Archive for the ‘Waterfalls’ Category

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Ozone Falls and What We’ve Missed

January 8, 2009
Ozone Falls, Ozone, Tennessee. January 7, 2008.

Ozone Falls, Ozone, Tennessee. January 7, 2008.

Betsy had a great idea yesterday.  The heavy rains had stopped and, although there were still sprinkles and an occasional snow flurry, she suggested that we go see Ozone Falls.

Ozone Falls is the nearest ‘major’ waterfall to our house.  We’ve been there several times  — a couple of times when there wasn’t much water going over the falls and once when there was a great deal of snow and ice around the falls.

Yesterday, as the picture above shows, there was a great deal of water going over the falls — much more than we’ve ever seen.  But the big surprise for me was something I hadn’t seen before.

A new (for me) small waterfall with Ozone Falls in the background.

A new (for me) small waterfall with Ozone Falls in the background.

I hiked down to the vantage point I’ve visited before, but this time there was enough water in the stream that I could see rapids below the falls.  Since there were no leaves on the trees I could see a way to get to the stream below the falls, and so I set off down the side of the cove.  I hiked down to the stream below the falls and found a second, smaller fall below the main one as shown in the picture on the right.  I had no idea it was there.

Since I was now most of the way down into the cove I decided to go a little more further downstream and found several additional small falls and cascades.

I reluctantly left the stream and started to climb back up out of the cove.  For some reason it was much harder climbing up than it was walking down, but I think my new discoveries were worth it.

A small fall downstream from Ozone Falls.

A small fall downstream from Ozone Falls.

As I said, Betsy had a great idea!

Betsy has more about our trip to Ozone Falls.  You can read her blog click HERE.

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Watery Wednesday 16

December 30, 2008
Upper Cove Creek Cascade, Wears Valley, Tennessee. December 30, 2008.

Upper Cove Creek Cascade, Wears Valley, Tennessee. December 30, 2008.

Tuesday was a beautiful day here in eastern Tennessee, so Betsy and I decided to drive over to Great Smoky Mountains National Park to check out some waterfalls.  We haven’t been over there since late October and we hoped that the rains of the past couple of weeks would have replenished some of the streams in the mountains.

We visited several falls that we had seen before and then later in the afternoon drove through Wears Valley.  We drove along Cove Creek for a short

Secret Falls, Wears Valley, Tennessee. December 30, 2008.

Secret Falls, Wears Valley, Tennessee. December 30, 2008.

distance, and, seeing a fair amount of water flowing, stopped to walk along the creek.  We enjoyed the cascade shown above and then noticed a small sign pointing to Secret Falls.  Secret Falls was unknown to us, so we just had to investigate.  A short walk led us to the pretty little waterfall shown on the right.

It was as close to a perfect day as we could possibly get — cool temperatures, a brilliant blue sky, and the sound of rushing water.  What more could a person ask for?

To see more of our trip to the Smokies check Betsy’s blog HERE.

To see more  pictures on the Watery Wednesday meme click here or on the logo below.

waterywed2c

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Waterfalls Have Water!

December 29, 2008
Water tumbling down the escarpment near Grandview, Tennessee.

Water tumbling down the escarpment near Grandview, Tennessee.

Betsy and I traveled to Chattanooga yesterday to spend some time with son Jeff and grandchildren Landon and Avery.

To get to Chattanooga we took the back way down off the Plateau and on the way we saw something that we haven’t seen in a couple of years — water coming down the escarpment.

We’ve been in a severe drought in this part of Tennessee for the past two years and most of the waterfalls and cascades have been dry or nearly dry.  However, we’ve had quite a bit of rain over the past two weeks and our rainfall total is now close to normal for the year.  Lakes and streams are higher than they’ve been for quite some time.  It’s a good time for waterfall enthusiasts!

Betsy and I were so excited to see water cascading down the escarpment that we stopped on the way back home to get the picture above.

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Watery Wednesday 15

December 23, 2008

fallcreekfalls020421There’s water going over the falls, so I hope this will qualify as an entry.  Betsy and I collect waterfalls and this is the one that started it all.

