Gentry Falls

Last night, Keith found an ad on Craigslist. Some guy up in Mountain City wanted his barn torn down, and was willing to pay the barnwood to whoever would do it. So he called the guy and made arrangements for us to go look at it. Old barnwood, after all, is highly desirable; people have been known to pay top dollar for it, but the possibilities are really endless. After talking it over, we decided that enough salvageable wood might make it worth the effort to dismantle it. This morning dawned bright and clear, and saw us on the road fairly early, with Lugnut in tow.
Being as sick as he has been for the past two months, we felt like the excursion might do him some good, now that he's finally showing signs of improvement.

It took us about an hour to get to Mountain

City...a lovely drive, by the way....and since the property was right off the main drag, we found the barn fairly quickly.

At one time, it must have been a truly

magnificent structure, but is now sadly

dilapidated. Still...it was two stories' worth

of beautifulwide-plank Hemlock....and well worth a little sweat-equity on our part to procure.

Not being ready or willing to start such a pro

ject just then, however, left us in an interesting predicament: nothing to do, and a whole day in which to do it. A perfect day for exploring the extreme northeastern-most corner of the state.

Back when I first moved up here, I had done some research to find interesting sites to explore,

and had run across a place called Gentry Falls, the trailhead of which was supposedly located in a wide spot known as Laurel Bloomery....the northeastern-most town, if it can actually be called such. After a quick lookup online, I managed to find a blog with directions to the falls, (which were purported to be spectacular, and well

worth the 2 1/2 mile hike each way), and we were on our way.

We didn't have much of a problem finding the trail, although we did

question the long, very narrow gravel road we had to take to get to the trailhead. But once there, we set off, very excited to explore the beauty surrounding us. The woods were extraordinary in every sense of the word, and the trail started of straightaway following the path of the creek. According to the notes on the website I'd found, the path

was supposed to meander back and forth across the creek, crossing it a total of 13 times, with four wooden bridges.

Silly me. I didn't realize it meant actually crossing the creek. As in 'take your shoes off or suffer the consequences' crossing.

The first two times the path crossed didn't seem too bad. There were nice stones that Mother Nature had placed well, and we managed the crossing without mishap or wet socks. Even poor Luggy, our hydrophobic puppy, was able to keep his paws dry.

The third time, the stones started getting just a wee bit wobbly. And the water was a wee bit deeper. And faster. And I struggled to get across. Luggy fared better, but not by much. And we ha

d to do a lot of ....er....encouraging to get him there.

The fourth time, I tried taking my shoes off. But then I had to put them back on. And off. And on.

By the seventh crossing, I was just doing my best to keep my balance in the rushing water....forget the shoes. And Luggy had pretty much given up not trying to fall in. After that, it was just more of the same. A lot more. And those wooden bridges? Fuggedaboutit.....apparently, they'd been torn down, or burned down, or vandalized, or something, because there was nothin

g left but the pylons....and some charred remnants of the lumber.

On the way, we crossed through some of the most incredible woodlands imaginable: the epitome of primordial forest. Deep fields of ferns, so high over Luggy's head, he was all but buried except for his leash, small cascades, one after another, and the most incredible array of every shape, size and color mushroom I've ever seen! I won't try to post pics of them here; there are way too many. But for those who are interested, I'll be posting them on my facebook page....just incredible!

One thing I will say; the person who wrote that blog on the trail info lied. If that trail was 2 1/2 miles long, I'll eat my hat

. It was easily twice that long, we both agreed, and I'm not just saying that because we were tired. It actually took us about three and a half hours to get to the falls.

Seventeen crossings and a pile of boulders later, we actually did make it to the falls. Was it worth it?

Oh, yeah. Every slippery stone of the journey.

The falls themselves are breathtaking. There are two sets, an upper and a lower, much like Twisting Falls, but on a much s

maller, and much more forested scale. As with Twisting Falls, we'd been bypassed by several groups of explorers on the trail, heading for the cool refreshment of a summer dip, and by the time we'd gotten there, they were deep into their explorations of the upper pool, with one or two stragglers left below. Since accessibility to the upper pool is not without its dangers (read: only the stupidity of youth would attempt it), we elected to rest and play a bit in the lower shallow pool at the foot of the falls with Lugnut. He enjoyed playing with his daddy immensely, along with all the attention he garnered from his newfound buddies. The water, however, he could have happily done without. Still, he was a trooper.

We stayed about an hour before heading back. We'd have loved to have stayed longer, but the day was slipping away, and considering how long it had taken us to hike in, we wanted to make sure we had enough time to get back before dark.

