Day 3: November 25, 2006
Skyway, Knob, & Flume 		Previous Day
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Cherohala Skyway, NC Cherohala Skyway, NC Cherohala Skyway, NC Cherohala Skyway, NC Cherohala Skyway, NC I started the day by heading straight to the Cherohala Skyway. Well, not exactly straight since few roads around here are straight for very long. The Skyway is just a few miles from the "Tail of the Dragon" and motorcyclists and others often combine the two. The "Tail of the Dragon" isn't straight at all. Its most mentioned statistic is "318 curves in 11 miles". The "Skyway" is curvy, too, but not to that degree, and it has many other attractions. One is height. The "Dragon" never rises above 2000 feet. The "Skyway" starts higher than that and is literally a "mile high road". Other attractions are the spectacular views and numerous pull offs to see them.

In the middle picture, the path of the road climbing up the mountain side is marked by the line of exposed rock. The last picture is of the Huckleberry Knob pull off. The pull off is exactly one mile high and a trail leads to the knob itself which is nearly 300 feet higher. I guessed that I had about an hour to spare then also guessed that it would take about that long to make the 2.5 mile hike to the knob. I decided to go for a walk.

Huckleberry Knob, NC Huckleberry Knob, NC Huckleberry Knob, NC Huckleberry Knob, NC Huckleberry Knob, NC Huckleberry Knob, NC Much of the trail is an old dirt road and the ruts make it quite easy to follow. The climb is rather gentle but constant and I stopped twice to catch my breath. The large percentage of the population in better shape than I probably wouldn't require even that. One of those stops was in the middle of Oak Knob where I also grabbed a picture of a kite flying over trail's destination. The third picture shows the last bit of trail to the top of the Knob. The cross marks the burial place of Andy Sherman who died on the Knob in December of 1899. The next picture is from the other side of the cross with Oak Knob, from where I took the kite picture, beyond it. The Cherohala Skyway bisects the last picture.

At the top, I spoke with the trio of kite flyers and they told me the wind was not at all steady. Keeping the kite aloft was a lot of work but pretty neat in short spurts.

Talk of the Town, Etowah, TN Talk of the Town, Etowah, TN In Etowah, I met Bob (Baby Boomer Bob) and Susan Reynolds at Talk of the Town for lunch. Talk of the Town is a '50s styled joint with good 'burgers, ice cream, & music. The steady stream of decor appropriate music was a nice touch.
Train Station, Etowah, TN Train Station, Etowah, TN Just across the street, the 1906 train station is now a museum although freight trains still use the tracks that pass beside it. The station was first and the town, a planned community, grew up around it.
1996 Olympic Kayak Site 1996 Olympic Kayak Site With Bob as chauffer, we traveled along the Ocoee River to the site of the 1996 Olympic kayak competition. The site is nearly devoid of water which I attribute to all of those tourists each taking a cup of water home as a souvenir.
Ocoee River Ocoee River Of course, the low water is really due to a planned draw down but it is apparently lower than usual. Here is the totally dry face of Ocoee Dam #2 and a glimpse of the wooden flume it feeds. The five mile flume was built in 1912 to carry water five miles downstream before dropping it to generate electricity. No, that wood isn't 94 years old although the flume is on the National Register of Historic Places. The flume was rebuilt in 1983.
Baby Boomer Bob & Susan I've posted Bob's picture before but never got a shot of Susan. Here we have both BBB (Baby Boomer Bob) and BBBB (Baby Boomer Bob's Boss).
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