Our original plan for today was to drive up to Pioneer and visit the Elk Gap railroad tunnel.
We then planned to go on around to Huntsville and ride Royal Blue to see Thirteen Hollow Falls, Flatwoods Falls, and Patricia Falls. The reasoning was that I had to limit the amount of hiking because of my bad left knee. It was bitterly cold and windy. The snow had become covered with a sheet of ice. The day before we went to town, and I slid on black ice in a parking lot. It hit me Saturday morning that I was being foolish. I was believing what I wanted to be true not reality.
Images of the packed snow and ice on railroad tracks flashed into my mind's eye. I knew I was putting myself at high risk of taking an already painful knee to the next level of damage. I took a tenth step... "Continue to take a personal inventory and when you are wrong promptly admit it. "
I was wrong so I admitted it. Kenny laughed and asked me "Well, what else could we do?"
I had a backup plan thankfully. We would head south where they'd had less snow and ice!
Down the road we went toward Madisonville. We'd stop at Bert's Hometown Grill and eat lunch.
Then we'd motor on down to visit McFarland and Turtletown Adit for the first time in Winter.
I wanted to get some photos of the waterfall at Turtletown and some video footage. I also wanted to get photos of an area cabin before it rotted down. I wanted video of Buck Bald. We'd find plenty to do.
McFarland and Testing My Directions
Things I remembered to take:
backpack
rope
hiking poles
camera
Go Pro
batteries
GPS
chainsaw.
What Did Dana Forget?
The MAP!
Kenny suggested we stop at the visitor center in Tellico Plains and buy a map. I had an idea to save us. I looked up my blog while we still had a phone signal.
I screen shot the directions for McFarland. I figured what better way to test them out than apply them to myself? I made double sure they were complete and readable. Turned out great and they worked like a charm. No problems. I have included them at the top of this post and tweaked them a bit. Now there are directions approaching from North and South. No one wants to drive 12 miles to Ducktown and turn around and come back.
I reckoned that despite our past wanderings and gaffs we might be better off today.
What we lack in smarts we make up for in lots of experience. Sure enough we'd have found it without the directions.
We went in a slightly different way than my directions indicated. We went down to the main road near the Farner Post Office and turned there. My directions coming in from the north are written just as we executed them today. The only thing that messed with us a little after all these trips to the area over the decades? Turning onto Duggan Road in the village! The road sign is not visible coming from this direction. Additionally, the road looks very, very narrow like the lane to someone's house.
It is actually just a narrow country road with lots of residences clustered close. The good news is that they have the sign back up for Turtletown Falls trailhead. You can't miss it from Farner Road. I will never forget the first time I hiked to Turtletown Falls. I was with Bill Stowell and Craig DeLoach. I think it was Winter also. We had a heck of a time following Greg Plumb's directions in Waterfalls of Tennessee. The roads back then had some very questionable names like "Welfare Road" and "Negro Creek Road". By the time I made a return visit with Kenny those were replaced with better road signs. It was a funny day because of our struggling to find the place and how we'd fuss among ourselves.
We approached the turn to McFarland Adit today. We managed to get everything correct. The neon survey tape on the nearby tree marking the proper turn was gone. Yet we knew which one it was. The road was in rocky, but fair shape. One thing for certain, the road isn't going to have pot holes. It is too rocky. I had forgotten how narrow this road was. We wound gradually down to the access.
Above: a view of the road and the icicles from inside the jeep. You can see the tree hanging down. It has been cut out of the way.
Below: The entire bluff was like this. Icicles upon icicles. Quite pretty.
Icicles glazed the surrounding rock bluffs. Down below us a small feeder stream was half frozen. The area is so far down in a hole it gets very little sunlight. Today was a high of 18°
We parked the jeep and got out. The wind was still when we first arrived, but that did not last.
I took stock of the mossy cement structures that were a lot more visible in Winter. I wondered aloud what they were for? I read a good blog written about the area about the same time I first visited. It says they were structures to do with the "blower building" and "compressor building".
I am not sure, but I think Bruce Roberts may be the author of that blog? It was very interesting and well done. I spoke to Kenny about it and he explained that he was not sure what the "blower" building would have been. He did know that the compressor building was likely used for compressed air like a giant, industrial sized air compressor for tools out there in the boonies.
Kenny had questions I learned answers to. He wondered how they got the supplies there into the mountains? He wondered where they'd have kept them since this spot was pretty narrow.
I learned from the same blog entry that we need to walk that lower road and do some investigating. There is more down there in the way of interesting ruins. The lower McFarland Road was closer to the railroad tracks. This was where they brought the supplies in by train.
They had sidings to set cargo out of the way. They also had a hotel with a cistern for water.
The hotel is long gone, but the cistern remains. Blocks from the former conveyor belt are still embedded in the bank between the lower road and upper road! This was how they got the supplies there, staged it, stored it, and brought it up to the work area as it was needed!
Below: First looks at the access in Winter. Never been down here in Winter before.
