Fall Creek Falls Camping Trip With the Fam

Above: Kenny's truck covered in snow and ice. yes. this is Spring Break! 

 Fall Creek Falls Camping Trip With the Fam

March 12 -14, 2022

Dana & Kenny Koogler

Crystal, Adam, Michael and Tessa Lindsey

Jason & Heather Ledbetter

Courtney, Shannon, and Olivia Icenhower

Fall Creek Falls Pix are Here

(perfunctory blog entry)

  Back during Winter we planned camping trips with family.  They had to revolve around the school schedule because of Crystal teaching and the kiddos being in class.   My son in law, Adam, wanted to camp at Fall Creek Falls State Park over the kids Spring Break.  We were game and a big group of us planned to stay there with the campers.   The forecast did not care that Spring was suppose to be coming.  We had one of the seven little Winters of Tennessee hit right about then!  I think we were in the Spring of Deception.   At any rate the temperatures for a day or two were bitterly cold.  Down to 20 degrees.  We went to bed after leaving the taps dripping and insulating the pipes outside with heat tape and blankets.    We woke to snow! It was beautiful.  The kids got out and played in it.  This was one of those times I was extremely glad we had a four season camper and that Kenny had upsized us to the 5th wheel. 

It made it a lot cozier and easier to be stuck indoors!

Above: our camper and truck

Above: Adam & Crystals camper and truck

Above are photos of the ice and snow under now bluest of skies!

      

Above and below: photos of the inside of the new camper.  It is nice!   We used the fireplace a good bit. It really helps knock the chill off quickly. 

  We got out and hiked despite the bitter cold and snow.   We all went around to check out Fall Creek Falls and Coon Creek Falls from the overlook.  We considered hiking down to the base, but a nearby couple heard us talking about it and warned that it was extremely slippery.  We figured with little kids along it was probably best to wait until things thawed out some. 

      

Above and below: looking across the gorge at Buzzard Roost

Below: Fall Creek Falls and it's smaller brother Coon Creek Falls 

Below is a video of the falls in Winter

   Next we went around to Millikan's Overlook

above: view from Millikan Point

   The skies were so pretty and blue and the dusting of snow amidst the green trees was so nice despite having to put up with the cold temperatures.

 We went on around to Piney Falls Overlook.  We managed to climb down there to get a good view of the falls although the ledge near it and the trail was icy.  We were very careful not to slip.   

Below: zoomed in on Piney Falls

Below: zoomed out to show how Piney Falls fits into the landscape

href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjIpB3nrYi3VcctqZa74wS0n5IiT2nFY5TC4tAP2FUoKC53YkKKt6V8-oNJFBckH1kAwMqGTs71OQgaYeEcMf-DT8ujSjqb-x4K4wZm3PNG0nXdMl7_sTnRh7gh04iuxFPY8Vo6qgNr5ucVgUmJDmksCL4B8JI7u6PQgY4BmJtden1kbDYddKPFhQt/s3456/IMG_7694.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">Above: suspension bridge on past Piney Falls

Above: the snowy trail beyond the suspension bridge and Below: blue skies and sunshine through the hemlocks

  We hiked down to the suspension bridge and across it a ways after Piney Falls.

Below is a video of Piney Falls.

 Each evening we all pitched in and made a hearty meal and enjoyed each other's fellowship.  We had a nice fire. Adam had gotten some colored bits to put in the fire to make the flames change color for fun.

Above and below: our campfire with the colorful flames

   Below is a video of the fire

  One thing I have learned about camping and weather is that the weather doesn't care what your plans are. You'd best bring along something to do in case it turns rainy or bitter cold or what have ye.    I keep books to read, pencils, paper, art supplies, maps, games and toys in the camper always.   I read some new books cozied up in bed. I took naps burrowed down in our big fluffy bed.  I sat by the fire and talked.  I drew pictures and colored with my grandkids.  It was fun and it was cozy making memories. 

Above and below:  This gnome door hanger is something I made for my grandson Gabriel out of my own imagination.  I drew it and then created it in fabric for him.  He wanted me to make him something to use the bell on.  He got that on our Autumn Anniversary camping trip at a Crossville Thrift store! 

Above: an example of a sketch I drew.   If you have a creative side and art supplies it isn't hard to entertain yourself. 

Little Falls 

  The next day we got up and decided to hike to Little Falls over in Spencer. 

It is on public property owned by the Van Buren County school system.  It has access by two ways. We came in off Little Falls Road by the Dollar General store. The other access was off Turkey Scratch Road, and last we knew that access was not supposed to be usable because they were logging.   I have not been back to check, but will make a point on any future trips to go see.   The hike in from Turkey Scratch has more parking and avoids the residential area in Spencer, but the road itself can be horrible.  It is about the same difficulty and distance either way.   

   

Above: a shot of the top of Little Falls. Most of my photos came out with sun spots on them.

Below: a vertical composition of Little Falls that shows the whole thing. It is a very nice 60 footer.

