Hiking to Quilliams Falls

Hike to Quilliams Falls

Dana Koogler solo

Thursday April  9, 2015

Total hike distance= 2 miles approx. 

Pictures are here: 
Quilliams Falls Pix

   I  got to looking at the photos of my pals Mike Maples, Rhonda and Mitch Reagan from 

their hike up Sugarland Mountain the other day.  I had done that hike a lot of times, but it hit me

how long it had been since I was there last!  I also got to digging around on You Tube and realized

I no longer had any video footage of that waterfall.   I planned a tough hike for Friday so I needed to 

be careful not to wear myself out too bad on Thursday. I also needed time to do some chores around home.

I decided this would be a perfect hike for the day.    

       I took along the GPS with the way points, but I ended up not using it.  I left it on in my pack in case 

I needed it to track back, but it did not come out again until I took it out to turn it off.   I knew I would be 

able to find the place to park, but I hoped I'd be able to pick up the path since it is an unofficial one.

I had come in a different ways on various trips.  Today for old time's sake I decided to park and come in 

the same way  I did the first time ever.   I recalled pleasant memories of the joy of finding a special 

off the beaten track location with a friend.   

     I was met at once with slopes covered in white trilliums. I also saw a forest floor strewn with 

yellow trilliums and violets.   Fringed phacelia was scattered about in a few spots.   Some of the trilliums

had just begun aging to pink.   The stream looked beautiful with its rippling white water and mossy green rocks.   I had a sunny, warm day for my hike.  The air smelled fresh and clean.   

  

Slopes of Sugarland Mountain filled with patches of large white flowered trilliums. 

Hickory King Branch

Fringed phacelia growing along the banks of the creek.  This flower can form massive carpets!

    I was glad I chose to enter the woods near my jeep and amble around a little.

It gave me plenty of time to see what was blooming and to enjoy walking up the creek. I was able to photograph and soak up the sights of each cascade.   The stream here is not filled with lots

of large cascades, but small ones. It remains pretty the higher you go. It is filled with large mossy rocks.  Lots of springs come out of the earth up here to form part of the headwaters and increase 

the volume of the stream.  

      I could see in the distance to my left a flat area. I knew that was the way I'd come in before.

I finally crossed the stream and was able to pick up the traveled path.   I only had to cross once more.   Crossing number one was because of my choice of route to enter.   Hiking the old 

abandoned highway in is easier, but it is not as scenic to start off.   Higher up if you stay with it

is another old home site and some really good wildflowers.  I missed that today, but  I was not

concerned about it.    It just felt good to be in the woods.   It tickled me to see places and remember them.   My season in Hell... and my subsequent blank pages of memory have shown 

me how valuable those things are to me.  I took my time and savored the simplest things. 

Being able to remember a creek crossing. Being able to see the masses of Dutchman's pipe vine

hanging from the trees and knowing I was on the right track.  I had seen those spots before.

It felt mighty good.   

 Remnants of an old rock wall from a settlers house.  The Andy Quilliams Family lived up in here. He was said to be a moonshiner.  

Deep pink trillium 

    I began seeing old rock walls. I saw an old rock pile that was either a chimney pile or a cairn.

I saw the hole in the rocks that has a pile of stones before it.   Mike Maples said on his post this was an old timey place for refrigeration.  I have no doubt that is so.  Our friend Ed Choate's grand parents told of using Hood Cave as their refrigerator.  My own great grandmother told of  her childhood home being built over a stream. They'd take the floor boards up and set their perishables down in the creek to keep them cold. It also served to hide their food from marauders

who would steal everything you had back then.    

     

 Small attractive slide area in the creek on the way up.  

Near the slide is this "frigidaire" as my Granny Caricofe would have said.  She was deeply affected by the Civil War and would ask me what my navel was? The correct answer was always "It's where the Yankee shot me!".  How was I ever going to grow up right in the head

being raised like that?!  

               I came to the spot where the path turned sharply uphill and entered a rhododendron tunnel.   It continues on to the big rocks up there and to the falls.  Up further is Quilliams Cave.

Due to my time limits today I was mainly wanting to visit the falls and see wildflowers.   

I passed an overlook on the way and had to stop to check out the view.

 Path thru the rhodo tunnel. It was rather hot in this tunnel as no breeze was stirring!

Overlook of the Sugarland Valley 

This view was only partial thanks to the trees, but I still enjoyed it.  Can you see Chimney Tops thru the trees? 

     I passed a little bit of pioneer junk.  I also recognized a home site.  I remembered that on the first two trips up here there were white quartz rocks marking the way.   All those were gone now.

I saw some blown down trees, but was still able to recognize the path down to Quilliams Falls.

I could hear it long before I saw it.   

