We're just back from a trip to Rock Creek Recreation Area near Erwin, TN. It remains one of our all-time favorite National Forest campgrounds. However, this trip was tempered with torrential rainfalls, and the fact that our formerly reliable truck suffered an engine-destroying event that ended with us having to be towed back home from Tennessee.
Still, we managed to have a good time and we made more good memories than bad ones.
Easy fords became tough barriers.
Upper Rock Creek Falls, the goal of my hike.
The view at "the Beauty Spot" on Unaka Mountain Road.
Our campsite.
I had to wait a day for water levels to subside to make the hike after three days of torrential rains.
Sometimes Carole doesn't like for me to go off hiking or backpacking by myself. She worries that I'll be off in some wild spot miles from the nearest road and get hurt and not have any help. It's possible. I used to know a guy who did a lot of that sort of thing alone and one day he fell and broke his leg. But this guy was a badass and managed to hike several miles on the broken leg back to his car and drive himself down the mountain to a hospital. He then had to promise his wife not to go out on his adventures by himself anymore. I'm not sure if that worked out for him because we lost touch. I am aware of the things that can happen when you're pushing yourself physically off in the wilderness. But I'm generally extremely careful. Scratch that--I'm always careful. But no matter how careful you are, accidents happen. I've never really gotten hurt in the wild. In fact, I tend to get hurt here in the big city and never out in the woods. But one time I was at a secluded waterfall all alone, taking photos of myself with my camera set on automatic timer. The rocks were slick, it being a waterfall and all that. And even though I had on good boots and was on relatively level ground...I fell. It was a brief fall, but illustrates how easy it is to get into trouble. The best thing is...I was able to record it all.
I'm in a bit of a hurry today. I have to run off to pick up some old comics I bought from a friend.
In the meantime, here are some photos of my double-hike to see the waterfalls on Rock Creek in the Unaka Mountain Wilderness. The first time I hiked in I got caught by a heavy downpour. I got soaked and was afraid that I'd get my camera wet so I was really careful. I got to the falls after a very long two+ mile hike (the guidebooks said 1.5 miles, but that was SO wrong!). I took photos and video and headed back to camp, not realizing until the next day that I'd only hiked to the Lower Rock Creek Falls and had entirely missed the more impressive Upper Rock Creek Falls. So of course I had to hike the trail again two days later to see the other falls.
At any rate, here are some shots of the falls and the hike in. I'll post details later.
The wilderness boundary sign. I took this on the subsequent hike when it wasn't pouring down rain.
There are literally scores of little cascades like this one along the trail.
The lower falls. I was already so soaked that standing in the creek for photos wasn't a problem. The conditions for waterfall photography were great, though.
My later hike to the Upper Falls. Much more impressive than the lower ones. I'm glad I went back to see them, since I don't know when I'll get back to that area. There are a LOT of waterfalls in the Unaka Mountain region. I didn't have time to see them all.
The wilderness boundary sign. I took this on the subsequent hike when it wasn't pouring down rain.
There are literally scores of little cascades like this one along the trail.
The lower falls. I was already so soaked that standing in the creek for photos wasn't a problem. The conditions for waterfall photography were great, though.
My later hike to the Upper Falls. Much more impressive than the lower ones. I'm glad I went back to see them, since I don't know when I'll get back to that area. There are a LOT of waterfalls in the Unaka Mountain region. I didn't have time to see them all.