We did manage to get back a bit quicker than we'd come in, due to being able to get in a rhythm with the creek crossings, something that had taken a bit of getting used to on the way in, but by the time we got back to

the truck, my recently wounded leg was once again

throbbing with pain, and I could feel every inch of the muscle I'd pulled in my thigh that had landed me on ice and limping with a cane a few weeks earlier. Given the extent of the injury, I was more than pleased that it had held up so well through out the entire day of strenuous walking and climbing, only giving out at the very end.

Poor Luggy, though.....what a trooper! Exhausted, the little fellow stretched out full length on the seat between us, and never raised an eyelid the whole ride home. It was a very full day for us all.

A Trip to the Rhododendron Gardens

The day turned out to be so perfect, so...blue sky...that we decided it would be a perfect day to have a family outing. So we loaded up Shanna's family and took them to Roan Mountain for the day. Although we had taken them to the top of the mountain before, this was the first time they had been to the gardens, and it was also the first time for Keith, too.

The weather was absolutely perfect, and we had a great time tooling around the gardens, exploring the different paths, and taking pics of everything we saw, no matter how minute.

 

As a result, I have dozens and dozens of pics in my phone, most of them taken by a snap-happy Shanna, however, I won't post but a couple here....these being the ones that touched my heart the most.

This one event, I have to share....the biggest dog any of us have ever seen. He was so huge, we could have ridden him, much less little Keith, but the lady who owned him was kind enough to allow us to take a pic of Keith on his back. The dog was a gentle giant, and didn't seem to mind a bit. Lucky for us...he could have eaten us all and had room for dessert.

I had pulled a thigh muscle the week before, and was having a terrible time trying to pick up that leg, which in turn produced a highly attractive hobbling effect every time I walked. After a week of cold packs and muscle relaxers, a walk through the woods was looking awfully good, and my mother-in-law most generously donated the cane for the day.

 

It helped. A lot. And I really appreciated her forethought. As a matter of fact, it became part of my daily wardrobe after that, for about a week.

It was so good to see Keith enjoying the time he got to spend bonding with all of us. I know how much it meant to us to have that precious time, and it was a great day

to do it....one that will be remembered and cherished for a long, long time to come.

Twisting Falls...

Saturday morning dawned bright, if not clear, and Alan and I decided it was a good day to go exploring. So, we packed up the thermos and travel mugs (have coffee, will travel....it's a MUST for us) and headed out. Today's adventure was brought to you by...we haven't a clue, let's flip for it. But I suddenly remembered that I'd wanted to try to find Twisting Falls since I'd been up here, and had never succeeded. That decided it...Twisting Falls, it was.

Situated on the Elk River, almost at the TN/NC state line, the falls are reputed to be a

favored... but extremely dangerous...hangout with the younger crowd. Rumor has it that people are wont to go OVER the falls (a thought I could not conceive of ANYONE in their right mind attempting to do so), resulting in injury (huh...imagine that) and even a death or two. The story was that it was so isolated, and in such a hard to reach place, that it was very difficult for rescue workers to access it....even in a chopper.

Duly warned, we decided to go exploring anyway. We, after all, have the sense God gave us, and would never attempt such an asinine feat, so there should be no danger to us at all.

Our first mistake was assuming that the falls themselves were the only danger. Our first challenge, however, was finding the place, which took a lot of luck and searching on the internet before directions good enough to get us there could be found. Eventually, we did find them, and after printing them out, we were off, coffee in hand.

By the time we had actually gotten on the road, however, the sky had started clearing a bit, and we felt exhilarated by spending a sunny Saturday in such a wonderful pursuit...it has become heaven to us to explore all the natural beauty that surrounds us here.

It took us about 45 minutes of highway travel, and another 15 minutes of following pig-trails before we found the right 'old barn' the unmarked trailhead was across the road from, but we finally arrived, reasonably sure we'd located the place. You'd think that a place so well-known locally would have signs posted at the very least. Silly us for thinking like a tourist.

The trail started out innocently enough, winding through a very pretty patch of woods and down a long graveled path, eventually coming out onto a bluff overlooking a long valley. Had I been thinking clearly, I would have taken a picture, but there happened to be a very inconveniently placed power line blocking the view, so I set about trying to figure out what to do next, instead.

It seemed at first glance that we had gotten the wrong trail, after all. But on closer inspection, we found that the trail did indeed continue

on....straight down a steep gully. And when I say steep....I am not exaggerating. This thing was almost vertical. Still, like idiots, we decided to press onward, not content to let our quest for the treasure die there.

