Tackett Creek Wildflowers and Waterfalls 2025

Sunday April 27, 2025

Kenny & Dana Koogler 

Pictures are HERE 

   I wasn't going to be able to keep myself from a visit to Tackett Creek this Spring. It has traditionally been one of my best wildflower spots.  Kenny graciously agreed to take me the Sunday after Easter.  We loaded up and went taking along lunch and our gear.    He had one of his navigational swivets, but I was happy he did.  He wanted to change things up and come in from Duff instead of Jellico.   I was very glad we did it this way. It is a shorter approach for one. Secondly it proved to us that it is still possible. 

   

Above:  area where we parked 

Below: Kenny getting the machine unloaded

Below: tailings pond near our parking spot

Some access points we were accustomed to using are now gated off and private land.  It is still possible to park and ride and enter from Duff Road.   We had zero problems.  I remembered the very first time I ever went riding here. It was after working a twelve hour shift at UT Hospital. I came home. Put on my pajamas. Stowed a change of clothes in the truck.  Grabbed my blanket and pillow. I got a couple hours of sleep on the ride there.  I got out of the truck and changed clothes quickly.  It was great fun, but later that day I was deliriously tired. If you are so tired that you fall asleep going down Hell's Canyon you are some kind of tired!  It was crazy that I could still pick out the spot where we parked the truck and trailer!    Today we parked along the road near a tailings pond.   We saw few other people today. Kenny refused to go there on a Saturday as it is crowded.  Another reason for this approach was that it put us near a waterfall we wanted to find.  All those years of riding in this area we had yet to see this pretty falls.   Thankfully lifetime maps had it listed. It was easy enough to find if you knew where to look.   What really blew our minds was that it was such a short spur off the main trail!  

Below: a smaller cascade is the first glimpse of the stream that forms the little waterfall. You can see this from the main trail.  A short spur takes you up to the falls. 

    Below is our first glimpse of the falls. It is only around 15 feet high, but very scenic.  

Below: closer view of the falls from the base. No trail to the base, but a short, slick scramble down. 

 We really enjoyed this gorgeous little waterfall.  Despite how long it took us to become aware of it and find it it is nice.  

Below is a video of the falls. 

      

    One really nice thing about the old railbed at Tackett Creek is the scenery.  You are riding along on a former railroad grade where the railroad ties and rails are removed.  It is now a gravel road built up on the sides.  Driving along down it you see hollers with waterfalls and slopes loaded with wildflowers.  Opposite that is Tackett Creek flowing by.  Periodically there are spots where you can turn aside and reach the stream below you.  The end closer to Duff is in better repair.  The further out you go the worse it gets.  The far end is deeply rutted, full of deep mud holes, encroached on the sides with Autumn olive, briars and weeds.  Not fun is an understatement.  I'm going to say from  Carr Gap north it gets worse.

Below: southern red trillium on our trail first starting out

Below: native magnolia of some sort near Tackett Creek near the beginning of the day. 

Below: pastel yellow wood betony near Tackett Creek at the beginning of the day.

Below: looking downstream on Tackett Creek 

Below: another glimpse of Tackett Creek looking upstream

  We took a short side trip down to Tackett Creek just to enjoy the sight of it.  It is very pretty.  I saw yellow wood betony and lots of magnolias in bloom.  Once we got back on the main railbed we passed Slate Rock. There was a couple ... the first and one of only a few we saw today... they were playing at Slate Rock.  Posing for a photo op. Had no intention of trying to climb the rock though some do! 

We later encountered them again and introduced ourselves.  We had a laugh with them at Slate Rock.

Elisha and Chris Stahlheber. Very nice people and new friends.  It is worth mentioning that today was the first chance I had to wear my googles. I remembered them.  They were hot against my face, but they shielded my eyes from branches and the bright sun.  I didn't need the face mask today. 

     We found the trail up to McLean Rock Overlook to be rougher than ever.  It has had more erosion from use and run off.   It is nothing we aren't used to so we pushed on across exposed culverts, logs, ruts, and rock ledges.     It wasn't too long until we arrived at the overlook.  At least we had a pretty, clear day for a view.  

