Renegade Mountain and Dogwood

Carolina Pinks growing in profusion along the road 

Renegade Mountain and Dogwood 

Kenny & Dana Koogler

Monday May 14, 2018

Pix are here starting with frame #279 

   We have taken numerous rides back to places this season that we ventured to in order

to satisfy our curiosity about different far flung, hard to reach locations.  We've had a variety

of experiences in either finding the place but the feature we sought was not very pleasing.

We've had some experiences where we did not find what we were looking for at all. 

It isn't as much fun when trips end up that way, but the up side to it is that we learn from the experience, and  avoid wasting time on something similar in the future.   When you seek the obscure this is going to happen from time to time.  Yet in all I can say I am still happy to 

scratch some stuff off my list of places to go.  It frees me to be inspired about other stuff.

Jack Canfield said in some of his old career track motivational tapes that stuff you leave unattended for long periods of time ties up portions of your subconscious mind and holds you

hostage until it is dealt with. One example is mental clutter from procrastinating about tasks you know you should be doing.  Another example is physical clutter in say a basement, closet

or anywhere you your home. It impairs you from finding things efficiently. It drags down your mental energy even if you don't realize it.  I place most of these experiences this year in the 

category of de-cluttering my imagination.  Put it to bed so I don't waste energy on it anymore.

    I learned some years ago about a failed ski resort in Tennessee. It was Renegade Mountain. It  has quite a story. It was pretty good to begin with, but even in the beginning there were years when it was too warm to produce snow or ski.   It looks like from photos that in its Hey day it was quite the place.   Mismanagement, embezzlement, weather all contributed to the eventual downfall of the place. It has been reinvented a time or two without success.  It is now a housing development.  It has a murder attached to its history.    I place it in the category of someone's 
Big Ideas!   Try to get too exclusive in the Cumberland Plateau and the hoi polloi will remind you ..... You ain't nothing.  We have been riding the Dogwood area of Crab Orchard for many years now.   The trail system backs up to Renegade Mountain Resort. It is now a private housing development.  Even now it has political and infrastructure problems.  One big problem of late was the water system.   The HOA built an installed a water system.  Others were permitted to connect and use it with the promise to pay X amount of monies in Y amount of time.  Those using the system outside the HOA reneged on the deal and failed to pay.  It has been a mess!    

    We had never attempted to reach Renegade Mountain. It is a gated community.
We decided today to try to be party crashers and make our way in just to be able to say 
we had done it.  I was also looking to see a waterfall in a land feature I learned of.   
We parked up on Owl Roost Road and took off.   We went down the mountain and checked out various trails.  We did see 

    
The area is a maze of trails.  

 Above: close up of pink lady slipper. We saw lots of these today.
Below: pinxter azalea. Saw some of this also.

    

           The objectives for the day were to try to get into the land feature called The Basin.
We found Basin Rock and Basin Falls. We did not realize until the past year or so that The Basin is at the far end of that.  No trail into it.  You can only go so far then it becomes necessary to get out and bushwhack about 1/2 mile into the Basin. It is backed up against  Renegade Mountain.   It took us a good while to figure our way around.  Logging screws the trail system up in ways you cannot begin to imagine.   You will be lucky to find your way at all without 
a GPS system and waypoints.     Today was no different except that an already tough area to navigate was made more difficult by logging.   Someone got highly upset with the loggers.

 Golden ragwort growing along the trail

 Logged area that used to be a beautiful trail.

 Destructive practices to harvest timber. 

 This log picker was burnt plumb up!  Someone set fire to it!

 View of the distant mountains.

 Still a pretty view despite the destruction.  We had to find our way down off the back side of this mess to head toward The Basin.

 We finally got down to where we knew we were in a place we'd never visited before. This is the headwaters of Basin Creek.   Not much water coming down out of there.

 Basin Creek Headwaters.  Pretty area, but overgrown and not nearly enough water to say there is a falls back there worth visiting.

 Mountain laurel was blooming today and was especially pretty.

