Murfreesboro TTA Georgia trip

Blairsville, Georgia

November 17-21, 2025

We had 11 participants on our trip to Blairsville, Georgia for camping and hiking. We had people staying in cabins at Vogel State Park and in a house outside the park. The first day we started with a hike in the park around Lake Trahlyta and a side trip to Trahlyta Falls. After that some of us hiked the Bear Hair Gap Trail inside the park.

On the second day we all met up at the Byron Reece Trailhead. They were searching for a missing hiker so there were a lot of people at the trail. We hiked up to the AT and took that up to the top of Blood Mountain to the shelter. We returned the same way. Jay brought his support chicken. That night we all joined up at the rental house for a wonderful meal prepared by Lynn and Tim Rosser. Then we had a campfire where Lynn and Tim made smores for everyone.

Day Three: A couple of options today. We all met up at Desoto Falls to hike the upper and lower falls. After that some went to Brasstown Bald and some of us hiked Raven Cliffs Falls. Sue made a wonderful dinner that night.

Day Four: Some of us met and hiked Duke Creek Falls and Helton Creek Falls; some went to the Gold Mining Museum, and that afternoon some went to Brasstown Bald, and others hiked the Coosa Trail in Vogel SP. Jay made a wonderful dinner that night. 

Participants were Jay Brain, Geoff Hull, Patty Hull, Sue Hulit, Craig McBride, Lora McBride, Sara Pollard, Lynn Rosser, Tim Rosser; and Misty Fell and Sheila Miller from the Plateau chapter.

Pictures:

Pogue Creek Canyon to Pickett TTA

 

Mark Hubbard planned this great hike that is evidently very popular with this group. 22 hikers met at Arch Lake at Pickett to shuttle cars to Pogue, and a couple to Black House Mountain Rd for a shorter hike option. It was a cool start, but warmed up nicely. We broke into two groups, Mark leading half the hikers and Joan leading the other half. Pogue Creek Canyon is always beautiful no matter the season. The views into the canyon are awesome. It was about a 7 mile hike or more depending on whose GPS you belived. Hikers were from Nashville, Murfreesboro, Highland Rim, Columbia Franklin, and Memphis Chapters.

Mark Hubbard, Amy Sutton, Cheryl Smith, Zari, Lori, Deb Owens, Cindy Clark, Debbie Dodd, Gloria Dale Williams, Jay Brain, Jean Breuer, Jim Barrit, Joan Hartvigsen, Karen Jones, Kathryn Lofton, Kathy Woods, Marietta Poteet, Sara Pollard, Sarah Lovett, Scott Jordan, Todd Stanley, Wendy Fish, Lora McBride, Gorgeanne Ross. Old friends and new ones!

Pictures:

Longfield Branch Trail BSF

 

Cheryl led 5 of us on a snowy hike at Big South Fork. Had a couple of creek crossings, we took our time and didn't get wet feet. One couple had family connection in the area of Rance Boyatt Farm and grave site. We found frost flowers all over the farm area, always excited to see these. Back across the creek, onward to Maude's Crack. We all made it up thanks to the rope someone has left there to help you scramble up or down. 

Hikers: Cheryl Smith, Zary Rahimi, Lori Olinger, Gayron and Marla Franklin, and Lora

Pictures:

Abrams Creek Backpack

The original plan was to leave Sunday afternoon and campout at Campsite #1. Rain came in so we left Monday morning and camped at Campsite #2.

We started at Abrams Creek campground and hiked Coopers Road trail to Little Bottoms trail. We ate lunch at campsite #17. We came across a lot of bear scat along the trails. We then took Hatcher Mountain trail back to Cooper Road trail down to Cane Creek trail to campsite #2. It had been overcast the whole day, but cleared up at night so we could see the full moon and stars. We were entertained by a couple of owls that night. Even with the damp wood we had a nice campfire and kept Lora warm. 

Tuesday morning we woke up to a Screech Owl saying it was time to get up. We enjoyed breakfast at the campfire and watched the sun come up over the mountain. We hiked back to Cooper Road trail and out to the car. 

Pictures:

TTA 2025 Annual Meeting

This years meeting was held at Paris Landing SP in Buchanan Tennessee. There was 135 in attendance this year. Multiple hikes were led in the area. 

Lora and I drove to Tanbark Campground in Dickson the night before so that we could be there for Fridays hikes. We stayed in the Paris Landing SP campground for the event. Friday we hiked the Britton Ford Interpretive Hiking Trail in the Big Sandy Unit of the Tennessee NWR. Really nice trail with views of the lake. 

Saturday we went to the Land Between the Lakes and hiked the Tennessee Ridge, Peytona, and Telegraph trails. Our expert guide told us about the history in the area while we hiked. 

Sunday we hiked the Raptor Ridge Trail there at the park and visited the Nature Center. After lunch we drove to the Fort Donelson National Battlefield and hiked the area. Then we drove on to see the Surrender House and National Cemetery. We stopped to get our calories back at the Cattle and Bakes.

Monday we hiked the Marina there at the park before heading home. It was a great time of visiting and hiking.

Pictures:

East Coast Trip - Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia

Tuesday Oct 7th, after a campground hike, we headed South and West from New Jersey. Hwy 9 and 70 are nice driving. We crossed the Delaware Memorial Bridge and then followed 273 through Newark. We crossed through Maryland, back into Pennsylvania, and camped at Codorus SP. After dinner we hiked the 3 mile Mary Ann Furnace trail which we ended up hiking in the dark.

