Ballplay Falls With the Family

Catesby's Trillium growing in the forest near Ballplay Falls 

Ballplay Falls With the Family

   

Dana Koogler 
Adam, Crystal,
 Michael and Tessa Lindsey

Friday April 17, 2020

Ballplay Falls pictures here starting with this frame

(Click right arrow to advance photos. 
  Album is a combination of various trips)

   With the covid19 pandemic closing schools my sweet daughter has been very busy.

She is teaching high schoolers online classes.   She is supervising the work of her own two kids doing homeschooling.  Each week we've tried to get out to do at least one hike as an outlet.

It has been very fun.  Today Adam, my son--in-law, was off work so he got to go along!

We met up at their home around nine a.m. and piled into their vehicle to go.

   I have been to Ballplay Falls many times over the years, but they never had.  

I was excited for I just knew they'd love it.   I reviewed the directions the night before, and again the morning before we left.   I was trying to take us the shortest way.  It was going to be easier and quicker to come in from Vonore than to drive clear to Tellico Plains and out to the falls.     It started out just fine.   Adam has quite a bit of familiarity with the area as does my daughter, Crystal.     The kids were good as gold.  They used the time in the car to play video games so they were occupied.   Somehow we took a wrong turn and ended up going round 

Robinhood's Barn to arrive.    We finally did pass the old Ballplay School and I knew where we were then.   A quick left turn and we got straightened out.   They got to see first hand what my life is really like.  

   

    Above: blown out earthen dam that provided a way to drive over the stream to the house.  

four inches of rain we got the other night blew out the earthen dam you drive across.   We'd have to park on the near side of the stream and ford.   Logs were piled up and one of the massive culverts was washed out into the field.  It is big enough for a grown man to stand up in.    I'd hate to have seen the flood that tore that out.  I noticed one of the sheds has finally fallen in on itself.   

      

 Above: crossvine draped over the sides of the old barn

 above:  We had to ford the creek here unexpectedly.  I had watershoes, but no one else did.  I carried Tessa across on my back.  Adam carried Michael and then Crystal across.  It was a real adventure! 

Above:  The spring for the house.  I had never paid attention to this feature before.


  Once across we strolled back past the house and hunted up the trail.  It was beautiful today. Wildflowers were around, but past peak bloom.   The pine woods here smell wonderful. The trail was shady and cool.  We saw sweet betsy trilliums, stonecrop, wild geraniums, and lots of maidenhair ferns.   I had warned them we'd have to go over and under trees so the family was prepared for a few challenges.  They all did outstanding.

 Above: Solomon's plume

 above: maidenhair ferns

 Above: Crystal and Tessa ahead on the trail near the start of our hike

 Above: pretty maroon Sweet Betsy trilliums

 Above: a new blow down on the trail to negotiate

 Above: no easy way around this one

 Above: dogwood blossoms were abundant today and so beautiful

Above: A view out the trail of what I call a storybook Red Ridinghood Forest-- the piney woods

      We were huffing and puffing up the first steep part of the trail.  It then rounds a bend and levels off.   It turns left and trends down to the falls.   The forest was so pretty today and the air so fresh.  The skies were sparkling blue and the temperatures were perfect.    We came to the bottom of the hill as the trail bends near the top of the falls.   I saw this memorial plaque on the forest floor.  It is for a fellow I only knew from Facebook and his love for hiking in the Cherokee National Forest.. Gabe Dalton.  Rest in Peace. 

 Above: memorial marker for Gabe Dalton

 Above: The flooding scoured out the earth and pushed a big chunk of silt and debris toward the top of the falls.

above: Brink of Ballplay Falls a 40 foot drop in two levels

   Once you get to this point you have to turn aside and pick up a less defined path that is completely unmaintained to the base of the falls.   It is a matter of picking your way through roots, rocks and fallen logs.   It is short, but somewhat challenging.  My grandkids weren't thrilled about it, but they hung in there tough and with support from Adam and me we all got down safely.    We had to work together. 

Above: I had put my camera away right after taking this photo.  It is the only one I snapped when we started through that rough patch.

   Once at the bottom the kids were excited.  The falls were beautiful and I heard Tessa exclaim "How pretty!".  It tickles me to death to hear the appreciation for nature's beauty from my grandkids and kids.    I pray they always love outdoors. I think I will get my wish.  Tessa has been sunburned and freckle faced every single day since starting this homeschooling Corona virus thing. 

 Below is a photo of that sweet little funny girl in front of the falls.. Tessa Grace!

Below: Grandson Michael.. he is getting so big and more handsome by the day. 

 Above: Michael captured a spider in his critter jar.  He let it go before we left.

Michael in deep thought at the falls.  

Above: a look at the scenery downstream

Above:  Blue skies!

Above: I was marveling at how crystal clear the water is in Ballplay Creek

Above: Crystal and Adam

 Above: A shot of Ballplay Falls from the side

above: photo from directly in front of Ballplay Falls.

 above: colorful rock assortment in the plunge pool.  Kids and adults had a fun time throwing rocks in the water.

