Dayton TN Trip

Dayton TN Trip -Immodium Falls

Dana & Kenny Koogler

Mary Anne Brewer 

March 7- 8th, 2020

Pictures are here 

   We wanted to get out and do something in a different area.   Kenny had been working hard and while he wanted to get away.. he did NOT want to hassle with the camper just yet.   He talked to me and decided the most relaxing thing for him would be to just book a hotel and make things easy.      We booked a stay at
a nice hotel in Dayton.  We made plans to meet up with Anne Brewer to hike.
Originally we were going to hike to McGill Creek Falls.   Anne is getting over a broken femur.   She is doing great, but I sure didn't want to risk harming her.
Part of McGill Creek Falls hike is a bushwhack.   We figured that would be best left for another time.  Instead we went to another falls I'd long wanted to see... Immodium Falls.

   I had never hiked this section of the Cumberland Trail and was very excited about it.    Anne met us at the hotel and we car pooled to the trailhead on Saturday morning.  None of us had any dealings with this area.   We had some directions. Kenny and I had both studied the satellite imagery and thought we could do better than parking at the trailhead.   Everything comes with a price tag.

    We parked at a road before Retro Hughes trailhead.   The distance was shorter, but the trade off was having to hike down a slope that was ugly and made for unsure footing.  It was clear cut by loggers.   We had to take our sweet time getting down that hill without killing ourselves.     No one got injured thankfully.

     Once down to the bottom of the slope we entered the woods and picked up a road that was actually part of the Cumberland Trail.  Before too long we reached a trail junction and entered the woods and found ourselves on a true trail.

   We all agreed it was one of the prettiest sections of the Cumberland Trail we'd ever seen.  Interesting rock formations, pretty cascades, deep hemlock woods. The weather was pretty and the skies blue.    It was warming up to be a perfect day.   We had stopped to get us a sammidge from Subway.   It was Anne's birthday today!   
Above: pretty hole of water and cascades on Little Possum Creek
         It was great spending time with her and catching up on her doings.
She is always a pleasure to hike with or do anything with.  We missed Vickie, but maybe we can all do something together before long. 

    It seemed like no time til we were at the brink of the waterfall on Little Possum Creek.. aka Immodium Falls!

 I wanted to see this while it was still Spring because the water is so blue!


 
   Above Anne and Kenny in the creek
Below: rocky cliffs along the hike




    We visited at the falls and took in the beauty of the aquamarine waters.
It was really worth the effort to see.  We sat down at the falls and ate our lunch.  We saw a couple other pairs of hikers throughout the day. 

      We began our hike back. No wildflowers out yet.  We were dreading the trudge back up that hill.   It was tough, but not as bad as all that.  We took our time and managed to make it back.  I'd not do the hike that way again. I'd just hike from the regular trail head.   This area is ugly from the logging.

      We finished up our day and took Anne back to the hotel.   We parted company.   We had not done nearly what we expected today, but it was nice just the same.   We had been overly ambitious, but it was just talk.
     Back at the hotel we got cleaned up and prepared to go have dinner.

   We tried a new place to us.   Jacob Myers on the River Restaurant
It was very good.  It was busy and the wait they said would be long.  45 minutes or more.  We decided to try to wait it out since there was not a lot of other choices.   We went outdoors and strolled along the river on the greenway.  It is a beautiful area.  Dayton is a very nice little town. 
 We were seated in twenty minutes!  The food was good.  It is a great place to eat with quite a varied menu.     I'd definitely go back again. It would be nice to try eating outdoors on the patio when the weather is good.  The scenery there next to the river is just the best.

       We went shopping at Burkes Outlet and I got a new purse.
We checked out a couple other stores, but didn't have a lot of luck.  Dayton's shopping options are limited.  We went back to the hotel to relax.

     We got up next day and ate breakfast in the hotel. It was really good.
They had a super clean kitchen and dining area.  They had pretty much anything you could want.   It was just right.   We stayed at a Holiday Inn Express.

      After breakfast we went to try another section of the Cumberland trail.
We went up the mountain and started hiking.  It was pretty, but we were very confused.  We were trying to reach some obscure waterfalls we found on Tennessee landforms.   We searched in several different directions.  One we found, but it was pitiful.  Like a cow peeing down a flat rock.   The other we never found.  The overlooks were pretty. The scenery was good.  We finally gave up and headed out.  All we got out of it was some fresh air and exercise.  Still better than sitting at home.

