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Coon Den Falls

killeroy154

Survivalist
I was off for 3 days this weekend so we tried to enjoy it. Went to Coon Den Falls Saturday morning near Watauga lake in east tn.
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We haven't hiked in this area before, so this was our first time. We stopped at a hostel, where thru hikers on the Appalachian trail could stop for the night, and asked directions to the falls. The young person was a hiker and was very helpful. I thought it would take a couple of hours to get to the falls, but I guess with the scenery and excitement of being in the mountains again, we covered ground quicker than I realized.
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Vein of quartz in the rock
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my staff is almost 6 feet long. Since the hike went faster than we thought, we hiked a few off shoot trails. These grape vines are something to behold. They start when the tree is your and then follow the tree up as it grows.
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some of these may be muscadine grape vines, but the grapes are so high in the trees that only the critters can get to them. We followed a stream back looking at the scenery.
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Is this Indian paint brush?
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We stopped at the lake before going home. The Appalachian trail runs across the dam and continues north, North is looking right in the pictures, to Damascus VA.
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There are more trails to waterfalls in that area. Maybe we explore another one in a couple of weeks.
 
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