Crooked Creek
May 30, 2005
I spent over eight hours exploring the
half-mile section of Crooked Creek below Mosquito Gap, in the
southwest corner of Montgomery County. If I had to pick a
favorite hike of the season, this would be it. The pictures on
this page are generally in the same order as I took them as I
slowly wandered upstream. I entered the boulder-strewn stream
bed at a low-water bridge crossing. I felt out of place amid
all the different colored rocks; all of my playtime has been in
the River Valley and southern Ozarks, where most of the rock is
sandstone, with some shale in spots. Here I had no idea what
all the rocks were made of, except for the occasional vein of
quartz.
Other new sights for me included huge
cinnamon ferns with fronds over four feet long, and white
blooms on the wild azalea bushes (the ones closer to home are
pink).
I counted five small waterfall areas with
enough personality to give them my own little nicknames. First
was Slot falls, where the water spilled over a small gap
between two huge boulders blocking the stream. A low-hanging
branch from a red maple tree made me wonder what this spot
would look like in the fall.
Four-stream was the biggest waterfall along
this stretch of the creek. The number of streams pouring off
the seven-foot dropoff probably depend on how much water is in
the creek. I look forward to a return trip when there's more
water.
Just below the low-water bridge at Mosquito
Gap, where I exited the creek, was Triple falls. Here the creek
had no choice but to run over a huge area of solid rock. The
stream spilt into three parts as it spilled into another nice
swimming hole worn into the rock. Just below that was a
beautiful little cascade over more solid rock.