     

 I sat down at the foot of the falls and just soaked it all in for awhile.  I then crossed over to get 
a different vantage of it than I'd ever had before.  I got a profile shot of it.  Being over here
splashed me with water, but even that felt good.  It also gave me a view of a small spring
flowing out of the bank beyond the falls. 

Spring from behind the waterfall.

Quilliams Falls is about 25 feet high.  

   I sat and enjoyed the falls a little longer and cooled off.   I was pleased to have remembered

how to get here.    I began my hike back.    I met a group of seven senior citizen hikers coming in

as I was going out.     I greeted them and parted company.    It was a good day for a hike and I was

pleased with my choice.   I had recognized point along the creek where my route from last time

up here met up with the route I had chosen today.  I decided I'd go back out that way for variety.

It also brought me out at the other parking spot where I saw what must have been the vehicles of the senior hikers.   I thought of Everett Sherrick and his columns he wrote for the Mountain Times Press    back in the day.  I have a book that is a compilation of all his columns. It is called Trails of Invitation.   His writing style was very flowery and full of prose.  I like it.   It showed his true love of these mountains and forests.  It showed how much he appreciated where he lived.    He wrote of lots of simple old out of the way spots.  I have hiked many of them on his recommendation.   I bet he liked this place.  He had hiked lots of the old highway locations where the road was re-routed leaving the former road to deteriorate.   Much of it can still be found though.

Below is a short video of Quilliams Falls.  The music is Smoky Mountain style

and I think the song is The World is Waiting for You.   I am glad that the world waited on me

to get well and didn't move too far along without me.  :-)

I Could Tell You About the Time

There she is.. that picker upper of germy, un-kosher objects.

I Could Tell You About the Time....

Dana Koogler

Tuesday April 7, 2015

  I have been hiking and camping since I was three.  I am now fifty.  I did not know to call 

what I was doing "hiking" until I was in my thirties.   I was just taking a walk in the woods back

then.    I grew up fortunate enough to have parents and grandparents who took me hiking, camping, fishing, mushroom hunting, out with them to cut firewood.  Any time in the woods was good to me.   I started really "hiking" and hunting waterfalls when I was in my thirties.

It was purposeful at that point.  I usually had a destination in mind.    Just because I'd been 
out walking in the woods didn't mean I knew what I was doing.   I did not start traveling off trail until about thirteen years ago. I did not start backpacking until 2004.  Learning was and is a process.  I made many mistakes along the way and so did my husband Kenny.  We learned together and sometimes we learned the hard way. 

UNPREPAREDNESS

Hooting and Hollering at Hazel Creek      

    
   My first hiking goal was to hike to all the guidebook waterfalls of the Great
Smoky Mountains National Park.    I began in 1997 prior to moving to Tennessee. I'd come down
from Virginia two or three times a year for about a week and work on it.   We moved to Tennessee
in December 2001, and by the time we moved here I had made a pretty good dent in it already.
I realized that a couple of the waterfalls were beyond the physical limits of my ability at the time.
I knew that Hazel Creek Cascades was about a fifteen mile round trip hike. I began conditioning for it and worked on it for nearly a year.   I could not talk anyone into going with me so I was prepared to go solo.  Kenny could not stand the thoughts of me going alone so at the last minute
he decides he will go along.   I appreciated the company, but had my misgivings about it. 
We tackled that together and thank the Lord we made it.   

 No more Little Debbie Cakes for Danabeezah... Hazel Creek Cascade

Victory Cheers at Hazel Creek Cascade.   Take yer shirt off. Throw ya hands up. Wave it round ya head like a helicopter!  I finished! It was my last Guidebook waterfall in the Smokies! 

   My victory cheers and elation at making it were short lived.   The journey was not over.
We had to get back out of that hole, and the return trip was going to be mostly UP HILL.
I was physically ok.   Kenny was not.  His knees began hurting him on the way back and we began
to see how woefully unprepared we were.   I gave him some ibuprofen, but that was not relieving
the pain.   We would go a short distance and then he'd have to sit or lay down again.  It became apparent to me just past the Double Spring Gap shelter on the A.T. that darkness was going to overtake us.    We had no light sources. We  had no space blankets. We had no matches.
The best thing for us to have done was probably stop at the shelter and weather the night there.
We continued on instead knowing there was only about two miles back to the vehicle at Clingman's Dome.   It was November and the wind was howling up there.  The dead hemlocks were groaning 
in the wind. We crawled in the dark out that last stretch of trail.   I knew I'd recognize the feel and sound of crush run under my feet when I got to the part that went up to the parking lot.  Darkness did overtake us and we were both in tears. Kenny from pain. Me from the terror of trying to crawl out of there in the dark.   Finally back at the jeep I loaded him in the back and took off down the mountain toward home.    The lessons learned?  Know your limits.  I was alright for a fifteen mile
round trip hike. He was not.   Neither of us had sense enough to take along a light source, rain gear, matches, space blankets, emergency supplies for a night caught out on the trail.  Last of all 
I learned that some hikes are best done as overnight backpack trips.  We learned to take along prescription pain killers too for situations like this.  Having along a percocet or some strong pain killer might mean the difference between whether you can stand to hike out or not. 

