[This was originally published in October 2016 in my Kevin Adams Photography Newsletter. The “Did That Just Happen” posts were always the most popular, so I decided to do the same thing in this blog. I’ll be reposting all the old ones that pertain to waterfalls and adding new ones as crazy things happen on my waterfalling adventures.]

It was getting dark and I had a choice. I’d been on an all-day bushwhack and creekwalk in the Smokies. It was just about dark and I still had a half mile of creekwalking left before reaching the road. Creekwalking a stream of this size and nature is a dicey affair in the daytime. At night, yikes! The other choice was to climb up the bank and pass through a short section of private property. I chose the latter. Ten minutes later, I would regret that decision.

“I’m gonna blow your G*d d**n f***ing brains out!”

Never mind that the crazy man’s property backs up to a national park and there aren’t any No Trespassing signs at his property boundary to let someone know they’ve entered his property (I knew that, but he didn’t know that I knew that). After a good ten minutes of this gentleman informing me of how I was going to die, and me in a low, calm voice apologizing profusely and offering my wife and stepdaughter as recompense, I had finally gotten him down to merely yelling at me, rather than screaming like a mad man.

As I backed away, he let me know in no uncertain terms that I should be thankful to leave under my own power and that if I ever came back, I wouldn’t be leaving in one piece.

Whew! Glad that was over. Trouble was, it wasn’t over. As I walked through the low-income housing development in the late evening light, dogs started barking and outdoor lights started coming on. It was like a concert wave, with the dogs and lights following me as I walked at an ever speedier pace.

Just a few hundred feet from exiting this nightmare, I came upon a couple, and their pit bull, grilling out right beside the road. Not out in their yard, not in the driveway, but nearly on the dang road, where I had no choice but to walk right beside them. Let me just say that if you’re ever walking in a neighborhood like this, after dark, carrying a tripod and wearing a backpack, well, you have my condolences.

The couple, though highly suspicious and I think not believing a word I said, at least didn’t threaten me. Their pit bull, on the other hand, decided to continue my harassment for the evening by introducing his teeth to the back of my leg.

I have decided not to return to this location. Day or night.