Finley Cane to West Prong, Sharon's Favorite Hike

I've met my first blogger! One of the great things about this adventure in blogging has been finding out that I'm not the only lady out there hiking alone.  That being said, it's always fun to have a companion along for a change of pace.  I also got a great tip on trekking poles - Sharon swears that her $20 poles from Walmart are just as effective as the over $100 ones she's tried belonging to other people.  I saw a pair at Walmart a few days later and picked them up to see how they felt.  I'll do a little more research into what certain poles weigh first.  Often I'm carrying a lot of camera equipment and it can get heavy after awhile so every ounce counts!

We met her at the "Y" in Townsend and made plans for a shuttle hike.  Wayne stayed behind and took some scenic drives and a walk through the Cades Cove campground due to his back problems, but he did a pretty good job of taking a picture of the two of us before heading out! 

Sharon recommended hiking the 2.8 mile Finley Cane trail and then adding the West Prong trail to make it a longer one.  The entire hike was about 5.8 miles in length and stayed below 2000 feet elevation with easily navigated ups and downs.  The plants seen at this elevation were a bit different than what I've been seeing higher up in the mountains.  Sharon was kind enough to tell me the name of the berries but I've since forgotten.  I also keep forgetting to put a small notebook in my bag for just such occasions.

We talked about a lot of things on the hike and had a nice time getting to know each other a little better.  We also talked about some of the other great places other bloggers we read have been or are at now.  Sharon confided that she thinks this area of Tennessee is special due to its ability to experience all four seasons but no extreme weather.  From me she was surprised to learn that Wisconsin is pretty windy a lot of the time when I commented on how still it has been since we've been here.  I'm used to those tree tops swaying and hearing the whoosh of the wind even when it's quiet on the trail itself.  Speaking of trees, when we turned onto the Bote Mountain trail to get to West Prong we did luck into a spot of fall color.

Sharon shared with me her favorite spot to stop for lunch at campsite 18 along the West Prong Trail.  As we were making our way down to it we a passed a group of ladies and she asked them if the Starbucks was still down there.  A mocha sure did sound great right about then!  But then we would have had to share the spot with others instead of having it all to ourselves.

It was hard to move past the beauty of the group camp area on West Prong, but from there the trail ascended gradually for a mile through a rocky area lined with rhododendrens that was very nice.

I took advantage of having a local along to ask lots of questions about the flora and fauna.  She pointed some things out to me, I pointed some things out to her.  It's interesting how everyone notices different things along the same trail.  My eyes spied this out of place snail hanging on to a decaying plant stalk near the ground in a very dry area high above the creek.  What was he doing there?  Having a hike of his own perhaps?

Sharon commented on the large leaves of the sassafrass tree a couple of times and in some areas where they had all fallen off the tree it looked like the forest critters had a wild party the night before and forgot to clean up.  I liked this view so much I laid down on the ground to get a picture of it.  You can see the picture of me in action on Sharon's blog here.

On both trails there were a few minor creek crossings, but all were easily navigated at this drier time of year. I spent some time flipping over rocks looking for salamanders but didn't have any luck.

However I did spot some unusual mushroom varieties, all no larger than my thumb and hard to photograph with only my kit lens along.  I did the best I could, any identification help would be appreciated!

This tiny cutie was probably the size of a dime and was tucked into a little hidden crevice. 

Sharon is talking about a possible trip to Wisconsin next year so we'll probably meet again, this time in my state instead of hers.  I told her that she couldn't go wrong stopping anywhere along Lake Superior from the U.P. all the way to Minnesota.  Wayne and I would love to meet up with both her and Bill, any excuse to head to Lake Superior! Next year Wayne and I are planning a 3 week long trip at the end of October and into November ranging from Mesa Verde to Albuquerque to Palo Duro Canyon, so anyone who will be in those areas we'd love to meet up with you too! 

 An interesting thing Sharon does on her blog is her goal to make a friend in every state.  Check her out on Gains & Losses and see if you can help her make her goal!

Williamsburg Post Office Mural, Kentucky

The first New Deal mural that I found in Kentucky was located in the town of Williamsburg.  I was lucky to see it at all considering they have a new post office in town and this one is currently being used for storage by the County Clerk's office to store the voting machines and other items.  Apparently it is under consideration for the building to be demolished, but no final decision has been made.  The lady at the new post office is under the impression that they would save the mural for historical purposes even if they could not save the building.  The building has seen better days.  One thing we've noticed in Kentucky is that most older buildings look like they've never had any work done to them.  Since these paintings only went into new buildings as they were being built, it is from 1939 and the front was full of broken windows and rotting wood.

The  building's sad condition aside, I was really excited to get my first out of state New Deal mural and the added adventure of having to hunt someone down to open the building for me was kind of neat.

The mural was painted by Alois Fabry and is entitled "Floating Horses Down the Cumberland River".

We saw the Cumberland River when we visited Cumberland Falls.  The falls is one of the few in the western hemisphere where you can see a moonbow.  Historically the Cumberland River was important for trade and travel as it reached the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. 

Back home today so I'm linking up to Monday Mural!

STAY AWAY From Clarksville KOA!