 

  Below is a video of the trail that shows how rough it was. 

  Once we got up top to the overlook it was worth it. The view was pretty and we had a nice, clear day.

Below is the view and some photos of the overlook. 

    Above:  McLean Overlook

Below: my hubby of 40 plus years who I am crazy about!

Below: another look straight ahead from the overlook

Above: Kenny pointing out something

Below is a video of the view from the overlook

   Once we enjoyed the view we loaded back up and went onward out a trail to look for a population of yellow lady slippers and other wildflowers.  At first I didn't think we'd see any because the usual profusion of flowers was not there.   The pattern of a weird bloom for flowers held true today.   Many things were just getting going or not up yet.   The cool, wet weather has held things off.   Kenny did spot the lady slippers and we walked around the woods awhile counting them. We saw around 20 in this spot and found more at another spot later on.   Some we knew of we did NOT visit today because we had other places we wanted to visit.    Some are almost to the Kentucky line in another direction.  It is worth mentioning that yellow lady slippers are not that rare the further north you go.    They are more common in northerly states.  We live closer to the southern edge of their reach.  

      Below is a single yellow lady slipper close up

Below; a patch of 9 yellow lady slippers. I saw one or two plants without blooms yet. 

Above: pair of lady slipper orchids

Below: my thumbnail in the photo for scale. These are small, but not the bumblebee sized small ones. 

I've seen the tiny bumblebee sized yellow ladies, these small/intermediate ones, and the large ones the size of an egg. 

  Other wildflowers we saw today were lots of blue cohosh, rue anemone, star chickweed, and some pink lady slippers. Noticeably not in bloom this year were the wood anemone flowers I saw before which were purple!   More evidence of a strange bloom pattern this year.   Usually these areas are loaded with a wide variety and type of flowers.  Not so this year.  We did see some white trilliums, but far fewer.  I saw fewer pink lady slippers also.  I did see fairy bells, but only one plant.  Blue violets, yellow violets, bear corn, violet wood sorrel, long spurred violets and dwarf iris. 

    Below: fairy bells in bloom 

Above: white trillium 

above: blue violet

Below: another southern red trillium

Below:  our RZR is very muddy! 

above: a little spring trickling out of the bank

Below: dwarf iris

above: bear corn

Below: star chickweed and long spur violet

   
  I love seeing the slopes of the mountain covered in delicate fern fronds.   We wandered around up there amidst those for awhile.   Didn't see as much as in previous years, but had fun.   Next we decided to go visit Sand Cave.  It would be running very strongly today after all the rain plus it had been too long between visits.   It was one of two times today we had to double back, but didn't care.  

    




Below: wild geranium was out today! 

Below: forest floor covered in ferns. Some cinnamon ferns, some ostrich ferns and some I am not sure about. 

Below is the Sand Cave and the waterfall . It is a big, big place. 

Below: a closer shot of Sand Cave Falls 

    Sand Cave was very pretty today.  Kenny and I both got choked up thinking about Buck and Jody our friends who have passed on.  I know they are in Heaven now with Jesus.    We ran into Elisha and Chris again at Sand Cave along with another couple.   I failed to get the names of the other folks.  

Below is a video of Sand Cave Falls 

  We did not tarry too long at Sand Cave since we wanted to head to Motch to visit the waterfall. 

It is clear out on the far end of Tackett. We loaded up and took a side path on our return trip that was like a slanted, very broken up cement drive way!  It then gave way to ruts and red mud. 

Below: deeply rutted and muddy trail with a pink lady slipper! 

Below: closer view of Pink Lady Slipper 

  We continued back toward the old rail bed to go to Motch.  I wasn't looking forward to the rough trail on out. Kenny pipes up and says " Oh no. We can take this other way. It is better." And it was! It was not to last.  The ride out was much smoother and prettier than I'd anticipated.  We got glimpses of pretty stretches of Tackett Creek on our right off and on. We got to see numerous wetlands and wildlife on the way.  The water was abundant, clear and sparkling most of the time.   We did not see a lot of wildflowers, but a few patches of white trilliums.   The fact the scenery was new to us was nice. I know we had lunch on the trail today, but it was insignificant and I don't remember much about when or where. 

