Waterfalls and Wildflowers at Standing Stone

Standing Stone map, Overton County, Tennessee
Standing Stone is an area named for the monolith that once stood in Monterey. (Sadly, little remains of the original monolith.) The area consists of a state park, state forest, and a wildlife management area.

 I spent several days over the last week exploring Standing Stone trying to catch wildflowers in their prime. My timing was excellent and the showing of wildflowers was as well. After a few hours of exploration I noted that the Chattanooga shale exposed in the park often produced nice cascades and waterfalls. Unfortunately, most were ephemeral features. On a hunch I ended up walking up Bryans Creek and found the most beautiful undescribed 35' waterfall. 

Bryans Fork Falls, Standing Stone SF & WMA, Overton County, Tennessee 7 Bryans Fork Falls, Standing Stone SF & WMA, Overton County, Tennessee 6

Previous to my documentation of Bryans Creek Falls, I had bumbled around with my friends Kurt Heischmidt and Haley Dickson. We visited OV440 (a cave whose name I feel best to withhold), and a few other interesting features.

Kurt Heischmidt, Haley DIckson, Mill Creek Cave, Standing Stone State Forest & WMA, Overton County, Tennessee Unnamed cascade, Standing Stone State Forest & WMA, Overton County, Tennessee 2 Dock, Standing Stone Lake,Standing Stone State Park, Overton County, Tennessee Kurt Heischmidt, OV440, Standing Stone State Forest & WMA, Overton County, Tennessee 1 OV440, Standing Stone State Forest & WMA, Overton County, Tennessee 4 Low head dam on Bryans Fork, Standing Stone State Forest & WMA, Overton County, Tennessee 3 Grave Flower Cascade, Standing Stone State Park, Overton County, Tennessee 3 Grave Flower Cascade, Standing Stone State Park, Overton County, Tennessee 4

Then there were the wildflowers. Five species of trillium, and plenty of other flowers certainly made the trip worthwhile.

Comments

Unknown said…
Bryan,
I just spent the weekend at Standing Stone State Park and hiked the Lake Trail and Jordan and Cabin spur trails. My friend and I also explored the abandoned camp loop and wanted to find the waterfall you wrote about it. We went off the beaten path and followed Bryan's Fork Creek on the right side of the mountain and not the wide path that leads upward to the left after you cross the man-made structure from the pull-off on the road past the Lake Trail crossing across the creek. Could you share the path you took to locate the waterfall and the cave you found. Were we in the right spot to find the 35-foot waterfall?
Thank you so much!
1/11/2021 07:26:00 AM
Anonymous said…
Thanks for your pretty pictures
2/04/2023 08:41:00 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Missing People Map

Image
Sometime around middle to late November of 2019, I started getting tagged in posts on Reddit and Facebook where a map purported to show a correlation between missing person cases and caves. The two maps in question were of terrible quality in both content and image quality (so very much JPG compression). Somehow these maps managed to capture the public's attention for several weeks. In fact, more than two months later I am still being asked questions about the map. What follows is a critical analysis of the maps from both a cartographer's perspective, as well as a caver's. Origin Where did each image come from that comprised the map? The top image is titled " North America Cluster Map " and is produced by the Canam Missing Project / Missing 411. I cannot comment on the methods used to produce the map since they aren't stated. For this reason I am immediately suspect that this is conveying real information. I'll touch on why the form of this ma
Read more

Sandstone Boxwork

Image
Photo credit: Brian Solomon / @waterfall_hillbilly Photo credit: Bryan Melton Sandstone boxwork is a unusual phenomenon that we see on the margins of the Cumberland Plateau. There are three things that must happen first to produce boxwork. Jointing Mineralization Weathering Jointing Produced in a parent rock of sandstone, this type of boxwork originates as small joints which run in a box shape. The origins of these joints could be from frost wedging - where water in the rock freezes and cracks the rock, or it could unloading pressure from the rock de-watering, or it could be from some other physical process. The origins of the boxwork joints are still a bit of a mystery. If the following steps occur without previous jointing then one gets Liesegang Rings. Mineralization The joints become a place of preferential mineralization. Groundwater loaded with iron minerals moves through the pores of the sandstone. Where it finds a void, like
Read more

Jungle Book Film (1994) and the Upper Cumberland

Image
Table of Contents The Story David Starnes's Photos April Moore's Photos Watch Guide for Locals THE STORY BEHIND WALT DISNEY'S DECISION TO FILM RUDYARD KIPLING'S JUNGLE BOOK MOVIE AT LOST CREEK CAVE AND WATERFALL A PERSONAL RECOLLECTION BY DAVID STARNES RETIRED PRINCIPAL PLANNER LOCAL PLANNING ASSISTANCE OFFICE TENNESSEE DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMIC AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT I was employed by the State of Tennessee as a community planner from October 1990 to August 2011. The Local Planning Assistance Office of the Upper Cumberland region was based in Cookeville. Our agency was in the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development, which also included the Tennessee Film Commission. Occasionally, different agencies would meet to explain their role in fostering economic growth in the state, and this was how my love for caving became entwined in the 1994 Walt Disney live-actio
Read more