 Rough trail heading toward Renegade Mountain.

Would have had to bushwhack through this mess to get to what is called The Basin.  
Nope.  Not going to do it just to say I've done it.   Let's work smarter, not harder.  We'se goan try another approach before I go busting my ass to find a wet rock.

       We gave up on this attempt when we saw how pitifully little water there was when weighed
against the effort to bushwhack into that mess.  We headed another way to see if we could get close
to the bluff the falls comes off. I had seen a photo of Haley mountain Falls which is supposed to drop off the mountain into The Basin.   It was nothing more than a couple wet rocks. Seriously.

 The forest is pretty here

 One of the really weird things we ran across today was this pipe in the middle of the woods. Nothing around it in the way of man made structures.  It is near nothing.   What its purpose was remains a mystery.  It has water seeping up out of it at a barely perceptible rate. 

Another pretty pink lady slipper in the forest.

 Spot where we had lunch. We ate atop this big boulder. 

 Fire Pink. Saw a few of these today.

   We stopped and ate lunch before attempting to get near Renegade Mountain from the top.
We headed in that direction following trails. Sure enough it lead us onto the property. Next thing we knew we were driving on old golf cart paths! 

Golf cart paths criss cross this place.

  Below us sat this little building. 

We had a view out over the surrounding terrain from up here.  Down in that holler would be the basin and basin rock.

   We parked and got out to walk down to that little building. My way point for where Haley Mountain Falls would lie was down in there.  We soon came to a spring branch that barely trickled over some rocks.   I got down to the brush and was able to come to the brink of what that man called Haley Mountain Falls. It would take a Noah's Ark type flood event to make that into a true waterfall.
 I was very glad not to have wasted any additional time or effort on that. 
We walked back up the hill to the machine.  We did see a pretty lake. 

Lake on Renegade Mountain. From here you can see several occupied dwellings in the distance.
We did not tarry long around here.  Not much else to see. Our curiosity was satisfied.  We headed back toward Black Mountain. 

Someone put up this lions head carving on a tree.

Yes, this was someone's big idea that bombed out.   Pretty stone work on the little building. 

     We headed back toward Black Mountain and did a little riding around.   Finally we both felt we were done.  We were just wasting our time.    We wrapped it up and headed home.   

   I am not saying I will never come back to this place to ride.  I am saying I'll plan my trip more carefully.    The trip here in earlier Spring with Gabe was a delight.   Today was a bust.

  Some things I would like to locate in the area:

The Bristow Cemetery
The "ruins" marked on Cal Topo between Bristow Cemetery and Black Mountain Rocks
Black Mountain Rocks
Revisit the trails out toward SR 68
Sandy Creek trail

Aside from that I'm done with this place. 

Tackett Creek Via Carr Gap

Wild Coreopsis along the trail

Tackett Creek via Carr Gap Ride

Kenny & Dana Koogler

Sunday May 18, 2014

Pictures are here: Tackett Creek Pix

starting with frame 197

      We needed to get out of the house after a week spent piled up indoors and in hospitals

with the flu.   We headed north to Lafollette, TN in Campbell County to do some four-wheeling.

We wanted to explore today.  Kenny had visited some areas of Tackett Creek he wanted to show me. He also wanted to get in some practice navigating.  We are alike in this way:

It helps to learn a place if  you go over it more than once  when you are the one doing the navigating.. not just following someone else.  He studied up on it Saturday evening and

we headed out Sunday morning.  I had never been to Tackett Creek this way so it was exciting.

        We parked by the old store and turned in to go up Carr Gap Road.

It is a very rocky old road that goes back past someone's house.  You would not even see it if you did not know first that it was there.  It literally goes off the end of someone's driveway.

Here is this house and yard with the drive running alongside it.  The leaves on the trees and the gloom created by the forest setting make it hard to spot.  Unless you knew it to be there and OK to access you'd never notice it and even if you did... you would not dare go there that close to someone's house.

              We started up the rough, rocky road under cool temperatures. It was Blackberry Winter in Tennessee.  What is Blackberry Winter? Well, in Tennessee we have some changeable weather.

Still there is a pattern to it.  We have Dogwood Winter where it has turned cold again after the first signs of Spring .. and a few warm days or weeks.. we'll get a dip down into Winter again about the time the dogwood trees are in bloom.  Blackberry Winter is when it turns cold and nasty again after

the blackberry blossoms are out.   Up the road we went with the blackberry blossoms hanging thick drooping down onto the road.  The temperature was fifty-nine degrees. The skies so blue and sun shone down warmly. Dragonflies and damselflies darted and zipped like tiny bi planes or gliders

near us.  Bold black, blue, and yellow butterflies flitted and coasted around us. The road was so steep

at times it seemed we were driving straight up into the  blue yonder! I love days like this.

Finally we arrived at a spot where the mountain seemed to crest and we sat looking at a beautiful view. We were at Carr Gap. 

Carr Gap. Red dirt gravel road under the bluest skies. The fresh spring greens of the trees.
I love these bluebird days! 

     We went down the other side of the mountain and upon reaching an intersection turned left on the old railroad grade.  Tackett Creek is a mining site and the site of numerous gas wells.   The
old railroad is gone with the tracks having been taken up and the train tracks moved.  The old grade
is fun to ride and is elevated above the creek and its marshy terrain.  The ridge rises high above us to the left. Below us to the right is a vast swampy area near the creek.  Ferns and hemlocks and every manner of green growing thing abound here.  I love the wildness of this place. It helps ease me from the groomed, tamed down for tourist feel of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Here there is none of that.  A fact I am most grateful for.  We came today for me to hunt wildflowers.
I did not have much luck in that department today. I did not care though. It was just great to be out with Kenny and both of us be feeling better.  We went on to the overlook on another gravel, rugged road.  Steep climbs made slow by the rough terrain.   We came to the overlook at this view.


View from the first overlook.  Beautiful Campbell County, Tennessee. 


Breathe in the air and soak up the view.



Kenny and our Polaris RZR at the overlook

   We continued along the ridge just prowling.  We found some areas with lush ferns and pink lady slippers.

Most of the wildflowers I'd seen previously were done for the season.  The woods were still dotted with purple wild geraniums and golden alexanders.  It was still beautiful and enjoyable.  I had to walk the woods enjoying the sun beaming down through the tree tops.  The forest smelled so good of green growing things and damp earth.  I trailed my finger tips along the tops of the soft fronds of all the ferns.  

 
Luscious ferns along the trail


Golden alexanders and purple geraniums.


Pink Lady Slippers were abundant


New overlook heading toward the gas wells and Valley Creek. 

   Once we came down off the main trail we headed out to try to find the "new" waterfall.
It was one Kenny had visited with the guys. I had not visited here. He had not been sure where to find it our what the name of it was.  I kept after it until I found a photo of it that morning and GPS coordinates!  It turned out to be named Motch Falls.   We were nearly in Kentucky once we arrived at the falls.  It was beautiful itself but the area around it had suffered at the hand of man.
It was the sight of an old house that was next to the road. It appears to have burned down.
Lots of trash is scattered around. 

Motch Falls is about 50 ft high or more. It is hard to photograph. The top part is
perpetually in shadow while the base is in bright sunlight!

Here is a short video of Motch Falls set to the music "She's Just Like Summer".

 We enjoyed waterfall #1 and set a waypoint for it. The ones I got were off enough that
had Kenny not known the way they'd have confused us.  We noticed the trail continued
through the creek and went on.  We had to see where it went??

We went on ahead and in about 100 feet from the first falls came to another un-named waterfall.
He had not seen this one either.

Spring fed waterfall past Motch Falls.

