South of Highway 70, halfway between Sparta and Crossville TN is the Virgin Falls Pocket Wilderness, a protected region of forest in logging country. Here is a trail which, at four miles long ( eight round trip) provides a challenging and beautiful day of hiking, or a more leisurely overnight hike. The trail begins by winding smoothly across a region of flat forest floor, picking up and following along a small brook, which is surrounded by ferns in summer. The trail weaves in and among rhododendrons, which replace the ferns as the brook gathers water and becomes a small stream. After crossing this brook, the trail departs it and begins a moderate down slope, your footsteps cushioned by the spongy humus held together by the web-like roots of the rhododendrons. This leads into a drier forest area, with several fallen trees, before reaching another stream and crossing it, possibly assisted by a cable strung there
Turning left, the first of the camp sites is immediately ahead. The trail continues to follow the water downstream. Not much farther along the trail you come to the picturesque Big Branch Falls. After Big Branch Falls, you will pass a split where you can head to the right to visit a lookout. I have personally never followed this route, but this option will reconnect to the trail further on. The stream continues to go down the valley, while the trail remains level along one side of it. This area is characterized by the classic Tennessee limestone cliffs, and depending on the season, different wildflowers and plants can be seen in this area including trillium, sorrel, and even yellow lady slippers.
Continuing on you come to the Big Laurel Falls, which falls over a rock ledge, and disappears into the sandy ground. Behind the falls is a very large rock house. The scale of this falls is often lost in photographs, as the boulders, falls and trees fail to provide a point of reference for the size. The trail descends rather steeply at this point, so that you may explore the area behind the falls, and there is evidence of camping in the area beyond the falls, though whether this is a designated camping location I am not sure.
To continue the trail, you will once again be following along the edge of this valley, then crossing over a ridge and heading towards Virgin Falls. In this area the trail will split, with the right hand split being a longer trek, but in my opinion travels through a more beautiful section of the trail and has the added bonus of passing by Sheep Cave Falls, a unique feature which you can explore, at your own risk. From here you will cross over another ridge, at which point the falls should become audible. The trail will then come to the campground, and from there you can easily reach the falls, only a few dozen feet away.
The falls are fairly high, but the most interesting characteristic is the way the stream comes out of the ground, falls over the waterfall, and immediately goes back underground again. While the falls is beautiful and impressive from the flat camping area immediately in front of it, do not forget to walk around the far side and up to the top. Along the was you will see jack in the pulpit growing among the rocks, and at the top, wild iris may be in bloom. The easy climb is worth it for the clean cold air emanating from the cave the water emerges from. This is also a great place to fill up on water.
For those wanting to camp, it is probably better to skip Sheep Cave Falls in favor of the shorter hike in, and take that route on the return trip, so you have something new to see that day, and since you will likely have more time on the second day to explore. For those doing the hike in a single day, I recommend the opposite, mostly because it's better to build up to Virgin Falls.
Custom Search
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Sunday, March 01, 2009
East Glacier, Uml Pishkun, & Mint Dinner
After spending the entire previous day along the Going to the Sun Road and exploring some of the relatively crowded trails there, we were excited to spend the first part of this day on the eastern side of Glacier, which is far less touristy.
Early in the morning, we headed up to Many Glacier to hike the trail to Apikuni Falls. Along the way we paused under a tree, which made a squirrel very angry. He came down to a low branch to scream and chatter at us. When we looked around we saw shells of many nuts, and realized we stopped to rest in what was probably his favorite picnic spot. As we moved up the side of the mountain we broke out of the trees onto a rocky slope, where there were Pikas among the rocks. Pikas are like tiny chipmunk/rabbits. They are incredibly cute, but difficult to photograph, especially when you don't have a good zoom. We wound our way around some mounds of broken rock, before coming into view of the falls, which was tall and narrow. There was another Little Dipper in the stream at the base, and we stayed a while to watch him play, before starting the trip down to the car. Once in the car we headed south to Two Medicine, and made the very short walk to Running Eagle Falls. This was a smallish waterfall, with the water rushing out from underground. We spent a long time trying to identify a colorful bird there, but could never agree on what it was. We left when others finally arrived, and made our way to our next destination: Ulm Pishkun, a real live buffalo jump.
We arrived at Ulm Pishkun in the afternoon, a little to late to spend any time at the visitor's center, which looked like it had been recently updated. The visitors center is below the cliff, so we then drove around to the top. The top of the cliff is heavily populated by a prairie dog village. We walked out into it and just sat for a while, taking some pictures and watching the babies play, while the adults barked at us. We then walked to the edge of the cliffs and read the interpretive signs there. According to the signs, the hunt went a little something like this: One lucky young Indian dawned a buffalo skin, and prepared to lead the herd. The rest of the group would harass the buffalo, and drive them towards the cliff. At some point the lucky Indian would get to run briefly in front of the herd, and jump off the cliff, onto a small ledge just below. The buffalo, with a poor ability to gauge distance or see well, would plummet over the edge to their deaths, while people below would finish off wounded survivors. It is just a cliff in the middle of a broad plain. It is surrounded by wheat fields, and there are enormous white windmills in the distance.