Upper Grotto Falls

Nell is Looking for Upper Grotto Falls 

      
   Grotto Falls was the very first waterfall we ever hiked to in the Smoky Mountains.
I loved it.   It was easy.    I found Ken Wise's book with all the off trail hikes in it and it was
like waving a red flag in front of a bull.  I was determined to see Upper Grotto Falls and all 
else that lay above.   Kenny had an unexpected rainy day off from work in March 2002. 
I talked him into trying to help me find Upper Grotto Falls and whatever else was up there.
We went and what a mess that turned out to be.   We did not bother taking along any rope.
We were clueless about off trail hiking in the Smokies.   We got up there and did succeed in finding Upper Grotto Falls.  We were going to continue on up the stream hunting for Twin Falls.
It cut loose and began pouring rain.   It turned cold.  We were soaked.  We had sense enough to turn around and head back.   I was faced with down climbing the rocks I'd gone up over to reach Upper Grotto Falls.   I refused to do it.  I went over in the black, loamy soil and vines at the edge and held on to dog hobble and rhodo and whatever I could get to in order to lower myself gradually.   I was soaking wet and filthy by the time we arrived back at the truck.  Kenny said there was no way in the world he was going to let me in his truck with that mess on me.  I removed
all my clothing and threw it on the back of the pickup.  I donned one of his spare shirts from 
the back seat and that is what I wore home.   That and all that black mud. Down through Gatlinburg we went with me looking like a wild animal rather than a human.  I decided it would be fun to mess with the people on the streets of Gatlinburg.   I looked and acted like Nell.  I was hollering, gesturing, and generally acting a damn fool.   It got some very shocked looks and most people turned away from me not wanting to hurt their eyes.  Tay hay in da win-hin!  

UN-Necessary Risk Taking 

North Cackalacky Crimes and Misdemeanors

   We began spreading our foolishness around by starting to hike in the Western Carolina mountains in 2003.   We stacked the deck against ourselves by starting hiking there with known
lawbreakers, trespassers, and escaped convict types.   We spent time circling the wagons, 
wandering like the Hebrew Children in the Wilderness, and then... running from the law.  

It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time  

 See this sign above?  Yes. I see it too.   Warning about the dangers of climbing on waterfalls.
I have never climbed  around Rainbow Falls unless you count stepping off the constructed trail just far enough to get a decent photo.  I have been one of those fretting and fuming about person or persons climbing on waterfalls. I  have at times been the one climbing on the waterfall and scaring others.  The first time I ever did it I blame ignorance and peer pressure.   Kenny, myself, Cathy and KT were at DuPont State Forest when it was newly opened.   We climbed High Falls.  We got in trouble for it.  Someone called the law on us and we ended up literally running out through the forest and then back down the trail to evade capture.   It is funny now, but at the time it was not funny at all.   A sign had been posted saying NOT to climb the waterfall and on a later trip we found that sign laying in the water where it broke and fell.   We really did not know it was illegal.
It was Summer and the rock to the far side was sloped and completely dry.   Some lady with a cell phone called it in.   She was probably pissed off because we were scaring her and ruining her good time.  I had been skinny dipping earlier when I thought no one could see.  I then had the audacity to speak to her college aged son being the brazen hussy that I was.  Don't climb on waterfalls in DuPont State Forest.  It may lead to your arrest!  

I Thought I Was Here.... But I was There!

     We had never hiked in Wilson Creek Wilderness before. We tried to be prepared by purchasing a map.   We brought along Kevin Adam's guidebook.   We talked to rangers at the visitor center.   We found our first waterfall there which was Hunt Fish Falls.   
We decided next we'd visit Lost Cove Falls.  We found the trailhead and followed the directions.
We did find an upper and lower waterfall as described following those directions AND using the map.     We passed a bare dirt track that lead out to the edge of a cliff. That was all we found available to reach the base of the lower falls.  During times of normal water it would have been possible to walk down the rock or scoot and reach the base.  Right now the water levels were too high and the rock wet and slick.  I'm going to make a long story short as possible.
We ended up deciding this had to be the way down.  We climbed down a dead pine tree using it as a ladder.   It was leaning there against the cliff.   It did not look as stout as the one pictured below or it might have been ok. It was flimsy and small.   We made it down.  The rock at the base of the falls was dry, but stood up in fins like little triangles.   Kenny was fine, but I was so upset looking back at what we'd just done I did not enjoy the experience. I was shaking and burst into tears.
He calmed me down.  I snapped a photo or two and all I could consider was that now we had to get out of that mess and back UP!   The gorge there was high walled, narrow and filled with a deep hole of water beyond where we sat.  