Above and below: vistas from the trail of the surrounding trees and forest

Below: beaver dam and pond

  I did not take many photos of the wetlands, but below is a video clip that shows better than a photo what it is like.  We saw a pair of wood ducks, but they don't show well in the video.  The video shows one of a couple beaver dams we saw!  

  We found the way to Motch Falls and this approach was prettier and simpler than last visit. 

We did see two other people at the falls today.  They were using the area for target practice, but stopped for us to see the falls.    We did not stick around too long.  The waterfall is pretty, but the old house ruins, the shell casings, and litter take away from the area's beauty.  

    Below is Motch Falls 

Below:  close up of Motch Falls. 

  Below is a short video of Motch Falls 

      Once we left Motch Falls I recalled that there were two more wet weather falls beyond it.  Kenny didn't want to go back there because of the shooting practice and  because we'd seen them before. 

We went on out the road in the direction of Middlesboro for a short distance.  I looked over and across the creek was an interesting looking stone building. Very old and abandoned.  I want to return during cold weather to see this when it isn't snaky.   According to the map this is the ruins of the Fork Ridge School!  I found waypoints for the old mines also.  I see three of them on the map in the area.  

  We headed back toward Tackett Creek the way we'd come.  The plan was to find a spot to pull down to the creek or walk down, to get a good look at the pretty spots along it.   This process was what lead to our downfall.   Kenny and his rabbit hunts struck again!   It wouldn't be a trip without some form of torture.  I am either left without a choice or way out nine times out of ten. 

     I was partially to blame for what was to follow.  We noticed what appeared at first to be some sort of barrier near the creek.  We stopped and I walked over to see what it was?  It wasn't a barrier per se, but it was what was left of an old bridge. It took a bit but eventually I remembered we'd been here before and it didn't look like this at that time!   My how it had decayed!    It lay twisted, rotting, and the embankments eroding away.  Some of the steel structure at one end was crumbling.  It would probably have supported a sure footed person to cross it, but it wasn't going to hold more than that.  Kenny noticed there was a way to pull down to the creek.   I didn't care since this spot was not very pretty, but he insisted.   On we went. The only good thing was figuring out we'd been here before and recalling how the bridge USED to look. 

Below:  The photo below is how the bridge USED to look. This photo was taken May 18, 2014

    Above: our first look at the bridge from this end made us think barricade

Above: view from the bridge... yucky Tackett Creek murky water

above: old bridge was part of the trail system once upon a time.  I guess weather and time just rotted it. 

Below: One of many mud holes for the day. 

Below is a video of the bridge and this area.  The video also shows how things went from bad to worse.  Kenny crossed the creek here below the bridge since there was a ford.   On the opposite side he found a trail and tried to follow it.  It was a mistake.  Deep ditches on several sides that were sandy and soft.  Deep holes of water ahead.   Tight quarters.  That forced us to turn around and try another way which did work, but was bad.  It meant travel in a tunnel of briars and autumn olive saplings smacking us in the face. I was darn glad I had my googles on for eye protection, but all I could think about was ticks and critters.   We then began out the rail bed at the far end of Tackett Creek where there is nothing to see except deep mudholes one after another, brambles and bushes encroaching the trail for miles.  I was OVER IT!  He did it again.  Turned a perfectly fun day into his requisite Misery Trip!  Angels balancing on the head of a pin to keep the Universe in balance. If things go real, real good they must then go REAL REAL BAD awhile to maintain order in Kenny's world.  shoooooes!  

 

To all the above mentioned I say to myself 

"Sorry 'bout your 

"

Keep a tighter rein on that man cause you know what he is capable of.   

 We still managed to have a good day and made it back to the truck in one piece.   It wasn't as productive a trip as past ones, but that is just life.