Why Did I Pick Today to Try to Get to Town Rock?

 

Spotted jewelweed along the trail to Town Rock

Why Did I Pick Today to Try to Get to Town Rock? 

Saturday Sept. 20, 2022

Dana & Kenny Koogler

Lafollette to Town Rock Attempt Pix here 

  We went four wheeling for the first time in a long time in the end of August. We had such a lot of fun.   I had been seeing people's posts on Facebook and daydreaming over my maps.  I got to thinking about the Flame and how glad I was that we were able to go and see it.  I was happy it was still accessible and that the rumors of it being cut off to access were untrue.   I got to looking back at old trip reports and thinking about areas we had visited which were no longer  accessible. It hit me that in all the years we'd been riding up at Royal Blue I had never made it out to Town Rock.  I decided I'd best go see that feature before the chance was lost. 

   It did not take much to persuade Kenny to go.  We batched together several things we wanted to see for the day.  He had been to Town Rock several times in the past with friends.   He had the map tracks and knew how to get us there.

      I knew the general area, but that was it.  I knew it was out toward Lafollette and west of Hwy 25 north on top of a hill.   That was the extent of my knowledge.

        We headed toward Lafollette on a rainy Saturday morning. The forecast called for rain tapering off by midday.   We could withstand that.   We pulled over to park at the public parking near the old Lafollette water treatment plant.    One of the things I wanted to photograph was the railroad bridge that crosses Ollis Creek.

We had ridden Ollis Creek Trail (#2) many times from end to end.  We would then turn and go back or turn left and get on Ivydell Road and go that way.  By doing this we were missing a good many features that interested me.  I got my nose out of joint immediately. I saw signs saying NO ATVS beyond this point and yet people were doing it!  I knew this area was part of the Cumberland Trail. Kenny said we'd figure it out before the day was over.  

   While Kenny unloaded the machine I walked around and took some photos and video.  Ollis Creek had some pretty cascades below the point where we always turned around.  It had another old dam.  There were bridge supports from the former railroad trestle.   I enjoyed seeing all of this. Another thing I spotted on the drive in to park was the Lafollette Coke Ovens! I have wanted to see them for years.  Now I know where they are.  I took a closer look at them, but thought better of climbing into the thicket to see them right up close and personal.  I knew places like this are excellent spots for snakes to hide out.  I decided right then that in cold weather I want to make a return trip and see those coke ovens.

Below is a photo of the rock wall that is below the coke ovens.

     

    I walked over toward Ollis Creek and there is a tributary stream flowing into it out of Kent Hollow.  The tributary is unnamed, but is attractive and had this pretty, yet low cascade.

        Below: more of this same un-named stream out of Kent Hollow

        Below: I am walking along Ollis Creek now toward the sound of rushing water.  You can see the manmade structure spanning the stream. All of this area was once the water supply for the city of Lafollette.  

            Below is a photo of my view of the dam on Ollis Creek. It had metal valves and pipes to the far right (looking upstream).  

      Everything was mossy and green and pretty.  Red cardinal flowers graced the stream just above this dam.  Purple wands of New York Ironweed, golden wingstem, and spotted jewelweed were near the stream banks.  

Above: a closer view of the busted dam and the tiny specks of bright red cardinal flower.  It doesn't take much to make this country girl happy. I was right in my element today.  

Below is a short video I made that incorporates several elements from this one spot. 

    Thanks to the rainy, overcast skies the light was good for rich colors in photographs.  Even the old water plant looked cool.   They have planted elephant ears near the pool of water.   

Above: shimmering reflections on this pool of water at the former water treatment facility.  

Below  is a front on shot of the water plant.  It sits abandoned far as I know.

   I walked back down the road to where Kenny had unloaded the machine. I got in and we set out for the day.   We went up the road and made a hard right turn onto a barely perceptible trail.  If you did not know it was there you'd drive right past it.

 We found out today that the maps that had red trails marked were not kidding! They were dead on accurate.   Some of the difficulty level was owed to the fact the trails are not traveled and are severely overgrown.  The ride started out really pretty.  We had not been on this trail before at all.  It was through a pretty forest with some ups and downs like a roller coaster.  The green woods smelled nice today.    We arrived at the place where we had to turn right to continue. 

    We did not go much further until we passed a commode sitting by the trail.

Yep.  You know I had to take pictures.  This kind of thing is funny to me.

Below is what it looked like upon first sight.

          We pushed onward and tried to decide what to do first.  Did we want to go hike to Hatfield Knob first to the elk platform or go to Town Rock first?  We were close to Hatfield Knob so we initially thought we'd knock that feature out.  We passed this pretty spot on the way there.  It is an "early successional community" or a disturbed area.  It tells what these places are.  

Being the plant and science geek that I am and the wildflower fanatic I had to take a gander. 

Below is a closer look at the information board.

Below: here is what drew my interest... these pretty flowers caught my eye.  Southern blue lobelia and some sore of coreopsis or DYCs. Intermingled in those pretties is the dreaded giant ragweed in full bloom.  aahhhchoo! 🤧

Above: if you just ride along you see from a distance walls of yellow underlined by red clay.  I consider all this eye candy for me.  Thankfully Kenny doesn't mind stopping to let me explore. 

