September 2003 Archived Columns

9/26/2003

It rained very hard on Monday, but otherwise, the fine fall weather has continued.

Squirrel season is in, so there’s a slight chance that there will be hunters in the woods. However, most folks don’t hunt squirrels until the first hard frost has come and gone, because the parasites – known as wolves – flourish in the warmer weather.

I’ve finally gotten the calendar up for what’s left of September and October, and I appreciate everyone’s patience. October is the time for fall festivals, and I’ve listed a number of good events. Don’t forget to get out and experience them!

We’ll probably have a good leaf season, because everyone says that it helps if there’s adequate rainfall, and we’ve certainly had that this year.

I covered most of the hard news in the last column, so I’ll just say that it looks like we’re gearing up for a great fall selling season. We’ve had strong sales all summer, so we could certainly use additional inventory. If anyone has a property they are thinking of selling, please give me a call. I’ll be glad to come out and tell you what your cabin or acreage is worth, and there’s no obligation!

9/16/2003

Ever since Labor Day, we’ve had beautiful fall weather. This morning, it was 54º on the porch, and it’s finally beginning to dry out some. We’ve had deep mist on the ridge tops, and I’d have to say that so far, it’s been a very early fall.

We’ve been very busy in the office, and it looks like we’re going to have a great fall selling season. In fact, we could use a bit more inventory, so if you have property that you want to sell, please give me a call. It looks like this fall will be a great time to sell mountain property.

The water is going out of the lake at a great rate for the deep drawdown. According to the TVA, they are going to take the lake down 47 feet below normal winter pool, which is quite a bit lower than full pool in the first place. This is necessary because the penstock – which carries water from the lake to the generating turbines – was damaged during its installation (around 1930). This has necessitated deep drawdowns every five years to inspect the penstock. This time, they are going to study the situation and determine what needs to be done to repair the penstock. The first time we heard this story, it seems to me that they were going to fix the penstock this time, which would eliminate the need for the deep drawdowns every five years. Now, according to the latest information I’ve received, they plan to do that at a later date, which will, of course, necessitate another deep drawdown in the future.

The practical effect of the deep drawdown is a more or less constant release of water from the dam, which spoils trout fishing below the dam. There may be some benefit for the walleye fishermen this winter, because the low lake level will concentrate the fish. However, it is going to be difficult to get a boat in there in order to fish. There’s been a lot of interesting speculation about what we may find at the bottom of the lake. I’ve heard stories about things like old locomotives and the like. It may be something of a bonanza for treasure hunters when the lake reaches its lowest point.

In other news, we still don’t have a billboard ordinance. The ordinance has apparently been sent back to the drawing board, in part because one of the local billboard providers has made it known that he didn’t feel like putting his lights at the top of the billboard rather than at the bottom, just to reduce light pollution. That’s pretty much how county government works here, and those who feel differently are well advised to participate vocally in the process.

The U.S. Forest Service recently opened the Sandy Bottoms canoe takeout, which is on the other side of the river from Aska Road, between the Shallowford Bridge and Dial. The easiest way to find it is to cross the river at the Shallowford Bridge and continue around to the right (upstream). At the “Y,” take the right turn (the left goes to the Tilley Church) and follow around upstream, past the river gage. You can make a good half day trip by putting in at Dial and floating down to Sandy Bottoms. You can make a longer trip by putting in at Deep Hole (off 60, between Morganton and Suches.) However, I have heard reports that a land owner recently called the police in an attempt to prevent people from traveling through his property on this stretch. I haven’t yet heard how – or if – this has been resolved, but I did talk to some folks who floated the route subsequently and reported no difficulties.

In more bad news, I learned on a trip to the Jones Cemetery yesterday that the forest service has placed a gate across the road that goes back past the cemetery (the Jones property is the largest private holding in the Cohuttas, directly west from Watson Gap, off Old Highway 2). The road now effectively ends at the turnoff to the cemetery, rendering the campgrounds and stream access unusable. I talked briefly about it to Herdis Jones, who said the traffic back there was creating silt problems in the creek. He also said the road was closed with the consent of the residents in the community. Based on my previous experience, I suspect they’ll open it up for big game hunts, to satisfy the deer hunters. But they won’t feel like going out there to open it up for anyone else, so another pretty little piece of the Cohuttas will be inaccessible to many of us. It’s too bad, because it was nice back there, and now it’s a little further out of reach for people with limited ability to hike long distances.

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