Mar 5 Hidden Passage and Crystal Falls

 

Crystal Falls

Next up on our tour through Pickett State Park is a short hike on Hidden Passage Trail to Crystal Falls and back, about 1.5 miles total. Although, Crystal Falls seemingly is the big attraction here, I found Hidden Passage to be quite cool. The trail heads slightly down until you're closer to the bluff. There you drop down steeply, closer to Thompson Creek. 

An unnamed feature

Just before reaching the waterfall, it appears the rock bluff comes right up to the creek with no real estate to pass. That is where the hidden passage come into play. 

To the far right is the unpassable bluff but somewhere hidden among the rocks next to Nanci is our passage. 

The hidden passage makes an appearance. There is an easy way through there.

And the hidden passage opens up to a big exit. This is a fun place to explore.

A couple tiers are visible here. there is another higher up which you can't see. 

Mar 5 Big South Fork - Natural Bridge

 

The previous feature we visited, Hazard Cave is along a 2.5 mile loop trail with Natural Bridge on it too. After visiting Hazard cave, we continued hiking to visit Natural Bridge. Every access trail to the feature was closed with caution tape. So we abandoned trying to see it. After a brief visit at the park office to inquire on other rails, we were told that we could access the Natural Bridge from a 2 car pulloff just down the road. So, we ended up in the pulloff and walked less than 30 seconds to this!

After walking on top, we scrambled underneath. At every angle it looks different. 

Mar 5 Big South Fork - Hazard Cave

 

Our first hike in the area is in Pickett State Park. The walk to the rockhouse/cave is about 10 minutes from the trailhead. It is a huge sandstone overhang. There was evidence of a fire having smoked the top of the entrance. Native people who came through here had wonderful shelter in these rockhouses. 

It was fascinating to see all the ways the sandstone has eroded. This Swiss cheese effect was very common. Another feature we often saw, were slight ridges 1 or 2 inches high which formed hap hazard lines and patterns on the rock surface. We're told these have a high iron content. Sedimentary layers are evident on the walls.  

The fence is protecting Cumberland sandwort a rare plant found only in this area with 28 occurrences. The green you see behind the fence is the plant. It only occurs behind the dripline of these rockhouses.

The overhangs can continue for great distances and create all sorts of interesting formations.

This being our first feature to see, we were awed by it but had we seen it later in the day, it would have been just another rockhouse in a long day of rockhouses. 

Mar 5-7 Big South Fork

 

This is located northwest of Knoxville in a sparsely populated area of the Cumberland Plateau. It spills over into Kentucky and it straddles the Eastern/Central time zones. The Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area sits on 125,000 square areas adjacent to a number of other preserved properties - Pickett State Rustic Park (TN), Pogue Canyon State Natural Area (TN), Daniel Boone National Forest (KY).  Big South Fork hosts the southern terminus of the 354 mile Sheltowee Trace National Recreation Trail.

Its namesake is the free-flowing 76 mile Big South Fork of the Cumberland River. The river cuts through the sandstone here, creating a deep gorge with towering sandstone bluffs on either side. 

Our visit here lasted several days, staying at a friend's cabin just outside the park. I'm going to write individually about the many features we encountered in the park, in separate blog entries. 

Our guide and cabin host, Keith Garnes, has been exploring the BSF area since the winter of '89, acquiring land and a cabin in 2002. His knowledge of the natural features and trails of the park is encyclopedic. During our visit we spent time with several other locals including a master caver, Ken Pasternack. Ken explores caves in the area. BSF has sandstone caves which are rather short and have many different features and characteristics than limestone caves found nearby. He mentioned there were several limestone caves in the 25 mile category and many at various lower mileages. Ken shared many fabulous professionally done photos of the caves which were part of a massive glossy book Ken was involved in putting together. Our last night in the area, we spend time around a campfire with our cadre of new friends.

I'll mention "time" here. I was told beforehand that because we were straddling the time zone it would be confusing. I didn't give that much thought. Beware, it is confusing. Oh, and we had the standard to daylight change occurring during our stay also.  At the cabin, my phone would pick up signal from Central time tower and minutes later, get signal from an Eastern tower. That goes on all day. Whenever you make plans with others, you have to specify what time zone and then remember that. 

We stayed in the cutest cabin on several acres of forest. Looking out back, there was a drainage and open forest. I wandered down to look around. Some Rhododendrons caught my eye. Looking closer, I could see that they were blocking a view of a steep drop. I managed to slip down into it and there was this waterfall just a 30 second walk from the cabin but completely out of sight. 

Inside the rockhouse by Keith's cabin. 

What is a rockhouse? I didn't know until visiting here. Sandstone overhangs are called rockhouses. Keith says that in Tennessee, if the overhang is 50 feet or more, it can be considered a cave. We saw rockhouses. Lots of them. Everywhere. There are also arches which can be called natural bridges too. Keith says, an opening over 3 feet can be considered an arch. I also heard small openings be called windows and skylights depending on where they were located. 

There is a huge equestrian presence in the area. Most of the land outside the park along main roads is comprised of huge horse spreads. We saw lots of fancy pickups with designer horse trailers. All that alongside homes and debris collections at the other side of the spectrum.  

Probably, the most striking aspect of this area is the number of top tier land and water features that can be seen in such a short time. Most of my Smoky Mountain hikes involve hiking long distance to one or maybe two features. Here, you are blown away multiple times at the features you encounter.