Below: rabbit tobacco... my mom used to tell me about this stuff when she was a kid they'd mess with it. 

Above: a close up of a lobelia bloom that was rather large

Below is another skinnier specimen of lobelia amidst the broom sage.

I grew up in areas like this where broom sage flourished and those fields were full of pheasants and coveys of quail which often ended up on our dinner table. Both my parents and my Papaw hunting quail with German shorthaired pointer dogs. Sage fields and fields of wildflowers have strong ties to the heart strings of my childhood days.

     

  Back when we first began riding the four wheeler at Wind Rock and Royal Blue around 2003 I did not like it much.  I had gotten used to hiking in the Smokies and forests that were on groomed trails and mossy woods that were like post cards for the most part.   It took me awhile to come to the right mindset about these areas.

   If it was not for Tennessee's mining and tapping into its natural resources like timber, coal, natural gas and oil we would not have these repurposed areas for four wheeling.   I also had to learn a lesson about these "early succession communities" and their importance.   Areas of old growth forest like in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park may look pretty, but they often don't provide enough cover or mast for wildlife.    Disturbed areas like old farm fields, formerly mined areas, timbered areas give smaller shrubs and flowers and vegetation a chance to flourish.  It means more food, more variety of foods, and cover for wildlife.  It is a very good thing.   Once I educated myself about this and got my head right about all this I no longer viewed these places the same way.  They used to make me sad, but now I see them as wildlife viewing opportunities.  Seeing the riot of wildflower colors and textures just delights me.   

        We pulled up to the kiosk and parking area for Hatfield Knob elk platform.  We no more turned the engine off than it began to rain.  We sat there a bit seeing if it would let up, but it did not.  I told Kenny let's just double back to this.  No sense sitting here in the rain.  We'll try to use the time it is raining to make it to Town Rock.  It won't be as bad if we are moving.   That is what we did. We set off in the direction of Town Rock.     

      I don't recall all the twists and turns, but I do remember  that the trail we turned to try to go up was so overgrown with chinese bush clover. The rain made it heavy and sopping wet.  We had to push through all that and it was smacking us in the faces and drenching us.   We finally got to a point where the terrain opened up a little bit.   Once we got up to this point the terrain leveled off some.  The problem with that was the mud.  We began to encounter mud holes that seemed to be increasing in size and depth.   I wondered if it was just in my own imagination so I just kept my mouth shut.    

    I could see Kenny's uneasiness at the situation since we were riding alone.

We got in one mudhole and nearly got stuck. Thick mud like peanut butter flew up and covered the machine and splattered us as we pushed through it.   We did not go much further until we came to a mudhole that was massive.  It looked like Mud Lake.   We tried to cross it and felt the machine begin to sink and muddy water gurgling in from every hole front and back. Kenny quickly back us up and got us out of the predicament.   He tried another spot further over.  We had the same results.  We sat assessing the situation.  Someone created a work around path or had tried to.   It was too narrow for a side by side.   The right side of the mudhole from the center over was too deep. We would surely sink.  The left side looked more promising from the standpoint of being shallow, but there was a line of sharp stobs like punji sticks (can you tell I'm a Vietnam War era kid) ready to pop tires.  If you managed to get past those the narrow slope was just at the right angle to have your machine slide into another deep spot or turn over.    I had a bad feeling about this.  We couldn't have picked a worse day to attempt this.  The rain did not help matters.   

     I knew Kenny did not want to let me down.  I had to let him off the hook and quick!   I told him "Look, I want to go to Town Rock, but not bad enough to end up spending the night in the woods with a broke down machine.  The day is going too well so far to have it messed up by a situation like that. Let's turn around and get out of here. We'll come back and try it on a drier day."  He looked relieved and that is exactly what we did.  We made some attempts at trails that might circumvent this one and provide an alternate route, but those were unsuccessful. 

       

Above: mud lake... I later learned from talking to Mike Smiddy that this booger here will indeed sink your machine.  I felt some satisfaction at having exercised good judgement.   I wondered if we were wimping out.  Turns out we weren't. We were adulting! 

Below: one of the nice things was these walls of spotted jewelweed along the path. It loves wet areas. It is plenty wet here!

Hatfield Knob Elk Platform 

   The rain settled in and began to come down in earnest now.  This wasn't going away anytime soon.  We were soaked, muddy, and just decided the day was fighting us.  We headed back toward Hatfield Knob and pulled over at the kiosk for the second time today.  Two or three other dudes were there with their machines waiting it out to see what the weather would do.  We talked with them some and ate lunch.  They moved on and about the time they did Kenny said "You wanna go out to the tower?"  I figured why not? We were already drenched.   We got out and began to walk.  The rain let up!   Mercifully it stopped for awhile.  I had forgotten how pretty the walk is out to the platform.  

       I saw tall purple wands of New York Ironweed waving. Some of it had clumps of spidery looking virgins bower spent blooms tangled in it.   Large patches of white crown beard lined the trail.  We passed places where the trail was wallpapered along the sides with more bold orange spotted jewelweed.   

