Planning doesn't always work

Well, I sat down this morning and planned my route for a day of leaf viewing. I decided that I could probably get the best leaf viewing in by heading to Franklin, NC, driving to Wayesville, NC then taking I-40 to Tennessee and coming through the Great Smoky Mountains Park via 441 through the middle of the park. I found some really nice color all the way up through Wayesville, where I found some stunning trees. The route to Franklin through the Nantahala Forest was very pretty in spots, but it appeared there were large areas of Tulip Poplar and River Birch that had already peaked. The Hickory and Maples were pretty nice though. As I entered the city limits of Dillsboro I crossed a bridge and noticed a little spillway, so I decided to see what that was all about. I exited the main highway and entered a nice little park with picnic tables right on the river. There was this spillway on the river and it was a pretty nice and quiet spot for a picnic.

I left the little park and traveled up to Waynesville, where I decided to get gas and something to eat. Since this was on a sunday there weren't many places open and I had to get a bite to eat at one of those fast food places. There was a restaurant named Clyde's that I was told was good food, but I didn't really want to stop and do a sit down lunch. I did take a couple of photo's of trees in Waynesville that were pretty stunning. I left Waynesville via Hwy 276 to tie into I-40 and cross over to Tennessee on the north side of the Great Smoky Mountains Park. As I approached the entrance to I-40 a big truck was across the road and several guys were there telling people that they couldn't get on I-40. There had been a rock slide and part of the mountain had fallen across all four lanes of the interstate. Traffic was backed up from Asheville to who knows where. I tried to persuade one of the guys directing traffic to let me go down to see the rock slide, but that didn't really work out. So at this point my plans changed, because the only other way to where I was going was to go to Asheville then go north to Johnson City, TN, and back down to where I was going (about two hours).So I went back toward Waynesville and I noticed a sign that said Cataloochee (which is part of the Great Smoky Mountains Park). I took this road which winds around for about seven miles to the park entrance. From the park entrance the road become a forest service road, unpaven and with gravel in places. For the most part this is one of those roads that you can only go about 5 - 10 mph due to the narrow road and many sharp curves. There were a lot of people on this road including a couple of guys that must not have read the info about traveling this road. One guy was in a corvette and the other was in a mercedez sports coupe with the top down. I'm in a truck and dust is flying all over the place, I know these guys needed a major shower by the time they got out of there. It so happens that there are two entrances into Cataloochee, one is a 27 mile drive, mostly gravel, from Cosby, NC, and the other is an 11 mile route partly paved. Lucky me, I got on the shorter route (it did help to have my maps and GPS though). After traveling through the forest service road I came to a nice overlook with some long range beautiful views. I spoke with a woman that had been to the Cataloochee valley below, in the morning, and she told of seeing elk and a bear with her cub. I ventured down into the valley and ended up at the site of an exhibit called Palmer House. There was a barn and a house with a couple of other buildings. Across the street was a nice little river flowing through the property. I took a picture of the river and the outbuildings. After viewing this site I traveled the approx. 10 miles by forest service road out of the park. The leaves were very colorful and about peak. I decided to return to the cabin via a different route, so I traveled down Hwy 19 through Maggie Valley, where I photographed another stunning tree. This route took me through the Cherokee Indian Reservation. On my way through the reservation, I noticed a couple of old motel signs. Since I like these old remnants of the past I stopped to take pictures. The motels are no longer open and now the Harrah's Casino and Hotel has taken their place. I followed Hwy 19 and as I crossed the Little Tennessee River I decided it was worth stopping for another photo. Traveling on Hwy 19 took me through the Nantalaha Gorge, which is a very pretty place regardless of the time of year. There weren't any kyakers on the river at this time (about 5:20pm). I traveled back to the cabin through Andrews and a back road. All along the way the leaves were very pretty and not yet peak. Altogether my trip was about 219 miles. This was a considerable distance, but I haven't gotten this opportunity too often. It was well worth the trip and the scenery was really great.

Rainy indoor day

I spent most of the day inside, since the weather was rainy and overcast. On my trip to Lowe's and Walmart, I did observe some pretty nice color. I took this one photo of a maple tree off the back of my deck.

Back in the Mountains

I returned to the cabin on 20 Oct. The weather has been very pleasant so far, averaging around 75 degrees during the daytime. The leaves are what I would consider to be low color in Murphy right now. I expect that as I travel to the higher elevations, I might see some near peak colors, however, I don't think the peak will hit Murphy until some time next week or thereafter. I've been staying close to the cabin so far, so don't have much to show you yet. I'll post pictures soon.

