I want to finish the remaining lookout towers on my challenge list so I talked Kenny into going with me to knock out another one on a day trip. Rich Mountain tower is approachable from a couple directions, but we picked the Hurricane Gap side to come in since it was slightly shorter and coincided better with other things we hoped to see for the day. It is a short and pretty trip and not too hard. We were blessed to still see some nice Fall colors in early December!
We had lunch in Hot Springs at a nice place I'd never heard of called the Smoky Mountain Diner.
It was really good. We set out afterward to make it to the top of the mountain and the lookout tower.
Though the day was sunny and the temperatures down in the lower elevations were pleasant it was icy and bitter cold up on top of the mountain. We were woefully under prepared for that temperature so we did not tarry. The views were spectacular and the tower site is amazing! The tower itself was torn down in more recent years by Verizon or some communications people who bought rights to put their devices up there. They then had to pay to reconstruct the tower! Consequently it is of new construction and very sturdy. 360 degree views! The surface in the cab was glazed over with ice. It made me feel very uneasy. One false move and you'd bust your ass and possibly end up hurt.
Above and below Old Red Bridge in Hot Springs NC.. a beautiful scene.
A look up Spring Creek at the lovely Autumn colors from the Old Red Bridge.
Above: Rich Mountain Tower itself and inside the cab. Last is the view of the mountains from the tower site. It is frosty!
Once we got done at the tower site we headed down to try to find the official trail head and parking area for Wolf Creek Falls. I want to hike to it from that end one day in Spring. It is such a beautiful hike and I am sure has good wildflowers. We finally found it. It was a pretty spot for sure.
Above: Views of the Wolf Creek Trail head area and the creek itself.
Above : the ford of Wolf Creek. You KNOW we had to drive the jeep through it.
All it all it was a good day and it felt great to be out with Kenny. It felt great to complete another one of my tower sites.
Aunt Pam & Uncle Larry Beeler usually host a family Halloween Party at their house . We eat dinner and walk around their subdivision with the kiddos to trick or treat. We then bring the loot back to count and sort. I always loved doing that as a kid. See what kinda haul you made!
We had not been to it in a couple years so it was especially fun this year! Thanks Pam and Larry for being so generous and opening your home and making us feel welcome! We love you. We love our family!
Grandaddy Ralph Lindsey and Rowan.. great granddaughter dressed as Gamora
Cute kids in the hood.
Grandson Michael dressed up as Black Panther
Cute little boy
Grandson Gabe dressed as puppy and Uncle Biff holds him
Gabe and granddaughter Tessa
Ballerina Tessa hugs puppy Gabe
Funny floppy ear, long taileded puppy Gabe
Griffin.. great grandson dressed up as Star Lord
Uncle Larry the Rasta Man hands out the candy
Daughter in law Lydia takes pictures of the kids
Aunt Pam's jack on lanterns so pretty!
Lydia, Gabe, Michael, Tessa , Griffin and Rowan
What a great time the kids had trick or treating together and sorting candy and playing!
I was determined to finish my Carolina Mountain Club Waterfall 100 Challenge this year.
We usually take a Fall camping trip so I planned to get up with friend Wally Storey and finish my hikes. Kenny and I were celebrating our 34th Wedding Anniversary Nov. 10th also. That is pretty good.... finish my waterfall list and celebrate 34 years of marriage at once. Getting to spend time with a buddy was also great. We were planning to have a celebratory dinner at Scoggin's Steak House in Rutherfordton. It all went to plan. The only part that was a bit rough was that on Saturday
we had rain for our hike to Confusion Falls. A seven mile plus hike on a rainy day doesn't sound too fun, but it turned out to be fun despite the weather. One thing for sure... when you wear rain gear you are going to be wet one way or another. If you wear the gear to keep the rain off and exert yourself you will still get wet under your rain gear from perspiration.
We stayed at a campground just the other side of Chimney Rock. We arrived Friday evening and
set up. It was a nice quiet place. We had time to drive back to Hickory and hike Bear Wallow Mountain Fire Tower. I wanted to knock that off my lookout tower list while in the vicinity. It was an easy hike and we enjoyed it.
Above: Bearwallow Mountain Lookout Tower on an overcast evening.