     We got out by climbing back up the pine tree. Kenny helped make sure I got up on the ledge. I got another sapling and handed it down to him.  I locked my feet and legs around a tree behind me. I used all my strength and a heavy dose of prayer and pleading the blood of Jesus to get him UP on the ledge with me.   Once he was up there safely I took off like a scalded dog up the bluff.
It hit me about halfway up that he was not right behind me.   I was terrified.   I began hollering Kenny, Kenny! He yelled back "Shut the hell up!  If you were so worried about me why'd ya take off and leave me?"  Back on the trail I finally calmed down and we said our apologies to one another.   It was not until Monday or Tuesday with the help of friends we figured out we'd been at Gragg Prong Falls and NOT Lost Cove Falls.    The guidebook clearly said of Gragg Prong "There is NO ROUTE TO THE BASE!"  Goes to show you... even WITH preparation you can still mess up real bad.   

We later did make it to Lost Cove Falls pictured above.  The two falls look nothing alike!
A rope is an item we should always take along.  Nearly 100% of the time because in this situation
it would have made all the difference in the world.  

Core Temperature After Drop

   Another way I've messed up before is not going prepared for the weather.  We took a Winter hike to White Oak Sinks with friends.   I wore jeans, a flannel shirt and a jacket.   My problem is
that I am one of those people who can ignore a lot of noxious stimuli as long as I'm having a good time.   I stay in the water swimming until my lips and fingers and toes are purple.  Long after other folks have said "This water is too darn cold" and gotten out I will still be in there having fun.
Being that way on a Winter hike is not a good thing.   I did not eat enough. I did not drink enough.
I got hot and sweaty then cooled.  I knew I was chilly, but I felt fine.  About the time I began to be uncomfortable I was back in the vehicle and figured no big deal.  I put on a heavier coat.  
We went to eat a hot lunch at Smokin' Joes BBQ.   During the course of lunch I began to get worse.   I got incredibly drowsy and my mind was slowing down.  Even with hot food in me and in a warm setting with drier, warmer clothes I was struggling.   I began to chill and shook all over.
I later talked to an ER physician who said that was a case of After Drop.  My body temperature was already too low.  Once I stopped moving about the cooler blood in my limbs mixed with my core circulation.  Once I ate my blood supply was pulled to my stomach to digest food . All these things factored in to dropping my core body temperature just enough that I was miserable.
I was not in any real danger, but it took me several hours to feel normal again.  

I am more careful now. I do still wear cotton frequently when I hike.  I eat. I drink. I pay more attention to body signals like discomfort. Starting to pee more frequently when you're out in the cold is also a sign of your core temperature heading downward.   Did I learn from it? Yes.  
Could it happen again? Yes.    

But It Looked like Such a Nice Waterfall from Over Here!

    Another case of taking a foolish, un-necessary risk was to be experienced up on the Road Prong in January.   We hiked with KT and Cathy up Road Prong. We took our shoes off and waded the prong at Standing Rock Ford.    Up to our thighs in cold water.   Once up the Prong to Trickling Falls we saw something that intrigued us.  Off in the distance through the rhodo was a glimmering white foam and the sound of a waterfall.   We scooched over a log to cross the prong to that side.
Once across we found the rhodo at the edge of the stream so impenetrable we had to swim in it like people body surfing a mosh pit.   I looked below me at one point and about five or six feet down were large white quartz boulders! Falling through would have been dangerous, but that wont gonna happen.  Once across and hiking up the side stream.. the waterfall we saw was merely a three or four foot high cascade. The risk not worth the reward.  Back we went to endure it all again.    Did we learn from it? Yes.  Have we repeated it again?  I'm sure that if we haven't we will.

Add Insult to Injury

   Other forms of unpreparedness and outdoor foolishness?  Oh yes.  I am a bottomless pit
of that sort of thing.   Unpreparedness?  Take along extra deodorant and baby wipes on 
backpack trips.  Not every backpacking partner has lost their sense of smell like one dude I 
went with.    Always wear life jackets when kayaking. Even on the EASY stuff because it would be EASY to drown.  Don't take your backpacking partner on too hard a trip the first go round if you want them to ever go again.  Not if you want them to like it.  Also if you want them to like it... be prepared enough to take along the appropriate sized tent to accomodate you both.  Don't try to stuff 1 1/2 men into a 2 person tent.    Sorry Kenny.  