    We rambled on for awhile and thought we'd be able to make a loop here.
Turned out we couldn't so we had to return the way we came.  Valley Creek is really pretty.
There are lots of gas wells out that way.  We went back toward Tackett Creek and through the woods.
I had made Kenny promise to stop at a bridge we'd crossed on the way back. I wanted to go down to the stream and see what it was like.  I'm glad we did that!


Little Tackett Creek. We are sitting in the stream. It is peaceful. Below is a video of this moment.
It was lovely.


Little Tackett Creek on a pretty Saturday in late Spring. No one else around!


     We soaked up the scenery and peace of the stream.  We played. We gloried in one anothers company and aimless wandering for its own sake.  I feel like the luckiest woman alive on days like this.   We were well. We were happy and whole.  No place to be.

     We were ready to head home.  We headed back out Carr Gap Road over the rocks under the blue sky. The smell of wild roses was heady and sweet.  The birds sang.  The dragonflies still zipped around us and the butterflies still flitted around.  Springs of water seeped down the road in spots.
I looked up into the rock forms of the forest covered with moss and lichen.  I noticed the biggest
Fraser magnolia tree I'd ever seen on the way.  It was filled with massive pure white blooms in the crown of it.  It reminded me of cake decorations.  I love being a Southerner in Rural East Tennessee.
Its near to Heaven.    I climbed back in Kenny's truck after helping him strap the RZR back down on the trailer.    The truck was warm and comfortable.  What a great day with my love.


Trail near Valley Creek. The Road Goes on Forever and the Party Never Ends!

SNOW DAY in the SMOKIES

 

 Kügler Haus in snow! 

SNOW DAY FUN! 

Thurs. Feb. 5, 2014

Pictures are here: Snow Day Pictures

    The weather forecast called for some significant snow fall for Wednesday night

into Thurdsay.  Kenny decided to do something he rarely does and stay home from work

on account of the snow. We were all home together except Jason and Mike who had to work.   We got up and got ready and went out to play in the snow.  Here in Tennessee 

this doesn't happen often. It doesn't stick around long so you'd better enjoy it while you can.   

      First we got the RZR and went out on the hard road. We four-wheeled it from our house to Crystal & Adam's house about 2 1/2 miles away.  It was beautiful and fun.

Here is a short video. It shows the River Ford of Little River.  I videotaped until Coulters Bridge then I shut it off. 

    We played in the snow with Michael and Kenny helped Adam fix the garage door. Tessa was inside with Crystal. She is only 5 1/2 months old. She was wanting to look out the window and patting it. She liked the looks of that pretty snow. Later that day she took her first ride on a four-wheeler when Adam brought her up to Tee-Maws house              in the rhino.

 Michael at his house in the back yard.

  We loaded up and headed home to get Jared and go to the farm. We were all bundled up.
It was still snowing, but slowing down.  I had not been sledding since we moved to Tennessee.  We did lots of sledding and all sorts of crazy tricks on our farm in Virginia over the years.  Today was the first chance to act a fool in the snow in the Smokies.

      

 

Catch a snowflake on your tounge! 

   We went to Townsend to the farm and rode the RZR some more and went sledding.

It was beautiful.  The cows were all standing around. The dogs were playing in the snow and rolling on their backs in it! 

Cows in the snow

   
Looking over into Rudd Holler


Sledding safari! Jared, Crystal and Michael.

    I went down and wrecked the first three times in a row.  Wrecking when you are sledding in soft, powdery snow is actually part of the fun. I rolled like a ball head over heels.  It was hilarious and did not hurt a bit.  I defied any of the rest of them to do as well!  They never pulled it off.


Michael eating "yellow snow". Jared poured Mountain Dew on a snow ball. He said he liked it!


Jared, Adam and Chevy Rose. Carrharts, camo, and 4x4s.


Crystal fixing to slide.

      We visited the cave.  We went inside and dried off and visited with Tee maw Lindsey and Tessa.  Tessa is still too small to be out in the snow.  Michael had to be convinced to come indoors. He was soaking wet and cold.  He did not want to quit. It was a memorable day filled with fun and family! Hope there are many more such opportunities.