Pat's Falls and Middle Laurel Falls

The second hike over the labor day weekend to scout out some potential waterfall hikes for this fall was intended to be a short one to new falls (Pat's Falls and Middle Laurel Falls) on a trail I'd been on before (Laurel Falls Trail in Dennis Cove). It was another bad really day for taking pictures of water but it was a glorious day for going walk-about.

The side trail down to Pat's falls is about 8/10ths of a mile down the Laurel Falls trail. It's a short but excitingly steep descent of 150 feet down the side of the hill. If you like waterfalls this one is definitely worth the effort.

The upper drop is about 8 feet high, the lower is shorter at about 3 ft. The pool at the base is quite impressive, I'm sure it's quite popular with the fishermen - if not it should be. The rocks that makeup the falls are copper colored and covered in some wicked cool green and brown lichens, a really great color contrast with the white water background.

Get back up on the trail and continue toward Laurel Falls. About another 4/10ths of a mile and you'll hear the Middle Laurel Falls about 200 feet below the trail - yep, that's 200 feet of straight down the mountain holding onto roots, trees and anything else that's handy. You might want to skip this one because of the treacherous nature of the trip up and down, and the falls themselves are not the most special ones around. The falls are really just an 8 foot high cascade that empties into long pool, but there are several cascades in th area that are just as nice and easier to get to. I snapped a few pictures which were ok, but again, this was not the best day for water snapping pictures. I collapsed my hiking stick and used it like an ice axe to crawl up the side of the mountain to get back on the trail.

I intended to continue on to Laurel Falls proper but by this time there were several folk on the trail, and if you've ever been to Laurel Falls you know how much work it takes to climb the rock stairs back up the hill once you make the trip down the hill. I was tired, so I trekked back out to the truck, maybe next time.

Upper Laurel Fork Falls & Campbell Falls

The cool morning temperature that signals the advent of fall was in the air so I hauled my lazy butt out of bed early on Saturday and went waterfalling in Frog Level. To get there one must go through the Dennis Cove recreation area, past the campground, all the way to the top of the mountain. There is a gated forest service road on the right (just as the main road breaks hard left) that takes you all the way down the mountain to the level of the frogs. You'll know it's the right road if you see the huge stump pushed up against the gate. The gravel road down the mountain is a bit over a mile in length, and is in remarkably good shape, so good in fact that some folk had pulled in a pop-up camper. The road ends at a turn-about. Park there and cross the creek.

Follow the forest service road as it continues leftward, generally following the creek. The hike was very easy with very little gain in elevation but there are several very challenging creek crossings to negotiate if you are trying to keep your feet dry. After the first of these crossings you'll come upon a good sized clearing, follow the tree-line down the left side of the clearing and you'll find the trailhead marker for Laurel Fork Trail and another, more challenging creek crossing. Laurel Fork Trail is easy to follow, and is in very good shape, with only a few muddy spots, but did I mention the creek crossings? There are two more of them to negotiate over the next .4 miles before you get to the falls. You'll definitely hear the falls as you approach them. There's a small trail down to the base of the falls, but it is very steep, and wet, and slippery, and steep, and rocky, and wet. It's one time I definitely wish I had brought some rope. I have a nice rope in the truck, about 25 feet long with a knot about every foot, but it's only useful if you remember to bring it.

Once back on the trail, continue up stream to Campbell Falls. This part of the trek is another .6 miles of trail, two more creek crossings, and one section of swamp slogging with some nearly-rotten logs to walk on, it only adds to the excitment. There's a steep and muddy side trail down to the pool at the bottom of the falls, I passed up it once I saw the mud. The falls face away from the trail, so to get some good pictures you'd have to negotiate the mudslide trail to the pool, then cross the creek at the base of the falls, something I wasn't prepared to do on this day. Instead I took the second side trail to the top of the falls. There's simply no way to get a good shot of the falls from up top, but there was a beautiful cascade at the top which is where this picture was made.