Trail Sex Antics 

"No More Num nums for Kenny"

    We are very much in love as a couple and while we will never be like one of those couples
on the cover of a Harlequin Romance novel.. we are more like a Ron Jeremy skin flick.  
We have some good times being frisky.    We showed up late to meet Rich, KT, Cathy, Harry, 
Bill and Emmett for a day of hiking to Big Falls on the Thompson River.    We got fussed at
by the gang for being a good thirty minutes late.   We were embarrassed, but Kenny decided he'd make excuses.   He told Rich and the rest of them that I was busy styling my hair and make up.
That I was primping in the bathroom too long. He shot me a look and laughed.  I stuffed my anger down.    Later in the day he took his chances and brought it up again.  Not once more, but a couple times.  Finally I couldn't stand it any longer and shouted "Shut the hell up. It was not my fault. I was not working on my hairdo.  You had to have a piece of tail before we went out the door!"  
Rich's eyes got big and he laughed. "Oh! No more num nums for Kenny!"   Don't put your 
last minute sexcapade excuses on me boy.  I will take the love, but I won't take being blamed
falsely.  I hardly ever wear make up! 

Sliding at Big Falls KK and DK.. those freaks and perverts. 

Dana on rope. Big Falls down from the top of the gorge. 

Shagadelic Trip Down Bonas Defeat 

   We hiked down Bonas Defeat with Rich and Kevin Adams.   It was an adventure and one
I would not have missed, but it was not as bad as anticipated.   We found out we did not like taking
direction for being in movies.  We got way out ahead of them two and decided to make our OWN movie.. a porn movie.    We found us a spot in the bushes way downstream and were in there just getting it on. Woo Hoo!  A great time was had, but man alive... we just barely got our clothes back on when here came a group of about six people up from the far end.   Wont nobody else supposed to be out here today!  

Down on my knees begging. Bonas Defeat Gorge.  The crux of Bonas. Perhaps the reason for the 
sex adventure was the relief over having this part done?!

Don't Have Sex in the Middle of the Trail! 

   Kenny had bought a motorcycle.   We took it down to the Cherohala Skyway for a ride
on a hot Summer day.    The very first time we went we took a picnic, we got off the bike and hiked. We found an out of the way spot and put a blanket on the ground and had one of those magical lovemaking sessions that is a Seeing God Experience.    The second time around we 
got caught in the rain.   We missed our chance for the super great make out spot but just picked 
the next pull off we came to.  We found a place away from the road and just figured it was one of those old pull offs from back in the days when the Skyway was being constructed.   We had our
fun and were clothed once more.   We came strolling back down to the motorcycle carrying a blanket and me with sticks and leaves in my hurr........ to be met by a man and a woman HIKING up this old "access road".  They were giving us the some odd looks for sure.  I was nervous at once and gave out my best "Heller! How u durrin?" They did not look impressed but kept on hiking.   I went home and checked the guidebook.  We were having sex right in the middle of a trail. YES.  That IS a trail.   Don't do that again.  That could have turned out much worse.  
Not every pull off on the Skyway is just some old abandoned parking spot for heavy equipment. 

 Weird Shit

  We've had an assortment of other weird shit happen over the years.  A man tried to grab me
in the St. Mary's Wilderness in Virginia.   We've run into drug camps. Narrowly avoided hiking into meth labs. Run into Unabomber type stuff.   Encountered Human Dog Hiker on Mt. LeConte. 
I have been swimming with copperheads in Little River.  I have been kayaking and swimming with snakes. I have narrowly avoided being bitten once or twice.  I've ended up finding a dude lurking in the bushes along the Cataloochee Divide trail. I have had a man and woman run and hide from me at Gold Mine Gap Trail.  I've ended up with dog poop on my hiking boots.  I have found a
Winter coat hung on a sapling in the middle of nowhere in the Smokies.   No trail anywhere around.  No person either. I was just sure I was going to find a corpse.  Creepy stuff.

    

   I have learned from mistakes. I have gained experience.  Doesn't mean I'm through making mistakes.   The point is I am not perfect. Far from it.  Experience helps, but it doesn't solve
everything.    Long as I am human.......... 

   Experience: Something you gain just AFTER you needed it. 

Skinner Mountain With Sharon

Skinner Mountain Exploring With Sharon

Saturday April 4, 2015

Dana & Kenny Koogler

Sharon McGee

Photos are here starting with frame 155

and are a combination of trips from various parts of the area. 

Skinner Mountain Pix

   We had not gotten to see Sharon or do anything with her in about a year!  

She was going to be at her place in Fentress County, TN.   She plans to move to Tennessee from

Florida and was up on work business. She was also meeting with a building contractor to take 

steps toward moving and building a home.     Kenny made it back from Wyoming on Thursday night.  Our son-in-law, Adam and myself picked him up from the airport Thursday night.

Friday was spent doing chores.  Saturday was play day for us.  We headed out to the Cumberland Plateau to see our good friend.    Sharon is fun because she likes exploring as much as we do.

