Ruby Falls, Chattanooga, Tennessee

 

Blairsville, Ga  (high 70, low 40)

 

We’ve had frost two mornings this past week, but it looks like it’s going to warm up a little the next week.  The weather has been perfect.  Blue skies, and cool crisp air.  This is the perfect time of year here in the mountains.  Even though we’ve been here since early July, we are NOT anxious to leave next week.

We’ve been busy trying to find the fall foliage.   There are some areas that have been pretty, but for the most part the color is not spectacular this year.  We saw some nice color almost 2 weeks ago at Brasstown Bald (the tallest peak in GA) and the Cherohala Skyway, but it’s very spotty.

A few days ago we took a drive to Chattanooga to see Rock City, Ruby Falls, and the birthplace of a very special boy.

We drove to Chattanooga via hwy 64, hoping for some fall color.  Unfortunately, it looked like it had already peaked.

It was a pretty drive though. 

It was a three state day.

Highway 64 in Tennessee, runs alongside the Ocoee River, which is the home of the 1996 summer Olympic kayaking events. 

We had intended on going back there this week-end for the water release, but due to lack of fall color, we scrapped that plan.

At one point, there were some huge rocks that had fallen down into embankment.   I thought of this later in the day when we were 1100 feet underneath these type of rocks.

 

 

We arrived in Chattanooga and followed the signs to Lookout Mountain and Ruby Falls.

The caves at Ruby Falls had been used by native Americans and both Union and Confederate soldiers who set up hospitals inside.  There was a cave opening in the side of the mountain, but in  1905, the original cave entrance was sealed off when the Southern Railway completed a tunnel through the base of the mountain.

In 1923, cave enthusiast, Leo Lambert decided to attempt to reopen the cave by drilling an elevator shaft straight down 420 feet through solid rock, and into the base of the mountain.

In 1928, while drilling the shaft, workers felt a gush of air at 260 feet.  Leo Lambert and a small crew crawled down into an 18 inch shaft and explored the cave.  He was gone for 17 hours.  When he came back, he had wonderful stories of the wonders of the cave, including the amazing underground waterfall.

On his next trip into the cave, he took his wife Ruby who crawled on her belly in a 18 inch opening, in a dress!   Leo named the waterfall after his wife.

In 1975, the secondary exit from the falls to the base of the mountain was cut.  On our way out, going up the elevator, it occurred to me that there may only be one way in and one way out.  What would happen if there was a power outage, or the elevator quit.   I was glad when our guide told us there was a back up exit.     Maybe I should have thought of that going in.

That elevator shaft took us straight down into the solid rock mountain, but now you can only go down 260 feet because OSHA stopped allowing visitors to the lower caves that are some 400 feet down.  

Our cave tour was guided, and as usual, they went way too fast for me.  We took our spot at the end of the group, so that we could snap pictures and not hold up everyone else.

We were constantly getting left behind but fortunately there were signs telling you where to go. 

There were well placed lights and with the right camera settings, you could get pictures without using your flash.   I wasn’t happy with my pictures.  Some of it was operator error, and some of it was lack of time to even focus.  I hate rushed cave tours.

Some areas were wide and high.

 

There were beautiful formations.

Some resembling animals.

 

This was a reflecting pool.  If the guide would have just slowed down a little, I could have gotten a much better photo.

 

The 145 foot waterfall is at the end of a large chamber. 

At this point, we were 1106 feet below the surface!

There are automatic lights that go on for a few minutes, changing colors the entire time.   I would have liked to have seen it with natural lighting like in the next picture that I borrowed.

 

 

The guide mentioned something about going behind the falls, but when we got there, that area was roped off.

 

 

We thoroughly enjoyed Ruby Falls, but would have enjoyed a more leisurely tour more.  There were so many people touring the cave, so I know they have to get you in and out quickly. 

Afterwards, we drove up the road to Rock City, and then to a special place we had last visited many years ago.

