Posts Tagged ‘Waterfalls’

Newer Entries »

Niagara Falls

November 24, 2008
Betsy at Niagara Falls with the Rainbow Bridge in the background.

Betsy at Niagara Falls with the Rainbow Bridge in the background.

Betsy and I first went to Niagara Falls in 2002.  At that time we were on the Canadian side of the river.  We actually stayed at Fort Erie, Canada, and drove along the river each day to the falls or beyond.

We of course saw the American Falls from the Canadian side several times.  We did spend part of one day at the state park on the American side, but it was a hurried visit.

When we were in Buffalo visiting Kelly and Chuck last month we went back to the state park.  It was late in the afternoon when we got there, but we did have time to walk down to the falls and along the river.  The day had been rainy and it was still quite windy when we got to the falls.  But the power of the falls was obvious and very awe-inspiring.

To see more of our visit to Niagara Falls click HERE.

Tags:,
Posted in Travels | 4 Comments »

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?

Tags:, ,
Posted in Waterfalls | Leave a Comment »

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.

Tags:,
Posted in Waterfalls | Leave a Comment »

Down Memory Lane: Rainbow Falls

October 28, 2008
Rainbow Falls, Great Smoky Mountains National Park. May 6, 2007.

Rainbow Falls, Great Smoky Mountains National Park. May 6, 2007.

One of our favorite day trips is to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  The Townsend entrance is only about two hours from here, so we can get there and still have the entire afternoon to hike and visit waterfalls.

One of the most scenic waterfalls in the park is Rainbow Falls.  LeConte Creek free-falls 75 feet over a sandstone outcrop.  The creek is high on Mount LeConte which can mean very little water going over the falls during the summer.  We hiked to Rainbow Falls in May, so there was a fair amount of water going over the falls.

The hike to the falls from the parking area is about 2.7 miles.  Unfortunately  it is mostly uphill.  There were a couple of times when I wasn’t sure I was going to make it, but we finally did.  And I will admit that Rainbow Falls made the hike worth it.  And at least it was mostly downhill getting back to the car!

To see more of our hike to Rainbow Falls click HERE.

Tags:, ,
Posted in Travels | Leave a Comment »

Down Memory Lane: Pearsons Falls

October 26, 2008
Pearsons Falls, Saluda, North Carolina. May 11, 2007.

Pearsons Falls, Saluda, North Carolina. May 11, 2007.

Betsy and I try to get to the beach each year.  We go to the Myrtle Beach area and spend about a week in mid-May.  That way it’s warm enough to enjoy the beach but early enough that there are not an overwhelming number of tourists.

In 2007 we made a stop in the mountains of North Carolina on our way to the beach.  We had been past Saluda several times, but upon learning of a waterfall near Saluda, we decided to stop and visit it.

Pearsons Falls is on Colt Creek and is named for Charles Pearson, who discovered the falls shortly after the Civil War while scouting the Southern Railroad route from Spartanburg, South Carolina, to Asheville, North Carolina.  In 1931 the Tryon Garden Club purchased the falls and the surrrounding glen, and they are now open to the public.

Pearsons Falls is a beautiful waterfall which can be reached after an easy hike of about one-third of a mile.  To see more of Pearsons Falls click HERE.

Tags:, ,
Posted in Travels | Leave a Comment »

A Mountain Paradise

September 29, 2008
Judy and Charlie on the deck of their mountain cabin. April, 2006.

Judy and Charlie on the deck of their mountain cabin. April, 2006.

Betsy and I are very fortunate to have such good friends in Judy and Charlie Jones.  Betsy and Judy got to know each other while Betsy was working at the First Methodist Church in Hendersonville.  Their friendship continued after Betsy and I moved up here to the Glade, and over time Charlie and I got drawn into the friendship as well.

When Judy and Charlie got a cabin in North Carolina, they were nice enough to invite us for a weekend to share the mountains with them.

We went to the cabin with Judy and Charlie for the first time in April, 2006, but have been back several times since.  Both Betsy and I love the mountains of North Carolina, and the cabin is a beautiful place in which to enjoy them.  We enjoy sitting on the deck and just soaking up the beauty around us.

But a bonus is that the cabin is within easy distance of some beautiful waterfalls.  I think we’ve seen at least one each time we’ve been there.  Fortunately there are still many waterfalls in the area which we haven’t seen, so we’ve got some great excuses to go back!

As I said, we’re very fortunate to have such wonderful friends who are willing to share their mountain paradise.  To see more of our first visit to Judy and Charlie’s cabin click HERE.

Tags:, ,
Posted in Travels | 2 Comments »

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.

Tags:,
Posted in Waterfalls | Leave a Comment »

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.

Tags:,
Posted in Waterfalls | Leave a Comment »

Searching For New Waterfalls in the Smokies

July 28, 2008

It was hot yesterday (Sunday) here on the Plateau, so I took advantage of that great excuse to stay indoors as much as possible.  One of the things I did was work through some pictures we had taken earlier this year, but which I had not yet had a chance to organize into albums.

One day in April Betsy and I drove to the Smokies to search for some small waterfalls that Betsy had found on the internet.  One (Whiteoak Flats Branch Falls)we had seen from Little River Road, but Betsy found that there were a couple of small cascades above the base that could be seen from the road.

We found a couple of new small waterfalls, Rush Branch Falls, near the Townsend Entrance to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and Cane Creek Twin Falls along Little River Road.

We didn’t find Meigs Creek Cascade.  We hiked the trail that leads to the cascade, but we didn’t go far enough to reach the cascades.  That experience led us to invest in a hiking GPS unit.  We’ll probably go back there some time in the future.

The nicest waterfall we found on this visit was Mannis Branch Falls.  We must have gone right past it a dozen times — it’s just off Little River Road, but you need to take a short walk to the river to see the falls.

To see more of our visit to the Smokies click HERE.

Tags:,
Posted in Waterfalls | Leave a Comment »

An Anniversary Trip to a Special Place

July 18, 2008


A couple of days ago I told you about a waterfalling adventure that Betsy and I had in the rain.  We try to do a better job of scheduling our hikes and we are usually fairly successful.

A special place for the two of us is Fall Creek Falls State Park here in Tennessee.  Fall Creek Falls is about an hour from here, so we get to go back there fairly often.  Fall Creek Falls contains five beautiful waterfalls and has several hiking trails.

The reason Fall Creek Falls is so special to us is that we went there on a date on April 21, 2001.  We had dated a couple of times before that day, but by the time we left the park we realized that we were falling in love.

We try to get back to Fall Creek Falls at least once a year.  After we both retired, we try to get back there on April 21.  Although we didn’t do any hiking on that first visit, we now hike at least on trail each time we go.  Of course we also make a point to visit as many of the waterfalls as possible.

This year April 21 was a beautiful day and we had a wonderful hike and day at the park.  To see pictures from Fall Creek Falls, click HERE.

Tags:, ,
Posted in Waterfalls | Leave a Comment »

Newer Entries »