Cherokee National Forest – Cleveland,
TN – July 17
Located in the Southern Appalachian
Mountains of east Tennessee, the Cherokee National Forest is divided into
northern and southern sections by the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
We started on the Ocoee River area
scenic byway. There were a few pullouts where we stopped for photos.
dam
Ocoee Overlook
Red-shouldered Hawk
Chilhowee Mountain Overlook
dead snake - no, we didn't hit it
Gazebo Overlook
flowers on the short walk to a historic monument
Inchworm on the monument
monument to a fallen soldier
look closely, this mushroom thinks it's hiding from me
We really hadn’t planned to hike today,
but we stopped at the Chilhowee Day Use Area and saw the trailhead for Benton
Falls. It said it was an easy three-mile roundtrip. It was an easy trail, but thunder
was booming.
We had just gotten close enough to catch
a glimpse of all the people enjoying the waterfall (through the trees) when the
sky opened up pouring rain and then you could hear the crowd shriek. I didn’t
have my rain jacket with me, but Greg had his and het let me wear it. He did
have his waterproof backpack so we stashed the cameras and my binocs in there.
We turned around (never even got a glimpse of the waterfall) and all of the hoards
of people were hiking back now as well. It is a 65 foot waterfall and I grabbed
this photo from their website since we didn’t get to see it in person.
The trail was really flooded, and it
was a challenge not to wade in the deep muddy water. We were soaked to the bone
by the time we got back to the car. (and the sun was now shining)
I guess this is the only Black Bear we will see.....
Benton Falls (taken from the NP website)
It was way past lunch time, so we drove
into town and grabbed some fast food. (sat outside in the sun trying to dry
out)
After lunch we went back into the
National Forest in search of bears. We did see 2 deer (doe and her fawn) that
took off way too fast to get a photo. We also returned to the first area we
went to this morning as it seemed like a great spot for bears. It was a bit sunnier,
so we took photos at the same lookout.
Greasy Creek
the photos at this lookout were a bit brighter this afternoon
Red-shouldered Hawk - juvenile
Well, no bears to be seen, so we
decided to call it a day.
Tomorrow we have what sounds like a
great day. We are starting with Ruby Falls, then walking Rock City and ending
with the Incline Railway to Lookout Mountain.
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