Archive for March, 2014

Waterfall Tour, Backwards – March 15, 2014

I was recently contacted by a local guy whom I had become acquainted with on the Tennessee Waterfalls Facebook page asking for information on how to get to Josiah and Lilybeth Falls. He was planning on going with another person from the waterfalls group to try and find them and had heard that I was the authority on this area.  They were wanting to go from the bottom up starting at Pine Ridge Falls and asked if I thought they could find them. I had to be truthful and tell them that I did not recommend that due to there being no trails, some dangerous cliffs and steep climbs that the best way was to come from the top down but that going that way would also require being shown the way due to the old road into Devil Fork Valley being more or less impassable having been devastated with blow downs caused  by the pine bark beetles a few years ago. I tried to get some others together to do the Waterfall Tour but was unsuccessful given the short notice. I also actually did not feel quite up to such a long and strenuous all day trip so I reconsidered going from the bottom up and ended up agreeing to show them the way.

waterfall

Josiah Falls

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Posted on 29 March '14 by , under RATtreks. No Comments.

Death March 2014 – 2-21 to 2-23-2014

Wanting a change of pace from the normal designated hiking trails that everyone knows about and are well traveled, I have always wanted to just pack my backpack and go off into a Wilderness area and spend a few days and nights just hiking around, camping in different places where you would most likely not run into any one the whole time. The closest Wilderness area for me is the Sampson Mountain Wilderness Area and it is a fact that you can easily spend a week or more rambling around there and never cross the same path twice. I have always wanted to do that and I finally got an opportunity to do so. The only bad thing was I only had three days to do it. My friend Sam wanted to spend three days and two nights in the mountains before having to return to work so it was my job to come up with a plan.  I did just that however, due to the time constraints and the route I chose,  it would not be an easy one and was thus called ‘Death March 2014’.

backcountry

Old road through the back country

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Posted on 19 March '14 by , under RATtreks. 1 Comment.