      All in all our little get away was what we needed.



 

Below is a video of the beautiful Immodium Falls

Hilliard Falls?

Off Trail hunting waterfalls 

New Years Eve Hike--Hilliard Falls? 

Thursday Dec. 31, 2015

Dana & Kenny Koogler

1.5 miles RT approx. 
Photos are here starting with frame 96

Hilliard Falls Pix

Hilliard Falls aka Mill Branch Falls on Tennessee Landforms

     I have done something to my right shoulder and at my appointment for my yearly check up

the doctor recommended I start physical therapy for it.   I started therapy in Maryville at 9:15 am on New Years Eve.    We wanted to get out and do some hiking and exploring. We both figured we'd best pick something close to home since we'd be getting a late start on our day.

The original plan was to go into Cades Cove and explore behind Kermit Caughron's old place.

I had visions of finding waterfalls back there.  After checking with Barb and with Mike Gourley that seemed less appealing.  They spoke of old home sites, but no waterfalls.  Neither of us cared anything about it at that point.  I tossed out several other ideas for Kenny and he liked the idea of going over toward Rhea County to explore.   I had been talking about my curiosity over the listing of Hilliard Falls on Tennessee landforms. It was intriguing to me because it had no photo shown and no height estimate.   We decided to go find out about it for ourselves.

Plan C was Paine Creek nearby if Hilliard Falls turned out to be a total bust.

          

           I was not done with physical therapy until 10:30 am.  Kenny was mostly ready to roll out.

I had him quickly look over the google map and satellite images of the trek today.   I printed out maps and off we went.   We stopped in Kingston to eat lunch at Zaxby's and with that over we continued toward Dayton.     Today's adventure lay atop Evensville Mountain closer to Summer City.    We rode along the plateau and without any real trouble found a powerline 

easement and parked off side the road.  We gathered our stuff up and began our hike.

It started with climbing over logs and through brush.  The day was mild and overcast.

The terrain was not too bad to begin with.  It followed the powerline and it was on a dirt track

that looked like it was being kept open by ATV travel.   We didn't go far until we passed a hunters blind turned over on its side. It looked funny.   We crossed a small stream and walked right through the way point hearing the GPS give its beep that indicates you have arrived at your destination.  No waterfall here. 

           The trail continued so we kept going.  It went left and curved down the hill where we could hear water a bit stronger to our left.   We went off the trail into the forest and came to this. 

     Certainly no waterfall, but the confluence of two streams, both flowing in the same direction.

We were now 280 ft from the original waypoint.   We had noticed a rock outcropping and a steep drop off on the satellite images before the hike. Before the trail started down the hill we were able to see the starts of the rocky place.  We headed back toward the trail and continued hoping that the way point was just off by a bit. Perhaps we'd find a falls down at this rocky drop off?     We hiked about another tenth of a mile and forded a stream.  We then went downhill and had to ford another time.   We climbed up a slight bluff and were able to get a vantage point of the stream below us.   It was a little closer to being a waterfall.   We were looking at a run of low cascades eight to ten feet high.   Further down the stream where it dropped off the mountain in the gorge was a single "waterfall" of 10 ft.   Was this Hilliard Falls?    We had found a neat overlook at least.

               

 Long, low series of cascades.  Hilliard Falls? If so the waypoint is off by 862 ft now.

I am standing on the overlook and seeing down the mountain at a rocky gorge.

  Kenny  and I both wanted to follow the trail we had been on out just a little further. It looked like it headed toward a second neat overlook.  We figured we'd walk out there since we had come this far and see the rest of what was here.   The overlook was very neat.  A piney woods and very craggy rocks with a view down off of Evensville Mountain at the valley below.  

It was nice.   Kenny began hollering "Holy smokes, Dana come out here.  There's a BIG waterfall!"  I went out to where he stood and looked off in the distance where he pointed.

Sure enough there was a large waterfall dropping off the side of the mountain. 

 Peering down thru the rocky cleft in the mountain

 Kenny out at the end of the overlook.  

A large powerful falls in the distance. 

This is the unzoomed view of the falls.  It doesn't look like much, but we could hear it roar
all the way from here.  

