As anounced, here is a short return about my last week in Tennessee. I went there to discover two nice natural bridges and two spectacular waterfalls, quite different from the preceding ones, you will see…
 
To go there, I drove through extreme western North Carolina and stopped at Catochee Lake, so nice with the last fall colors…
 
 
1. Arrival at Catochee Lake…
 

 
 
2. … Nobody there in this season…
 

 
 
3. … and nice fall colors.
 

 
 
I drove further and arrived late in the night at my camp to be on site for the sunrise on the Sewanee Natural Bridge.
 
 
4. To go under the bridge, no other way than crossing it. I say hello, can you see me..?! 😉
 

 
 
5. Sewanee Natural Bridge (1)
 

 
 
6. Sewanee Natural Bridge (2) : what a wonderful natural bridge!
 

 
 
Then on the way to the second natural bridge, I made the tourist and stopped at the Ruby Falls. This waterfall is in a cave and is 145 feets high! Rare and spectacular at about 1’000 feets under the mountain. It was discovered in 1926 and open to the public in 1936 after a 29 stages elevator was built.
 
 
7. Ruby Falls
 

 
 
8. The cave we go through tout access to the falls have nice formations.
 

 
 
Then I drove again to go discover the Craw Creek Natural Bridge. It wasn’t easy to find an access, the forest road I noticed on my map was closed by a gate. The 10 miles forest road I drove was washed out by thunderstorms in some places but it’s not a problem with VivaLaVida.
 
 
9. Forest roads…
 

 
 
I finally started late for the 2:30 hours hike to go to the bridge. I arrived there as the sun was just disapearing. Light was then difficult…
 
 
10. Arrival under the bridge in a steep slope… Rather impressive like that, isn’t it?!
 

 
 
11. Just under tons of rock…
 

 
 
12. A more standard picture taken in very low light.
 

 
 
The hike back was quite unusual, in the night with the only light of my flashlight, in a roaring forest by the strong wind and a temperature of about 40 degrees. I saw my first rattlesnake, dark brown and about three feets long, which desappear when I walked. I was surprised to see one with such low temp.
Another funny story, I saw pairs of small bright spots in the beam of my flashlight, sometimes ten at a time. As I approached to see what it was, I found that it was reflection of my light in the eyes of small spiders that live in dead leaves. I had the impression of being watched from all sides! 😉
But I found back VivaLaVida safely at around 20:30, not without having to use my GPS to find two directions not so easy to find in the dark forest at night ..! I slept there with the feeling of being away from all…
 
Wake up in the rain and cold with a very low ceiling of clouds … But VivalaVida doesn’t care of that, it led me to a beautiful waterfall by small “dirt roads” found on great topographical maps that the GAIA apps allows me to download (I’m not doing advertising but it is really great!).
 
 
13. Dirt roads…
 

 
 
And guess why I went to see the waterfall in particular? … Can you not find it? 😀
It is called “Pinot Falls”! Yeah Caro, I do not know if you have ancestors in Tennessee … 😉
This waterfall is beautiful, nestled at the bottom of a deep ravine, at the end of a steep and really wild trail, jumping off a semicircle cliff. The rain hadn’t left me, so the light was really not optimal but it’s the vagaries of traveling photographer …
 
 
14. Arrival at “Pinot Falls”
 

 
 
15. Semicircle view…
 

 
 
16. Last fall leaves against the cliff…
 

 
 
I will present the second part of that Tennessee trip in my next article… 😀