Monday, April 17, 2017

Day 169, Monday, April 17, 2017, Cumberland Mountain State Park, TN, Day 2

The Bridge/Dam
Monday, April 17, 2017, Cumberland Mountain State Park, TN, Day 2, 0 Miles, 7,492.1 Miles For the Trip

A much cooler night, although not enough that I needed the cube heater or furnace. It rained off & on, so I didn't go for my morning walk. After breakfast I read some journals & forums on the internet - I'm using my Verizon Jetpack with excellent results. The park does have TengoInternet, a pay service that I've used with mixed results at other parks. I probably should have asked at the office since they ofter give a couple hundred MB of access for free, but I generally use more that that per day so I didn't bother.

After lunch, the rain let up, so I decided to check out one of the nearby waterfalls. On the way I stopped to take a couple of photos of the bridge/dam built be the CCC when the built the park. According to the park handout, it is "The largest steel free structure ever built during the Works Projects Administration of the Civilian Conservation Corps." A pretty structure. I also took a photo of a nearby building & the restaurant. More photos at toady's LakeshoreImages page.

After that I headed out for Piney Falls. I tried putting the Google Maps coordinates for the falls into the Garmin GPS, but that ended up on the wrong side of the gorge & suggesting that I go "Off Road" down someone's driveway. I drove back out to TN 68 and followed the instructions to head right on Fire Tower Road. The tower & a cell tower is at the end of the road & a small, unmarked parking area is a few 100 yards back from the end.

I met a family asking me if this was the parking area for the falls, I we both decided to wait until the rain let up before trying the trail near the parking area. We eventually headed out in a very light rain that, of course, got heavier after reaching the falls. It was raining hard enough that I didn't take the additional section of the trail that went to the bottom of the falls. It would have made pretty pictures, but a steady stream of water was running down the fairly steep path. I was soaked by the time I got back to the truck, but at least it was a warm rain!

After that it was back to the trailer. I ate the leftover Food City fried chicken for lunch, then sat outside for a bit. When the sun went behind heavy clouds, it got cool enough to move inside. I headed for the showers around 5:00. It appears that the host has added his own showerhead to one of the stalls. There is the typical low volume head in one stall, and a multi spray, including massage in the other. You can guess which one I used!

Dinner was cheese & crackers; I'm still stuffed from lunch.

Until tomorrow -

No comments:

Post a Comment