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.

Sill Branch Falls

My plan for Saturday was to hike to both Lower and Upper Sill Branch Falls in the Clark's Creek area of Greene county. I've been to the lower falls a couple of times - it's a relatively easy 1/2 mile hike - but I've not yet tried to get to the upper falls. Finding information on a trail to the upper falls was a bit frustrating. I found a few references to the falls but no definitive hiking trail information. But, I did have the GPS coordinates loaded into my handy-dandy Garmin 60CSx, and I have studied the topo maps of the area and I had a plan on how to get there.

Lower Sill Branch Falls (~80ft high)
GPS location: 36 07.474N 82 31.631W, 2170 ft elev.

I set out on the trail and arrived at the lower falls in about 30 minutes. I have pictures of the lower falls, so I set up the tripod and snapped just a few pictures, then packed up and headed for the upper falls. that's when things started going awry.

My plan was to use the trail that scales the mountain to the southwest of the lower falls (it goes up to a cave and a geocache) then wrap back around to the east and hike/hack my way through the woods in the general direction of the upper falls. The mountainside was very steep, but manageable with help from the roots and tree branches. But then it started to rain a little, which is good weather for picture taking, but bad news for scaling mud and moss-covered rocks. I stopped under a rock outcropping to wait out the shower. Once the rain abatted I continued on, but only for a few more minutes. The mountain climbing was quickly becoming rock climbing and another shower came through, so I packed it in and went back to the lower falls. The upper falls will have to wait for another day.

I snapped this picture of the creek on the walk back out to the truck.

From the intersection of Tn 81 and Rt 107 between Jonesborough and Erwin, turn west (toward Greeneville) and continue for 5 miles. Turn left on Clark's Creek Road and drive 3.1 miles (the last 1.7 will be gravel). A parking area on the left has a trailhead sign to indicate the trail for Sill Branch Falls. When the trail splits follow the trailhead marked Sill Branch North, it's the trail to the left. Total distance to the lower falls is about 1/2 mile.

Nerd Bomb

Hello, my name is Mike, and I'm a nerd.

Once I found out that the D90 has the ability to record GPS position data with the pictures (geotagging) I was on a mission. Nikon sells a GPS unit that mounts on the flash shoe and looks really nice, but, I already have a Garmin GPSMAP 60CSx that should work, right? I mean why buy another piece of hardware when I should be able to hook the two pieces I already have together and accomplish the same thing, right? I mean I'm an engineering guy, so all I should need is a couple of cables with the right connectors and I should be able to coerce the camera and the GPS into talking to each other.

Well just a bit of Googlage revealed other folk with the same idea, and some quality time with my web browser yielded acompany in hong kong that sells two pieces of cabling that provide the required interconnection. One EBay transaction later and viola', instant GPS position data being recorded with the pictures. Sweet!

Go ahead and say it ... "why do you need GPS position data for your pictures?, I mean you're taking the picture so you already know where you are, right?" I could answer that "it's for geotagging", but the truth is it's just because I can. Yep, I'm a nerd. Now I need a mounting bracket for my GPS so that I can hang it on the tripod while I'm taking pictures!

If you're interested, here's a link to the web where I bought the cable: http://www.pc-mobile.net/nikongps-cable.htm

Martin's Creek Falls

I needed a quick trip to a waterfall to test out some new hardware and Martin's Creek Falls in Erwin was a perfect candidate because they are less than 100 yds from the road. But when I got there I found the trail down to the falls is in bad shape; clogged with lots of downed timber so it took a bit longer to work my way down the trail which comes out on top of the falls then snakes it's way down along the left side to the base.

Martin's Creek Falls (~20 ft high)
36 07.002N 82 23.394W, 2160 ft elev.

Like other waterfalls I've been to this spring, this one too suffers from the remnants of a rough winter, that is, lots of clutter in the form of broken branches and leaves. This makes composing the picture a real chore. I moved a few branches that were close but I was running out of daylight.

