Tuesday, March 19, 2019

TTA Big Frog Mt.


Joan planned a great TTA hike in the Big Frog Wilderness. 5 ladies for this one. Joan, Rebecca, and Celia from Highland Rim, Betsy and me from Soddy Daisy.  The trailhead is on FS 221. According to the Tim Homan book Hiking Trails of the Cohutta & Big Frog Wilderness, this is the only footrail that reaches the Big Frog summit from the North, easy to moderate climb from 2,160 feet to 4,220 feet. There are hardwood coves, steep slopes and ridges, streams and it's the highest mountain in the combined wilderness. The upper section shares treadway with the Benton MacKaye trail.  It was a beautiful day, cool start, blue skies and no wind. Perfect for hiking
We did some clearing along the way, Betsy remembered to carry clippers and took out some nasty greenbrier. The views were great all along the upper part of the trail, looking into the Tennessee Valley to the west and the Cohutta Wilderness to the South (according to the trail description). Joan decided to stop when the views stopped and the rest of us wanted to hike to the top, and the trail junction. The top flattens out into a great area for camping. This is where Craig and I camped on our night in 12 inches of snow in 2010. We got pictures at the trail junction and started back down to where Joan was NOT waiting. It took us a little while to catch up with her. We had the trail to ourselves until we started down. A father/son from Cleveland, then two young lads with a dog wanting to know how far to the top. They didn't make it and returned to their car as we got to ours. They were from Ohio exploring the area and said they thought the trail was great. I agree.
This trail is supposed to have a wonderful wildflower display (JUNE) so the only flowers we saw were yellow violets.

Pictures:

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