    We both began wondering if it would be possible to get round there to see it?  Hard to say from here.  We walked on out the ridge a short distance.  Kenny brought me to the edge of the bluff and told me to stay put while he scrambled down to see if it was going to be possible to continue.   It was no time until he hollered back to me to come on down.  We worked our way down the slopes through a tangle of logs and boulders. The woods were fairly open and we were not fighting rhododendron.    We got to a point down the slope where we could see the lower cascades in the stream boiling through massive boulders.   We did not have a ton of daylight left. Kenny  told me if I wanted to get photos of the lower cascades to go ahead and do that. While I was taking care of that detail he would go up the slope and see if there was a way to continue so that we could reach the main drop of the falls.     

        I got down there the rest of the way by myself and took photos and video of the lower drops.   It was neat, but not that great.  The boulders were so chopped up and large it made the 

stream seem tiny.  It was like that at Rock Castle gorge, but this not as attractive.   Part of the problem was trees blocking the view from lots of different angles.  Finally I put the camera away and decided I'd just head up the slope to see what was going on with Kenny.   About that time I heard the Hooty Hoo! I was hoping for. I knew what that meant! I toiled bravely up the hill.  It was steep!  I got up there and sat down by Kenny and died for a brief spell.   Once I had recovered my breath and gotten something to drink we continued toward the main falls.

Cascades through the boulders. Not a very good view of the lower part of the falls.

         The approach to the main falls is along the base of the bluff.   It is certainly not the hardest thing we've ever done.  The terrain is rugged though and it is narrow.  

It involves climbing around through boulders to arrive at the main part of the waterfall where it plunges off the mountain.   It looks like the main part of the falls is 50-60 ft high with a lower cascade part of 20 ft or so.  It is a nice waterfall and was very powerful. We were now 0.3 miles further than the original waypoint.  Was this Hilliard Falls?  Kenny believes so.  He thinks it is likely that the person who originally submitted the waypoint did a guesstimate plugging it into the google map where they believed it was.   And picked the wrong stream in the process.

That is possible, but at this point we do not know the answer.  I did not much care. All I knew was that we were having a fun, exciting adventure together.  It is greatly rewarding to find something like that and make it to the base of the falls to experience it up close!

First vantage point looking up at the falls. 

A closer, more intimate view of the falls.  

Below is a video that chronicles the journey and the various steps along the way.  

I have written to Tom Dunigan of Tennessee Landforms.   I am waiting his opinion on what is going on here?   I am eager to see if the Hilliard Falls waypoint is just misplaced and what we found is it.
or if what we found is an entirely different waterfall and will be added to the database as something new.   I will update the blog as I find out.


         We had an exciting day and it filled up our time!  We had no need of going anywhere else.
We  hiked back out to the jeep.  It was growing dark and the sun was starting to set.
We headed toward home.    The next morning I woke up wondering if it had all been a dream?

***Edited to Update*** Hilliard Falls  still appears on google maps in the spot in the middle of a power line cut incorrectly. I have reached out to them numerous times to remove it and they keep ignoring me. Kenny's first addition to Tennessee landforms!  We found something new!  Tennessee Landforms Waypoint for Mill Branch Falls  

   I later found a map of the Cumberland Plateau region around Dayton that dates back to 1909.  On that map is shown "Hilliard Falls" in the spot where we found the waterfall on Mill Branch.   The waterfall IS Hilliard Falls and is still on Tennessee Landforms.  Tom agreed that was the original name of the waterfall historically per the map. In the interest of keeping things simple he left it as Mill Branch Falls and put a foot note at the bottom regarding the original name and a link to the old map! 

Gooch Creek Arch --Rewrite

Gooch Creek Arch Trip Report

Re-write

Dana & Kenny Koogler

Saturday Feb. 23, 2013

* I am re-writing and posting this TR over. Why? 

Because the entry got damaged, photos lost, and it was deleted.

I later found the photos to re-do it so I am going to repost.

I am in the process of repairing damaged blog entries.

I am also totally reorganizing my photos on all fronts.

It is going to take time. When I ever get it done I will never

post another photo on Flickr again... ever. 

   We set out originally today to visit Powder House Falls and Ray Falls and neither of those 

worked out.   We had the waypoints for Gooch Creek Arch with us and that is what we ended up doing since we were in the area.   

     We went down toward Dayton and went up the old Evensville Road to the plateau level.