     We spent a little while chatting, catching up some and fiddling with the ATVs which 

needed some attention. They sit all Winter and have to be attended and coaxed to start.  We ended up having to go pick up a battery, but before long we were back and the battery was installed.  Thankfully the 700 machine cranked to life and we were ready to go!

We were more convinced than ever that we need to schedule a work weekend over here. 

Sharon has trees that need cutting off the beach.   The trails we ride seldom get ridden by anyone else so if they are going to get cut out and maintained we will have to do it. 

The ATV's could use Kenny's and Adam's touch to maintain them.    It would be fun and 

therapeutic right now. 

      We decided to start out by doing what we all wanted to do most of all. Find a rock art painting that is supposed to be on Skinner Mountain somewhere.   We have hunted it several times before, but today we were armed with fresh clues.   I can't launch into a lot of details which would bore the reader, but also potentially divulge the location of something sensitive.    

    I will instead tell you that we started off trying to look for it along the bluffs up near the 

old fire tower site.   All that is left of the fire tower is the stanchions.   Kenny and I knew there was a spring branch down below the tower site.  We had hiked below there before hunting waterfalls and caves.    We hunted the bluffs but did not find anything so we turned around and headed back up the mountain.   We went out to the overlook toward the East and ate lunch.   We decided once 

lunch was over we'd go show Sharon some waterfalls we'd visited, but she had not been to yet.

     We headed down the trails exploring and wondering with each place we passed "Where does that go?" 

We had to stop and cut out a log across the main trail.   It was a massive tree that had fallen and we could not go under it. There was no way around it either.   Kenny purchased a different, better chainsaw from a buddy.  It had a brand new bar on it and chain.   He got the bar stuck when the tree went to give way and the two halves of the tree pinched it.   We had a bonding experience as friends trying to work together to free the chainsaw.  He had us women bouncing the tree up and down and side to side to try to free the bar.

It was scary watching the log splinter and wondering when it was going to give way!?!  Wondering if we'd be able to jump back out of the way? Wondering if we'd get the chainsaw free?  Finally he hooked the winch to it and I got in the RZR to run the controls.   It worked!  The saw was freed. No one got hurt.  Nothing got torn up.  He finished sawing the tree out and we rolled the logs out of the way.

       Once we headed down the other trail toward the waterfalls two things were apparent.

1. The falls should be running because the trail and the stream were pretty much one at that point. Springs of water were flowing heavily down that dirt track.  2.  We were not done clearing trail for the day.   We ended up clearing three more bad spots.  The worst was where trees had fallen damming up the stream and holding it back.  We got muddy and dirty and covered in saw dust and plant matter working on that stuff.   With all of us working on it.. it was cleared pretty quickly.

   

     A short distance later we arrived at the waterfalls.    Both falls were running today.

We saw a few Spring wildflowers and were thrilled at how pretty this spot was.  We walked down the slope to get a closer look at it all.    It was beautiful!  Kenny and I had been here before.

One trip the falls were not running.    Today they were pretty.  Trout lilies bloomed on a ledge above one falls!  Fiddleheads unfurled.   Rue anemone blossomed.  The sun shone down into this hole in the earth and lit the falls up like a shower of diamonds.  

Waterfall #1

  

Sharon at Waterfall #2

Trout lilies were abundant today in this spot!  They are getting plenty of sun and moisture!

My favorite view of Waterfall #2 today.  Deep green velvet moss. Sunshowers in the falls.

One of the waterfalls even had a tiny rainbow in it!

We strolled along talking and enjoying the scenery and one another's company.

We were beneath a rock overhang.  I began to say This looks like maybe.... but no.. could it be?

And Sharon was ahead of me. We were both scouting the rocks for that rock art painting from so long ago.  She let out a holler and I knew.. SHE FOUND IT!    Her reaction was priceless.

Her face was flushed pink and she was joyful and we were cheering.  Right before us was the rock art painting dated to between 400 and 1000 years ago!   Lobster man!

       Lobster man.. see his claw hands?

We found it!

Our friend Ed Choate who has passed on and is in Heaven...was a skeptical somebody and a jokester.  He claimed he was there when this was done.  He said "He knowed who done that. It was not old, that it was a Tipton that done it."  It is a running joke.

Ed was ever the skeptic and loved to play.  I miss him a lot.  We all do.

        We did some cheering and hollering and hooting.  We got Kenny back over there. He had the chainsaw out and was clearing more trail.    He came and checked it out. He doubted this was it.

He did not relent until we got home and I had further proof.  It was very satisfying.  

We were elated.   What a bonding experience finding something you've wanted to see. Something so special and old with a friend!    

             Sharon's joy and appreciation made it even more fun!