Fires Creek and Jackrabbit Mountain

The weather was really pleasant today (72 degrees at 12 noon). I traveled to a park that I've been to before called Fires Creek. It is in the Nantahala National Forest and consists mostly of a picnic area and trails that can take you about 28 miles, if you wish to go that far. Being a little lazy, I chose not to go that far and only went to the end of the river trail that ended at the river. Since I didn't want to get wet, I didn't cross to go across the river. The park has picnic tables and borders a nice stream, as well as a small waterfall. The trail I took had tables along the river and the forest was very dense. There wasn't anyone at this park when I walked the trail. It was very quiet, except for the stream that flows next to the trail. As you can tell from the photo of the rocks, the water is perfectly clear. A very tranquil walk indeed.

I left the picnic area and traveled up the forest service road for about six miles. This was basically a forest service road with gravel. Over the six miles I traveled at about 10 mph, the river could be heard all along the way. This was a road that had a canopy of trees over it and most of it did not have any sunlight showing through the canopy. I did encounter one small waterfall coming off of the mountain, but most of the road consisted of highly dense forest. There is a place off of the road for people that want to camp with their horses, it's called Bristol Camp. There were only a couple of campsites taken, but a very large horse trailer on the site. After looking at my GPS, I decided that the road I was traveling ended in the forest after several miles and so I decided to return back down to Fires Creek.

I left Fires Creek and ended up at Jackrabbit Mountain, a park run by the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture. Most of the park entrances were closed, except for the boat launch site. There are nice views of the Chatuge Lake from most places in this park. The park consists of a day use area, a mountain bike trail, hiking trails and campsites. I decided to leave this area and head back to the cabin. Along my way I did stop and photograph a barn that was not too long for the world.

Ocoee Whitewater River Rafters

River rafting on the Ocoee River at the Ocoee Whitewater Center, site of the 1996 Olympics.

NC Winery and Vineyard GPS coordinates

For anyone interested in the North Carolina Winery GPS coordinates for your GPS unit, I have them available for purchase. This database includes the vineyards and wineries located within the State of North Carolina. If you're just interested in one particular winery or vineyard, let me know, and I can give you the coordinates. Part of the money for this database will be donated to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park.

John C. Campbell Folk School Fall Festival

Today I embarked on my annual pilgrimage to the John C. Campbell Folk School Fall Festival that runs from 3 Oct to 4 Oct. It's located at Brasstown, NC, GPS coordinates N35degrees02.256 W83degrees57.696. Upon my arrival it became obvious that I wasn't the only one that had this idea. I don't know how may people were there, but it was kinda like a mini Woodstock. As I entered the area to pay my $5 cover charge, there was a band playing on the stage called "Beulah Land Gospel Band". They were playing some very nice accoustic sets of bluegrass music. I wandered further up the venue after watching the band and started on my journey to view the various art vendor displays. There were so may really good artists at this show, it is well worth the visit to see their crafts. Most of the crafts are not on the level of "Crafts stuff", these people are really artisans and I've previously purchased stuff for the cabin from a couple of them. One display I found very interesting was the guy that made his own knives (Mike Wilson) from Hayesville, NC. He has a website wilsoncustomknives.blademakers.com. In listening to him talk with another guy, he said that if a person was interested in learning the trade they could apprentice with him, but he didn't pay. A lady I talked with about her fabric display, told me of the process she uses to create her fabrics, which involve several steps and various paint put onto fabric and left in the sun. Her designs are mostly flowers and ferns. Some very interesting stuff. There were 104 juried exhibitors and 127 non-juried exhibitors. That didn't include all of the food stands, and yes they had funnel cakes. On the Festival Barn Stage they had a group called "Buzzard Mountain Boys" playing some pretty nice bluegrass also. A lady by the name "Dawn Gabrielli" from Murphy, NC, had some nice baskets and short benches made from wood and with woven seats.There were just too many exhibitors to show their exhibits on this blog. Throughout the area were people demonstrating various crafts, like pottery throwing, wood bowl turning, weaving, figure carving and others. At one point while watching the potter turn a bowl, a young girl asked, "Have you ever just torn up a bowl after you made it, just for the heck of it". The guy replied no not really, but you can tear up one if you want and he gave her a bowl he had turned so she could crush it. She seemed pretty content with destroying the pottery piece. After viewing all of the exhibits I returned to the cabin to rest up. Good thing I did because it started sprinkling.

Highest Point

This is a photo from the highest point on the Blue Ridge Parkway (6053 feet).

Arrival in the mountains

I arrived in the mountains today (3 Oct 09). The weather was a very pleasant 70 degrees around 5pm. The humidity is also low, although I don't have a precise measurement right now. From my observation there is little color at my elevation (about 1864 feet), except for the dogwood and sourwood trees. There are tinges of yellow red on a maple that sits in front of my viewing area.