If you enlarge the photo to full size by clicking on it you can see the little arch above the diverter spillway for the creek.
Above: Looking back down the narrow corridor between the two banks. A little sun light.
The wind began to blow and swirl down in this narrow spot. It was chilly!
Above: This is McFarland.. the door is to the portal access to the pipeline. I love the glaze of ice on the left. Despite how cold it has been and still was... the little stream was still flowing. Crusts of ice formed around the edges.
Above: I'm standing back to get a better view. The Go Pro does a great job of getting the whole scene.
Kenny did not tarry, but went back to see the cement plant and got in the jeep. He was over this cold weather. He is too skinny to have much insulation unlike Big Booty Judy here.
I heard something and turned to look. Another vehicle had pulled up. A family with a mom, dad, and two cute little girls got out. The little girls were full of vinegar. They were excited. I stopped to speak to them. I asked them if they'd been here before? They replied yes, many times. The dad told me the girls loved it and call this place "The Dwarf Mine" like Moria in the Hobbit movies.
Above: an illustration of the entrance to Moria
Above: the stream flows down toward the cement plant.
Below: Looking at the cement plant
Above: Stream with crusts of ice.
Above: A glimpse of the weak light of Winter Sun that provides only slight warmth.
The family of four loaded up and pulled over toward the cement plant ruins. They had to move in order for us to get out. Though the ground was frozen it was no place to mess around and get stuck.
We stayed on the road much as possible. We headed on out. Kenny was now wavering back and forth between wanting to turn right and go to the Apalachia Power House and then No! Let's go to Turtletown Adit and then Buck Bald. Finally the second option won out. I told him I was good with whatever he wanted to do. I was just glad to be out.
Below is a video of the McFarland portion of the day. It does a pretty good job of illustrating the road, the ice and the ruins.
On to the Turtletown Adit
What is an adit? It is a horizontal access passage to a mine or in this case a pipeline.
I learned from reading the plans for the dam, pipeline, and powerhouse that there are seven of these access ports. I did not know that! I can't help wondering where the others are? I also wonder if two of the accesses are located on either end being very near the powerhouse or dam? I studied the Cal Topo map and I've got a couple guesses where others may be. It seems unlikely for TVA to place portals for access without roads. I wonder if one is down Butler Ridge Road and the other is down Smith Creek Road. I think I see one on Smith Creek Road. I also think I see one less than half mile up from the power house.
Kenny quizzed me about the visit we made to the power house. Did we have to back track or did we come out some other way? I told him I was unsure, but I knew the McFarland Road had one way in and out. It dead ends at the power house. He did not want to backtrack. I did not want to play guessing games on a cold, short Winter day. We'd play it safe and head back to Turtletown Adit.
We turned onto the steep incline of the rough road that takes you there.
It is #23A and signed as such. There are gates, but they are both open. The road was not as rough as I recalled. Thankfully we did not have to get the chainsaw out, but I was reassured having it. There are lots of ruts and very narrow spots owing to erosion and trees being down. Someone has come along and cut the trees out, but only just.
Tight squeeze in places. We found two trees down across the upper section of road that leads directly to the top portion of the pipe.
We got our first glimpses of the creek and the pipeline. Turtletown Creek was flowing wonderfully today. Kenny mentioned to me that it looked to him like someone had been down there and done some work recently. He knew from his work that Santeetlah Dam and this section of the Apalachia pipeline were scheduled for maintenance and repairs. We did not have to go far to see that TVA made good on their promise! The underside of the pipe as it passed above the access road was gushing a mini waterfall the two previous visits. Today it was bone dry!
Below is a photo of what that spot used to look like. It was leaking, but pretty!
Below are two views of the pipeline viewed from the west side access road.
Above: The coupling near the cement was where the pipe was leaking badly. It is now 98% better. It was trickling just a little. Someone has a Trump campaign sticker on the pipeline. Some folks never give up. 😉
We checked out the pipe. Saw it had been repaired. I could hear water pretty strongly despite the leak being fixed. Upon checking around I found a spring dripping from the bluff to one side. The rock was making it seem louder. It was not like this on previous trips.
Above: dripping springs of water making a loud noise
Below: Two views of the icicles here.
Above: Small stream of water flowing away from the spring
Below: structures of concrete similar to what was up at McFarland. I think I read this was part of the compressor building. We found a spot down the road toward the tracks that must have been part of the conveyor they used to transport materials from train tracks to the work site.
Below: This road continues toward the railroad tracks.
Once we had done all the looking around we cared for at the first spot we headed down to the railroad tracks. It is a narrow, dirt track, but there are two good spots to turn around down toward the railroad. Look for a pull out on the left and a wide spot on the right.
Above: looking up the tracks in the direction of McFarland. It would be very cool to get down close to the Hiwassee River and walk along it. It was green as jade the day we visited. We couldn't get close.
Above: arriving at the railroad tracks at the end.
Below: Looking upstream on Turtletown Creek from the crossing
Above: The Hiwassee River confluence with Turtletown Creek and another side stream viewed from the train tracks.