We then went out a gated road that parallels the bluff line through what appears to be a pine plantation.

We knew the arch sat out on the edge of the plateau.  It did not take too much time or searching to find it.

Just follow the old road out and turn to the left.   It is a pretty and unique spot.

**Edited to Add** I heard from a fellow who visited the Gooch Creek Arch with written permission in hand.  He was met by some individual on the property who told him to get lost he was not welcome.   He proved he had written permission and was still met with hostility.  He wisely decided to leave.  I am glad he told me of this because it shows the spirit of the persons involved with the place.  Clearly one landowner was generous and reasonable while others are not.   It isn't worth the hassle of having your mellow harshed.  It  ruins it.  I don't know who the person was who did the running him off, but shame on them.   I hope one day our nation gets Right to Roam laws and there is nothing folks like that can do anymore. 

Here is a video of it

Twin Rocks Overlook and Piney River Trail

Fire Pink along the Twin Rocks Overlook Trail




Twin Rocks Overlook and Piney River Trails

Dana Koogler solo hike
Tuesday March 19, 2012
Total miles  hiked =4

Pictures are here:

Piney River Pix 

Below is a video of climbing the ladder to Twin Rocks Overlook.

     I woke early Tuesday morning and drove out to Spring City to hike the Twin Rocks Nature Trail and part of the Piney River Trail.   I have made many trips to this area with hiking clubs, my kids, Kenny, and other friends.  Lots to do and see.
Spring City is a town on the Eastern edge of the Cumberland Plateau on Walden's Ridge.   Nearby hikes for this area include Stinging Fork Falls, Upper and Lower Piney Falls, Laurel-Snow Pocket Wilderness, and the Cumberland Trail.

     I was the first car in the parking lot and hiked out to the Twin Rocks Overlook first.    It was a nice easy hike with a climb to the ridge line then the trail runs more or less level most the way and then makes one last small climb.  Before I knew it I could see the outline of the rails on the caged ladders.

    I climbed up to enjoy the view and stuck around a little while to explore the rock formations.   The day was warm with a nice breeze and lots of sunshine and blue skies.   The first part of the trail had a few wildflowers, but the drier pine ridge up top only had trailing arbutus and a few halbeard leaf yellow violets.
The early Spring green leaves and red buds on maples were pretty to see as well.
In the distance I could hear the whistle of the freight train and the rumble as it passed down in Spring City.  I was never out of earshot of Piney River roaring by.
Sarvis berry trees bloomed fluffy and white atop the ridge. Down on the lower portion of the trail I passed several yellow buckeye trees in bright yellow bloom.

One of the caged ladders to reach Twin Rocks Overlook


View from the Twin Rocks Overlook


      I hiked back to join the Piney River Trail and headed out along it to see what was blooming this time of year?   I had heard from someone that you really need to hike it twice in Spring to get the full measure of just how rich it is with wildflowers. I believe that after today!  In March the rocky cliffs are laden with spring beauties, trout lilies, chickweed, rue anemone, fiddlehead ferns, long spurred violets and blue violets.  April is trilliums and gaywings, nodding mandarin, and wild oats.   The recent, ample rains had the rocky cliffs echoing like a parabolic mike with the roar of the river and dripping with their own mini waterfalls!   The hemlock forest here is healthy and thus far untouched by the hemlock wooly adelgid blight.  The hemlocks shelter these tender flowers from the sun allowing them to bloom longer for they like the cooler temperatures and moist conditions.  The warm temperatures this Spring had many of the trout lilies past peak bloom by the time I hiked here.


Deep gloom along the Piney River Trail is owed to the hemlocks.


     I walked out about a 1 1/2 miles and the trail continued to be dry pine woods mostly without the wildflowers I was hoping to see so I turned around. I decided to do some exploring the spur trails I'd passed. One went up the bank and was more dry pine woods without anything good to see.  The other went left and down along the river!  More wildflowers and new views of the river and the site of an old bridge!  Now this was more like it.  I ambled around the banks of the river and found geese nesting and found a couple campsites.  It was beautiful!
Old bridge site



Piney River

Layers of wildflowers and moss

Trout Lily closeup


     I returned to my jeep and just took my time soaking up the fresh air and the sights.   I found that the dude I'd seen out there was still sitting on his butt texting on his cell phone and laughing.  If I ever find myself getting like that I'll chuck my cell phone in the river.