Davy Crockett Campground Trip --Standing Stone State Park
We planned a trip for just us the last weekend of March. We wanted to camp at Cumberland Mountain State Park, but they had no available camp sites. We went with our second choice Davy Crockett Campground which is between Crossville and Monterey. It is very nice. We managed to paint ourselves into a corner on Friday. We had to go to Jamestown by a certain time to meet a realtor and look at a piece of land we were considering buying. We were looking for a get away spot. We met her and checked it out Friday morning. It was a no go. The photos were quite nice looking, but reality was a different matter. The land was very sloped and hilly. The creek shown on it was not actually on the property. It wasn't worth it. We parted ways and headed toward Standing Stone State Park to do some hiking afterwards.
I had learned of a cave with a waterfall located in the state park. We wanted to see it for ourselves.
We went wondering if we'd find it. It was supposed to be off trail. It was, but only part of the adventure was off trail. It ended up being far simpler than we'd expected. We stayed with the trail as far as we could. We had to leave the trail about halfway there and just start down through the woods. Thankfully it was open and the travel was easy. I saw a spring that formed a stream in the middle of nowhere. I figured this must be the source of water for the falls. It was indeed. We saw some flagging and wondered if it meant we could not proceed further? No. It meant watch yourself! You're atop the falls! The stream drops into a cave suddenly and disappears. The flagging was to alert you to the change.
Below: side view of the waterfall and cave.
Below: close up shot of the falls
Below: Looking up from inside the cave at the edge of the falls
Below: Looking back up the embankment we had to slide down.
Below: the pebbles on the cave floor are quite pretty
Below: a couple blood root flowers sprouting. Not much blooming in the forest today, but a few things.
Below is a video of the cave waterfall that I will leave un-named and no location specified. It is pristine and I want it to stay that way.
We enjoyed the cave waterfall. It was something I'd wanted to see for two or three years. It felt great to finally be here. The stream and the falls were pretty and interesting.
We hiked back to the truck and sat on the tailgate to eat lunch. It was a bluebird day.
We had perfect weather. We next drove out to the state park's dam and play ground.
We saw the river and lake badly flooded. Lots of debris in the stream, below and above the dam.
The lake was churned up with mud. I've never seen the place like this. Rainy? Yes. Flooded? No.
We drove on out toward the main road. We headed toward the fire tower. Kenny has not visited it. At least not that he can remember. We visited it once years ago, but he didn't recall much about it.
The fire tower was in good shape today and the cab was open! We were able to climb it and go up in the cab for a change. Last time I was here it was locked. Today the wind was really whipping up in the cab. Down on the ground level it was just a puff of breeze. Up in the cab of the tower one hundred twenty feet higher the wind was wild and causing the tower to shiver. I made a video of it. Tight quarters up in there too. You had to watch out moving around that you didn't fall down the hatch out of the cab!
Below: Kenny in the cab of the tower
Below: This little building at the base of the tower has something to do with its power source.
We enjoyed the fire tower a lot. We finally headed back to the campground. The late start thanks to our real estate meeting left us with about a half day for adventures. No matter. We'd have the next day as well.
Saturday --Return Trip to Big Bottom WMA
We had wanted to return to Big Bottom to do some more riding and exploring. We did go and rode the Long Rock connector trail again. It was fun and we veered off it to check some of the side trails along the way. We ended up being glad we did. We found a spring fed creek and an old home site.
We got to find out what the huge "ant hill" was. It was a former saw mill site and that hump of brown in the distance was a large pile of saw dust. We saw a few Spring wildflowers today.
Below: spring creek tucked away heading to Long Rock
Below: closer look at the "ant hill" and we could see and touch that it is very rich, very old saw dust.
Today went south on us. I noticed I was starting to feel poorly. I got the chills. I was suddenly very temperature sensitive. Burning up one moment then freezing the next and shaking. I felt terrible. I began to suspect I had a UTI. Something wasn't right. Kenny could see I needed to get medical attention. We took the shortest route back to the truck immediately. Once we loaded up and started out for civilization I got my phone out. I knew we were closer to Sparta than anywhere else. I seemed to recall there being an urgent care clinic. I got a signal and was able to pull it up. Sure enough we were seven miles from an urgent care. Fast Pace Urgent Care to the rescue for the first time in my life.
Once there in Sparta at the clinic I got signed in. I was very fortunate. They only had me and one other patient. I was seen quickly by a wonderful physician. I ended up having a kidney infection sure enough. Upon talking it over with the care provider I think I had this smoldering along for weeks.
I had a UTI in February. I never got rechecked. I just felt better and assumed it all went to plan.
It did not. No wonder I had felt so droopy and tired off and on the past month. This time she told me to call on Monday to get a follow up appointment with my regular doctor. I insisted on a recheck urinalysis and a culture and sensitivity. I also got some excellent advice from this provider on things I could do to improve my situation. The next door Wal-Mart Pharmacy was very quick in filling the antibiotics and pyridium. I was feeling better about life knowing what was wrong and that I now had the tools to recover. I took some tylenol for the chills and felt considerably better.
The people camped next to us had a monkey! We got to see him playing in the trees in the little contraption they fixed for him. It isn't every day you camp next to a monkey.
Sunday morning we packed up and headed home. I was glad to be back home and able to sleep in my own bed. It wasn't the optimal trip, but it was good to get away as a couple. I recovered just fine and this time for real!
Below is the neighbor's monkey
Below is a video of the monkey
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