Alan went first, carefully threading his way down the gully, stopping halfway down to take my travel mug (yes, like true idiots, we still had them with us). Then it was my turn. Any of you who know me in person know that the word 'klutz' was invented for me, so this was going to prove to be a very interesting experiment in gravity, at the very least...but I did manage to struggle down, mostly sliding on my shoes, with only one minor butt-slide resulting in a red-dirt smear across my backside. All things considered, I was pleased. "Carry on," I said, smugly. And carry on, we did.

All the way down the half-mile or more gully, picking our way through tree roots, dense foliage, and rock slides, until we finally found ourselves at the bottom, having fetched up in a deeply forested patch at the river's edge. Stopping for a moment to catch our breaths and gulp some coffee to bolster ourselves, we trudged on down the path, across monumental boulders (some very slick) to finally....finally...come out within earshot of the falls.

A few more minutes had us near the base of the falls, but there was no way to get closer without climbing sheer walls or getting wet....something we had not come prepared to do...so we backed off, found a nice boulder that the top was easily accessible to, and copped a squat for the duration.

During the time we were down there, we witnessed several groups of young people...teenagers, mostly....skipping and prancing by in their swimming attire and apparently bursting at the seams with tons of energy. We'd see them go giggling past, disappear up the path, and come out by the pool at the base of the lower falls, where they'd dive in, cross to the far side, and climb up the bank to the upper pool. One daredevil sat down and slid over the edge, riding the lower falls all the way down like a big slide! It became immediately clear how the falls' dangerous reputation had been formed. Further up, it appeared that someone had at one time attached a rope to the top of the upper

falls, and it was now being put to good use, with the kids using it to swing far out over the upper pool, before letting go and dumping unceremoniously in the water below.

A small cloud came over us, dumping a few sprinkles while we finished our by now-cold coffee, and we decided it was time to start making our way back up the long, steep ravine we'd all but slid down...but as we got up, we noticed that Mother Nature had beaten us to the punch; the sky was black as pitch farther down the river...and heading our way with a vengeance.

We didn't make it to the bottom of the ravine, before the bottom fell out, and we soon found our gully turning into an outright river, funnelling mud and rocks to the bottom with a vengeance. The youngsters passed us, bolting up the hill like mountain goats, while we, already soaking wet in our heavy jeans and sneakers, struggled up the hill, getting wetter and muddier by the minute.

We lost count of how long we labored up that hill, but even though there were a few scary moments, we were lucky enough to make it to the top without any major mishaps. Both of us had to stanch the overwhelming desire to fall to our knees and kiss the ground in thanksgiving, though; it was still a hike to get back to the car.

We were very fortunate that I always carry a tarp in the truck, in case I need to tie down a load; it came in handy to cover the seats so we could plop our soaking wet carcasses down, and do our best to not freeze to death before we could get to a hot shower and dry clothes.

We laughed like goons all the way home.

A Wedding...

This evening, I saw my beautiful niece, Alaina wed her dashing, handsome groom-the father of her son, Brayden-Hassan. They've been together for several years, and finally last year, decided to tie the knot. We couldn't have been happier. They make such a lovely couple, and it seems...to me, at least....that they've weathered a lot of the hard stuff already. Maybe that means that it will be relatively smooth sailing for them from here on out. We'll pray for that for them, anyway.Shanna and I left with Keith and headed down Friday afternoon to spend the weekend with Jessica and Katrina.Since the wedding was Friday night, and it was to be held in north GA, we figured we might as well stay with them and get in some quality visitingtime in the process.

We arrived early enough to unload, grab a shower, get gussied up, drive another hour and still find the wedding site with 15 minutes to spare. We were very proud of ourselves.

The wedding was held at a beautiful resort, which caters to weddings, close to Dahlonega in the north GA mountains. Nestled back in

the trees, a beautiful gazebo sits in the center of a small clearing. This was where the ceremony was held, officiated by one of the pastors of our chur

ch, who also heads the children's church....and who coincidentally now happens to be Alaina's boss. Pretty cool.

The reception dinner was held immediately after, at a reception hall on the property, a little farther down the road. Beautiful meal, beautiful decorations, beautiful people!

Much music and dancing to be had by all.... including the wee ones. And when the time came for Alaina to throw the bouquet....the highlight of the evening to most present was when my mother joined the single ladies waiting for a chance to catch the bouquet!

She didn't quite make it, though....she was edged out by the taller girl standing next to her...a former roommate of Alaina's.

The party wound down around 11pm, and

Shanna and I left for the long drive back to Jes's, where we slept late the next morning, and basically became slugs until Sunday morning, when we left to come home.

The visit with the girls was awesome, and we had the best time watching scary movies after the kids went to bed!

A great weekend spent with my girls, and one that probably won't get to be repeated anytime soon.