Above: Frozen small side stream flows toward Turtletown Creek near the tracks.
The spot near the railroad bridge was pretty, but not as pretty as in Spring. We did not linger here. There wasn't that much to see and we had been here before.
We began working our way back. We stopped and checked parts of the stream for waterfalls and cascades. The streams here are pretty, but many of them lay down in the bottoms of these hollers and don't drop suddenly enough to form waterfalls.
I noticed a berm of earth that looked to be moved by man. It lay between the parking pull off and the west side of the pipeline. It looked like what was left of a ramp of earth. I also noticed a flat spot connected to it as if it had been a pull off road or siding to park equipment. I later learned of the conveyor system so I can't help wondering if this wasn't what used to be here? I am betting this was the conveyor to bring equipment from the tracks to the work site? Much more straight forward down here.
We stopped by the pipe again for me to take in the views. Kenny noticed a few chunks of cement and man made debris in the stream beneath the pipe. I am not sure what went on there. Just above this spot along Turtletown creek is one green pool of water and a low cascade that is rather pretty. I don't know where I got the notion there were more falls along this stream down here? This one was it. I guess I was telling myself what I wanted to be true.
Above: Looking upstream on Turtletown Creek beneath the pipe.
Below: Looking downstream in the same spot you can see the chunks of cement. There is a long, concrete structure in the middle of the stream that is a mystery to me.
Above: Pretty cascade on Turtletown Creek. Right below the road. It isn't much but worth a stop since we were down here.
We continued creeping out the road climbing out gradually. There is one really tight kiss your butt turn on this road. We spotted a side road dropping off the right and heading down toward Wolf Creek. It was gated, but worse it had been out of use so long trees have grown up in it. The saplings are a few inches in diameter. I later looked to see where this went. It does appear on maps and goes in a couple directions, but chiefly along Wolf Creek. They are just access roads. I did some looking on the topo map, and there is potential for some off trail waterfalls.
Below is a video of Turtletown Adit today.
We were very glad to get back out to the main road and see some pavement again.
We had grown tired of being jostled back and forth. We headed back toward Coker Creek.
We would make a stop off at Buck Bald. Before heading to the bald I had Kenny pull over for me to photograph a pretty, but run down log cabin. It has seen better days. I wanted to get a photo of it before it is gone.
Above: Log cabin by the side of SR 68 near Buck Bald. I'd love to know the history of it. It sure is in a pretty setting. This might need to be a painting some day.
Below: a view of the cabin zoomed in closer.
I am including a photo of the sign for Buck Bald below. It is damaged and is only visible heading south. No sign heading north!
We made the turn for Buck Bald. You can see it barely visible above in the photo on the far left top of the picture. The road takes you a couple miles back there past some homes until it winds its way to the summit. There is a point where the road Y's. Take the left turn to go to the summit. The road heading right is Old Hwy 68 and comes out down on River Road before the Shadwick Branch Rail crossing that goes overtop SR 68. I thought we had driven this, but I was mistaken. We will have to check that out next time.
We did not see another soul on this road today until we were leaving. We finally passed one vehicle. We had the summit to ourselves. It was cold, windy, and quiet.
The bald provides a 360° panoramic view. It is very pretty. The one picnic table of stone is broken, but has been replaced by a single wooden table in good shape. There are three or four wooden steps to lead up to the grassy bald.
Above: view from Buck Bald to the Northeast and what may be Beaverdam Bald. We could see a tower atop it.
Above: Looking toward the Unicoi Crest the mountains are still partly snowy.
Above: Kenny is over it and heading to the jeep.
Above: broken picnic table atop Buck Bald
Below: View to the south
Above: View to the hazy south west
We enjoyed the views up on the bald. Kenny pointed out a cell phone toward toward Coker Creek he set with the crane years back. I thought I got it in video, but you can't see it. We enjoyed the scenery, but tired of the cold we loaded up and headed for home.
Below is a video of the views on Buck Bald.
Notes to Self for Future Trips:
Look for other access points to the pipeline. There are five more.
Drive Old Hwy 68 from Buck Bald area down to River Road.
Check Watertank Branch for cascades
Drive River Road and get video of spring.
Get photos and video of the RR trestle over Shadwick Branch and SR 68.
Walk down to see Apalachia Dam.
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Thanks for reading and commenting. I enjoy hearing from those who read & make use of my blog. I have made some wonderful friendships through emails from readers. I respond to all comments and emails. I appreciate folks reaching out to let me know when my blog entries are not functioning correctly or if the situation somewhere has changed. Many Blessings to you! Dana 🐝
Above: We saw lots of icicles today
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for reading and commenting. I enjoy hearing from those who read & make use of my blog. I have made some wonderful friendships through emails from readers. I respond to all comments and emails. I appreciate folks reaching out to let me know when my blog entries are not functioning correctly or if the situation somewhere has changed. Many Blessings to you!
Dana 🐝