I’ll post about those later as this blog is already too long.

Martinis, Contrails, Waterfalls, and Seizures

 

Blairsville, Georgia (high 65, low 38)

 

We’ve had a busy few days.  We had friends from Tampa visiting over the week-end.  They are looking for property, and may have found a nice  rv site in nearby Murphy, North Carolina.  

They spent the day with the Realtor, but afterwards, we met them at Shoe Booties Restaurant/bar for drinks.  Stephanie and I decided to try  one of their specialty martinis.   They were delicious, and I think when we get back to Florida, I’ll be going to the liquor store to get the ingredients to make my own.  Liquor stores are few and far between around here.  :)

While Stephanie and Barry were with the Realtor, we took a drive over to the Ocoee River, to the whitewater center.  This is where the 1996 rafting events were held in the summer Olympics.  I’ve posted about it before, so I’ll only post a few pictures.

The water is controlled by a dam, and unless there is a water release, it’s mostly rocks and very little water.  When there is a water release, these are large rapids, and people are white water rafting all along this river.

We see this cute little snake.

They are having a water release next week-end, so we may go back for that, although it will be at a slightly different location.

We were looking for fall color, but it’s still too early in this area, I guess.

 

On another one of our sightseeing trips, we headed to Moccasin Creek State Park and found the trout farm next door.

They raise and release trout in the mountain streams.

There were a LOT of trout.

We drove around Lake Burton and Lake Rabun.  There are some beautiful houses both on and off the water.

They are beautiful lakes.

 

Last year, we hiked to nearby Angel and Panther falls. We decided to wait until fall to go back this year. Unfortunately, even with the heavy rain we had a few days ago, the waterfalls were kind of puny this time of year.  I guess the best time to see these falls is during the summer when more water if flowing.

Al thought this might be a nice cave for bears.

It was a fun 2 mile hike.   It started out easy, but there were some more challenging areas with some fairly steep climbs.

If you’re interested in seeing more of the hike, check out last years post HERE

You can compare this years pictures to last years pictures to see the difference in the waterfalls.  

There are three main waterfalls along the one mile path, with smaller waterfalls also.

First main waterfall.

This is the second waterfall.  I can’t remember if this is Angel or Panther falls.

I love the stair like rock formations.

I guess I didn’t take a picture of waterfall number 3.  It just wasn’t too impressive this year.

The leaves sure are falling.

 

Isn’t this rock pretty?  It looks like 6 different rocks, but they were all one piece.

 

 

Along  our travels, we came across some nice cabins. If you ever come up to this area without a RV, here are some very nice cabins for rent.   They are near Hiawassee, GA.   Nice river, and some big trout in the stream

 

Although the fall color was minimal, it is always pretty in this area.

Blue skies and jet contrails.

 

 

We noticed a lot of jet contrails in the sky.  Then we noticed this gold colored spot in they sky.   You can see it on the right top of the next photo.

At first, I thought it was the sun behind the clouds, but then we noticed the sun was to the left of the gold patch. 

We wondered if it was from one of the jets, but the gold spot didn’t dissipate or change like the contrails.

 

The contrails  made the clear blue sky look white. The sun was blinding at times but the gold spot was always there.

At one point there were two of them, one on both sides of the sun.

 

I don’t know exactly what we were seeing, but the gold spot seemed to stay in the same area and didn’t seem to change.  We watched it for at least 20 minutes while we were heading in that direction.  

The sun was starting to set and we still had a long way to go before we got home.  We try not to drive at night in these mountains.

 

Monday morning, we were awakened by the sound of a cat having a seizure.  Big Noogie ended up having three seizures that morning.

We took him to the vet and had all sorts of tests done.  Nothing was conclusive as to the cause of the seizures, but he was sent home with antibiotics for for a bad tooth, and high blood pressure pills.  I never knew animals could have high blood pressure, or that the veterinarians could check their pressure.  Evidently, they have a little cuff, just like they use on humans.  Their BP is supposed to be the same as ours.   Who knew.

