Baskin Creek Falls and The Place of a Thousand Drips

Thursday August 16, 2018                                                                                   Most Recent Posts:
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I’m nearly out of waterfalls to hike to.  I have two left including this one, Baskin Creek Falls.  It’s on the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail.  I drive through the park, beyond the Visitor’s Center and through a part of Gatlinburg, passing Hollywood Cars Star Museum, and turning at Ripley’s Believe it Or Not onto what is known as Historic Nature Trail. It’s nothing like a trail and this part of the drive is my least favorite place around here other than downtown Sevierville.

  Finally I leave the conjestion and reenter the park.  From Cherokee Orchard Road I turn left onto the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail.  The name always seems like an oxymoron to me, motor and nature but that’s what it is, a narrow one lane road through a gorgeous natural setting with scenic stops along the way.  The motor nature trail is a 5.5 mile one way loop road with mountain streems, old growth trees and historic buildings.  I’ve been here before to access the trails to Rainbow Falls and Grotto Falls.  Once you are driving on the trail, you cannot turn around.  Today my trail head is only 0.2 miles on the trail but I will have to go all 5 miles on my return. 

The Baskins Falls Trail is not well known or heavily frequented.  Parking is only a wide spot in the road big enough for two or three cars parked end to end.  I’m the only one here this morning at 7:30.

This is the first time I’ve been on a trail that goes through the heart of the seriously burned area from the Chimney Tops Fire in 2016 which killed 14 people, hurt 200 more, forcd 14,000 to evacuate, destroyed or damaged 2,500 structures, and burned 17,000 acres .  The fire began at Chimney Tops and it is of course the most heavily damaged.  I have not hiked the Chimney Tops Trail largely due to its popularity.

The trail begins with a short rooty climb.

In two years, the forest has clearly started its come back.  Small hardwoods are everywhere. among the charred trees still remaining.

Descriptions of the hike say in the winter there are good views of the mountains in about 3/4 of a mile but they will be obstructedby foliage in the summer.   Things have changed.  The mountains are quite visible.

I can visualize the blacked hillsides even now two years later.

Still the rejuvenation is striking.  I feel like Nature is telling us that she can come back from anything if we will just let her alone and not make the problem bigger.

As I climb, I feel very lucky to be able to see the mountains at this time of year.

The mountains aren’t the only thing I can see that wouldlikely have  been out of sight.  There are white quarts rocks all around.

Some are very large.

With the amazing number of sprouting trees with their leaves so close to the ground I can identify the diversity for which the Blue Ridge is justly famous.  Red and White Oak Trees are coming back.  Who will win the battle for life as they grow?  If I lived here, I would be sure to hike this trail every year to watch them grow and experience the wonderful changes.

Chestnut oak.

Rhododendron

Red Maple

I’ve almost reached the top where the trail will start a fairly steep descent.

Along with the trees, the flowers too have come back. 

The forest sunflower, southern harebell and orange fringed orchid

At about a mile I cross Falls Branch, vere left and follow the creek down the mountain.  The rapid descent reminds me of hiking in Shenandoah where the UP is all on the way out.  The “log bridge” here is an interesting balancing act if youu want to keep your feet dry.

Things level out just before I reach the even steeper decline to the falls itself.

From here, the evidence of fire is significantly less.

The trail to the falls itself is steep down hill and rugged but only about 50 yards or so.

My first glimpse of the falls.

Wonderful rock face on either side.

Baskin Creek falls is a 40 foot two tiered waterfall.  

The falls has no real pool so I can rock hop below it in an attempt to get a more straight on picture.

I’m here all alone for the better part of an hour and can get the falls from nearly every angle.

This is not the first time in these beautiful Appalachian mountains that I wish I had a Geologist friend to hike with an tell me about the amaing rock faces over which this water falls.

I find rough and varied “stacking” amazing.  The rocks are both horizontal and verticle right next to each other.  My camera is not doing justice to the colors.

View from my snack spot.  I couldn’t get both my feet and the falls so I opted for the obvious.
Here’s a video for the beauty of the sounds.

One final look back at this tranquil and beautiful spot before starting the climb up and out.

Up through here to reach the main trail

The trail follows Baskin Creek. with many little cascades.  From Shenandoah I learned to take fewer pictures on the way down than the way up climbing back when a stop or two would feel great.

I also saved this side trail to Baskin Cemetery for the way back. 

Turns out I should have done it on the way down as it is a steep hike of about 200 yards. UP!

There  is something sweet about this particular cemetery.  It is not well kept but the stones are so simply crafted. 

There is one loan formal marker

The rest are large field stones perhaps cut or chiseled to stand. 

The writing is hand done with simple tools that make it very hard to read at this point.
Maybe Boyle?  Maybe 1906?  Any other ideas?

Not sure why I find these hand made stones left on a hillside in the mountains so touching.

I stay a while thinking of these mountain people and wondering, based on their early 1900’s dates, what their life was like here or nearby as the lumbering boom came to their homes.

One last look before I head down to the main trail and up the rest of the way to the top.
Those of you who have kept with me through my entire two months here know that I have seen several, maybe even many, cemeteries and they all have been poignant places but none as much as this one for reasons I can’t explain even to myself.

I know I’ve almost made it to the top when the mountains come in to view.

As I’m almost to the car a couple of people are coming up the trail, the first I’ve seen all morning.  Two cars are parked around me.  I leave my spot for someone to come and drive on along the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail which as you can imagine runs beside its name sake and criss crosses it many times.

Along with the 3 waterfall hikes, there are also pull overs for 3 mountain cabins and other buildings. I’ve seen enough cabins so the last of the 15 pullers over is the only one I stop for.  This one is called The Place of a Thousand Drips because unless there has been considerable rain that’s what it is.  It’s right on the left hand side of the road and  I’ve driven past it on my last two trips on the drive to access the other two falls trail heads but have  never stopped before.  This will be my last drive here so today’s the day.  As with other stops, there is limited pull off parking.

I’m not the only one who has stopped.  Some folks have even come barefoot.

As you can see here, what water there is flows right under the road.

The water comes out of high rocks and a small cave and cascades down in several 20 to 30 feet tiers.  The flow on this “low flow” waterfall is good today.  The water’s intricate pathways and carvings are great to see.   Lucky me to see it on a day when it was more than 1000 drips.

Before I leave, I walk up the road a bit to get some pictures of the lovely Roaring Fork.

Roads in and around Great Smoky Mountains National Park exit and enter the park multiple times and there is often a great sign along the way.  I see these all the time on my drives to the falls.   Today I stop to get a selfie to mark my two months here in this fantastic place.   Time is running down.  Only a few more days and one more waterfall.