead of Tellico Plains. **Edited to add** Today on the drive home we saw our first bear ever in the Cherokee National Forest.  He was down along the banks of Bald River browsing.  Very fat and slick black.  Healthy bear.  We saw tons of deer, a bear, and turkeys today!