There's a third set of falls in the same general area, Firescald Branch Falls, which I couldn't find an obvious trail to, I'll try harder the next time ;)

Breeestol - night race at BMS

Since the death of Dale Sr. at Daytona in 2001 and the advent of the 'chase for the championship' system, the whole NASCAR world has lost a lot of it's pull on me. I used to be as big a fan as there was, but a lot of the fun was gone. I hadn't been to a NASCAR race at BMS in many years, so when I scored two suite passes for the night race I was a bit so-so about the whole thing.

The weather was typical Bristol race weather, that is, rainy and humid - that much hadn't changed. But there was a whole sea of humanity at the place that night, probably twice as many people as the last time I had been there.

I can remember going to BMS when there were only concrete seats on the front and back stretch, when you could get free tickets for the Busch series race, when the grand National race wasn't even sold out. Times, they are a changing.

The track has a modern stadium feel, very high tech, nice and clean. And the suite was most excellent. The food was hot, the beverages were cold, the seats were comfortable, it couldn't have been better. The sound level of a Bristol race is legendary, but inside the suite it was loud enough to be intriguing, but not much as to be a distraction. The sight lines are magnificent from way up there, the only complaint was that looking thru glass corners can distort certain angles, but I'll take that trade-off every day.

Since I had to watch Kyle Busch win, I'm glad I got to suffer through it in a suite.

Labyrinth Weir at South Holston Lake

Definitely a cool (literally) place to go hang out with the family on a hot summer day. we took a picnic lunch and ate at one of the tables by the river. Then I tried my luck at catching some of the trout from the river - maybe next time .... we then hiked the 2 mile loop around Osceola island. It was a good way to spend a hot summer afternoon, the cool breeze off the river was especially nice.

The Labyrinth weirs are about a mile below South Holston dam. The weirs were built by TVA in the early 90's to provide oxygen to the water when the hydropower plant isn't generating electricity.

I took the picture at the right from the bridge that crosses over to Osceola island. There is a matching labyrinth weir on the opposite side of the island.

Take SR394 past the Bristol Motor Speedway to the intersection with SR421. Turn right and continue 2.9 miles south on 421. Turn right onto Emmett Road and continue for 1.6 miles - bear right at the fork. After crossing the bridge, you'll find parking for the recreation area on left.

Cades Cove and Spruce Flats Falls

It rained and stormed the whole morning before we got to the Cades Cove loop, so the wildlife in the park was still taking cover ... at least that's my story as to why we saw just a few turkey and a few whitetail deer.

But the barns were cool and I like barns, old ones, new ones, doesn't matter. There's just something about the shape of a barn. Simplistic utiliy. The first one is at Cable Mill.

The next one is at the Tipton Farm. It's a cantilevered design, I've never seen one afore. It makes sense for creating shade, and some protection from the weather, but it looks top-heavy, kind of like a big wooden mushroom, or maybe like someone has stolen the bottom half ... regardless, it's a cool looking barn.





We also hiked to a waterfall on the way out of Cades Cove named Spruce Flats Falls. It was a pretty average hike, about a mile each way, a bit steep at each end, and the falls were just ok, not that different from most of the other falls I've seen.

What was cool is that this was the first time I've taken a picture with my new handy-dandy ND8 neutral density filter installed.

It was about 2:00PM so the light was really bad for waterfall picture taking, but this filter did a respectible job of getting a 10 second exposure in bright light.

Dennis Cove Falls

The hike to Upper and Lower Dennis Cove Falls is about a 3 mile roundtrip walk on a well worn trail through a tunnel of rhododendron along the many cascades of Laurel Fork Creek. The good news is that, unlike most waterfall hikes around this part of the country, there's very little gain in elevation (about a 100ft) from the parking lot to the falls. The bad news is the three creek crossings with no bridges - we don't need no stinkin' bridges. On this trip the three crossings were manageable with some creative rock hopping, but if the water was much higher the only choice might be to wade across.

Both the upper and lower falls are cascading waterfalls which form large pools at their bases, perfect for a swim on a hot summer day. Laurel fork is a popular trout fishery, so be courteous to the folk you see fishing.

Several hundred yards after the third creek crossing, you'll come to the only tricky part of the trail, tricky because it's a very narrow ledge alongside a slick rock with some tree roots to hold onto. Just a bit further up the trail and you come to a side trail on the right that angles down to the pool below the lower falls.

