Coon Den Falls

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. 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. Vein of quartz in the rock 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. 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. Is this Indian paint brush?

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. There are more trails to waterfalls in that area. Maybe we explore another one in a couple of weeks.