Ozone Falls

This weekend the local destination Archie picked out, ( I picked last weeks) and it was Ozone Falls in Cumberland County, TN. The trail down is very similar to last weeks cable trail but perhaps not quite as steep although I was on all fours a couple of times coming out of here and scooting getting down in the rocky little hole in the wall. Ozone drops 110 feet and while last weekend the waterfalls were sparse, it has rained all week and this weekend the water was WILD coming over that bluff into the plunge pool A lot of volume. We had toyed with the idea of swimming in the plunge pool then changed our minds at the last minute and did not wear swimsuits under our attire. Just as well because the water was way too turbulent and COLD for me to bail into. Here's Archie standing behind the waterfall, there is a nice shelf you can get onto so we climbed back there after climbing down. I am behind the waterfall in this picture thus the crap lighting. You can see the shelf behind the plunge pool I think in one of these photos. After a few minutes at the bottom then we climbed back out and took a few photos at the top of the falls. Something evil apparently possessed both of us and caused Superman impressions. Actually if you follow this blog you have seen Archie do this before but I was finally persuaded to. Jeeze what was I thinking? We haven't planned anything for next Saturday (Aug 8th). Guess we'll just wing it. Boy DSL rocks, seconds to upload these photos instead of minutes.

Cane Creek Falls

Cane Creek Falls is ordinarily a much higher volume waterfall than others in Fall Creek Falls Park but it had not rained in a couple of weeks when we visited on July 25, 2009, so the volume isn't very high but it is a beautiful spot, the waterfall drops 85 feet into its plunge pool. Just to the left of Cane Creek Falls is a much smaller falls called Rockhouse Falls which had barely any water flowing over it on the day we were there. Rockhouse Falls drops 110 feet into the plunge pool it shares with Cane Creek Falls. The view is spectacular but the big attraction for Archie and I was the trail down to the falls, it is maybe 1/4 mile but it is so steep that there is a steel cable the entire way to hang onto. Unfortunately, my camera battery went dead after I took the photos at the bottom so I didn't get any of the trail down and back up but the next time we visit I will. We are planning a big trip out West next November to see the Grand Canyon and probably Zion National Park in Utah. There is a great hike there to a view from Angels Landing and it is a long cable trail over slick rock. We've decided that it might be great training for that hike to come and do this trail every day for a couple of weeks before we go to Utah. Ah yes, the required photo of Archie imitating Superman at the plunge pool.

I have to confess it was quite a kick to make my way down that steep and rocky slope. What made it even sweeter was when we arrived at the top of the trail there were 4 college kids in their early twenties who were from out of town. They were standing there looking over the edge going "Ain't no way", "Dude you must be crazy", "Why did you bring us here?" . They looked up and saw us and said ,"Ya'll go ahead." Archie took one look said yeah this looks like what we have been looking at on the internet. I pulled on my gloves before bailing over the edge, looked at the kids and said, "Hey, follow us, you know if we can do it, you can do it. Just watch where we put our feet. You'll be fine." After two middle aged folks bailed over that cliff, don't you KNOW those youngsters had to! They made it to the bottom safely although they expressed a lot of fear especially the first 30-40 feet which is the steepest.

Burgess Falls State Park, Putnam Co. TN

A couple of weeks ago my friend and hiking partner in crime Archie went to Burgess Falls State Park, I had not been in many years ( was a college hangout) and had forgotten how lovely all the falls are. Upon returning from the trip I then lost my camera . More accurately I forgot where the ^@!! I put it. However, I knew it was here and finally found it so without further ado here are the photos. Here's first myself and then Archie standing underneath some huge stone base for an old mill that was on the river. Then there is this panoramic view of the middle falls that are around 80 feet high here. Now to the left here are the big falls 136 feet high and the canyon wall rises on the left more than a hundred more feet, it is a spectacular view. Here's another view of the biggest falls (lower falls) It was a great little hike just around 2.5 miles round trip, pretty easy except for the climb down to the bottom of the lower falls, wet, slick, water spray etc and cold because of the wet. I think we are going to do this one again this summer when getting misty cool water on you is much more pleasant. Anyway don't miss this if you are in the area of Putnam or White County, TN, it is well worth the time to check it out.

Laurel Falls at GSMNP

After scrambling over ice, snow, rocks, and roots for 4 miles the day before ( and maybe something to do with shooting tequila Saturday night but don't worry we believe in gun control and they were all well placed shots) , we elected a cakewalk of 2.5 PAVED miles for Sunday's hike. Laurel falls is fairly steep going in but it is a paved path. Unlike the trail to the Chimneys, it is very populated even on a cold day in the middle of winter. The falls was partially frozen over so made for some beautiful photos. Oddly enough we saw a toboggan without someone in it along the way, then a black leather glove lying along the way. Archie deadpanned that some poor directionally challenged hiker must be "marking the trail". Yep, says I the pavement really isn't enough to indicate where the trail is, and indeed there were multiple signs along the way at points that led straight down that stated "This is not a trail". Must be tough to have no sense of direction or maybe it's just no sense.