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| The house we worked on. |
It was Spring-Break time and I spent the week in Tennessee.
While the time was too short I did manage to hit the trail, once, this past
Saturday (April 5) at Laurel Creek Falls.
I went out with my good friend Glen Yelton, but before the
hike there was some work to do. See, Glen and his Dad are building a house near
Roan Mountain, where they are from. Glen showed me the A-frame house back in
July and I will say they have made some real progress since then. The funny
thing about the house is Glen and his Dad has no written plans; they are for a
better word
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| Snow on Camp Cheek Bald. |
just “winging it.” So this was our first stop.
I have done some carpentry before, when we remodeled the
house in St. Clair back in the early 1980’s; I put in most of the insulation upstairs.
I do drive in the occasional nail, but I had not done much work like this in a long
time and I do tend to bend a lot of nails. But, I got to help hammer in some ceiling
slats and I only bent two nails, which isn't half bad. I will say that it was enjoyable and I would
help out again anytime. Well, after some carpentry work it was on to the main
event hiking.
Early in the day on the way up we were surprised to see snow
on the top of
Camp Creek Bald. This mountain is just under 5,000 feet, and the
mountains of the
Roan Highlands are all higher so we were starting to rethink
going there. This was made more clear because the site of the house where we
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| Snow on Hump Mtn. |
working, one can see
Hump Mountain, which is part of the Roan Highlands.
Guess what it was covered in snow and with it being noticeable cooler and windy
in Roan Mountain than in
Greeneville we knew up on the Highlands it was going to
be even colder and windier. So, we decided hiking the Roan Highlands might not
be the best spot. So, that is when we decided to hike to Laurel Fork Falls.
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| Towing warning is to the left. |
To get to the trailhead we went south on Dennis Cove Road
(FS 50) after passing through
Hampton, TN. The path to Laurel Fork Falls is off
the
Appalachian Trail (AT), so the northbound trail passes through the parking
area off Dennis Cove Road. The parking area, according to the AT
parking site,
is big enough for 6-8 cars which is about right. There is also parking across
the road in a field. Just remember there is a sign on the information board that
says if you block anyone or hinder traffic on the road you will be towed.
Anyway, at the time I am going to stop for a rant. Since it
is my blog I can do this, but first here is a disclaimer; if you are a
right-wing nutter or dupe I advise not to read this middle section. I will highlight
this part so you can avoid it for all others read on.
**Ok, when we pulled in
we parked next to a truck driven by this older gentleman, who seemed pleasant
enough. He was just coming back from a hike on the AT the direction we were
heading. As I walked past his truck headed for the trail I noticed he had on
the side of his truck and I am paraphrasing “I use to have money, but Obama
took it all.” Later, when going through my photos, I noticed on the bed of his
truck the phrase “It is time to abolish the I.R.S. (Internal Revenue Service).”
I have heard this stick soooo many times before. While I don’t know if the
I.R.S. should be abolished, I do sympathize with the idea that labor should be
taxed less and wealth more. But I can guarantee this guy wants to move the tax burden
to those who can least afford to pay with this whole Fair (sales) Tax garbage. Also
newsflash, federal taxes are at their lowest rates in over 60 years.
For those who hate
the government I need to point out there would be no AT there to hike if not
for Uncle Sam. Now I am speculating (but since this is my blog I can also do
that) I would say besides Obama, three other presidents this guy probably has
issues with are Franklin
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| The truck I saw at the trailhead. |
Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson and Jimmy Carter. If it wasn’t
for these three presidents there would be no AT. Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built quite a bit of the infrastructure that underpins
the AT. Johnson got the National Trail System Act passed in 1968 that protected
the AT and gave it National Park status. Carter passed the AT Amendments to
this act which helped fund the acquiring of land and because of this almost all
of the trail is in public hands . So without the “evil” government there would
be no AT for this guy to hike on or park at. Remember there is a good reason
people use to call the AT the “government trail.”
If you hate taxes I
guess one would rather pay user fees. With the budget cuts that the US Parks
Services have suffered for over two decades you now have to pay to camp in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and visit day use places like Anna Ruby and Dukes Creek Falls. I
remember during the Government shut-down a women complaining at the Black
Balsam Knob parking area that the vault toilet were closed. Hey, these places
don’t fund themselves and the taxes you pay do. At the end of the day I know I
pay far less in taxes than what day use fees would cost. Another newsflash,
private entities DO NOT DO EVERYTHING BETTER! Ok, rant over back to the trail.**
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| Charlie & a footbridge. |
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| Entrance to Pond Mtn. |
I would be remissed not to mention the third member of our
hiking group on the day and that is Charlie Brown, Glen’s big chocolate lab. He
is just a big lovable dog, who loves the water and on this hike there are a
number of spots for him to dive in. It is funny but at one point someone
thought he was a bear. Anyway, this part of the AT is very well maintained, all
of the creek crossings have footbridges (Charlie didn’t use any of these). It
also passes under a number of patches of rhododendrons and is not too
difficult.