We headed back out of this holler and decided to go hunt morrel mushrooms.   We went out to the spot where we've found them before.  We did not find any.  Everything is still too cold.  We're about two weeks early.   While standing there Kenny said "Do you hear that?" and we all got quiet and listened. We DID hear water running up in another holler! The stream there had a tiny bit of water in it, but not enough to make that racket.  We followed the sound. 

We bushwhacked about two hundred yards up the stream bed and found a pretty waterfall we have drive past a dozen times or more!

Kenny and Sharon at the falls.

I am naming this one Fifty Five Gallon Drum Falls because that is what stood out the most!

ha! See the old drum laying in the creek bed? It has a pipe sticking out. Someone was using it to collect water or something in the past.   

What a lovely find and so worth the short 'swhack up there to visit it!

Foam flowers were beginning to bloom up there. Rue Anemone. Buttercups.  It is a pretty spot.

There are two springs above it and one on the side of it. There is an old logging road over from it.

I want to revisit this spot when we've had plenty of rain and see what it looks like?!

     We headed back to cook dinner at Sharon's place in Woo Hoo Holler.

She had bacon wrapped filets cooked on real hardwood charcoal. Grillin beans. Cheese bread with butter.

Pies for dessert in various flavors.  Wine. Beer.  

    We ate like Elvis!  We sipped wine and beer.  We enjoyed one another's company and the conversation.

It is always a joy.  We never want to leave this place.  Lots of laughter and great times.

There are always plans of things we dream of doing the next go round. 

     In Magicmomma's Crystal Ball of the Future I see:   All of us hunting for Franks Flume Cave

Clearing trails down into Lost Cane so I can see Spring wildflowers and waterfalls, Re-visiting 

Big Sunk Cane, Finding out where those other trails go......... No end to the treasure to discover

in this wild and beautiful place.   We needed it badly today.    It did a lot to ease the soul sick feeling of loss.

In the future I see joy and hope. Thank you Lord!

Below are two videos from today.  

Short Hike up Rush Branch

Sweet White Trillium along the banks of Rush Branch

Short Hike up Rush Branch to Believer Falls 

Tuesday March 31, 2015

Dana Koogler solo 

Round trip distance 1/2 mile

Photos are here starting from frame 368

Rush Branch Pix

  I had to run to the post office and bank. I decided I'd head toward Townsend to do my errands.

Once I had that done I would take a short hike to see some early Spring wildflowers and a waterfall.

I had not hiked up Rush Branch in several years.   I pulled over by the road and strolled back there.

I passed the old mossy rock wall.  

Next I crossed the small stream and continued up to the old cement container that I think used to hold trout.

The sides of this small gorge are really high and narrow.  

I began seeing Spring wildflowers.  This is a good place to see lots of Sweet White Trillium among other things.   I think that wood poppy blooms back here, but it was not blooming yet.

Sweet White Trillium opening up.

Blood root just opening.  

   It appears wildflowers are still slow to get going this year. It was a hard Winter with lots of ice and snow and bitterly cold temperatures.   We are about two weeks behind where we usually are this time of year in bloom season.   I noticed another difference.  Hiking back here is not an official, maintained path. 

It used to be a lot harder bushwhack than it was today.    It appears two things have made it easier. 1. It is getting hiked more now and a small path is tracked down.  2.  The old logs that were across the path have rotted and fallen down at last.  It is not necessary to go high to avoid them anymore. You can just stay low to the creek most of the way.

Small and attractive Believer Falls back on Rush Branch.

Looking back the holler from the base of the falls.

I sat and enjoyed the falls for awhile then made my way back to my vehicle. It was an easy hike and I was not disappointed.
Below is a short video of Believer Falls.  

Solo Hiking Van Buren County

Blue hepatica blooming in Camps Gulf 

Solo Hiking and Exploring Van Buren County, TN

Dana Koogler solo hike

Total hike milage for the day = 10 miles 

Photos here starting with frame 107
Van Buren County Hike Pix

   Our lives in the last month or so have been insane.   A death in the family.  Illness. Sadness.

Travel for work. I had hoped since this was my first Springtime as a retired person it would be awesome. It has been anything but awesome.   Going through one of those patches where we are feeling snake bit.   Like I always say.. The bleeding always stops. :-)

I had to stay home on a pretty Saturday waiting for Kenny to get back from Georgia with Adam's help.    Thanks to our son in law, grandkids and Mike Lindsey for helping bring the Kügler Mobile home.  A few hours later I deposited Kenny back at the airport to fly to Wyoming.   

    Sunday I was determined to get out and exercise and see something pretty.  