This picture of Fall Creek Falls in Tennessee was taken April 21, 2001.  A day trip to Fall Creek Falls State Park was our first big date.  Betsy and I had gone to dinner a couple of times, but that was it.

This date turned out to be a big one.  I hadn’t even held Betsy’s hand before then, but I did as we walked in the park.  I even got my first kiss before the day was over!

Fall Creek Falls is one of five major falls in the park.  It has a drop of 256 feet, which makes it one of the falls with the greatest vertical drop east of the Rocky Mountains.  As you can see, it drops into a huge sandstone amphitheater.

That date to Fall Creek Falls not only led to our marriage, but also to our waterfall collection.  We’ve now seen a total of 287 different waterfalls and are still finding more to visit!

To see more pictures on the Watery Wednesday meme click here or on the logo below.

waterywed2c

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Bushwhacking to Find Waterfalls

December 9, 2008
George bushwhacking in the Ozark National Forest, Arkansas. December 2, 2008.

George bushwhacking in the Ozark National Forest, Arkansas. December 2, 2008.

As most of you know, Betsy and I ‘collect’ waterfalls.  We’ve visited 287 different waterfalls and cascades since 2001.  (Our first ‘big’ date was to Fall Creek Falls State Park where we saw five waterfalls.)

Most of the waterfalls we’ve visited have been reached by maintained hiking trails or by roadside overlooks.  But we are aware of many more waterfalls that require bushwhacking — something like ‘leave the trail when it makes a sharp left and head straight down the hill’.  We’ve been reluctant to follow such directions.

But most of the waterfalls listed online or in the books we own now have GPS coordinates.  And since we think so highly of the GPS receiver we have for the car, we decided to get a hiking GPS unit to help us find those elusive waterfalls.

While we were in Arkansas last week we identified three waterfalls that involved some bushwhacking and set out to visit them.  We knew we wouldn’t find much water, but if we found the waterfalls we could go back at a time when there was more water.

The first thing we did at each site was mark the location of the car so we could find our way back.  We then followed the GPS and found the waterfall in all three instances.  Perhaps we’ll be able to add to our collection!

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We’ll Go Back

November 14, 2008
Serenity Falls, Cosby, Tennessee. November 10, 2008.

Serenity Falls, Cosby, Tennessee. November 10, 2008.

As I said yesterday, Betsy and I had a wonderful time in the Smokies earlier this week.  We got some much needed rest and enjoyed exploring a part of the Smokies (the eastern side) that we’ve visited less frequently than we’ve visited the western side.

Of course we hoped to visit some waterfalls that we hadn’t seen before.  We knew that this wasn’t a good time for waterfalls — November is one of our driest months and we’ve been in a two year drought.  But we always have hopes!

We did find two waterfalls that had some water going over them.  The most impressive was Serenity Falls, which is shown above.  Serenity Falls is on private property near the Cosby Campground.  There were three cabins on the property in addition to a farm house.  While talking to the owner we discovered that the cabins were once part of a small community that practically disappeared when the road through the area was rerouted.serenitycabin01

We were told that the cabins are now rented out.  One cabin, an old grist mill, is located at the base of Serenity Falls.  As the picture on the right shows, the deck of that cabin looks right out at the falls.  Care to guess where we’re going to stay when we go back to Cosby?

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Where’s the Other Waterfall?

November 1, 2008
Lower Akron Falls, Akron, New York. October 24, 2008.

Lower Akron Falls, Akron, New York. October 24, 2008.

Kelly’s husband, Chuck, grew up in Akron, New York, near Buffalo.  When we visited them last weekend, they took us to a city park in Akron, where there was a waterfall that they had visited several times.

Akron Falls Park is a beautiful place, and there was enough autumn color left on the trees to make it truly beautiful.  The hike to the waterfall was an easy one and the waterfall was as pretty as they promised.  We thoroughly enjoyed the view

Imagine our surprise when we discovered, after we got home, that Akron Falls Park contains two waterfalls.  The falls we saw, Lower Akron Falls, is the larger of the two.  The second falls, which Kelly and Chuck didn’t know about, is about 600 feet upstream from the lower falls and is reached by a different trail.

