Wildflowers, waterfalls, and whisky - Happy Birthday to me!
My annual birthday hike was postponed last week due to that job thing that I've got to have, but it turned out to be a blessing. The conditions yesterday were incredible -- sunny, mild (upper 40s to upper 60s), solid water flow, and one of the most incredible displays of spring wildflowers I've ever seen.
I hiked the Laurel-Snow State Natural Area, which houses a segment of the Cumberland Trail just outside of Dayton, TN, which is most famous for being the location of the Scopes trial. (The original courthouse is still there, too. Worth a quick stop if you're in the area.) The parking lot for the trail is right at 50 minutes from downtown Chattanooga.
I'll have to do two sets of pics since the wildflowers were so nuts. First, the scenic stuff:
This is a feeder stream within a minute or two of the parking lot with cascades trailing back up the side of the gorge. There's actually a huge waterfall up top way back in the pic that's not very easy to see.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/oF...=w1266-h949-no
Entrance to an old coal mine. This place was home to a big coal operation in the late 19th century, so there is interesting 150-year-old stonework all over the lower parts of the trail.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/2u...g=w712-h949-no
Richland Creek, which is the main stream that the trail follows for its first mile or so. If you do some googlin', you can find some gnarly videos of kayakers doing their thing on this creek in high water.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/wM...w=w712-h949-no
A cascade on Laurel Creek, which feeds into Richland Creek.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/EY...g=w712-h949-no
Photo and video of the area's main attraction, the massive Laurel Falls.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/lo...g=w712-h949-no
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8j1n1WSa44c
Crossing a series of three 50-foot bridges over Henderson Creek.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFYrozAATRY
Once you cross the creek, you hike up the other side of the gorge. Here's the final part of that ascent, which passes through a break in the bluffs at the top of the gorge.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/TN...Q=w712-h949-no
Another half mile or so gets you to a rock outcropping that's at the point of a ridge. There's a small bridge over a deep, dark chasm right before the forest breaks.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/0G...=w1265-h949-no
And finally you're at Buzzard Point, which offers a stellar 300-degree view.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pm...Q=w712-h949-no
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_D...w=w712-h949-no
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hS6k0HLOu6U
And then on the way home and again that evening, I indulged in a couple Tennessee staples.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Gh...A=w712-h949-no
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/cJ...=w1266-h949-no
(Dr. Enuf is to east Tennessee what Cheerwine is to western North Carolina, I guess. Sorta like a mix between Sprite and Mountain Dew (but with vitamins!). (Fun fact: it's made by the company that invented Mountain Dew. They made both Dr. Enuf and Mountain Dew back in the day, then sold the latter to Pepsi.))
I'll try to get to the pics of the wildflower display later. It was nuts.
