Archive for September, 2010

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Watery Wednesday #105: High Falls

September 15, 2010

High Falls, DuPont State Forest, Brevard, North Carolina. May 10, 2009.

This is my post for Watery Wednesday.  To see more of our beautiful watery world, or to join and post your own pictures to share, click HERE.

DuPont State Forest between Hendersonville and Brevard, North Carolina, is a area of more than 10,000 acres of forest, trails and waterfalls.  Betsy and I have visited DuPont twice and have enjoyed visiting the waterfalls.  There are six major waterfalls in the forest and we have hiked to  four of them.

The picture above was taken in May, 2009, on our way back home from the beach.  High Falls is a steep cascade of about 100 feet.  The structure that can be seen above the falls is a covered bridge over the river.

We’ve enjoyed both of our visits to DuPont State Forest and, since there are still two waterfalls we haven’t seen, the chances are pretty good that we will be going back there.

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Posted in Watery Wednesday | 17 Comments »

My World: Rich Mountain Road

September 14, 2010

The sign at Rich Mountain Road in Cades Cove, Grreat Smoky Mountains, Tennessee. September 9, 2010.

This is my post for the My World meme.  It is hosted by Klaus, Ivar, Sandy, Wren, and Fishing Guy.  To learn more about our world or to join and share your part of the world, click HERE.

As I mentioned yesterday, last week Betsy and I went to the Smokies to drive the Rich Mountain Road.  We enjoy exploring new parts of the Smokies, and this seemed like a great time to go.  The entrance to Rich Mountain Road is in Cades Cove, and we’re always happy to find an excuse to visit that pretty place.

Rich Mountain Road, Smoky Mountains. September 9, 2010.

The road is gravel and closed during the winter, but we had no trouble getting through, other than having to dodge some pot holes.  And although there were no particularly steep grades, we did have quite a few switchbacks, as you can see from the picture above.

Cades Cove, Great Smoky Mountains, Tennessee. September 9, 2010.

One reason for taking this road is that we were told that there were some nice overlooks from which Cades Cove could be seen.  We found one at roadside and stopped to get some pictures.  If you look carefully in the lower left of the picture above, you can almost make out the Methodist Church in Cades Cove, which Betsy blogged about yesterday.

We saw several trail heads along the road, so we’ll get some trail maps before we go back.  Perhaps we’ll find another overlook along one of the trails.  We’ll definitely go back to Rich Mountain Road.

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Posted in My World | 18 Comments »

Our Smokies Adventure

September 13, 2010

The track of our trip to the Smokies. September 9, 2010.

I’ve mentioned our GPS unit several times and have talked about how much we like it.  This past Thursday we got a lesson in how much we rely on it.

Our GPS got recalled by Garmin, and we sent it in to be repaired a couple of weeks ago.  So when we went to the Smokies on Thursday we didn’t have it.  We were going to drive Rich Mountain Road, a road we had never taken before.  But we knew it was a primitive, one-way road out of Cades Cove, a place we’ve visited several times.  The sign at the entrance to the road said it went to Townsend, a place we’ve been to many times, so off we went.  I did have my geotagger with us, but that only showed (after the fact) where we had been, not where we were going.

We had no problems in the park.  After leaving the park the road became paved and two-way.  When we came to a four-way stop, we knew we were back to civilization.

That’s when the fun began.  We came to a ‘T’ intersection with no signs.  We figured we were west of Townsend, so we turned right.  A little later we came to a ‘Y’.  The right branch looked like the main road, so we took it.  We drove along enjoying the scenery — and eventually we arrived back at the four-way stop.

Trying to find our way home. September 9, 2010.

We tried again.  This time we took the left branch at the ‘Y’.  That led to more beautiful scenery — and a dead-end!  We turned around and followed the road in the other direction.  Eventually it led to the highway that got us on our way back home.

After all of this ‘fun’, we were delighted to get home and find a package on our doorstep.  Inside the package was our GPS!  We wasted no time getting it put back into our car.

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Posted in Travels | 19 Comments »

Skywatch Friday: A Hint of Rain

September 10, 2010

The skies above Rich Mountain, Townsend, Tennessee. September 9, 2010.

This is my post for Skywatch Friday, a meme for sharing views of the sky from all over the world.  To see more, or to join and share your own photos of the sky, click HERE.

The skies in this picture may not look pretty to you, but they look absolutely beautiful to us.

If you’ve followed my posts for any length of time you know that we’ve had a very dry summer here in eastern Tennessee.  We got some rain in the Glade on Wednesday, which was very welcome.  The weather service says that more rain is coming on Friday and Saturday, and we’re looking forward to it.  For once we’re hoping the forecast for rain on the weekend is correct.

The picture above was taken near Townsend, Tennessee near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  Betsy and I had taken a drive to the Smokies to visit some areas we hadn’t visited before.  I’ll tell you more about our trip next week.

