Finding Left Prong Falls

Hal-beard Leaf Yellow Violet blooming along Lowry Falls Trail

Finding Left Prong Falls

Dana & Kenny Koogler 

Sunday  March  10, 2019

Pictures are here starting with frame 26

Left Prong Falls Pix

Left Prong Falls on Tennessee Landforms
(Edited to add-- on reviewing the photos Tom posted on the link above it appears he also went in as we did!  He has the same photo we took!) 

   To anyone who has followed this blog recently or historically you may begin to notice a pattern or two.    Two things we seem to do a lot of are:  1.  try to find something obscure and have to make repeated attempts to locate it. 2.  make the approach to reach the objective way harder than it has to be.    You will not be disappointed in reading this trip report on account of both those themes are contained here.

      We had tried two previous times to find Left Prong Falls.   Our first attempt went like this.  We hiked up alongside Lowry Falls on the trail.  We knew Left Prong Falls was in the next drainage over with an intervening ridge between them.   We knew the terrain going up both drainages was super steep sided and so we chose to go across the ridge above Lowry Falls and work our way back down.

We went too high above Lowry Falls in crossing the ridge and while we did find a new, undocumented waterfall on a drainage further over... we knew it was NOT Left Prong Falls.   

We worked our way ever downward on the ridge and somehow managed to miss Left Prong Falls entirely.     A second attempt last year went like this.  We tried foolishly coming up from the bottom figuring if we followed the stream there was less chance of missing it.   Our read on the terrain was accurate the first time.   It is not impossible, but it is a bitch to accomplish. You either need to be willing to stay IN the stream and climb the cascades coming down or just wallow in deep rhodo at the edges.  It's a  time consuming, frustrating ordeal.  We also were there during a time of very low water making it all the more a worthless pursuit.     We went back armed with better info and two previous tail whoopings to add to our motivation.  

Above: amazingly high volume of water coming down the mountain. This is below the confluence of Left Prong and Lowry Prong.  

Above: Looking up Left Prong the flash of white is a good sign this is going to be worth the effort.  

Below: Profile shot of a pretty cascade along Lowry Prong from the trail.  

  

        Today the falls were rolling.  We could look up and see the lower falls on Left Prong roiling down the mountain.   At least if we found it today it would be worth the effort.   I had a hopeful feeling that today was going to be the day.   We found a few trout lilies in bloom along with a hepatica or two and a couple halbeard leaf yellow violets.   Partridge berries dotted the forest floor with bright red polka dots and delicate green leafy vines.   The rock forms along this drainage are spectacular. Many are a very angular cut and super rugged.  The prospect of trying to cross Lowry Branch today was intimidating at this water level.    We kept our eyes on the intervening ridge and had the GPS unit running to keep a check on our position relative to the falls in the next drainage over.   It was easier than I expected to read the terrain.  Once we got higher in the drainage above Left Prong Falls the water began to diminish in volume on Lowry Prong.   Higher in the headwaters usually means less flow.   We kept an eye out for our crossing spot above Lowry Falls and found it today with no problem.   The lay of the land and our tip worked out perfectly.    I stopped here to take some photos of a cascade and some barrels lying around.  

Above: Lower drops of Lowry Falls

Above: Lowry Falls proper

Above:  It is necessary to drop down and come past this rock ledge to get a view of Lowry Falls.  Things are so wet today that there is water dripping off that rock making a mini waterfall.  You can really see the layered,angular rock forms I mentioned in this shot.  

Below:  A trout lily bloom has opened! First one of the season for me. 

Below: a pretty cascade and pool above the main Lowry Falls. 

Above: The terrain across from that upper cascade. No trail here, but if you know how to read the land you will see signs of foot traffic here.   The terrain is becoming more forgiving.

Above: Found a couple old barrels near that upper cascade. Gotta wonder if someone made moonshine here in the past?  Maybe they were fuel drums for old logging operations?  

       Once across the stream we worked our way up the slope and onto nice, more open and not nearly as steep terrain.   We could see signs of foot travel even before we crossed the creek.   I'd say Left Prong Falls is not visited heavily, but a few hearty folks make there way back here.  Folks like that crazy creek kayaker, Michael Shannon.  :-D  He HAD to one up us again and get here before we did! :-D  

           We kept heading slightly up and across the center ridge in the direction of Left Prong Falls.

We came to a spot where the packed down earth and signs of travel disappeared briefly.  I went low and Kenny went high splitting up to look for which way we needed to proceed.   The way down was traveled.  Heading up was not at this point.  He scouted ahead while I waited a couple minutes. He came back yodeling this was the way and to come on.  I headed toward him, but had to guess my best.  I went around some brush to avoid plowing straight through it.  I just headed in his general direction and before I knew it I was standing on an old logging road!   It went up the mountain in the right direction.  I yelled and told Kenny what I saw, but he said to come on with him.   Obediently I 

followed.  We now made our way along some perilously steep rocks along the mountain side.  Very little room to walk and lots of up, down, over and under.   We ran upon someone's old camp under a rock ledge.   They left a tarp, a fire ring and some plastic bottles.      We continued, but I was unconvinced this was the correct way.   Kenny kept scouting ahead. He'd say yeah this will work and I'd follow.   The stream roared far below us.  I felt certain we'd cliff out and be unable to proceed thus having to back track and find another way.  We finally came to a rock that was so tall we climbed out on it and were able to at least see Left Prong Falls.  We had indeed found it! 

