2015-09-14 Rock Island State Park

[kdtrull]

Way back in the early Summer, I had planned a ride with a non-member buddy to Cummins Falls.  Then we were gonna check out Rock Island State Park on the return route.
Well, that didn't work out 'cause he "drove" off the side of the mountain on Cove Hollow Rd (96) before we got to Cummins Falls.  I dang near never found him (actually it was only 20 minutes...but it seemed like forever), then he had a helicopter ride to Chattanooga and I came on home 17 hours after we left that morning.

Then, a few weeks ago, me and Lazeebum took a weekend trip to Tellico Plains.  That report is still in the works and I hope to post it soon.  Anyway, on the way back from Tellico, we stopped at Rock Island State Park.  What a beautiful place that is...and easily accessible.  If you get a chance, Go!

There is an old dam on one side of the mountain that feeds the Caney Fork River Gorge:




In the past, you could even drive across the wooden surface of the top of the dam:





On the other side of the mountain, is lake/reservoir.  The pressure from the water column in the lake is so great that it forces water through the mountain, downstream of the Great Falls Dam and much of it pours out in the Caney Gorge in a sort of a double waterfall:



Notice that there is quite a bit of mountain above where the water is coming from.  The lake level is near the top of the mountain.  The water flows through cracks in the rock.  It's really a spooky prospect in that it seems, one day, erosion could cause a giant landslide into the gorge.  You can actually drive along the top ridge between the gorge and the lake.

Likewise impressively, there are various levels of release from the dam into the gorge.  The sign at the overlook shows the various levels of release into the gorge.



There is a trail that leads down into the gorge and folks get down there and play in the water.  Before each major dam release, there is a siren and lights to alert potential drowning victims to get out of the way.  The day me and Randy were there the alarm was going off but nobody seemed to care.  We never saw the scheduled release for that day.  You can check the dam's website (now owned by TVA) for release times.  It's supposed to be quite a sight.

When Randy and I went, I only had my phone camera and the pics of the falls didn't turn out so great.  So today's adventure was to go back with a camera with better glass and get some better pics:







If you look closely, you can see that even more water squeezes through even further down from the double falls:




On the way up today, somewhere in the middle of nowhere, I stumbled across the Delina Country "Stor":





Round trip was just over 300 miles but it took most of the day due to some interesting detours.  More on that later.

[lazeebum]

Man! Werk sux!  Great pictures and ride report.

[Jwwr]

Excellent report as always. I hope you buddy is ok.

[kdtrull]

Excellent report as always. I hope you buddy is ok.

Thanks.  John is nearly back to normal.  He progressed through being totally bedridden, to walking with a full walker, to walking with only a cane.  By next summer, he'll probably be cane free and pain free.

[Beck]

Thanks for the write up.  I think you have identified our fall family trip.

[klaviator]

Another place I need to go ride!