So it looks as if we’ll need to make another trip to Akron to see that second fall.  But Lower Akron Falls is the 280th waterfall in our ‘collection’.  To see all of them, click on WATERFALLS.

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Cool Memories for a Hot Afternoon

August 22, 2008
Ozone Falls, Crab Orchard, Tennessee. February 10, 2007.

Ozone Falls, Crab Orchard, Tennessee. February 10, 2007.

Yesterday was another hot, dry day up here on the Plateau. The weatherman isn’t offering us much hope for relief from either the high temperatures or the lack of rain. I’m sure some of the people in Florida would be glad to send us some of their rain, if only we could figure out a way to get it up here!

Since it was too hot to work outside for much of the afternoon, I worked on some of my digital photo albums instead. One album that I came across was a set of pictures we took at Ozone Falls back in February, 2007.

That trip to Ozone Falls was a great one to recall on a hot summer day. There were icicles all around the falls on that day. It made things seem a little cooler just looking at the pictures.

Ozone Falls is a small waterfall about ten miles from our house. It’s in the Ozone State Natural Area which is really quite a small area with the 110 foot waterfall. The trail to the top of the falls is very short, although the trail to the base of the falls is a bit longer and involves a scramble down a rocky path. But the scramble is definitely worth it.

To see pictures of our cool visit to Ozone Falls click HERE.

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August Waterfalls Before the Drought

August 15, 2008
Twin Falls, Rock Island State Park, Tennessee. August 3, 2002.

Twin Falls, Rock Island State Park, Tennessee. August 3, 2002.

As you know, Betsy and I love to visit waterfalls. While we were both working we visited mostly in the summer, when we had vacation time. Now that we’re both retired we can more easily get away any time of the year, which is a good thing since we’ve had drought in this part of the country for the past two years. As a result most waterfalls have a very diminished flow during the summer.

It wasn’t always that way. Betsy and I first visited Rock Island State Park here in Tennessee in 2002. Rock Island is fairly close to Fall Creek Falls State Park, which is our favorite here in Tennessee. We knew there were three waterfalls at Rock Island and we wanted to see them.

What we didn’t realize at the time was that a dam had been built across the Caney Fork River above two of the falls, so the amount of water going over the falls is completely determined by the dam discharge. The waterfalls, Great Falls and Lower Great Falls, were still pretty but somewhat disappointing.

The third waterfall, Twin Falls, is interesting. Twin Falls gushes down a steep hillside into the Caney Fork River. But this waterfall only appeared after the Great Falls Dam was built. The Collins River is immediately behind the hill from the Caney Fork, and it is speculated that as the Collins River water level rose water began seeping into caverns thought to be inside the hill. The water had to go somewhere, so it proceeded to “leak” out the other side, forming Twin Falls.

To see more of our visit to Rock Island, click HERE.

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Our First Trip to Yahoo Falls

August 12, 2008
Betsy at Yahoo Falls, June 3, 2006.

Betsy at Yahoo Falls, June 3, 2006.

I’ve mentioned several times that Betsy and I collect waterfalls. We currently have 278 different waterfalls in our collection, and we try to plan our travels so that we visit a new waterfall on each trip. But we also go back to visit favorites when we can.

Most of the waterfalls we’ve visited have been here fairly close to the Glade. One waterfall that we’ve visited several times is Yahoo Falls, in the Big South Fork National Recreation Area near Whitley City, Kentucky. We first visited Yahoo Falls in 2006.

The National Park Service claims Yahoo Falls is Kentucky’s highest. There is more water going over in the late winter and spring than at other times of the year, but Yahoo Falls is still pretty any time of the year.

The trail to the falls from the parking is about a mile long and is very pretty. You can walk right up to the base of the falls and even behind the falls. The trails go up around the top of the falls, but the views from the top are not very good. There is a trail from the falls to Yahoo Arch, which is also quite interesting.

To see more of our 2006 visit to Yahoo Falls, click HERE.

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