Above: a deep hole of water near the falls.. the sun shining down through the water.

   We all enjoyed the beauty of the falls and the challenge of getting there.   The kids remembered the neat drive we took on a back road a few weeks earlier. 
They wanted to know if we could go do that again so their daddy could see it too?  I was all for it.  We were not on any time table so it sounded great to me.
The kids wanted to tarry a long while at the falls and play in the creek. Their parents told them they'd have to pick one or the other... linger here or get going so we could take the pretty drive.    They opted for the drive.

    We hiked back a little quicker.  Once we got to the vehicle I noticed a man on a tractor.  He stopped and spoke to us laughing that "Y'all didn't get warshed away did ya?"  I introduced myself and found out he is Mr. Ronnie Giles.. the owner of the place. He was very welcoming and a super nice fellow.  I would love to sit down with him and visit sometime to learn more history on the place. He did tell me his grandparents lived here and owned all this.  He did not have a long time to visit as we was working on trying to fix the dam where it blew out.
He said he hoped next time we came back it would be repaired.  Love his heart.
He lives just down the road.   I asked him some questions about this:


Above: scene from just down the road one year when friend Anne, and I  visited.

He had some information for me on that, but I won't put that here. pfffft... too funny.   We ate our lunch and got ourselves sorted out to leave.  Sure is a pretty place. I think Ballplay Falls is one of my all time favorite hikes.  Crystal noticed how much it reminded her of Granny's house in Virginia.

                     Conasauga Creek and Back Roads Drive

  We headed toward Tellico Plains and it was mercifully shorter than the roundabout way we'd arrived at Ballplay.   Conasauga Falls is a popular, well known hike in the area.  I have hiked to it too many times to keep count.
Even though I had visited the falls all those times, I was still unaware of the neat drive nearby until a friend shared the info with me.   It can be done as a loop off Hwy 68 and around through the country, driving through creeks and back to Hwy 68!   We headed in that direction.   We had not gone far on the old road when we encountered a vehicle heading the other way!  Thankfully we had a place to back up and give them room to pass.    The Spring wildflowers were beautiful on the slopes  beside the road. Lots of fire pinks , Carolina pinks, and dwarf iris.  We also saw pinxter azalea and flame azalea further out.

         We soon came to the first creek crossing and pulled over to let the kids play in the creek.

 above: beautiful Conasauga Creek

 Above: Sparkling deep hole of water below the cascades

 Above:  I love the fresh bright green leaves of Spring

 Above:  We enjoyed exploring the cascades and scenery along the river.

 Above: This trillium is very contorted

 Above: Michael has put on his water shoes and is posing.

 Above: my doodles in the sand

 Above: Tessa and Michael playing in the creek

Above: very pale violet wood sorrel.

  Tessa is the stick bearer

 Adam and Crystal by the stream

 Large boulders in the creek topped by a green tree!

  Michael is rock hunting

 Miss Freckle Face... those cheeks are turning sunburn pink again today!

    We messed around in lolligag mode and stopped at the first and fourth crossings to let the kids play.  I strolled in the creek and around hunting wildflowers.  The scenery was even prettier today than the previous visit.  Today was like a postcard.  Perfect.

 Above and below: Fleming Creek

 Below:  purple phlox on the banks of the stream

    Adam and I were getting tired.  We sat down in the vehicle and waited quietly on the others to wind down.  We saw two dirt bike riders try to ford the stream at the fourth crossing.  First guy made it over without any problems. Second guy turned his machine over in the creek.  It got water in the intake.  They had to get it out of the hole and mess with it so it would go again.   They were good sports about it all,but we did giggle.   Once we'd had our fill of outdoors we headed back toward civilization eventually coming out on Hot Water Road and back to Hwy 68.    It was an awesome day as a family. 

   Below is the video of Ballplay Falls from today's hike

And here is a video from the creek visit today 

Frozen Head Waterfalls With Grandkids & Daughter

Sweet Betsy Trillium at Frozen Head State Park

Frozen Head Waterfalls With Grandkids & Daughter

Wed. 3/18/2020

Dana Koogler Gabe Koogler

Crystal, Michael and Tessa Lindsey

Pictures are here:  Frozen Head Hike Pictures

Start with the frame that comes up and click the arrow on the right

 to move forward to the next shot

   One of my grandsons is in Preschool two days per week now.   The other two grandkids are in elementary school.  My daughter teaches high school so the school year schedule affects them all. 

Gabe has only been in preschool a couple months and while I was happy for him... I was missing him a little bit.   I enjoy the company of my children and grandchildren.   The coming of Spring Break week from school was a welcome thing for us all.  About the time it was to become Spring break.. the corona virus thing hit making Spring Break possibly extend for a lot longer than expected.   A fun time, but also a time of some trepidation and uncertainty about many things.   

