Cumberland Trail Backpack. Possum Creek and Rock Creek Gorge sections. 14.9 miles total and rated strenuous for this 2 day, 1 night backpacking trip. Saturday we will start at the Heiss Mountain Road trailhead off Highway 111 near Soddy Daisy and hike 7.1 miles to the Little Possum North campsite. On the way to our campsite we’ll pass a beautiful view from Perkins Point, Imodium Falls over Little Possum Creek, and cross the stunning Big Possum Creek and Little Possum Creek bridges. The campsite has water available from the Little Possum Creek. The next day from our campsite, we’ll hike out 2.4 miles to the Retro Hughes trailhead and continue on the Rock Creek Gorge section for 5.4 miles to the Upper Leggett Road trailhead in Sale Creek. Elevation gain and loss on the Possum Creek Gorge section is 1,000 feet and the elevation change on the Rock Creek Gorge section is 300 feet. We’ll also see lots of wildflowers, overlooks that offer spectacular views of the gorge into the Tennessee River valley, and opportunities to see hawks and eagles.
10 hikers showed up for Sara's TTA backpack. Margaret, Pete, Amy, Paolo, Wayne, Jean, Michael, Sara, and us.
We left cars at the Upper Leggett Trailhead and drove to Heiss Mt. Road to start. Blanchard Falls was really pretty. Lots of wild flowers everywhere on this hike. Possum Creek Trail is a fine example of trail building and the descent into Big Possum Creek Gorge and out to Hughes Ridge is some of the prettiest areas of the CT. Lunch was supposed to be at Perkins Point which we blew right by, and didn't want to climb back up to, so we sat at an overlook of the creek gorge and cooled off for a little while. Another workout of into and out of Little Possum Creek Gorge.
When we got to our campsite, we found a church group had reserved the spot as well. The Cumberland trail does not limit the amount of people at each campsite so it was a scramble to find places to camp. We had tents spread out for a quarter of a mile. We found a good spot to make our campfire spot and went to work collecting wood. We had another backpacker join us for a bit as well. Our group joined around the campfire for dinner and lots of entertainment. We got to listen to owls and coyotes and a whippoorwill.
The next morning we got up early, ate around the campfire and hit the trail by 8 to avoid the morning showers. Our first challenge was the creek crossing. We did some rock hopping and there was some wet feet as well. We made it to the Rock creek trailhead before the rain set in for the day. It was warm out and it was a light rain. We found shelter along a rock bluff for our lunch break.
It was a great hike with some great people. Thanks Sara.
Flowers seen: Dwarf crested Iris, Purple Phacelia, Fire Pinks, Wild Oats, Shooting Stars, Foam Flower, Anemone, Star Chickweed, Leaves of the Speckled Wood Lily with no blooms yet, Golden Alexander, Yellow Star Grass, lots of Southern Red Trillium, Little Brown Jug, Wild Geranium, Phlox, Jack in the Pulpits.
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