The waterfall itself is well worth a trip to see, it's tucked into a nice quiet corner, with only a modest amount of water flowing over it. But the water that does flow covers the face of the rock is some very neat patterns. The pool at the base it shallow, and pretty reflective, making the long exposure shots really glow.

To get there from Main Street in Erwin, turn left onto Love Street and travel through the four red lights. At the fourth light go straight through the intersection. The road becomes Okolona Drive and passes by the High School on your right. At the T-intersection, turn left on Martin's Creek Road and continue 1 1/2miles. The last 9/10 mile of which is on a fairly rough gravel road. The trail head is on the left, and is marked only by a white ribbon tied around a tree, there is room there for one car to park at that tree.

Pine Ridge Falls

I rolled out of bed about 7 and headed out for Clark's Creek area intending to go to Pine Ridge Falls and Josiah Falls. I got to the first falls - Pine Ridge - while the light was still good so the pictures turned out pretty well. Like most of the falls in the area this one has quite a bit of clutter in the form of downed timber, leaves, sticks, etc. gather aroound the top and the base. It really makes composing a picture that eliminates the clutter a challenge.

About 1.5 miles round trip, each way with less than 200ft in elevation gain, only one creek crossing, all in all it was a really easy hike.



Pine Ridge Falls (25ft high)
36 deg 07.211N 82 deg 32.238W, 2022ft

I've read that Josiah Falls is located about .5 miles upstream Pine Ridge Falls. The only way to get there is to scale the right side of Pine Rodge Falls. Well it rained the night before so the rock face to be climbed was wetter and more slippery than normal. So once I surveyed the situation and compared the pleasure of getting to Josiah Falls against potentially falling and crashing and breaking something - like my face or my camera - I decided to wait for a drier day to give Josiah a go.

I was able to snap a few pictures of some more wildflowers, there are some nice patches of trillium that had already blloomed out, bummer, it's just getting too late for spring flowers to be blooming en masse, oh well, there's always next year.

To get there from the intersection of SR81 and SR107, go west on SR107 toward Greeneville for 5 miles. Turn left on Clark's Creek Road and drive a total of 3.3 miles - the last 1.9 will be gravel. Park in the turnout on the left and locate the brown sign that marks the trailhead for "Longarm Branch Trail". After .5 miles there's an easy creek crossing; once across, the trail will fork, stay left and the falls are about .25 miles ahead.

Red Fork Falls

I made a quick trip to Red Fork Falls after work, the light was still pretty good when I got there about 7:30PM. It may seem odd to call this a hike becaue the total distance is less than 1/2 mile, but the last 100 yards make it tough. The hike profile doesn't begin to convey just how steep the terrain is when you get to the falls - it's darn near vertical!



Red Fork Falls (60ft high)
36 deg 09.008N 82 deg 15.702W, 3075ft

The short half-mile hike is extremely steep and very slippery. Many people have been seriously injured attempting to view these falls. You don't so much hike to the falls as you actually climb down along side them, and there's no steps, just rocks and tree stumps to hold onto. It's definitely a beautiful waterfall but this hike isn't for everyone. Take your time, use caution, use a hiking stick, and make sure to wear shoes with ankle support and good tread. Oh, and stay away from the slippery rocks near the water!

To get there take the Unicoi exit (#32) off I-26. At the end of ramp turn east towards town. At the stop sign, turn right onto Unicoi Road and proceed for 0.7 miles. Turning left onto Rt. 107 (Limestone Cove Road) and drive 7.8 miles, then turn right on Red Fork Road (aka Unaka Mountain Road). Proceed up the mountain for 1.2 miles to a small parking area and trail head to your right. It's marked with a big red dot on one of the trees. After a short walk down the gravel road, cross the creek, follow the trail across a second creek. Continue on the well-defined trail a hundred yards or so and you will end up at to the top of the falls. This is where the near-vertical descent alongside the falls begins. Again, if you decide to go down to the base of the falls, be careful, go slow, and stay on dry ground as much as possible.