I went to Fall Creek Falls to hike the additions to the park. I also wanted to check out another sinkhole nearby.  It has a name.. and that name is Millstone.   It was the first one I've checked out

that was NOT pretty.   It was good practice with the GPS and solo bushwhacking.  I found it by following the ridge line out.  I parked and walked down the road, picked up a rudimentary trail and 

began my journey which I figured would be 1/2 mile bushwhack to a pretty sinkhole with a waterfall or a sinkhole pond in it.   I found it, but no such luck.  I got whacked in the eye by a switch on the way for my trouble.   I found it and it was very ugyly. No pretty wildflowers. Nothing but what looks like a bathtub with the plug pulled.   No pond, but what appeared to have been one previously.  I found only a sinkhole full of downed trees, a few rocks, a muddy bottom and a bare trickle of water from a tiny spring branch.   

         I decided I sure was not going back the way I came so I picked up a logging road and followed it back out. It was longer, but easier and more open. I did see a few wildflowers on my way.   I then took my vehicle and put it in Grandmaw Low Gear to come back off Turkey Scratch Road.  No shoulder. A steep grade.  Right over the top of someone's house at one point.  

I was glad as gold to get down off that road.  

       

Trillium cuneatum blooming along the logging road walking back out from Millstone.

A view back up toward the ridge I traversed. This is what the terrain was like. It was ugly.  It is better down here than it was up there. Lots of greenbrier up there and saw brier.   

      

                I decided I was interested in hiking in Camps Gulf to see what wildflowers were blooming.   I parked and headed back there and was pleased to start seeing stuff blooming almost immediately.   I had thought I'd go back to Hemlock Falls today since the last go round we found a waterfall, but it was not Hemlock Falls. I also found out today that the home site ruins near the
start of the hike are NOT the Prater Place that is mentioned.   The first time we hiked here we
went looking for both. We thought (wrongly) that we had found both.  We passed a homesite.
We found a waterfall.  It was within the stated 2.7 miles one way.    We liked the hike and thought
that was great.  I have since figured out through a series of events that NO we did not see either one. We've still got it to do.  I have no way point for the waterfall we found the first time.  
I was alone.   I determined today that I'd just go straight back and not take that left hand turn
following survey tape that lead us to find the cave waterfall the first go round.   I knew what Hemlock Falls looked like from a photo.  I was NOT going to make the same mistake twice.

      I got back there and continued following signs.  I started making the same turns and twists as
last time.  I was seeing survey tape.  I thought OH Hell no... I'm doing it again.  I stopped and considered what to do. I decided to phone the info desk at Fall Creek Falls State Park and ask someone before giving up.  What ended up happening was I got two different answers from two different staff members.  I was told they now have a map with info on it regarding this hike. 
I had already gone about 2.5 miles back and yet I had misgivings about the distances they 
stated for how far the falls was back there.  I measured it on google maps as almost a mile further back to where I gauged the falls must be.   My instincts told me this was probably not the place to 
be solo hiking with no way point especially.  I decided to turn around and save it for another day.
I met a ranger on the way out. He was very nice, but he was not happy about  me solo hiking back in there.   He was also not forth coming with a lot of particulars on the trail.  I could tell he was avoiding sharing any details that might have me going back for try #2 today at it. I could understand his position, but I admit I found it patronizing and it annoyed me.  

            

 Allegheny Spurge blooming in Camps Gulf

 Camps Gulf Trail near the start

Toadshade trillium along Camps Gulf trail. Saw lots of these.

One of many caves along the trail. 

       I was disgusted so I ambled back to the jeep. I ate lunch.  I tried to decide what I'd get into next.   I decided rather than drive a considerable distance elsewhere I'd head up toward the 
Wheeler Farm and hike the loop trail.  I had never hiked the entire loop proper so that would be 
interesting.  It has three waterfalls, an arch, lots of beautiful rock forms, lots of Spring wildflowers, and the ruins of the old homesite down in there.   I was also wanting to scout to see what the gorge floor looked like. I'd only been down there a couple times total.  Just thinking of future plans.

     I hiked the loop clockwise.  The waterfall behind the arch was barely a drip so I did not bother going down in there. The wildflowers were pretty, but not as pretty as the first year we visited there.  The cold had burned a few of them last night.   I enjoyed seeing the rock formations around the loop. I'd definitely like to hike  this again after a significant rain event.  It would be great to see those dry streams flowing with water!   

a poor photo of Medley Arch 

The one lonely blooming trout lily I saw along the Wheeler Farm Loop. 

They are just getting going.

The loop trail is well marked and very easy to follow. This is a little of what Cane Creek Gulf looks like down in there.   I did not get any photos of the cane breaks, but I should have.   It looks like Saigon down in there in places.

Top portion of Wheeler Falls. I sat down under a hemlock tree and enjoyed these waterfalls before starting my trudge back up the gravel access road to the jeep.   It did not seem hard today to do this loop.  
I salvaged what had otherwise been a screwed up day.   

Below is a short video of Wheeler Falls.