Wednesday was Gettysburg day. We visited the visitor center which now charges you for everything. From there we did the driving loop listening to the NP app. We stopped for lunch at O’Rorke’s Family Eatery which was awesome. We visited the candy store across the street and then visited the President Eisenhower House and Farm. After that we continued the auto tour. We had to go back to see the Tennessee monument because we didn’t see it the first time through.

Thursday we went further South. We went through Federick and down 15. We stopped at Point of Rocks for lunch and a walk. From there we headed to Fairfax for the night staying at Fairfax County Park Campground. This is a huge park with a small clean campground. We hiked the trail around the campground seeing deer, ducks, and squirrels.

Friday we drove on to Mechanicsville to see the parents and my sister. 

Saturday we went to the Richmond Folk Festival to listen to music and have dinner. Sunday was a down day. Monday was a trip to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and dinner at Lynelle's. Tuesday we headed south to Bristol VA and spent the night at Sugar Hollow Campground. Wednesday we headed home to spend a day before headed to the TTA Annual Meeting in West Tennessee.

East Coast Trip Summary:

Eight Weeks; Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan, Canada, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and Tennessee. 

Pictures:

East Coast Trip - New Jersey and Pennsylvania

October 5th. Sunday morning we headed South into New Jersey. Traffic was horrendous and it was 86 degrees. We didn’t find anything good here until we got to Turkey Swamp Park in Freehold Township. Pretty place where we are going to stay for a couple of nights.

Monday was Historic Philadelphia and Valley Forge day. Of course the government was shut down and some places were closed because it wasn’t the weekend. At the visitor center we asked the lady where to have a good pizza. She corrected us and said Philly Stake. Then she told us where to go. So we saw the Presidents House Site, the Liberty Bell through the window, Independence Hall from outside, the tomb of the unknown soldier of the American Revolution, and lots of old buildings. We had our Philly Steak at Jim’s Steaks. Saw Old St. Mary’s church, Benjamin’s Graveyard, Arch Street Meeting House, Betsy Ross House, and did a tour of the Philadelphia US Mint. Lots of walking. From there we headed over to Valley Forge and did the driving loop. A few short hikes to see things and then had Pizza at Salvatore’s Trattoria and Pizzeria in King of Prussia. It made for a long but good day.

Tuesday after a campground hike, we headed South and West. Hwy 9 and 70 are nice driving. We crossed the Delaware Memorial Bridge and then followed 273 through Newark. We crossed through Maryland, back into Pennsylvania, and camped at Codorus SP.

Pictures:

East Coast Trip - New York

Friday the 3rd we drove from Connecticut into New York. We set up camp at Winding Hills Park in Orange County. After setting up we headed to Minnewaska SP Preserve Sam’s Point Area. We hiked to Sam’s Point and on to the Ice Caves which is a really cool hike climbing through rocks. Afterwords we headed back to camp for the night.

Back to Minnewaska SP Preserve on Saturday. We hiked around Lake Minnewaska then to 65’ Awosting Falls. We hiked the beautiful Mossy Glen trail and Blueberry Picker trail to Upper Awosting to the visitor center. Really nice place to hike. Shopping and back to campground. 

Sunday morning we headed South into New Jersey. Traffic was horrendous and it was 86 degrees. We didn’t find anything good here until we got to Turkey Swamp Park in Freehold Township. Pretty place where we are going to stay for a couple of nights.

Pictures:

East Coast Trip - Connecticut

Thursday the 2nd we headed South from Chepachet Rhode Island into Connecticut taking Hwy 49 South to Hwy 1 and driving along the Long Island Sound. We stopped in Mystic for lunch and walked around the town looking at ships along the river. We continued on Hwy 1 and stopped in Clinton for the night at Riverdale Farm Campsites. 

Friday we traveled Northwest through Bristol. We had lunch in Danbury and did some shopping. From there we drove to New York.

Pictures:

East Coast Trip - Rhode Island

Monday the 29th we headed South from Scarborough Maine. We visited Kennebunkport just to see it before we left Maine. We went through New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and into Rhode Island. We camped at Holiday Acres campground. This is a very large campground including a good size lake.

Tuesday we went to Mowry Conservation area and hiked the trails there. A very pretty area. Across the road is Mowry Commons mangaged by Revive the Roots. They had trails, community gardens, and a green house area. From there we went to Blackstone Gorge which sounds a lot prettier that it was. Basically water flowing over a dam and a trail along the river. We hiked down to the confluence and then back. We ate lunch at the dam. From there we headed over to the Monastery which is now a library. I wish we could have seen it before the fire. A beautiful building. We hiked the trail behind it to see the Monk's Quarry where there is still quarry rocks piled up that weren't used. We stopped by the Wrights Dairy Farm and Bakery for a snack before heading back. Had to relax for a while in the sun after a tough day like that.

Today started off with a trip back into Massachusetts. We went to Plimoth Patuxet to learn about Pilgrims. A very interesting place to see! After some clam chowder at the Cabby Shack we explored the Grist Mill, the ever so small Plymouth Rock, and the Mayflower II. We caught a few more sights in town as we walked back to the car. We headed to Cape Cod after that to check it out. Saw a bunch of houses that old Captains lived in and walked the pier on Gray's Beach. We had dinner at Father's Kitchen and Taphouse and then headed home.  

Thursday we headed South and into Connecticut. We drove down 49 to Hwy 1.

Pictures: