Paint Rock

Tuesday, I headed south to the Paint Creek Corridor in Cherokee National Forest.  Driving down Lower Paint Creek Road, I passed Kelly Falls and made a stop at Dudley Falls.

The roadside waterfall is only about 15 feet but scenic and had a very inviting pool.

I walked up the road a bit to view the waterfall up close.

Continuing on, I parked near the end of the road and first went out to see Paint Rock at the state line.

It was overgrown and there was a lot of graffiti, so I just got a couple pictures from the road.  Then I hiked a short ways up Paint Mountain Road and got on Paint Rock Trial (#154A).  It was very steep heading up and quite humid today.  In about a mile, there was a nice viewpoint that made a welcome break.

In a little over a mile, I got to the end at Chimney Rocks Trail, where there was a fantastic view of a horseshoe bend in French Broad River.

This view made the strenuous climb up worth it.  From here, I went left on Chimney Rocks Trail (#154) and started descending.  There were a couple spots with nice views, but nothing like above.

I spotted a cute little toad along the trail.

The trail descended past Chimney Rocks, though there weren't any real views.  Towards the end, it went though an open area before ending at Weaver Bend Road.

There was a campsite at the trailhead and I went down to the river for a view of the railroad bridge.

Hiking up the road, it was about a mile to Paint Mountain Trail (#7).  This trail headed steeply up... and up and up.  It was a bit overgrown and there were a lot of spiderwebs.  I continued a little ways past the intersection with Chimney Rocks Trail but the spider webs were really bad, so I just headed back.

On the drive back, I stopped again at Dudley Falls, this time to see Ricker Falls.

I guess I misses it the first time because there was almost no water.  The setting was cool and in higher water, I bet this would be nice.

There wasn't really anywhere to park at Kelly Falls, so I parked at the Overlook near another bend in the creek.

From here, I just walked the road back to the waterfall.

Kelly Falls was pretty nice and I went down to the creek for a nice view.

The view from the road wasn't bad either.

From here, I left and started heading back to Johnson City.  It was a little early for dinner, so I stopped and hiked a few miles on Tweetsie Trail.

The rails-to-trails project connects Johnson City to Elizabethton.

I hiked over the bridge across I-26 and just past the Carter County line and then headed back.

Since it was Tuesday, I went back to White Duck for some tacos and beer from Yee-Haw.