Here's a shot from the side of the falls near the top.


The falls continue down the mountain, I intend to see them as well, but light was waning so they will have to wait for another day.

Dick Creek Falls

My first trip to both the Lower and Upper Dick Creek Falls was on 2-May-2010. It was mostly sunny (bad for picture-taking), temps in the mid 80's with high humidity (bad for hiking), and the wind was blowing badly, which did keep the bugs at bay but made photographing the wildflowers a generally frustrating affair.

Total hiking distance was about 7.7 miles.

It's uphill both ways !


Dick Creek Falls (22-ft high)
36 deg 09.114N, 82 deg 19.632W, 2600 ft

Begin at Rock Creek Park in Erwin. Drive through the picnic area and park near the bath house just before you enter the campground. From here, walk towards the campground and you'll see the trail head for the hiking/biking trail that follows Rock Creek. After a ten minute walk, you'll reach a footbridge; cross it and you will soon come to a fork with a sign pointing left to Rattlesnake Ridge, that’s the trail you want to take. You will follow it approximately 3/4 of a mile through a few easy creek crossings and some steep parts to reach Dick Creek Gap.

As you enter Dick Creek Gap, you'll reach a clearing that contains the intersection of three trails and two roads: one is the trail you just came from; the trail on your right continues on to Rattlesnake Ridge, I’m not sure where the third trail (to your left) goes. Straight ahead are the two roads. The road to the left is marked 'Dark Hollow', but it’s the unmarked logging road to the right that you want to take.

Follow that road down the hill for about 3/4 of a mile where you'll cross over Dick Creek. Just a bit further and you'll come to an intersection with yet another unmarked logging road; turn right on that unmarked logging road.

From here it is roughly 1/3 of a mile to an unmarked pullout on your right. It's the second such pullout on the right. There’s a similar pullout a few hundred yards sooner, but you’ll know this is the correct one because you can see a grassy clearing about a hundred yards farther up the road. If you listen closely, you should be able to hear the falls. There’s a faint trail out the back of the pullout which will lead to the falls, which are only about 30 yards off the road.

The waterfall is hidden in a little grotto. You can view the falls from above and then carefully climb down to the base of the falls for a better view. If you’re through here in early May you may also see some pink lady slippers along the sides of the logging road.

Upper Dick Creek Falls (~30-ft high)
located at 36 deg 08.686N, 82 deg 19.265W, 3060 ft

Get back on the logging road from the lower falls, and proceed upstream through the clearing to another creek crossing. Just across the creek is another small clearing with a rock fire ring. Cross the creek and the clearing and continue on the trail through the ditch until it comes out in a relatively flat spot about 100 ft ahead. There’s a faint trail that angles uphill and to the left, back toward the creek.

The trail is not always obvious, but proceeds through woods with almost no undergrowth. Some kind soul has blazed a portion of the trail with pieces of white and yellow plastic hanging from the trees. Follow this uphill until it intersects with another old logging road - 'road' is a bit of a stretch, more like a really wide path).

Go left on this path about 300 yards and you’ll see and hear the upper falls. The total distance from the lower to the upper falls is about 3/4 mile. If you’re through here in late April or early May keep an eye out for painted trillium.

These falls are located along a wall that curves around to the left. The best photo opportunities are from the sides and directly in front of the falls, but you’ll have to cross the creek above the falls and circle around below the falls to get there. Be very careful as you will cross the creek only a few feet upstream from the precipice. Circle around the far side and scramble down to the base of the falls, it's steep, but manageable.

There are four distinct flows over the face of the falls, each separated by a big rock. It puts you in the mind of water flowing out of a turret on an old castle. In wet weather there are two smaller falls on the trail side of the wall.

noob

Hey look who's gone and created a blog ...

/gaffigan=on
who does he think he is?
who does he think wants to read the prattle that rolls through his head?
/gaffigan=off