Lower Dennis Cove Falls (10-ft high)
N36 14.981 W82 05.946, 2880ft elevation

The lower falls are a 10 foot high cascade with a wide shallow pool at the base. The tree on the left obscures most of the falls, but you can rock-hop into the middle of the creek for a better view. I got to the falls a bit late in the morning, so getting a high-quality, long-exposure shot was no longer possible.

Return to the main trail and continue for a few hundred feet to a second spur on the right that angles downhill to the base of the upper falls.

Upper Dennis Cove Falls (25-ft high)
N36 14.981 W82 05.946, 2860ft elevation

The upper falls are a 25 foot high double cascade with a large pool at the base of the lower fall.

I didn't get to the falls until mid-morning, so there was too much light to get a really long exsposure shot to work. I really need to get myself a neutral density filter for days like these. I was able to get this one which has some 'swirlies' in the pool below the falls - they are so cool when done right, but this one was just too short of an exposure get it really right.

...................................

To get there from Rt. 19e in Hampton, go north on route 321/67 toward Mountain City, drive 0.8 miles and turn right onto Dennis Cove Road - immediately in front of Citizen's Bank - there's a small brown 'Dennis Cove' sign pointing the way.

Dennis Cove Road is very curvy, very steep, and quite narrow in places. Travel the 4.9 miles to a gravel parking area on the left immediately before crossing the single lane bridge which leads to the Dennis Cove Campground. The trailhead is back across the paved road, just to the right of the bridge.

Just calmly go to the doctor

Since I've started hiking again I've only seen one small water snake. But recognizing that the places I go are prime locations for snakes - if I was a snake I'd like these places - was enough to prompt me to google up the latest information on what to do if you get snakebit while you're out hiking.

According to Google, there are only two snakes in East Tennesse that are venomous: the 'copperheaded rattle-mocassin' (left) and the 'timber-rattling death-mangler' (below). While it's true that all snakes can make you hurt yourself by causing you to jump, squeal and throw stuff, only these two snakes can actually hurt you with their bite. It should go without saying but the best option is to avoid being bitten in the first place so; wear boots, always have a hiking pole with you, and pay attention to where your feet and hands are going.

Many moons ago I earned a boy scout badge in first-aid which taught me, among other things, how to treat snake bites while out in the woods. Apparently everything they taught me was wrong, leaving me to wonder if there are any boy scouts who survived a snake bite.

The first thing to do is remain calm. You have been bitten by a snake and there is nothing you can do to reverse it. Throwing up your hands, stomping around and squealing like a little girl won't help. Neither will throwing all your gear at the snake. Your most severe problem is not the chance of death, but tissue damage to the bite area. If you are hiking alone, you are going to have to get yourself to the doctor. Stated in simple terms: "Just calmly go to the doctor." Most of the time antivenom will not be administered. They will more than likely just monitor your blood pressure and the swelling, and then send you home in the morning.

To that end, the following suggestions will help you get control of the situation:

•If you have a cell phone (and reception) call and have someone meet you as soon as possible.

•Remove all jewelry around or above the bite area as most likely the worst problem from the bite will be swelling.

•Keep the bite area below the heart.

•Do not apply a tourniquet; restricting the venom to a small area increases the potential of tissue damage to the bite area.

•Do not take an aspirin; it will thin the blood, and cause the venom to spread more than it normally would. The same applies for drinking alcohol; you can use that to entice someone to come and help you.

•Do not try to capture the snake. Antivenom is the same for all Tennessee snakes; so capturing the snake for identification is not helpful, and only heightens the chances of a second snakebite. In Tennessee it is illegal to harm, kill, remove from the wild, or possess native snakes taken from the wild without the proper permits.

•The telltale signs of a venomous snakebites are swelling, discoloration and an intense burning sensation of the bite area.

•Do not try to suck out the venom. By cutting the bite area, you suffer a greater chance of dying from blood poisoning than from the bite itself. Use the suction device from the snakebite kit - you did bring a snakebite kit, right?

•Do not apply ice to the bite area as this causes the venom to pool in the bite area, potentially causing greater tissue damage.