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Posted in SkyWatch Friday | 23 Comments »

Down Memory Lane: Ledford Mill

September 9, 2010

Betsy and I did some waterfalling on Valentine’s Day back in 2009.  We didn’t stray out of our part of Tennessee, but we still saw several new waterfalls.  Two of those waterfalls were at Ledford Mill, in Wartrace (near Tullahoma), Tennessee.

Ledford Mill is a historic  gristmill at the head of Shipman’s Creek.  It was built in 1884 and is on the National Register of Historic Places.  Several years ago it was converted into a 3-room bread and breakfast.

One of the rooms, the Falls Room, opens to a garden that contains two waterfalls, Ledford Mill Falls and Pond Falls.  While neither waterfall is especially large, the garden is very pleasant.  Although we didn’t spend the night at the mill, the owners graciously allowed us to visit the garden and the waterfalls.

To see these pictures and others, click HERE.

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Posted in Travels | 9 Comments »

Watery Wednesday #104: Genesee River

September 8, 2010

Genesee River, Letchworth State Park, New York. August 31, 2002.

This is my post for Watery Wednesday.  To see more of our beautiful watery world, or to join and post your own pictures to share, click HERE.

I went to my archives to get this picture from Letchworth State Park in New York.  It shows two waterfalls on the Genesee River below the railroad trestle in the background.  Middle Falls is in the foreground, while Upper Falls is partially hidden further upstream.  There is a third waterfall, Lower Falls, which is further downstream behind me as I took this picture.

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Posted in Watery Wednesday | 18 Comments »

My World: Cable Mill

September 7, 2010

The Cable grist mill in Cades Cove, Great Smoky Mountains, Tennessee. August 27, 2010.

This is my post for the My World meme.  It is hosted by Klaus, Ivar, Sandy, Wren, and Fishing Guy.  To learn more about our world or to join and share your part of the world, click HERE.

When we visited Cades Cove in the Smokies a couple of weeks ago, we stopped at the Cable Mill area in the southwest corner of the cove.  Although there are several buildings (and a visitor center) here, it was the mill that most interested us.

John F. Cable bought land in the cove in the late 1860s and built a water-powered grist mill and sawmill in about 1870.  The same  wheel provided power for both mills.  The sawmill no longer exists, but the restored grist mill still grinds away.  It’s possible to see corn being ground most days, but we couldn’t get a decent picture of the inside of the mill.

Cable Mill water wheel, Cades Cove, Tennessee. August 27, 2010.

The docent in the mill said that a water wheel lasts for about 25 years and then needs to be replaced.  She wasn’t sure how old the current wheel is.

The Cable Mill flume, Cades Cove, Tennessee. August 27, 2010.

The mill flume is quite long, but does a good job of holding the water as it makes its way from the mill pond to the water wheel.  The flume also holds quite a few coins, as you may be able to see if you enlarge the picture.

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Posted in My World | 20 Comments »

Scenic Sunday #112: Gros Piton

September 5, 2010

Gros Piton, Saint Lucia. September 13, 2001.

This is my post for the Scenic Sunday meme, which shares beautiful scenes from around the world.  To see more Scenic Sunday posts, or to join and show your own pictures, click HERE.

Gros Piton, and its smaller twin, Petit Piton, are iconic symbols of the Caribbean island of Saint Lucia.  They guard the entrance to the bay leading to the town of Soufrière on the west coast.  This picture was taken from a catamaran as it approached the bay after a cruise along the coast.

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Posted in Scenic Sunday | 10 Comments »

Skywatch Friday: Clouds Over the Lake

September 3, 2010

Lake Ontario at 30 Mile Point, New York. October, 2008.

This is my post for Skywatch Friday, a meme for sharing views of the sky from all over the world.  To see more, or to join and share your own photos of the sky, click HERE.

Sometimes rainy days give the most interesting sky pictures.  I went to my archives to get this picture of Lake Ontario in New York.  It was taken in October, 2008, at 30 Mile Point Lighthouse.  The skies were threatening most of the day, but we didn’t get any rain.

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Posted in SkyWatch Friday | 17 Comments »

Our First Re-Bloomer: Janice Brown Daylily

September 2, 2010

Janice Brown Daylily, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. August 31, 2010.

About the time Betsy and I were planning our new front yard flower bed, we learned that re-blooming daylilies were available.  Re-blooming daylilies bloom in the Spring like regular daylilies and then, with luck, re-bloom in the fall.

We already planned on planting re-blooming iris in the new flower bed (along with roses), so we thought re-blooming daylilies would fit right in.  We ordered some and enjoyed many beautiful blossoms this Spring.

Tuesday morning we spotted the beauty above — our first re-blooming daylily.  Janice Brown daylily has a subdued pastel color, but it adds some appreciated color to our yard in the autumn of the year.

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Posted in Garden | 11 Comments »

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