So far, no more seizures, but we really don’t know the cause, so one could occur at any time.  He’s about 16 years old, so we know he’s on borrowed time. 

We stayed  home on Tuesday to keep an eye on Noogie.  He seems okay and hasn’t had any more seizures.

We made a road trip yesterday and had a fun day.  More on that later.

A Fun Surprise Along the Cherohala Skyway

 

Blairsville, Georgia (high 70, low 62)

 

We have had quite a bit of rain this past week, with more on the way, including some potentially severe weather tomorrow.

The weather may ruin the fall foliage, so we wanted to see what we could.

Yesterday, we decided to take a drive to the Cherohala Skyway.  It’s a pretty scenic byway,  which runs east-west from North Carolina, to Tennessee.

We started on the North Carolina side.

We stopped for lunch and saw this pretty tree.

I haven’t seen one of these lately.  I understand they are updating all these signs to something more modern.  That’s too bad.

We were expecting decent weather, but not long after we got into North Carolina, here is what we found.

The rain came down pretty hard for awhile, and we pulled over to a scenic overlook to wait out the rain.

There wasn’t much of a view, was there?

 

Thankfully, the rain stopped and the color appeared.

The Cherohala starts at about 850 elevation, and goes up to 5377 feet in elevation.

The prettiest colors this year, were on the North Carolina side at about 3600 feet.  Unfortunately, there was no overlook at the prettiest place, so it wasn’t real easy to get any photos.

It was really beautiful.

I love seeing the smoke/clouds hanging onto the mountain.

 

 

Once we started going up to higher elevations, it looked like the color had peaked and there were a lot of bare trees.

 

When we approached the highest peak, we ended up in the clouds and had absolutely no visibility.

Soon, it cleared up and we only got a little more rain the rest of the day.

We stopped at a few more overlooks, but found the colors to be less impressive on the Tennessee side.  Last year, it was the opposite. 

Interesting waterfalls, coming out of the rocks.

 

 

We stopped at a rest area to use the bathroom. It was so disgusting that I quickly changed my mind, and exited gagging and choking.  Yuck.   Why do women feel the need to urinate all over the floor?

It was a pretty area, though.

 

We stopped at another overlook and found some pretty colors.

and a handsome boy

a couple of old people

 

On the Tennessee side of the Cherohala, there is a beautiful waterfall, and you can drive right by it.

It’s a few miles off the Skyway, but worth the trip.

Taken from the truck window.

We parked the car and got some more shots.

We walked along the road beside the Tellico River and found a few more waterfalls.

This one was probably 15-20 feet high.

A lady came by and told us that two kayakers would be coming down the river and over the falls. 

We had enough warning to be able to find a good viewing point.

We waited.

Here they come.

 

 

 

He went smoothly right over the waterfall and landed without turning over.

Soon, the orange kayak attempted the same run.

 

This one ended up flipping over twice and had a little trouble getting upright.

It was apparent he knew exactly what to do, and soon he was upright and on his way.

Later in the day, we happened to see these two young boys walking up the road.  We recognized their helmets.   I got their email address (hope their parents don’t think I’m a pervert), so that I can send them some of the pictures I took.

Here are the two daredevils. They seemed to be very nice young men.   The one in the red kayak had on a Go Pro camera, so I’m to check out Youtube and see if I can find his video.

We walked along the roadway for a while enjoying the river and rapids.  We ran across a few unlucky snakes.

 

We decided to walk up on the trail behind the main waterfall.  I was a little concerned that it would be slippery due to all the wet rocks and leaves, but it was fine.

It was a short trail and Al only took the back pack to store the cameras in case it decided to rain again.

 

 

The view from the top wasn’t nearly as nice as as from the bottom, but it was a different perspective.

 

We went back down,  took an few more pictures and headed home. 

The approaching severe weather may ruin the fall colors, so we’re glad we at least got to see some color.