A Big Surprise at Yahoo Falls

The morning clouds left me annoyed, thinking that it would turn out to be another dark cold day like the previous one.

But by 11am, breaks of sun popped through and my mood immediately lightened.
Yay! I'm going out to visit one of my favorite locations to photograph nature; Yahoo Falls.

It turned out to be a beautiful Sunday afternoon . The temperatures had risen to the low sixties; all the way up from a morning low of 49 degrees!

I have been to Yahoo Falls at least 4 times in almost every season. It is located in the upper part of the Big South Fork National  River and Recreation area that extends into Alardt, TN.  Daniel Boone Forest and Big South Fork are connected and it's hard to tell where one area stops and another begins except for the signs.

Yahoo Falls is easy to find. If you drive north from Tennessee, on highway 27, you will turn left onto highway 700, in Whitley City, KY.
If traveling south on highway 27, just turn right on highway 700.
Follow this narrow, winding road, slowly and you will reach the signs about a few miles due west.

I bought along a friend who had never seen this before so it was a treat.

There is an overlook near the parking lot and the water is always green. The fall colors are just changing and I didn't want to miss them. There are about three overlooks along the way to the falls.
I discovered that the falls does not enter or come from the river at all. it comes from a small creek on top of a ridge, and hikers can cross over and stand over the falls.

There are several ways to get down to the falls, so we picked the red, metal, steep, stairs. This is fine going down but not going up!



The recent rains made a decent amount of water for the fall to be photographed. There were other visitors around so maneuvering to get a good shot proved a challenge this day.


Due to the shade I had to raise the cameras ISO to 1600 and 3200 so there was some graininess, when magnified.

Photographers love to get clear crisp shots but nature doesn't always provide the best lighting.




The Yahoo Arch was next on the agenda so off we went.
The trail seemed a little longer than a year ago. It ascended steep hills and turned many times. I was a little breathless at some points and had to rest. I guess I am getting old or need more practice.








At last we found the arch. Actually it seems to be a rock house an arch and a cave with a hole on top. It never disappoints, at any case.

After snapping photos for 30 minutes, we decided to go back. There is another arch named marker arch further up the ridge about a 1.6 miles but it was getting late.

We walked back through the heavy woods and we stayed on the upper path this time. It was shorter.
As we came to the top of the falls, my friend decided to venture on top; I wasn't as brave.

I have wondered through the woods of Daniel Boone National Forest and the Great South Fork National Recreational and River Area for a few years now and never encountered any wildlife larger than a squirrel or rabbit. Black bear alerts were posted on most trails so I kept an eye out for them.

Then as we left the park road and drove down the road a little when something caught my eye. A very dark image appeared next to the road. I drove slowly up to this and saw the eyes and realized it was a black bear! My first encounter after all the trips and hikes. I was so amazed, scared and delighted at the same time!

My friend had the vantage point and managed to get a few shots before I could get my camera out of its bag. The young bear quickly walked away as he realized we were not there to feed him.

So here's my first bear sighting. I am so glad we didn't meet up with this on foot!

Slave Falls TN Summer Afternoon Adventure

My last post described the two Twin Arches in the Great South Fork Region in Picket County Tennessee. I stated that Slave falls would be posted next.

Slave Falls is a few miles away from the Twin North and South Arches in the same park. This is located in a heavily wooded, rocky terrain with good paths.
Take hwy 154 east from hwy 127 near Jamestown,TN.


Turn right onto Divide Road and then travel about 4 miles on Ridge Fork Rd.  Follow the signs on  the way to Charit Creek Lodge . The Sawmill Trail parking will come up first so park on the grassy lot in front of the trail head.

 There is a map of the trails as you enter the trailhead so we took a photo of this to help navigate through the area.

This preserve has a history of logging so the sawmill trail name made sense but any remnants of the old sawmill are gone.

The woods is very thick in the summer and the shade from the trees was welcome on this humid day but I will return in the falls and maybe winter when more can be seen.
On the way ,we passed cliffs, creeks, and overhangs. There was a sign for the rockhouse too, but we decided to do this another day.

We made our way to the side of Slave Falls but I was disappointed by the size of it. I guess they didn't get as much rain and so it was difficult to capture a good shot. My boyfriend scaled over the fence in an attempt to get that good shot.

Since the water falls over a huge overhang ,one could consider this to be a rockhouse, but it was impractical to walk through with the large boulders.

After climbing out of the bottom, we ventured on a trail that we thought would take to another great site and saved our disappointing trip. Needle Arch is a wonderful intact natural rock formation that is on the same path down from the falls.

The wide angle lens makes an interesting perspective.

After leaving the arch we continued on the trail that we thought would take us back to the car but it didn't!
We somehow got turned around and ended up on the other side of the falls!
The two hour hike wound up taking almost four hours and my feet were swollen.

Hiking on hot, humid days does take its toll. I was so happy to see the car and turn on the air conditioning. Yes I am just a day tripper. We came upon hearty campers and hikers that stayed overnight but I don't know how they deal with the creepy crawlies in the night!

Giants in the Woods

If you go hiking much, there are times you'd swear someone was watching.
Yes, there are sounds and unexplained noises ,but sometimes your eyes can play tricks on you.
We were walking along a train near the Blue Heron Mining camp near Stearns KY. 
You can drive down to it or take the train from the depot.

We drove to the Mining Camp and walked across the foot bridge into the woods.
There are nice wooden foot bridges and paths all maintained by the Sheltowee Trail club.
I crossed the bridge and looked up and though the mossy group of rocks and boulder was staring at me!
Yeah, sometimes fatigue can get the better of me,but I snapped the photo and was amused by what I saw.

I see a green giant glaring at me from a sitting position and know others have too from their comments on my other sites.
How many times have any of us  had this experience and didn't tell anyone?
Now look and tell me what what you see.