Sweet Betsy Trillium at Frozen Head State Park
Frozen Head Waterfalls With Grandkids & Daughter
Wed. 3/18/2020
Dana Koogler Gabe Koogler
Crystal, Michael and Tessa Lindsey
Pictures are here: Frozen Head Hike Pictures
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One of my grandsons is in Preschool two days per week now. The other two grandkids are in elementary school. My daughter teaches high school so the school year schedule affects them all.
Gabe has only been in preschool a couple months and while I was happy for him... I was missing him a little bit. I enjoy the company of my children and grandchildren. The coming of Spring Break week from school was a welcome thing for us all. About the time it was to become Spring break.. the corona virus thing hit making Spring Break possibly extend for a lot longer than expected. A fun time, but also a time of some trepidation and uncertainty about many things.
We needed to get out to enjoy a beautiful Spring day and forget about it all. We loaded up the youngsters in the jeep and headed to Morgan County. Frozen Head State Park is one of the prettiest places to hike especially in Springtime. It is a great wildflower destination. We packed snacks. We packed saniwipes and changes of clothes etc. We planned to snack and then on the way home stop by Freddy's in Oak Ridge to eat a late lunch.
We got a pretty good start and the kids were very agreeable on the way out to the state park.
They began to get restless around Oliver Springs, but Nanny had a plan up her sleeve. We pulled over to the roadside to see a waterfall just before Petros. Middle Fork Falls is a roadside delight.
It has many pretty cascades and an old railbed near it. This is coal mining country. Also an area full of oil wells and natural gas wells. The kids were thrilled to get out of the vehicle.
We carefully made our way down over the bank to see the waterfall which was roaring today!
Below: cascades below the bridge/road and the brink of the falls.
We piled back in the jeep and continued the short distance out to Frozen Head State Park. It had been just long enough since I was there I was not sure where the last parking area was along the route. We wanted to park as close as possible because Gabe and Tessa are little and we needed to keep the hikes short and very easy today. From the parking area we were able to use the one way hike to DeBord Falls would be 0.60 miles easy. We gathered our gear and set out hoping for the best. Lots of other people around from all over. Everyone was polite and kept to themselves as suggested to prevent spread of the virus.
The hike out to the first falls was beautiful. It is a gradual incline on a rocky, wide path. It was mushy and wet in places. We'd had lots of rain. Spring flowers were coming up. We saw sweet betsy trilliums, yellow violets, blue violets, rue anemone, bleeding heart, spurred violets, and fiddlehead ferns. The wet weather falls dropping into Flat Fork on the opposite side of the stream were gushing. It was the most water I'd ever witnessed coming over those falls! Flat Fork itself was pretty the entire hike with many riffles and pretty blue green holes of water.
The kids loved it since it was eye candy the whole way. Lots of places to stop and throw rocks in the creek. Skip stones. Climb on boulder or logs. Draw pictures in the sand bars with sticks.
Below: Blood root and star chickweed bloom
We continued hiking toward Debord Falls and just about the time we got to the bottom of the low hill it sits at the base of... Gabe began to complain a little. I told him I could not carry him, but that we were almost there. He was fine and continued hiking more enthusiastically when he realized we were nearly there. We walked down the steps and past the beautiful profile of Debord Falls.
It is not a large waterfall, but it is an easy one to reach for kids and a good place to play in the creek.
Debord Falls from the top.. steep stairs!
We enjoyed the falls then we hiked back. I was very proud of Gabriel for hiking 1.2 miles today under his own steam! First time doing that and longest distance ever. Tessa and Michael acted like it was nothing. They are older and have been at this awhile. We stopped for a bathroom break and let them on the playground briefly while we sat at a picnic table in the sun. We were newbs to the whole corona virus precautions and restrictions as was everyone. We did not realize that was probably not a good idea and against the rules. We washed our hands and headed back to Oak Ridge for lunch. All of us were getting hungry. A stop a Freddy's and we remedied that. Yum! Steak burgers and french fries and sodas all around. Tessa napped in the car on the way home. Michael and Gabe played video games. Michael spent the night with me and Papaw. Gabe went home tired, happy and dirty!
All in all a wonderful day of making memories as a family.
Below is a video of Middle Fork Falls
Below is a short video of DeBord Falls
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Dana 🐝