Fontana Dam, and Lost Appalachian Trail Hiker

 

Blairsville, GA (high 83, low 58)

It’s predicted to be a little warmer today, but we’re not complaining, because a cold front is coming with one night predicted to be 38 degrees.  That’s starting to get a bit too cold for me.

Yesterday, we ended up taking a long drive up to Fontana Dam, in North Carolina.  It’s on the southwest border of the Great Smokey Mountains National Park.

We went north on hwy 129 through Murphy, NC and over to hwy 28 through the Nantahala National forest.

 

It was a pretty drive.

We saw the strangest looking cows.

We went through Nantahala Gorge.  We stopped at a pull off and soon heard the sounds of very loud rushing water.

 

 

This is the same gorge we went to last year and saw the freestyle kayak championships.  It’s a lot less crowded this year.

It was a scenic drive the rest of the way to the dam. 

 

We were told that Fontana Dam is the highest dam east of the Mississippi.  It was built on the order of FDR after the attack on Pearl Harbor.  It was needed for the war effort.  The massive project was completed in just three years.

The Appalachian Trail actually crosses over the top of the dam.

We went to the visitor center and briefly chatted with a hiker, who said he was doing portions of the AT.

Later, we heard him talking to the lady at the visitor center. It turns out he had been waiting for his wife to pick him up.  He had no cell service and couldn’t reach her.  The lady at the VC had someone from the lodge pick him up and take him back to the lodge, for whatever reason. Maybe he was staying there, or for better cell service?

Later, after we had spent an hour or so seeing the dam and visitor center, we drove over the bridge to where the AT connected.   We briefly walked on the AT.  It was 4:30 pm by this time, so it was real brief.

Notice the white blaze and how rugged the trail is?

After a few pictures, we walked back to the car.  A lady sitting inside a car in the parking lot that we had not previously noticed, said hello.    We said hello, got into the truck and started to drive off, but then it occurred to me she might be the wife of the hiker we had spoken to earlier.   I went over and asked her if she was waiting for someone, and we figured out it was indeed her husband that we had seen earlier.    I directed her back down to the visitor center and we later found out she and her husband had been waiting 5 hours for each other and had both been waiting in the wrong spot.  I imagine both of them were very worried about the other one.  There was no cell service here, so they couldn’t call each other.

 

So, back to the beautiful dam.   

This is a view of Fontana Lake before we got to the dam.

This is where the Appalachian Trail crosses over the bridge.

Views from the dam.

They draw the water down in the fall in preparation for the winter rainy season.

Can you see Al on the top right of the photo?

Al got a kick out of this life ring.  You probably wouldn’t survive if you fell here.  It was a loooong way down.

 

 

 

It was a fun day and we really enjoyed exploring Fontana Dam.   We’re off early this morning for another adventure.

More Waterfalls, and Tornado Damage

 

Blairsville, Georgia (high 81, low 58)

 

Happy Fall Y’all

Fall is my favorite time of the year here in the north Georgia mountains.   People around here really get into decorating for fall, me included.

Here is a picture of our fall decor. 

It’s hard to believe that we’ve been here almost three months and that our time is winding down.   We have a lot of exploring to do before the end of the month.

On Monday, we went into town  and had lunch with Merikay and Craig.  We did a little exploring and then home for happy hour out on the deck.  One of these days, I will remember to get their picture.

Yesterday, we decided to do some hiking.  It took us a while to make up our mind where to go, but finally we decided on Desoto Falls.  We headed south on Blood Mountain aka hwy 129. 

There was a nice parking lot, with a very clean and well maintained restroom.   We found out why , later on.  I’ll get back to that story later.

We jumped out of the car, grabbed my camera, phone, Al’s backpack, and went over to read the sign showing  a map of the area.

Fortunately, Al , noticed a sign saying you could get in free with the Golden Age/geezer card.   It’s a good thing he saw that, because we hadn’t even thought about paying the normal  $3.00 parking fee.   We discussed whether or not anyone ever checked some of these remote parking to see if everybody paid.  I didn’t think so.

Then, Al started to laugh and ask me if I had forgotten anything?   I looked down and realized I still had on my sandals!  Duh.

After changing shoes, off we went to find the trail head and passed a nice remote campground.

a stream….of course

and finally to the trailhead.

Legend has it that a piece of armor was found near the falls that may have been from explorer Hernando Desoto.

You can go to the upper trail which is .75 mile or the lower which is .50 mile.  We decided to go to the upper trail first.

This next picture is a mushroom that almost looked like a small furry animal. 

It was an easy walk, with only short areas where you had to climb, and fortunately not too many acorns in your path.

The waterfall was a little sparse, and not one of the prettiest we’ve been to, but that’s  okay.  You can’t win them all.

Don’t you just love the people that feel the need to leave their name all over public grounds?

Thanks Greg Weaver from Wasilla, Alaska.  Glad to know you were there!

also glad to know Ashley Owen loves Wendi Strickland

 

We walked back down, and then did the lower falls.   That was a shorter hike, but more strenuous. 

The forest was pretty.

 

I’m always fascinated by the knobs in the trees.  This looks like a face of a bulldog to me.  See the crooked tooth?

see the resemblance?

When we got back to the parking lot, we noticed this fellow giving out a ticket to someone who has forgotten to pay their $3.  He took down all sorts of info, including the vin.

Phew….it’s a good thing we remembered to put our geezer pass, or this could have been us!   The ranger told us the ticket will cost these people $50!   Wowzer!   We wondered which of the people we met on the trail was getting this little surprised.  NOW, we see how they can have such a nice bathroom and parking area. 

 

After, we left Desoto Falls, we decided to head down the road to Little Ridge Creek Falls.  It’s in the Boggs Creek Wilderness area right off Hwy 129  (note to self…don’t bother going back)

 

We had our little trail guide which told us how to get to the trailhead.  Unfortunately, the directions in the book didn’t match what we saw in the park.

We came to a fork in the road.  One direction required you to drive over the stream, and the other had a blocked gate.  There was a forest service guy parked on the other side of the gate, so we asked him if he knew where the trail was located.  He didn’t but mentioned a tornado did a lot of damage there last year and things had changed.

He said we were welcome to walk down the gated road, but we couldn’t bring the truck.

We parked and walked a ways up the gravel road.  There was supposed to be 4 waterfalls.

We walked a ways and came across some pretty flowers and butterflies.

and lots of damage from the tornado.

 

It wasn’t the most interesting hike we’ve ever been on.

We finally reached what we think was the actual trail head, that we were supposed to have been able to drive to.  By this time, we had lost our enthusiasm for this hike,  so we headed back.

How about this tree knob?   Can you see the nose, eye and snaggle tooth on this face?

We ended up with about a 4 mile hike by this point, so we decided to call it a day.

 

  

Although it wasn’t the best day for waterfalls or hikes, we had a nice day, and I’m sure we’ll find something else to do today.