Below: the view toward the South off the mountain bald
below: the summit had a couple odd structures. This one looks like a sardine can.
Below: I named this the Tree of Woe. Remember the original Conan the Barbarian movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger? Thulsa Doom ties him out in the desert to die with the words "Contemplate this on the Tree of Woe". We had a laugh over that.
The hike was pleasant, easy enough, and we made it out to the vehicle just as it got dark.
We hiked the access road up and back down the actual trail on the return trip. I was pleased to complete one of the last remaining ten lookout towers on my challenge list. It was nice, but it won't ever be a favorite. The neatest thing on the way back was seeing a gothic looking house through the trees. It appears like an abandoned old house, but it is occupied. Apparently it is either refurbished and occupied or new construction. Very odd these days to see a house with a steeply pitched slate roof!
The plan for the next day was to hike to meet our friend Wally Storey and hike to Moonshine and Confusion Falls at Asbury Hills Methodist Retreat. We timed this visit to coincide with the open access dates for hikers, but also you have to notify them if it is on a weekend so you have a gate code. The weather forecast was a gloomy one calling for cold and rainy almost all day. We were determined to go no matter what. We met Wally in the morning and we all donned our rain gear and set out after brief greetings. He had been before which was helpful. These falls are not on official camp trails and require some way finding skill. I had done a fair amount of studying up on the route, but it is not a hike I'd have attempted solo. We were so glad to get to spend some time with Wally and catch up on the news it really made the day go by fast. The scenery and trails at the Methodist camp are outstanding. I would definitely like a chance to return and do more hiking there. I knew there were other falls along the way, but none of us felt like tackling the side trips to those with the rain coming down as it was.
The Autumn colors were real pretty in the forest. Though the signs were pretty clear, I can see how someone could get lost trying to go to these falls. There are a couple points on that ridge where you might think it was the spot to head down! We found Moonshine Falls with no real trouble. It was every bit as pretty as I'd imagined and more. It had a lot of water coming over of course thanks to the rain. Matthews Creek crossing on the cable was not bad and I was mighty glad we did not have to ford the stream without it! Coming back over was a little trickier and we could tell the stream level had risen a fair amount.
We found the trek past Moonshine Falls to see Confusion Falls was shorter than we'd thought it would be. It was well worth the extra few tenths of a mile to see the two falls below Moonshine.
Moonshine Falls
Confusion Falls twin cascades
An un-named falls between Moonshine Falls and Confusion Falls.
Kenny says there are a couple other nice falls below these. Any return trips and we'll go see them and photograph them all provided it is not raining cats and dogs.
The hike back was relaxed and uneventful. We got back to the vehicles just in time for the rain to stop! A camp worker who was a guide came by the vehicles to congratulate us on being so hard core! He shared lots of interesting stories of things he had encountered on the grounds. He asked if we saw any bears? We informed him we had not. According to him it is a wonder since they seemed to be plentiful. We made plans to meet Wally the next day to finish my last hike and to hit up one he needed on his list.
Saturday morning dawned much prettier. We met Wally in Rutherfordton at Scoggins and carpooled from there. We headed out to hike to Pot Rock Falls in South Mountains Gamelands first. We figured we'd hit that up first and then complete my last one.. High Shoals Falls. That area is always a pleasure to go hiking. It is mountains away from the mountains. The country is pastoral and very pretty. We encountered some hunters at South Mountains Game Lands who were very cordial. We completed our hike to Pot Rock Falls and it was easy. The morning was sunny, temperatures perfect and the Fall colors were very nice. Pot Rock Falls is a smaller, but scenic falls that gets its name from the scooped out form of the rocks thanks to water flowing over them.
Pot Rock Falls
Upper cascade at Pot Rock Falls
Sun peeping through the forest canopy.
Pretty streams and trails in South Mountains Game Lands
We headed next to South Mountain State Park to finish my final waterfall hike. I was with Wally when he completed his list and it was great to be with my buddy to finish this myself! It has been a worthwhile pursuit. I like challenge lists.
South Mountains State Park will easily be a favorite of mine. It is such a pretty place with gorgeous scenery and Autumn colors. I expect it would be pretty ANY season. It was like a post card in its perfection. It is a busy place with lots of fellow hikers, but the atmosphere was very happy and relaxed. The hike to High Shoals Falls can be done as a loop and that is how we hiked it.
