TTA 2018 Annual Meeting

This year's TTA annual meeting was held in Land Between the Lakes and hosted by the Clarksville Chapter. We were celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Tennessee Trails Association. 

Lora drove there Friday afternoon, set up a hammock in the trees by the cemetery. Had a great dinner served by the lunchroom ladies, then listened to some music by the Friendship Band that had some of us dancing in our seats, but no one would get out on the dance floor. Ski Witzofski an early day Ranger in Brandon Springs, an accomplished speaker told stories and history of the LBL. The t shirt contest had contestants wearing old t shirts from TTA past events, some trail work days, and J.R. had stated the judges could be bribed.
My night in the hammock by the cemetery. Listen to owls, sleep, listen to scuffling in the leaves going to the lake, (haints or deer?) The Friendship Band sang a song about Ain't no Haint gonna run me off. But I heard no chains rattling, so I think it was deer. Sleep, listen to owls. Get up.

Lora's Saturday hike was at the North Welcome Center, an 8.8 mile segment of the Canal Loop Trail, led by Paul Schwab. He kept a good pace that warmed us up as we did the ups and downs with views of Lake Barkley and Kentucky Lake. We were blessed by the appearance of a bald eagle soaring low over Kentucky Lake. Ooohs and Ahhhhs as he climbed higher and soared. After the hike we drove the Loop Road to see bison and elk. And a coyote. 700 acres of scenic prairie. $5 per car.

Craig's Saturday hike was taking the trails around Brandon Springs. The blue trail runs around the lake which I wasn't sure about so after halfway I turned around and took the white trail back.

The evening was filled with awards for George Bonneau and Bob Lyons with the Bill Stutz Award, and TVA for the TTA Award, and Mack Prichard for the Bob Brown Award. Jim Poteet gave a great presentation of the 50 year History of TTA.

Sunday we enjoyed a good breakfast at the dinner hall, packed up camp, and then Lora and I headed up to the Golden Pond visitor center. We did a five mile day hike on the North/South trail from Dead Beaver Camp back to the visitor center.

Pictures: 

Anthony Creek Trail GSHAG

Sunday hike with the Great Smokies Hiking and Adventure Group for Suzan to finish her map. She needed the segment of the AT between Spence Field and Russell Field. 15 hikers gathered for this one. It was 35 degrees in Cades Cove when I got there. I was early, got up at 4:15 and 29 degrees, glad I remembered my gloves and toboggan. The gates were still closed for the loop road and cars were starting to line up. They usually open the gates at daylight. It was a few minutes after 8 when the guys came with the keys. As all the other hikes arrived there was a colorful array of puffy jackets and hats, scarves and gloves. We started up the trail, climbing of course, up to the Bote Mtn Trail. Closed for rehab, but the group had gotten permission from the Park to hike, so we ducked under the tape and kept climbing. They've been cutting limbs off the rhododendron and limbs were everywhere for a couple hundred feet. There are deep trenches in the trail still, but tools were still there to keep working. Hope.

The cold temps froze the timber on the ridge side, frost all over the undergrowth.  Beautiful and the sunshine was making everything sparkle. When we got to the ridge top the breathing was easier. As we neared Russell Field shelter, Suzan waited for everyone to catch up. We lined up to make a raised hiking pole ceremonial finish line. Suzan arrived and touched up her lipstick, then finished with a winning smile.

Lunch in the sunshine, then down the Russell Field Trail to Cades Cove. Beth and Laura presented Suzan with a 900 miler cake and we headed to Townsend for the Finish party at the Barn.
Suzan's family was there from Houston, and lots more of the Group. Good food and drinks, and camaraderie.

Pictures:

Father/Son Trip 2018

Our annual outing went as planed which is a rarity. We had good health, no closings, and good weather. We met up at the Ponderosa again, got some chores done, and last minute packing. Tuesday we headed out one way and the ladies out the other way.

We drove to Bryson City and got to the Deep Creek Trailhead. We had a 6.3 hike into campsite #59.  There were some people out hiking today and we found one friendly copperhead snake on the side of the trail. We saw lots of fishermen out in the creek. Just before we got to camp a light rain started. That rain gave us a break to set up camp and then came back for the night. We visited under the tarp until bedtime.

The next day after breakfast, we headed out for a day hike. We did a mile up to Martins Gap trail and then headed down Sunkota Ridge trail. It was a beautiful day for hiking and a beautiful trail. We took the loop trail back to Deep Creek and back to our campsite. It took a while, but we finally found enough dryish wood to make a campfire for the night. We heard some coyotes tonight and I got to hear an owl both nights.

Thursday we headed out. We got into some hikers and photographers as we neared the parking area. We stopped in Bryson for some lunch and then headed home. Another great hike.

Pictures:

Raccoon Mountain TTA

 
Lora and I headed to Raccoon Mountain to hike with the Tennessee Trails Association. We did the 12 mile loop around the lake. We met at the visitor center and hiked counterclockwise. It was a great day of hiking and fellowship.

Pictures:

Newton Bald/Gunter Fork

Day One: 5.6
Newton Bald Trail to Thomas Divide to campsite #52  5.6
Day Two: 10.8
Newton Bald Trail 0.5
Mingus Creek Trail 5.6
Newton Bald Trail 4.7
Day Three: 5.2
Big Creek to campsite #37 5.2
Day Four: 10.2
Camel Gap Trail 1.0
Gunter Fork Trail x2 8.2
Camel Gap Trail 1.0
Day Five: 5.2
Big Creek Trail 5.2
Total Miles: 37

Lora had a few more trails to mark off and we had five days. This is our anniversary hike for 2018. We parked at Smokemont campground to start the hike up to Newton Bald. It was hot and the trail was steep climbing 3000 feet. On the way up we saw a couple of park workers with two horses and two mules toting chainsaws. We thanked them for all their work. We hiked to the Thomas Divide trail and then back tracked to campsite 52 for the night. It was a peaceful night under the stars.

Day Two:
We hiked back to Mingus Creek to get that trail marked off. We headed South down to Deeplow Gap trail. Got to see some grouse and some huge mushrooms. When we got to the bottom, we turned around and headed back up, just because.  Then we took the Newton Bald trail to Smokemont for the night. We took a side trip up Big Cove Road to Mingo Falls. Mingo Falls is a 120 ft high waterfall located in the Qualla Boundary—a land trust of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians—near the town of Cherokee. When we got back to camp we found that we had neighbors with lots of little children. Not a quite night.

Day Three:
We got up and drove to Big Creek campground where we started our hike to campsite 37. We stopped to look at the waterfall, when a large tree fell next to the trail. That will get your heart a pumping! We were the first ones to camp so we gathered all the firewood we could find.....not much! We ended up with about 19 campers in the area that night.

Day Four:
We got up and hiked to Camel Gap , then on to Gunter Fork. We saw 6 hikers from the Great Smokies Hiking & Adventure Group. Steve H. was hiking his last trails needed to finish his map. Their plan was for 26 miles. Hope they made it before dark. We had one crossing of Big Creek and then about five crossings of Gunter Fork. It is a beautiful trail with two large cascades. One of which had a nice plunge pool at the bottom which we took advantage of on the way back down. There were a few less people at camp tonight. Sometime in the morning we got a few sprinkles so we had to get up and put the tarps up.

Day Five:
We headed back to the car. It was another great five days on the trial.

Pictures: