Spring Wildflower Trip 2025 Day 2 Skinner Mountain & Fast Pace Urgent Care Clinic--Corneal Abrasion

above:  wood poppy down in Lost Cane 

Spring Wildflower Trip 2025 Day 2-Skinner Mountain & the Urgent Care Clinic

Kenny & Dana Koogler

Sharon McGee

Saturday April 12, 2025

Photos are HERE 

   Saturday morning we got up and headed to meet Sharon.  We packed lunches and went up to Skinner Mountain to do some exploring.  The ride up the mountain was pretty with the green leaves beginning.  The slopes of the mountain were gushing water. The spring along the left of the main trail was flowing like I've never seen it before.   We got to the top and opted not to head to the overlook area.   We were there not that long ago.  It had been a long spell since I visited Lost Cane during wildflower season.  It was also a long time since I saw the waterfalls flowing in there.

 

    Today we noticed that Fentress County was far behind Blount County in leaf out and wildflowers.   It has been cool and that has really put a damper on the bloom time.   We were pleased to see the first two falls in Lost Cane flowing.   The wildflowers were doing better down in the sinkhole where it is warmer.   We stopped and walked down in there to look around.  

Below: Sharon's cabin from Baby Butt Lane. 

Above:  Waterfall #2 in Lost Cane

Below:  Looking across a sinkhole inside the mountain 

Below: waterfall #1 from the side

Below: waterfall #1 from the front

Below: white flowered trillium with an extra petal!  four instead of three! 

Below: trillium aged to white 

Below: the rock wall at one side of the sink hole.  

  We waded around the sinkhole enjoying the waterfalls, the rock formations, mossy stones, the little creek, and the slopes covered in flowers.  White and pink trilliums, red trilliums, wild geranium, long spurred violets, white violets, rue anemone, and trout lilies were abundant.  We saw a few spring beauties.  The trout lilies were finished for the most part.  

Below is a video of the wet weather falls in that little sinkhole

      Once we'd seen enough we moved onward down into  Lost Cane.  We stopped to check out a stream we'd never explored before.  We followed it a fair distance until it disappeared around a bend.   Downed trees which were to become the order of the day were clogging it past that point.   It was very pretty.  Colorful pebbles lay in shoals along it.  Piles of stacked stones lay on one bank of the creek along with the ruins of a foundation.  Someone lived here long ago.   I took my cell phone with me today and tried to remember to snap some photos with it.  I am terrible about not making use of my phone camera very much.   Today I tried to do better.  Once we got done exploring and made it back to the RZR I realized I no longer had my phone with me!  I retraced my steps and found the phone in its case lying on a rocky shoal in the creek. Thankfully I found it and it was unharmed.  After that close call I kept a tighter grip on it.    I had tucked it in a side compartment on my camera case.  That is how it fell out. 

Below is a video of the creek and you can hear Kenny fussing about me losing my phone.  I held my tongue, but he is forever losing his wallet, keys, phone, glasses.   Pot, meet the kettle! 

      

            Once I found my phone we loaded up to continue our journey deeper into Lost Cane.   

We didn't go much further down the trail until we encountered a big tree down over the trail. It was the laps of the tree.. the top part instead of the trunk.  It just happened to fall in a precarious place. The trail drops off steeply on the right making no way to go around it on that side. The left side was no better.

Kenny got out to look at it.  It was hours worth of work for us to try to clear it.  We decided rather than try to cope with that today we'd choose an alternate way around it.  That meant turning around and going back up the mountain to find a route down.  We ended up taking a break at the big intersection then moving onward to the steep trail down the mountain into the lower reaches of Lost Cane.  We had never been down this trail before. It was exciting!   

Below:  what a mess to clear! 

Below is a video of the mess on the trail where the tree fell

Below is a video of the steep trail down into Lost Cane

  Once we made it down into Lost Cane Kenny turned left as he was confused about where we were.

I had to turn him around.  I knew full well we were below everything we wanted to see today.  He did a course correction, and it wasn't long until we started seeing some pretty wildflowers and waterfalls. Trevor Daniels told me that the pit cave we found had a name already. It is "Mayo Swallet".  We did not venture over to see it today.   It would have been a wade out through weeds.  We were cautious since we encountered a fat rattlesnake while in this area last time.  We did get to see what I will call Waterfall #9 since it is the ninth in succession going down the cane.  Deep purple dwarf larkspur, cream violets, blue violets, sunny yellow wood poppies, southern red trilliums, white trilliums, yellow trilliums, and lots of Virginia bluebells were all around!  It was not as impressive a display as I have seen in that spot, but they were still beautiful.  We were a little early.  Down here we still encountered several spots where trees had to be cleared to proceed.   Leaving Lost Cane by going left as Kenny did eventually spits you out near Jamie Koger's house.  It is incredibly rough and rocky traveling that dry creek bed. We found a few work around paths in the past, but today we did not tackle that.   I have to be in the right frame of mind to want to do it.  I know Kenny feels the same.   It is dramatic scenery and challenging for sure. 

  

  Below is a photo of a field of white trilliums. 

Below:  yellow trillium

Below:  dwarf larkspur 

Below:  chickweed

Below: wild geranium

Below: purple phlox it smelled so good! 

Below:  mayapple bloom

Below: White trillium by itself.

Below: prairie trillium

Below: close up of Southern Red Trillium 

Below: some lime green ferns. unsure what sort. 

   The mossy rock formations and fields of flowers down in this sinkhole were astounding.  It never disappoints. We had bluebird skies overhead.  The new green leaf buds on the trees are my favorite color this time of year.  I think it is more than just the color, but the texture of them visually against the sky.    The temperatures today started off quite chilly. It was jacket weather, but by now we had come out of our long sleeves.  Otey the dog was not as chipper as usual. He injured his paw earlier and was over the riding and walking thing for the day.   He often chose to stay in the RZR instead of getting out to run around.  He got out to pee and get a drink, but mostly he took it easy.  

     We negotiated deep ditches.  We had to watch out for briars and pipes and all manner of obstacles.

We finally neared a stream by the trail on our right.  I made Kenny stop. I knew this was the spot for Waterfall #9.   I could hear it which was a great sign.  It flows out of a cave and is seasonal. It is another wet weather falls.   It sure is pretty having four distinct drops.  The slopes around it are very scenic with Spring wildflowers,  and interesting rock forms covered with moss. 

  Below is a photo of Waterfall #9 

Below is a video of Waterfall #9-- Shot on another trip. I forgot to take video of it today.  

    We enjoyed the spectacle of the seasonal falls, but we were reminded by Kenny that we'd not been to Frank's Flume yet.  I didn't particularly want to go having been a lot recently, but he wanted to go.

So onward we pushed.   We came to another bad place in the trail where there was a deep rut on the right and a drop down over a hill on the left.  Kenny made us get out of the machine.  He will attempt things himself that he won't risk with anyone else.   He did great and made it past that spot with no problem.   We started seeing more downed trees across the trail ahead.   We were able to avoid most of those spots as we turned aside toward Frank's Flume.   It was running real well today and the flowers around it were lovely.   

Below is a very short video clip of the bad section of trail where Kenny made us get out.  

. Below: 

Frank's Flume

  We did not linger too long here.  We turned around and headed back outward.   I got whapped in the eye by a sapling at some point during this time.  It hurt like a sumbitch.  It was sickening.  I knew what had taken place.  I had a corneal abrasion.   I was NOT happy.   We headed back to the house as quick as we could.   I was very subdued.   It scared me.  Back at the house Sharon loaded me up in my jeep and drove me to town to get checked at the Fast Pace Urgent Care Clinic.  They were open and me and one little girl were the only patients they had a 4 pm.   The doctor checked me with a fluorescein dye test and confirmed my suspicion.  Corneal Abrasion.   She prescribed antibiotic ointment and some tetracaine eye drops for the discomfort.   She gave me stuff to flush my eye with. They rinsed it out for me real well.   It felt a little better.    Sharon hugged me and comforted me.  She could see how badly it shook me up.     The take away from this is that I wore eye protection from then on out.  We had sunglasses that were safety rated and plenty of them. I wore them from then on.   We all did. 

I ordered a set of googles and face masks. One set for Sharon and one for me.   

Below: I'm sitting in the exam room at Urgent Care.

   Back at the cabin Rick came over for dinner and to meet Sharon for the first time.  We fixed a nice meal of teriyaki chicken with rice and grilled pineapple.   We all had a glass of wine or a drink. Even me! I needed it after that ordeal.  We had a great evening. It is always a blessing when we can introduce friends we love to one another and they hit it off.  It was the perfect end to the day.   It was extra good knowing that we were all going again the next day! 

Below: grilling teriyaki chicken and pineapple 

Below: Rick Timm, Sharon McGee and Kenny on the couch. I am beyond blessed! 

Below is a short video of Waterfall #9 I finally found it!