   We were kinda glad we came in via Little Falls Road. Hiking it today we noticed things we did not pay attention to the previous trip.  There are all sorts of old abandoned buildings that look similar to the CCC era work that was done in the WPA during the Great Depression.   I know the school owns the land and I think these structures were part of the  effort to quarry stone for the construction of a school. I expect the buildings were part of the construction effort.   The remind me a bunch of the shacks that dynamite and blasting caps were kept stored in.  They had to be stored separately.   One was for sure not that because it had a fire place in it.  It may have been an office or guard shack.   I did read on Tennessee Landforms that to be okay to hike to the falls you really need to come in from Turkey Scratch TH.  I will get busy checking on that so the next trip can be from there. I think it is only 0.20 miles further one way distance by making the trip from there. 

    Below is a video of Little Falls

Above: one of the buildings on the walk to Little Falls think this is the 3rd one

Above: inside of another building. Not sure what this was for.  building #3

Above: The clearing where we walked to the falls. We went down a short cut. We walked the powerline cut to the trail at the base of the hill and hiked the trail from there.  I would not do this in Summer.  

Building #2-- It had a fireplace inside as shown below

Above: 1st building was very small and had fencing near it. 

Front on view of building 1

Above: a nearby trash pile had a door in it still attached to the old frame. It looks to have been one of the building doors. 

  There are a pair of upper cascades to Little Falls.  We stopped to see them both. Only the middle one was worth it. The uppermost one is not much.

Above: middle cascade of Little Falls

Above: uppermost cascade at Little Falls

Above: pretty spot in the stream at Little Falls just above the waterfall

Above: a better look at the upper falls

    I know we did not do a lot else today besides this hike. Again the specter of time has struck. I cannot recall what else we did this day if anything.   I did not take photos of anything else this day so that must have been it.

       Wheeler Farm Loop Hike

       We got up the next day and all went hiking. We planned to hike the Wheeler Farm Loop to see Medley Arch and possibly Sinking Falls and Wheeler Falls at the end. We hiked the loop clockwise.   We began by coming down to Medley Arch.  

We made it there fine.  The trouble began when Jason and Heather became concerned since they were doing cooking for our meal that evening. The smoker doesn't have to be stood over all day, but you do have to check on things and take them off by a certain time.   After Medley Arch they decided that they would head on back.   Courtney and Shannon decided they'd go back with them.   We got down to Medley Arch which has a trail all the way to it.   Once there it becomes necessary to leave the trail and go down into a sink beyond the arch to see Sinking Falls.  I was astonished to find it not running well at all!  It was a lot of work to clamber down in there only for that piddley amount of water.   We opted to skip that part and mosey on toward Wheeler Falls.  Spring wildflowers were just beginning to come out. We saw some hepatica, bloodroot, trilliums on our hike.

       

Above blue hepatica blooms

Below: Jason and Shannon down over the bank looking at Medley Arch

    

Below: Medley Arch

Below: My granddaughter Tessa age 8. She makes this hiking thing look like nothing.  

     

 We continued around the loop toward Wheeler Falls which is at the bottom of the old road that leads to the bottom of Cane Creek Gulf.   Wheeler Falls is amazing. It is one of the neatest places and very family and kid friendly.  The entire hill looks like one big waterfall. There are actually several falls emerging here. 

Above: Bottom left.. Olivia Icenhower, Kenny in the red shirt, Tessa in the blue shirt and my daughter Crystal in the mint green shirt.  This is our first look at Wheeler Falls. Everyone loved it!

Below: Adam, Crystal with the red hair, Olivia, Kenny, Tessa and Michael at Wheeler Falls 

Below: an isolation shot of the cascades. The entire cascades all told is about 120 ft high counting the drop and the run of it.  The main falls is actually about 25 ft high if counted alone. 

Below: Another isolation shot of one of the cascades

Below: I am behind the waterfall looking at a shower of diamonds!

Below: the best shot of the day of Wheeler Falls from directly in front of it; This falls is extremely pretty and fun for kids and hikers to climb around in without much risk. It also offers many varied photo compositions!

Above: an isolation shot of Wheeler Falls that I particularly liked.

Below is a video of Wheeler Falls

  We enjoyed our explorations of the day.  We hiked the long road back uphill to get out and return to the vehicles.  Once we finished hiking for the day we got cleaned up and rested. We had a last campfire and enjoyed the music and conversation and company.  We had a fantastic meal.  The next day Heather had to work but the rest of us traveled home together.  We stopped in Lenoir City and had a nice meal at Chilis.   It was a great trip.  I got to know Courtney and Shannon better.   I am very glad.  They are fun people and good people. We are blessed.

    We had opted not to take Gabe on this trip. We ended up being glad we didn't. 

Mainly because of the weather and the cold. He was glad he did not go! He got to go to Dollywood with cousins and had a lot of fun.   It worked out right for everyone!