    We needed to get out to enjoy a beautiful Spring day and forget about it all.  We loaded up the youngsters in the jeep and headed to Morgan County.  Frozen Head State Park is one of the prettiest places to hike especially in Springtime.    It is a great wildflower destination.   We packed snacks.  We packed saniwipes and changes of clothes etc.  We planned to snack and then on the way home stop by Freddy's in Oak Ridge to eat a late lunch.   

      We got a pretty good start and the kids were very agreeable on the way out to the state park.

They began to get restless around Oliver Springs, but Nanny had a plan up her sleeve.  We pulled over to the roadside to see a waterfall just before Petros.   Middle Fork Falls is a roadside delight.

It has many pretty cascades and an old railbed near it.   This is coal mining country. Also an area full of oil wells and natural gas wells.  The kids were thrilled to get out of the vehicle.

We carefully made our way down over the bank to see the waterfall which was roaring today!

Above Middle Fork Falls

 Above and below.. shots of the top and base of Middle Fork Falls close up

 Above and below. Crystal, Gabe, Tessa and Michael running around

   Next we went back up the bank to see the falls from the brink and see the smaller cascades near the top.
Below: cascades below the bridge/road and the brink of the falls.

    We piled back in the jeep and continued the short distance out to Frozen Head State Park. It had been just long enough since I was there I was not sure where the last parking area was along the route. We wanted to park as close as possible because Gabe and Tessa are little and we needed to keep the hikes short and very easy today.   From the parking area we were able to use the one way hike to DeBord Falls would be 0.60 miles easy.    We gathered our gear and set out hoping for the best.  Lots of other people around from all over.  Everyone was polite and kept to themselves as suggested to prevent spread of the virus. 

    The hike out to the first falls was beautiful. It is a gradual incline on a rocky, wide path.  It was mushy and wet in places.   We'd had lots of rain.   Spring flowers were coming up.   We saw sweet betsy trilliums, yellow violets, blue violets, rue anemone, bleeding heart, spurred violets, and fiddlehead ferns.    The wet weather falls dropping into Flat Fork on the opposite side of the stream were gushing. It was the most water I'd ever witnessed coming over those falls! Flat Fork itself was pretty the entire hike with many riffles and pretty blue green holes of water.

    The kids loved it since it was eye candy the whole way.  Lots of places to stop and throw rocks in the creek. Skip stones.  Climb on boulder or logs.  Draw pictures in the sand bars with sticks.

 Above: Sweet Betsy trillium
Below: Blood root and star chickweed bloom

 Above: Gabriel smiles for the camera.  Adorable at age 3

 Above: Granddaughter Tessa age 6 and Gabriel age 3 .. out in the distance you can see Crystal and Michael ahead on the trail.

 Above: Take my picture, Nanny. Gabe sits on a rock

 Above: Flat Fork rambling on the through the woods.

 Above: Fiddlehead ferns

 Above: Crystal, Michael and Gabe on the trail.  I see Tessa's feet too.

 Above:  Checking out the rock work built in the 1930s by the CCC camps

 

 Gabe and Michael throwing rocks

 Tessa smiles big

 Cluster of yellow violets

 Tessa, Gabe and myself climbed down to creek level to take in this pretty spot on the stream.

 Above: trying to stand on a rock so mom can take our picture.

   Above: Wet weather cascade is so pretty.


   We continued hiking toward Debord Falls and just about the time we got to the bottom of the low hill it sits at the base of... Gabe began to complain a little.  I told him I could not carry him, but that we were almost there.  He was fine and continued hiking more enthusiastically when he realized we were nearly there.   We walked down the steps and past the beautiful profile of Debord Falls.
It is not a large waterfall, but it is an easy one to reach for kids and a good place to play in the creek.

 Below: Starting down the stairs carefully.

 Below: Brink of Debord Falls

 Debord Falls

 Above: Michael, Tessa, and Gabriel

 Tessa nd Crystal

 Tessa and Gabe

Debord Falls from the top.. steep stairs!

   We enjoyed the falls then we hiked back.  I was very proud of Gabriel for hiking 1.2 miles today under his own steam!  First time doing that and longest distance ever.  Tessa and Michael acted like it was nothing. They are older and have been at this awhile.  We stopped for a bathroom break and let them on the playground briefly while we sat at a picnic table in the sun.  We were newbs to the whole corona virus precautions and restrictions as was everyone.  We did not realize that was probably not a good idea and against the rules.  We washed our hands and headed back to Oak Ridge for lunch.  All of us were getting hungry.  A stop a Freddy's and we remedied that.  Yum! Steak burgers and french fries and sodas all around.    Tessa napped in the car on the way home.  Michael and Gabe played video games.  Michael spent the night with me and Papaw.  Gabe went home tired, happy and dirty!  

All in all a wonderful day of making memories as a family.

Below is a video of Middle Fork Falls

Below is a short video of DeBord Falls