Clockwise loop for us. There is something to see the entire way to the falls and beyond. The scenery on the downhill portion of the loop is not as spectacular, but it was all nice. It was not too hard at all.
Below : High Shoals Falls.. I am done!
Above and below: Fiery Fall colors along Jacobs Fork Creek
We had a great day and we carpooled back to Rutherfordton. We planned to have a celebratory dinner there for our anniversary and completing my list. Wally had to get going so he did not join us. We had a great meal and headed back to the camper tired and happy.
Sunday we slept in and headed back toward Asheville. We stopped and went shopping on the way home. It was a really nice weekend. A goal completed at last. Much needed change of pace.
I had been wanting for some time to see a number of separate features in the Huntsville, TN area.
We sat down and talked it over. We decided to just take the jeep and hike instead of go riding.
We figured it was going to be too much jumping around to make it worthwhile. We also had
Crystal & Adam keeping Gabriel for the day so we had a shorter day to explore. Jared came up and visited with them and helped. Bethany, Averie and Walter also came over. Gabe had the time of his life being treated like a golden child by Averie! She even got him to eat! He had fun and so did we.
It was great to get a day out as a couple.
Above and below: Averie Lindsey and Gabe Koogler
We stopped by Huntsville in Scott County and easily found the old jail and the waterfall behind it.
It is called Town Spring on Google maps, but on Tennessee Landforms it has the designation
Huntsville Falls. A short distance past it is Paint Rock Creek Cascade. It is on the old Litton
Covered Bridge Road, but that is all private property. I read in the paper that while it is technically still a county road it is hotly contested by the folks living out that way. They want it closed to traffic. It wasn't worth taking the risk or upsetting someone over seeing a six foot high cascade.
I also lost interest in going out that way once I found there was no longer a covered bridge on it.
Below: the old Huntsville Jail right in the middle of town
Old Town Spring Park
Huntsville Falls aka Town Spring. Hard to tell from this photo, but it is a fair sized waterfall. It is about 20 ft high.
Above: the set of steps leading down to the falls. It provides an observation platform to view the falls
Below is a short video of the waterfall. It would not be worth a special trip to see by itself, but if you are in the area it is worth the short time and effort it takes to visit.
We had several things we wanted to see so we did not tarry long. The day was drizzly and overcast. A fine mist of rain came down periodically and it was cold. The colors on the drive had been very pretty though. We did some recon prior to the visit as it related to access points for finding the abandoned train tunnels. I am not including directions to these on this blog. They are visited a fair amount by people, but technically the property is still posted. I don't know if that means the land owners really don't want visitors there or if it is posted mainly to prevent them from being sued by someone who might get hurt. I could easily describe how to get to the tunnels, but I could not really tell you how to get to all the stuff we saw while wandering up and down the creek and through the woods. I'd get you lost for sure.
We pulled over through a field and I was pleased how well my jeep handled the rough terrain.
We had to go through one muddy spot, but it didn't stop us. We came to the crest of a hill and could see before us the current railroad in the distance. Below us lay the oldest railgrade and between the two lay a road that was the remains of a third rail line. It had to happen between the two time periods.
The current railroad is at the top of the far hill. At the base of this hill is the oldest rail grade.
First look at Phillips Creek
Old railroad tie that has washed downstream
Phillips Creek is a fair sized stream. Bigger than we anticipated. We had to end up fording it a couple times. We stayed dry which was amazing. We had not planned on creek crossings.
Once across we came to the gravel road which was the rail grade that hit during the time period between the first one and the current one. Hunting tunnels is a little like hunting arches.
Harder than hunting waterfalls because you don't have as much to go on. They don't have to have a stream. We missed a few turns, but we would have missed some spectacular scenery if we'd found the tunnels right off.
Phillips Creek. We crossed right upstream from this spot.
Above: Looking downstream on Phillips Creek. What glorious Autumn colors!
We wandered up through here in our search. It was not necessary as it turns out, but had we not done so we'd have missed some pretty stuff. The old rail road cut went through here and to me this looks a bit like a tunnel it is so narrow and dark! Just beyond this we climbed up over a berm of earth and walked on the far side of the stream. We ended up coming down a finger of land to the confluence of Phillips Creek with another side stream! From here the stream got stronger and prettier with more water.