The title of this post says it all.  Forget about the fact that the GPS routed us down a road that had a bridge that was only 10 feet high.  Is it a problem to back a giant fifth wheel up to the nearest place to turn around?  Luckily it wasn't that far and the road was deserted.  It could have been ugly.  All this right off the interstate, we could literally see it the whole time we're circling trying to find this place.  We get to the campground, right off the next interchange and discover that it is not only next to the railroad line, which we knew about ahead of time, it's in an industrial district.  Seriously, I don't even have words for how sketchy this place looked.  Even where you pull in wasn't big enough for larger RVs, and then when they directed us through the gate into the partially hidden park I about had a heart attack.  I turned to Wayne and said, "No way are we staying here, I'm going back for a refund."  The sites were billed as pull through for $46, yes $46, and it was literally just a series of parking slots.  All concrete and pavement throughout, warped, cracked and with a big dip as you exit your site which by the way we would have had to unhook from so I don't know how they can call it a pull through.  The only thing they had going for them is that they didn't give us a hassle about a refund.  I told Wayne I didn't care if we had to drive the whole way home and got there at midnight.  I borrowed the image below from the internet so you can see what I'm talking about.  This is literally it, surrounded by junkyard fence.

 

Luckily we had a Plan B of sorts.  We had looked at an Indiana State Park just up the road called Hardy Lake but the website was a little unclear about the site dimensions.  The pictures looked to me like we would fit, and we needed to find a place to dump at the very least so we headed there otherwise I would have driven straight home or stayed in a Walmart parking lot.

There are quite a few rather large sites, we're in #51 and we didn't even have to unhook!  There is still a touch of fall color here in southern Indiana and no one seems to know this beautiful park exists because it's only about 20% full on a Saturday night, all for only $27.82.  Score!

Hunting season is underway here, we've heard a few gunshots.  All the area around the campground is in the "safety zone" and we went for a great bike ride which I'll talk about in a separate post.  The turkey vultures are loving it, here's a shot of them as we can see them from our campsite for you to enjoy like we did last night!

Rainbow Trickle

Wayne's back was still troubling him so I had him drop me off at the trailhead for Rainbow Falls at the beginning of the week and told him to come back for me in 4 hours.  I was planning on doing some salamander searching so I needed a little extra time.

Rainbow Falls is at the beginning of the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail and has 2 parking lots, but by the time I was done hiking both of those had overflowed onto the road.  Wish I could say the same about the waterfall!

But first, I took a detour off the trail to the creek to flip over some rocks and rotting branches.  Beginner's luck and I found a salamander on the first try!  I didn't get the greatest shot because he scooted under a leaf a few inches from my foot so I just leaned over and pointed the camera and hoped for the best.  Luckily I at least attempted getting a shot because he was the only one I found that day....or any other day.  Look for him toward the bottom of the shot, his head and tail are sticking out of either end of the leaf!

The trail was pretty quiet at first and I had some time to look around for other things besides salamanders.  I didn't see any bears, just squirrels and chipmunks.

It's a pretty relentless climb for those 2.8 miles, and the trail is rocky and full of roots to be wary of as well.

It was barely above freezing when I left the parking lot, but about halfway up I started to heat up in the sunnier sections and had to start dropping layers.  The sassafrass leaves didn't work so well as a fan.

Eventually I caught up with a couple who helped me keep up a steady pace.  I had a deadline of when I should be at the top in order to make it back down in time and it was starting to loom close.

When we passed this little spot my new friends said if that was the 80 foot Rainbow Falls then they needed to write a letter of complaint to their congressman!

We made it to the top with only minutes to spare.  I scooted around taking pictures for awhile, then made my way toward the falls to find a spot to sit and eat my cheese sandwich.  It was cold and icy again at that elevation, luckily I still had my scarf!

That's the falls above, you can see why the post is named Rainbow Trickle.  It was a bit disappointing, but I was full of endorphins from the exercise on the way up and proud that I'd made it.  Each day the hiking got a little easier.  It took me an hour and a half to make it to the parking lot, I was only a few minutes late and Wayne was there waiting for me to tell him all about it.

Today we're leaving Corbin and getting a few hours close to home.  We'll be stopping in Clarksville, Indiana, just over the border from Louisville.  It's possible we may not even unhook, but if we do I'm driving over to the Colgate plant to get a shot of their huge clock!  Our trip is just about over, but lots more posts to come about all the great things we saw and did.

Would You Like Some Fall Color With That Drive?

While in the Smokies we saw a lot of fall color driving back and forth between Gatlinburg, Townsend and Maggie Valley.




Newfound Gap Road

 

Blue Ridge Parkway

Blue Ridge Parkway

Maggie Valley, North Carolina

Entering Cataloochee



I-40, North Carolina


As nice as all that was, we couldn't believe how different it was as soon as we crossed into Kentucky!

Potty break at Cumberland Gap, Kentucky

Dogwood, Cumberland Gap Visitor Center

Daniel Boone National Forest, Corbin

Daniel Boone National Forest, Corbin



Daniel Boone National Forest, Corbin


And, it was just as pretty at our campsite at the Corbin KOA, not to mention just about anywhere here in the Corbin area.



View from our doorstep, Corbin KOA


I still have a week's worth of posts about the Smokies, and yesterday we had such a busy day that I got 5 more posts worth of stuff in one day!  Cumberland Falls was AMAZING, I got two post office murals and an outdoor mural captured, and we even visited Sanders Cafe which is the site of the first Kentucky Fried Chicken.  Last night we were some of the lucky few who weren't hit by the massive storm system blowing through, just a bit of wind and mild showers.  Beautiful weather scheduled for today and we've decided to head back to Cumberland Gap to take a thorough look around.  It's less than an hour away and we'd like to see what the campground is like there for future trips.