It was around this time that
we entered the Pond Mountain Wilderness, which I always find interesting. It is
6,195 acres of wilderness protected from development by the
US Forest Service.
It is at this point that the AT comes to one of the
highlight of this hike, the
Koonford Bridge. The bridge sits on the site of the
old railroad trestle and uses the stone base of this old structure. Most of the
AT in this area is built on an old railroad bed used to haul out timber. Because
it is in a wilderness area, when the Koonford Bridge was built it was done with
hand tools as power tools are not allowed in a wilderness area. Of the original
Koonford Bridge only the sides remain from it. A flood in January of 1998
washed away the middle section. It was repaired and reopened in April, 1999 by the
Tennessee Eastman Hiking & Canoeing Club (TEHCC). Oh, and this was done with mules and hand tools.
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| Koonford Bridge. |
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| *Mules used in 1998 to repair the bridge. |
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| Middle section there was replaced in '99. |
When we reached the junction where the AT heads down toward
the falls and splits with the high water trail we ran into the first of a
number of individuals we would meet from
Appalachian State University in Boone,
NC. They were geology students studying the rocks in the railroad cuts. Quartzite
and sandstone can be found in these cuts. Also one can see the sediment lines
which is evidence of the continental impacts that helped form these mountains
250 million years ago (sorry nutters).
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| Sign at the junction. |
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| Trail down to Laurel Fork Falls. |
Since there was no high water we took the trail left that
headed down to the base of the Laurel Fork Falls. I will speak more about this
trail in a few minutes, but for now let me say it was steep going
down.
However, when one first hears the falls is cool, but there is nothing like
that first glance
through the trees of the roaring water signaling that one is almost there.
I guess this is the where I point out that , like some other
places I have visited in the last six months this wasn’t my first time to
Laurel Fork Falls. Back in my college days I came here via the Hampton Blueline
Trail/AT. That was over 20 years ago so in some ways today’s visit was a new experience
(because I think now I am not under the influence of anything and I appreciate
things more). Laurel Fork Falls is an impressive site. It is a classic
waterfall and on this day it had above average water flow which made it all the
better.
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| Beautiful Laurel Fork Falls. |
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| Another shot of the falls. |
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| Laurel Fork flows away from the falls. |
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| Charlie is hungry! |
I will say Charlie enjoyed the water immensely and he also likes
the bacon jerky I brought too. This gets me to another thing that bothered me
and it was the trash people left at the falls, but I plan to amend my
blog on
Leave No Trace, let just say if I can pack out my trash so can you. After
relaxing and enjoying the falls it was time to return. Here is where I am going
to talk about the trail back up the gorge. If you have read this blog you know
about my descriptions of
Georgia be rough and rocky, well the peach state
called and said this trail was steep and stony!
Charlie had set the pace all day and did on the way up, but by the time
we got to the top he was even give out, so how do you think a couple of old
guys felt.
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| The AT heads north... |
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| ...& we head up. |
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| Charlie leading the way. |
Well, the trail back is not tough but it seemed so after
that climb out of the gorge. Overall it was a nice day hike on the AT. Anyway,
when we got back to the parking area we ran into a thru-hiker, I think his name
was Brian, but I am bad with names so I am not sure. He was from
St. Louis and incredibly had
started his thru-hike in mid-March. In a little over three week he had hiked
417 miles. He was averaging almost 20 miles a day on some of the hardest parts
of the AT. I had told Glen we would meet some thru-hikers and we did. But, most
of these people had started from
Springer Mountain in February, our new friend
from St. Louis caught up with all of these people, that is
amazing I think he will make it to
Katahdin.
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| On the AT. |
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| Vista of Hampton, TN. |
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| Our new thru-hiker friend. |
We took him down the Dennis Cove Road to Hampton, where he
was going to stay at a hostel,
Braemar Castle, in town. However, before we got
there we were offered a great view of Hampton and the valley below…nice. We
dropped him off
Brown’s Grocery & Hardware, before heading back toward
Greeneville and the end of a nice last day of Spring Break.
*Photo from Elizabethton Star & THECC
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