From Ulm Pishkun we headed towards Billings, where we would be visiting the pictograph caves the next day. Along the way we arrived in a sleepy little town called Lewiston. It had a nice shaded main street, and a nice courthouse. The only restaurant we saw in town was just off the main drag, emblazoned by a large neon sign: The Mint bar & grill. From the outside, it looked more like a bar than a restaurant, but we were starving, so we parked and went inside. Inside was a fine dining atmosphere that was totally unexpected. We had a wonderful dinner. I had steak with cream sauce and new potatoes, and Jake had duck. We left, full and happy, and as we were driving out of town, I noticed some deer by a hay bail. I was happy to see them and pointed them out. As we continued to drive, and it grew darker, we saw more and more of them along the road. We saw so many we lost count. I turned my head away from the glare of the headlights and looked out into the fields, and saw many, many more. I saw more deer that night than all previous deer seen in my life. At one point we came to a little town, and there were deer in people's front yards. A dear even ambled across the street, at the only intersection with a stop light, and actually stopped to look at us as if we were the intruders.
When we were finally to exhausted to drive any more, seeing deer in every rock, tree, and sign near the road, we pulled over to sleep. When we turned off the headlights we saw something they had been hiding from us. Stretched across the sky was a bright swath of stars such as I had never seen before, except in pictures. It was the Milky Way. We do not have that kind of darkness here in Tennessee. To make a perfect moment even more so, a shooting star chose that moment to blaze across the sky. This was the end of the 4Th day.
Early in the morning, we headed up to Many Glacier to hike the trail to Apikuni Falls. Along the way we paused under a tree, which made a squirrel very angry. He came down to a low branch to scream and chatter at us. When we looked around we saw shells of many nuts, and realized we stopped to rest in what was probably his favorite picnic spot. As we moved up the side of the mountain we broke out of the trees onto a rocky slope, where there were Pikas among the rocks. Pikas are like tiny chipmunk/rabbits. They are incredibly cute, but difficult to photograph, especially when you don't have a good zoom. We wound our way around some mounds of broken rock, before coming into view of the falls, which was tall and narrow. There was another Little Dipper in the stream at the base, and we stayed a while to watch him play, before starting the trip down to the car. Once in the car we headed south to Two Medicine, and made the very short walk to Running Eagle Falls. This was a smallish waterfall, with the water rushing out from underground. We spent a long time trying to identify a colorful bird there, but could never agree on what it was. We left when others finally arrived, and made our way to our next destination: Ulm Pishkun, a real live buffalo jump.
We arrived at Ulm Pishkun in the afternoon, a little to late to spend any time at the visitor's center, which looked like it had been recently updated. The visitors center is below the cliff, so we then drove around to the top. The top of the cliff is heavily populated by a prairie dog village. We walked out into it and just sat for a while, taking some pictures and watching the babies play, while the adults barked at us. We then walked to the edge of the cliffs and read the interpretive signs there. According to the signs, the hunt went a little something like this: One lucky young Indian dawned a buffalo skin, and prepared to lead the herd. The rest of the group would harass the buffalo, and drive them towards the cliff. At some point the lucky Indian would get to run briefly in front of the herd, and jump off the cliff, onto a small ledge just below. The buffalo, with a poor ability to gauge distance or see well, would plummet over the edge to their deaths, while people below would finish off wounded survivors. It is just a cliff in the middle of a broad plain. It is surrounded by wheat fields, and there are enormous white windmills in the distance.
From Ulm Pishkun we headed towards Billings, where we would be visiting the pictograph caves the next day. Along the way we arrived in a sleepy little town called Lewiston. It had a nice shaded main street, and a nice courthouse. The only restaurant we saw in town was just off the main drag, emblazoned by a large neon sign: The Mint bar & grill. From the outside, it looked more like a bar than a restaurant, but we were starving, so we parked and went inside. Inside was a fine dining atmosphere that was totally unexpected. We had a wonderful dinner. I had steak with cream sauce and new potatoes, and Jake had duck. We left, full and happy, and as we were driving out of town, I noticed some deer by a hay bail. I was happy to see them and pointed them out. As we continued to drive, and it grew darker, we saw more and more of them along the road. We saw so many we lost count. I turned my head away from the glare of the headlights and looked out into the fields, and saw many, many more. I saw more deer that night than all previous deer seen in my life. At one point we came to a little town, and there were deer in people's front yards. A dear even ambled across the street, at the only intersection with a stop light, and actually stopped to look at us as if we were the intruders.
When we were finally to exhausted to drive any more, seeing deer in every rock, tree, and sign near the road, we pulled over to sleep. When we turned off the headlights we saw something they had been hiding from us. Stretched across the sky was a bright swath of stars such as I had never seen before, except in pictures. It was the Milky Way. We do not have that kind of darkness here in Tennessee. To make a perfect moment even more so, a shooting star chose that moment to blaze across the sky. This was the end of the 4Th day.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
