Tallassee, TN, The Top of the World!

I've had the pleasure of staying at the Top of the World! Today was in the 70s! So when I got here I sat out on the porch and played music for a while so that I could warm up in the sun because I knew I'd swim later.

This is my own arrangement because I taught it to myself wrong and just kept practicing it! There is a musician that I love and respect who just nodded her head and said welcome to the folk world!

While I was playing my music a neighborhood dog came over to check me out. She sniffed me to make sure I was okay, and I guess I was because she went and laid down in the yard to protect me. Thank you nameless dog!

I felt like I overpacked, but most of this is art and music stuff. So maybe not. Keep reading and you'll see definitely not!








After I played music I took the short walk down to the lake. I love being in the woods, and I'm glad I got the opportunity to come up here. And I finally got to wear shorts!

If you're looking for a place to stay in E. TN that is "comfortable and quiet home that is perfect for hikers, bikers, cyclists, fishermen, families, romantic getaways, and those that love the great outdoors. Perhaps you just need to get away from it all and completely recharge. Cottage in the Sky is centrally located for motorcycle enthusiasts, cyclists, and hikers" then book this place!

I didn't mess around when I got to the lake. I just jumped in because I figured I'd logic myself out of a swim. And had I stuck my toes in the water I definitely would not have jumped in.

I was told that I would love Look Rock Tower at sunset, so I took the short walk back up to the cottage to eat and get ready to go.

If you know me you know I'm not one for the kitchen. And I'm definitely not one for grilling. But I got a piece of fish to come up here because I knew there was a grill. So I grilled me some fish. I admit without any shame that I kept looking around while I ate outside because bears probably like grilled fish too!

Not that I've seen a bear up here--I'd only been here for a few hours. But as I do when I go to any new place I like to get the lay of the land inside and out in case I need to fight or flight my way out of something. Silly, I know. But there it is.

So I found this on the fridge, and I took it to heart. I think that Gus Greenbear would approve of the information!

I changed into pants and packed my flannel and hoodie. I took some water and a snack because it was going to hike up to Look Rock Tower. A six mile hike is no big deal, and I studied the roads that I'd have to take to get up there. The roads here are gravel, but that is no big deal. I'm wearing hiking boots.

But some jackass should've checked the weather!

I started walking and got about 20 minutes into the hike when a dude in a truck came upon me. He asked where I was heading and I told him. He said I was definitely going the wrong way because the only thing in that direction were folks with bibles and guns. I really should have listened to my new buddy, Al!

He drove me up, and as many E. TN folks tend to do, he told me stories. He was heading out to get some beer because he was going fishing. At the least he was going to catch a buzz. He told me that the two best times to be in the tower are at sunset and night time. He said he loved to look at all of the lights from Maryville and Knoxville. He wished me well and dropped me at the trail head that took me up to the tower.

The view was really impressive! This is the view off to the south and east.


While I was up in the tower I heard some weather rolling in. Yep. Thunderstorms were a coming!

Okay, now I have to set the scene. The sun is setting, the storm clouds are rolling over me, and it is beginning to sprinkle.

I wasn't too worried because I had a hoodie and flannel shirt for if I got too wet. The temperature was still pretty warm, I had plenty to drink to stay hydrated. And I had my hiking boots!

About them boots. I normally tie them at the lowest loops because it is just more comfortable. I actually had to stop walking and retie them so that I had full ankle support. Why would that matter, you ask. Fair question.

Even though I had a clear path on a road according to my phone, which I did, really, that road was the image on the left.  That line is Google and if you look through it you just see trees.

Sometimes it was good. It was flat and mostly clear. Had I Googled it before I started I'd have seen that it is really no road at all. It's just a path in the woods. Near people who have bibles and guns! My new friend Al warned me. I wish he'd have told me about the weather, too!

At first I couldn't even find the road! My definition of road is now greater than when I started out last night!  This is how the hike back started, me walking through a closed-for-the-season campground to get to a road that was not really a road at all. I had to cut through the woods to get to a washed-out road that lead to the path/road that was impassable to cars because some persons had piled high logs and debris across the road in two places at the beginning of the road. How could I not have seen the upcoming calamity?

This is near the start of the hike. It'd been funnier to get pictures of some of the other stuff before this, but I was trying to beat the rain. Trying.

So why am I whining, right? Nice path, right?

Still doing okay. Beating the hard rain. Making it on this road. No big deal. The road gets washed out just a bit further up. I mean ruts that Jeepers might think twice about washed out!

Yeah. I didn't make it. I was soaked. I still had a good sense of where I was going, and the road did eventually become a road, drivable and all!

But by this time I was soaking wet and slightly twisted around. You see that Nugget Ln. there. That is where I should have gone. I went right instead of left. It was raining so hard at one point I stopped under some trees. But the rain wasn't relenting, and I wasn't staying dry. So off I went.

There were houses on the roads now. I felt good about my direction until I didn't. I'm usually pretty good with my position on the earth, and I could tell I was not going in the right direction. So I chose to go up to the house with the open door and Christmas lights all lighted up.

I yelled hello a couple of times hoping that someone with a bible and gun didn't come out blazing or that a killer dog didn't want to kill me. Neither of those happened, but the folks welcomed me in and comforted me like the idiot I was for being out in that weather!

I took off my soaked hoodie and flannel, and the woman put them in a bag by the door. The guy was really nice; he asked me if I ever looked at the weather channel. He said it is usually pretty accurate.

They gave me towels and some sweet tea, and we watched The Voice. The judges on the show made the right choice, I guess. The little girl in the house thought so. It turns out that she is a 4th grader at Walland, where I know some teachers. Well of course she knows them too. I wonder if she'll tell them about the soaked idiot who visited her house last night?

I got a ride back, thank you, kind sir. I'm definitely mailing a thank you card to that little girl!

If you visit Top of the World and decide to walk here or there, do yourself a favor and lookup and study the roads or paths. I mean, I'm okay. I definitely got banged up! I told you about those ruts. I fell a bunch of times. At one point I did a couple of barrel rolls before I could stop myself safely.


Have you ever barrel rolled with a pack on. Remember that TX officer who did one for the world to see? Picture a beard on the dude and that was me.

My army training sure was useful last night! And just like the constant pain I feel from my army days, I bet I'll be feeling that hike for a while!