We had been planning this trip for a couple of weeks. It seems to be a annual thing for us. Hiking on Labor Day. Joe Fleming arrived at my house at 4:55 am., and Nathan Officer got there about 5:05a.m.. They both drove pick ups, so we took my car. We got to Cracker Barrel in Pigeon Forge just as they were unlocking the door. I couldn’t believe it the manager told us where the non smoking section was located, and then he said grab you some silver ware, menu, and have a seat. Anyway, I loaded up on too much gravy and I did not know I would pay dearly for it later. 

Our hike started in Greenbrier at the Ramsay Cascade Trailhead. Ramsay was just the starting point, however I did step on a yellow jackets nest, Nathan and I got stung once, luckily we were not allergic to bees. We wasted no time in getting to the falls. After some pictures of the falls we worked our way through the rhododendron to the top. The view from the there was excellent. You could see Myrtle Point. This is where the real adventure starts. We put on our “water shoes” strap the boots on our packs and head up stream. Almost immediately we see a pink ribbon blowing in the wind. I think these were placed by our friend Randy from Florida. Our destination was to be Drinkwater Pool, and then a half mile above that was going to be a cascade much larger than Ramsay Cascades. It was reported to be over 200ft high. 

The ribbons are fairly easy to follow. You are basically in the creek for most of the time. Sometimes knee deep. Joe took the lead looking for ribbons. He’s the man when it comes to thick under brush. The confusion started after the first water fall we came too. It had a descent sized pool, was 6 to 8 feet tall, but it was missing the huge boulder that was the shape of a coffin. So this must not be it. After scrambling over slick rocks we came to a huge cascade. It had to be over 200 ft. It was situated in a gorge like setting that a picture could not be taken. Maybe our original instructions were wrong, maybe Drink Water Pool is above the upper cascades, as they are referred too. There was a ribbon tied at the top of these falls. Heck we made good time so we decided to keep following the ribbons. 

As we continued climbing over huge boulders Nathan was bringing up the rear at this time. I couldn’t get my camera out fast enough, but Joe was climbing a slick boulder when he lost his grip. He slid on hands and knees until his toes got a grip and he did a backwards flip into a small pool of water, landing on his hands and knees. If only I had my camera out. Unfortunately his camera was in the water, and it did not work the rest of the day. In a short time we came upon a 3rd falls these maybe 10 ft high, dropping into a large pool. Standing almost on its end beside the falls was a boulder shaped like a coffin. It was 12:00, and lunch time. After lunch Joe pulled a diving mask out of his pack. Couldn’t believe it, I just knew we would be there an hour waiting for him to get comfortable in the water. He just jumped in to 58 degree water. Man he’s tough it takes me 30 minutes to get in the ocean. He he he! It was over his head in the back. 

The day was still young so we headed above the falls thinking this was Drinkwater and another falls awaited us. More ribbons, however these ribbons were orange and much older than the others, and the person who tied these were not a generous these were much smaller and farther apart. A decision was made at 1:30 pm., that we would turn around at 2:30 p.m. and hike back to vehicle. We made good time, and I don’t know what kept us climbing over blow downs and through rhododendron on past the 2:30 pm. deadline, but we kept finding those darn ribbons. A joint decision was made at 2:30 p.m. that we could not find our way back to the falls in a timely matter, so the best way was to keep going up stream. We all thought we would be on the AT by 3:30 pm. or 4:00 pm. at the latest. I did place 5 or 6 rock cairns along the creek where we entered and exited the forest. Travel was getting tougher. It was already 4:45 pm. and no end in sight. 

The rhododendrons were too thick to walk on land so we were in the creek most of the time. The farther we climbed the mountain the more blow downs we encountered. These are not your typical downed trees. These lie from bank to bank meaning we had to work our way through limbs to get past them. By 5:45 pm., the creek was much narrower, and it was clogged with blown down trees. No choice but to make our way through thick spruce trees, scratching our legs with every step. We came to a fork in the creek. That was the last two ribbons we saw, they were tied to a tree that had fallen across the creek. We took the left fork, and began climbing out of the creek. It was now that some relief was in sight, because we knew we had to be climbing Mt. Guyot near the AT. 

At 6:00 pm., Joe and Nathan were far enough ahead of me that I could not see them. Joe would yell back, “are you still there Ronnie.” I would confirm and keep walking. It was then that I yelled for them to stop, because I had to take a break. Tired, exhausted, and out of water. I had been drinking water from the stream as it flowed over moss covered rocks, but there was no more water. Over to my right I could see a level ridge, it was more inviting than the 45 degree angle we were climbing now. A short break and I head toward the ridge. I did yell and tell them I was moving again. I came to them from the side, and we changed out of our water shoes and put on our hiking boots. It was 6:20 when we started up the hill, 6:30 p.m., Joe steps on the AT in the swag between Mt. Guyot and Old Black. It was our plan to call Nathan’s dad and have him meet us in Cosby Campground. My phone would not get out at that point. 

We had about 7 more miles of hiking. I got phone service at Deer Creek Gap, Nathan’s dad was going to meet us. As we hiked below Inadu Knob parts of a plane could still be seen from a crash that happened many years ago. By 7:20 p.m., we had made it to Snake Den Ridge Trail. We could hear wind from Hurricane Francis blowing in the tree tops and light rain had began to fall. Each of us had headlamps, and we had to put them on by 8:15 pm. The orange and white reflective gate was a welcome sight, from there just a 10 minute walk to Cosby Campground. It was 9:30 p.m. when we stepped onto the asphalt streets of the campground. What was more of a welcome sight was seeing headlights blink on and off at us. It was Nathan’s dad. Our total hike was approximately 15 miles, and it took us 14 hours to complete.

Whew! I’m glad its over.