I found a place to ford and kept going until I got a good view of this small, scenic cascade.
The area is a maze of old paths and rail cuts. Finally Kenny said we were closer to the southern tunnel than the north one. The smartest thing to do was go in search of that one and double back looking for the north tunnel. We'd bypassed it somehow. I guessed it was on the opposite side of a bridge we crossed on the gravel road. It was one place we did not investigate. While in this spot hunting for the south tunnel Kenny hollered out that he could see it. We went down stream a bit further and sure enough we come to the South tunnel. It was really pretty, but I could tell it was not what I'd been looking for. Something was off about it.
Below: South tunnel
Kenny pointed out something to me that I had not paid attention to. The stream flowed then disappeared underground! Very unusual for this part of the Cumberland Mountains. You see it frequently in the Cumberland Plateau. It was apparent that the stream turned out this way due to the railroad coming through. The very first time I saw a photo of the South Phillips Creek tunnel I was intrigued and wanted to see it. At the same time I had that something isn't right about this photo feeling. What was wrong was WHY is water flowing out of a tunnel where the trains used to run?
Water and railroads don't go together well. The answer was simply that the original tunnel didn't have water flowing through it. The stream ran by in its channel and the tunnel alongside it.
Later when they found it necessary to close the tunnels and reroute the line, they blasted this tunnel's floor and diverted the stream. During times of heavy rain and flooding the stream flows through the tunnel. On the far side is a 10 foot falls. The rest of the time the stream flows underground. We walked on down past this point and saw that it does this a couple times coming up and going back underground again! Water stood in the middle of the tunnel, but it was not real deep. It was common practice to "daylight" abandoned tunnels. They'd be blasted so they were open on top.
I am glad they didn't blow all of them up.
Phillips Creek flows
It pools up and then goes subterranean. The dam here is the newer rail bed.
Kenny near the mouth of the south tunnel.
I am standing at the mouth of the tunnel just inside it. The shimmer on the floor is the reflection of the far end in the pool of water in the middle. The two channels along either side must have been the level of the old floor.
I debated going through the tunnel, but Kenny discouraged me from doing so. It was slow going because everything was super slick. He felt like it was too unstable and just didn't want to attempt it. We walked the newer rail bed and went back down that to the far end and it was faster for sure.
We then had to climb down over the bank holding onto trees to get down where we could see the far end of the tunnel. It was rather pretty. This is the end where the waterfall is if we have lots of rain.
Far end of Tunnel #14
You can't tell it from this angle, but this is the brink of what would be a waterfall. just outside the tunnel.
We walked the old railbed down a bit further. We enjoyed the Autumn colors and scents.
It felt so good to be outdoors getting some fresh air and stretching our legs. We strolled back at a leisurely pace. We hoped we'd find the other tunnel too. Kenny was in full engineer mode. He was studying the way the old railroad must have run. You could practically hear the wheels turning in his brain. He was figuring it out fast. He sent me down along the old railbed in one direction to look for a path to the left as we headed out. He doubled back to look where he thought it might be.
It was only a matter of seconds til he hollered to me he'd found it. He indicated for me to head toward him. Sure enough across Phillips Creek was one end of the tunnel. The cut here was narrow and steep sided.
Below is the first entrance of the north tunnel. Beyond the berm of earth the tunnel was powdery dry! We were able to go clear through it. It was in good condition.
Below the north entrance of Tunnel #13. you can see brick work on either end of this.
We were thrilled to have found both of the tunnels. It was a neat experience. Other things we hoped to do today, but ran out of time.
Tunnel #15 at Robbins TN
The Eternal Flame and Puncheon Camp Falls at Norma
Glenmary Coke Ovens and Powder House
Tank Springs at Lafollette
Lafollette Coke Ovens
Two of these are on Tennessee Landforms. Tank Springs is on Google maps.
The rest is not. Suggestions for anyone who might be searching for something interesting to check out.
We hiked back to the jeep easily. We grabbed some lunch in Oneida and headed home.
Just a short outing refreshed us greatly. Gabe had a good time playing with his cousins.
Below is a 10 minute video of the tunnel search and find. Longer than the usual videos for me, but that is the readers digest condensed version of half days adventure.