We may have been the first persons to photograph it from that angle as well.  I got video footage and pictures from there just in case.   Below us lay a series of steep rocky ledges with reindeer moss and pin cushion moss and pine needles.  Below that lay the awfullest tangle of dog hobble, logs, rocks, and rhododendron I'd ever seen.   It was nearly impossible to tell if we'd be able to make it to the base of the falls from here, but we'd sure try.

Above: View from our rocky perch of Left Prong Falls. It is a beauty.

Above: The terrain to my right viewed from our same high perch.  

Below: a closer inspection of the ledge.. so far not too bad.  Manageable, but not a sure thing to make it all the way down to the base of the falls.

Reaching the falls from the approach we picked on going in...... required going out these ledges. Working our way UP a crack on the right and emerging at yet another smaller falls seen below. 

From here we had to climb out on another rock to get a view of the falls below us. 

Another view of the falls from that second rocky perch

  

  From here we had to climb down through rhodo, dog hobble, slippery, wet, bark peeled logs covered in algae, and black, wet loamy soil.   We finally made it to the base of Left Prong Falls.  Halleluyer!

The spray was so intense coming off it there was not going to be any getting great photos of it from this vantage point today.   I have never seen anyone's photos of this falls taken in super high volume either.   It is probably prettier at a lower water level, but for sure this was worth all the work.  We were ecstatic at having made it! We survived our misadventure!    I took photos of the falls and video footage. Kenny got to work sizing up the terrain and began sooner than I did to absorb the fullness of our error.   Yes, we had done it again.  Made the trip WAY harder than it had to be.   I thought about Jeff Clark's Meanderthals Motto on his website. "If you're gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough." and laughed.   Hell yeah!  We definitely fit the bill on that count. Though the next day I'd be wondering about the tough part. 

     

Below: First photo taken by me of Left Prong Falls from its mighty base. The sun is harsh in the sky
and the light is bad and the spray is making it tough, but it felt glorious to arrive!

Much rain as we've had I was NOT going to complain.

           I stopped to thank God we made it and for the opportunity to get out and enjoy a day like today.    It was much needed.  

Below:  Looking back at where we'd just come from.  It looks bad cause it was!  

   

Above: A view down the drainage of Chestnut Mountain across the Hiwassee in the far distance.

Above: Looking on down Left Prong. There is another nice drop below this that is worth a photo, but I did not tackle that today.  I want to go back and see if the lower trail on the ridge leads to a view of that part of the falls.  Any subsequent trips will be simpler now we know how we screwed up.

Above: Silky shot of Left Prong Falls from the side.  spray is a bit less here, but still intense.

I still say that lower water volume .. about half this makes for the prettiest shot.

   I took some photos from the side next and study the beauty of the rock and the geometry of the falls.  I began to see once over here that we had certainly made our trek tougher than it need be. Kenny was laughing about it already.   The up side to that is simply that you won't have to toil so hard to leave the place.  We've made this mistake so many times we have worn out our shame over such things.   We just laugh at ourselves like damn fools.    We managed to climb out right alongside the falls.  We found two bonuses in doing so.  1.  a magnificent vantage from a third rock giving an amazing profile shot of the falls with no spray!  2.  A bigfoot nest finding right at the brink of the falls.  Who knew Bigfoot was a waterfall fan?  

        

Above: Profile shot of Left Prong Falls beauty and power from the a third rocky vantage point.

I am climbing up on the rock to get a photo of the falls.  We are up above it!

Above: Big foot nest I found at the brink of the falls!

Climbing back down the trail near Lowry Falls.. just a view of what the terrain looks like.  You have to round the bend to the right and duck under that rock to see Lowry Falls.

   We climbed out at the top of Left Prong Falls and made our way up the bank through the open woods.   We sat down to rest on a log and ate our lunch. We were both hungry having worked up quite an appetite. Fresh air and exercise is always a stimulant and makes food taste better.

We sat there enjoying the scenery and laughing at our dumbness.  We were able to follow that old logging road most of the way out.   We still had to part with it and go back the way we'd come to find our creek ford and the trail.   It eventually turns and goes up the mountain in the wrong direction.

Somewhere further up that mountain is another falls I dubbed Left Prong Cleft.   It is not as pretty, but it is still nice.  What a bluebird day this had been thus far.   We had to recross the creek.  It turned out to be harder going back than it was coming over the first time.   A rhodo branch was in the way.  

I ended up dunking one boot in the creek, but Kenny caught me and kept me from going completely in the water.   A tricky re-cross for sure.   Down the trail we went to move on to our next adventure for the day.  I was going to include it all in one trip report, but I think it deserves a separate blog entry.   

Above: Photo of Left Prong Cleft that we found our first attempt. It was real pretty, but wrong! 

   

    I leave the reader with this info.  I have included the link to the Tennessee Landforms waypoint for Left Prong Falls up top.   I am giving several  hints.  1. you need to ford Lowry Prong above the main falls.  2. You need to cross over the intervening ridge between the two drainages.  3. Don't go too high up to cross or you may miss the falls completely as we did the first time.  4.  If you cross and encounter a logging road that heads in the right general direction.. follow it.  5.  Not all falls can or should be approached from below.  

   Beyond this you can pick up hints by reading the TR.    We worked way hard for this so I am not going to rob you of your ponder and your own victory by spelling it out step by step.  The struggle is part of the challenge and the fun.  At least our brand of fun.   Or masochism... whichever you want to label it.  

Below I leave you with a video of the falls.  Do not watch it if your are offended by a little cursing. 

No, Kenny did not cuss this time on camera... I did!  Richly deserved.