Above: this New York Ironweed was a pale lavender unlike any I have seen in these parts. It put me more in mind of vanilla plant from down on the coast.  

Above: a nine foot high single specimen of New York Ironweed in its normal deep purple form.  It has spent Virgins bower in the branches.

Above: the sunflowers turned their little faces down and many looked like cute yellow bells once it rained

Above: Kenny walking ahead of me since I am taking pictures like crazy.  I am in lolligag mode.  Right about here I caught a whiff of Autumn's arrival.  Cool air. Falling leaves and the scent of the end of season wild plants.  The rain had the air very fresh and cool.  I walked along in that yellow rain coat like the Gorton's Fisherman.    I love this time of year. 

Above: I found a single specimen of purple coneflower

Below: Lots of New England Asters in bloom, but beaten up by the storm.

Below: Thistles, crownbeard, goldenrod, and asters.  

Above: Pink thistles and white tufts of crownbeard

Above:  They have constructed a shelter and info kiosk about halfway back to the elk platform.  

Above and below: the signs at the elk platform

Above: Elk platform. We were in for a surprise. It is now a double decker, metal affair as opposed to the single level wooden one from  previous trips! 

Above: loads of spotted jewelweed like little bright orange earrings

  We did see one elk at the platform. It was a cow who had lain down at the edge of the field.  Now there are signs and fencing reminding folks to stay out of the fields.   We saw a dozen turkeys including some tom turkeys strutting and fanning out their tails.   The elk were somewhere hiding and the rut has not begun.

  

Above: that tiny speck on the left in the center of the photo is an elk cow

Above: those tiny specks in the distance are all turkeys.  

  We did not have the best wildlife viewing experience today, but the exercise was good. The scenery was pretty and it felt good to be out.  

Here are some directions on how to get to Hatfield Knob and these are geared toward folks coming in via Hwy 25 in regular vehicles.   

Hatfield Knob Directions Page

Here is a view of how it looks under the platform. It is shady, it is safer and it has nice seating if you want to hang around awhile.  Kenny below in the top part of the platform.

   We walked back to the RZR and headed back toward the trailhead where we parked.   We stuck with the dirt road most of the way as it was quicker.  We got back to the parking area and the rain  had held off.   I wanted to see Tank Spring. I had never seen it. Just one more feature I had missed by not coming to this area. 

   I was very conflicted still at the no ATVs sign.  

Above: from the Ivydell end this is the sign.  

Yet we saw people coming and going with machines, and the path was not blocked.  Kenny took us down the quick way to Tank Spring.    Once on that end it there is a sign indicating the area is possibly multi use.  ATVs and machines to stay to ~~~> This side.  Hikers and foot traffic stay to <~~~~~ this side.  Clear as mud. Yet as Kenny pointed out the way was not obstructed with a gate or boulders as you'd expect if the Cumberland Trail Conference seriously wanted foot traffic only through this corridor.   

   We encountered another crazy scene. Second one of the day.  There in the middle of the road sat a pair of men's dress shoes.  Just sitting there.  Like someone stepped out of them and walked away barefoot.   It was funny!

Below: pair of lonely shoes 

Above: Tank Spring. 

       Ollis Creek was pretty down on this end too. Lots of small ripples and cascades.  The leaves on the overhanging sycamore trees were beginning to turn golden and crunchy brown.  Autumn creeping in little by little. 

Above: from my vantage point above Ollis Creek.  The stream is churned up milky from all the rain.

    We headed back to the truck.  We stopped so I could take photos of the railroad bridge and the spot where the Cumberland Trail fords Ollis Creek.

Above: the CT crosses Ollis Creek

Above: signs indicating foot traffic on the right. ATVs on the left.  I'm still not certain.  

Above: cool old railroad bridge 

Above: a small cascade on Ollis Creek, but it is pretty muddy now. 

Above: Right on man!  "Our mountains are not big enough for litter."  But they are big enough for junked terlits and old sheds thrown down in the holler. shaking my head.

        We got back to the truck and I got out to help Kenny get the machine loaded up.  I was having doubts as to whether we were giving up too soon by going home?   As if to clear up any confusion or doubt..  the skies opened and began to pour down again real hard.   Dang!  

      We laughed at ourselves and the crazy day.   I tried in vain to get Kenny to stop in Lafollette and let me go in Burkes Outlet to shop.  He said we were way too muddy and they did not have a drive through. 💩   It was a good day and we did not spend the night in the woods.  I was tickled about that.  

  

Here are my Notes to Self Regarding Any Future Attempts

Stop to see the Lafollette Fire Tower

Town Rock via another, drier route

Rock Creek Falls

Blue spring pond

Patricia Falls and 13 Hollow Falls

Hickory Branch Falls

Small Hollow Falls

 Lafollette Coke Ovens

Go up Ivydell Road to see if the big object in the creek was indeed the old walk in freezer/satellite dish combo I photographed in years past?

Bring along a change of clothes in case I want to go shopping at Burkes arterwards!