Visiting the Great Smoky Mtn National Park via Fontana Lake this past weekend, the weather was incredibly warm for last days of Oct. Upper 70ºs, full moon, beautiful.
It was quite a task to get the boat ready for our trip. I worked a full day Thurs at the college, and then after an hour drive to Sewanee, had to install an alternator on the boat, clean it, pack it, get a spare tire mounted for my trailer, and clean up my house for Roya's visit after our return. I worked til almost midnight on the boat on Thursday and all morning on Friday to get ready. All that time on my feet, we decided to do the 'big' hike on Sunday.
We got there after dark on Friday, after I had yet another flat on my trailer. The moon was full and bright so that helped, The boat ramp was a steep gravel path that winds down around a corner, so with the boat at it's heaviest with full fuel and water, I had to go dead slow down the 'ramp' with the truck in 4WD low range, hubs locked. Got out onto the lake and cruised to our overnight spot where the Verizon signal was strong and we could watch TV via internet.
Relaxed Saturday, went to do a short hike up Forney Creek. Was surprised to see no one at the campground, trail maintenance was lacking with trees down over the trail. It was beautiful, leaves very colorful. Stopped at one of the bridges to listen to the creek. Saw no one anywhere on the trail. Amazing that this park has 9 million visitors a year and we can go to this place without seeing anyone all day on this trail.
We went back to the boat, took a brief swim and washed.
After Forney Creek, then went to the dam, 12 miles down the lake. It was the closing day of the Fontana Dam visitors center, had a great conversation with Jim, a retired TVA guy. We walked around the dam.
Sunday we decided to do the hike to the Shuckstack tower. It is a relentless 2500' climb over the final 3.5 miles of an approximately 5 mile hike one way. In years past, I did this 10 mile roundtrip hike along with a 15 miler to High Rocks in the same weekend. Not anymore. 3 times I've done the 25 mile hike in one day to Clingmans Dome from the lake, last time about 17-18 yrs ago. I feel the same level of fatigue now with this 10 miler that I did with the 25 miler back then. Hard on the foot, and the downhill hard on the knees.
We got to the tower about 4PM, had it to ourselves. Warm enough where I did not need my windbreaker. At the high elevation, the leaves were past peak with flashes of colorful leaves around the valleys. It took us about as long to hike down as it did to hike up, about 2 hrs each way.
Monday started out beautifully and we went up Hazel Creek to the former village of Proctor and the last remaining house in the area, the Calhoun House. Last year we saw bear around there but none this yr. We saw no other people the whole day. Sitting on the porch of the Calhoun House is a surreal experience. The sound of the gently flowing Hazel Creek, the falling of the gold leaves, the thoughts of what it must have been like here a century ago. We knew the cold front was coming. Still warm, we hiked back to the boat and about the time the cold front and light rain started, we had just got to the channel on the main part of the lake. The wind blew up white caps and the going was very rough at planing speed. We ducked into a narrow cove which was completely sheltered and calm and had some hot soup.
We then cruised back to the marina and I came to the dock. It was windy. I asked Roya to hold the boat a the dock while I went to get the truck, but a wind gust pushed the boat away and she fell in with her clothes on trying to hold it. I got back just in time to grab the boat and tie it. Roya changed and got out, I loaded the boat without incident.
Was really happy with the performance of the machines, both the boat and truck ran beautifully.
Here are some photos with captions. I'll probably add more later.
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Coming down the AT from Shuckstack
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Near Fontana Dam
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Hazel Creek
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| Moonrise |
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Morning
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Moonlight cruising
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Forney Creek
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Forney Creek
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Dam view at sunset
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Forney Creek trail
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Shuckstack tower view
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Bill, I would give the majority of these photos a 99. Wow. The use of light and color, the spacing, the selection of compelling sites ...... yes, the word magnificent comes to mind. For what it's worth, my mother studied at the world-famous Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles, and thus I know a little bit about the subject.
ReplyDeleteThis display calls to mind a woman who could run 22.98 in the W35 200 and then come back later in the meet to crush everyone else in the discus. Wow. No, I do not know such a woman.
Peter L. Taylor
Fairfax, Virginia
Roya’s a trooper. Once again you demonstrate your wide skill set, time to build her a trellis and extend her patio!
ReplyDelete