Hinch Mt. Segment TTA Backpack

 

Murfreesboro TTA led a hike on the Hinch Mt. Segment of the Cumberland trail. We parked at the Head of the Sequatchie and shuttled 10 backpackers to Stinging Fork Falls to start the hike. This was a 16 mile backpack. This is a physically demanding hike through beautiful mountains. There are creeks, waterfalls, and different ecosystems. We got to see a large Great Horned owl which flew down right beside us on the trail and then landed in a tree. We camped along Soak Creek where the weather dropped down into the 20's. 

Hikers were Cynthia Skidmore, Kathy Stutts, Sara Pollard, Wendy Fish, Tammy Hendrick, Curt Thomas, Cindy Strang, Jean Breuer, and Craig and Lora McBride.

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Laurel Falls Icicle Hike

What started as a short hike along the creek ended up a hike to Laurel Falls. The icicle were amazing to see on the cool day.

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Fall Creek Falls

Lora and I did some exploring today. Back in October while hiking the Paw paw trail we came across a guy working on clearing trees. He told us that they were clearing the Upper and Lower loop trails and hoped to have it open by December. 

We found the new trailhead for the Lower loop trail across from the old school house. It is blazed but not signed. It goes to the Paw paw trail and is signed to head North where it is signed again, but a closed sign is still there. Lots of trees down in that area. Going back to the School house we found a red blazed trail out back and took it. It connects to the old Upper Loop trail and it is cleared. We hiked it to the Rockhouse Creek where the bridge is out. It is laying just down stream. We are assuming that the trail is most likely cleared all the way through, but we will have do some more investigating. 

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Hall Road Section of the North Chickamauga Creek

Today’s hike on the CT. Starting at the Hall Road trailhead which is on Old Anderson road. We hiked 3 miles in on the South end of the N. Chickamauga creek segment. We saw a salamander, a deer, and six hikers. Beautiful day to be out.

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Lost Creek to Virgin Falls TTA

Joint hike Murfreesboro and Plateau TTA chapters, led by Sheila and Sara. 15 hikers hiked several uphill climbs to the beautiful Virgin Falls. Rylander Cascades had a great water flow. I saw leaves of hepatica and violets and Little Brown Jug getting excited about the warm weather. All the streams had water from the recent rain. Virgin Falls was beautiful today. Several of us hiked up to the top where the water flows out of a cave, and then climbed down the rocks to the trail heading back. Hikers from Murfreesboro: Joe, Jay, Sara, Tony, Craig, Lora. 

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Chickamauga Battlefield TTA

Dave led 21 hikers from Scenic City on a 4.5 mile hike. The east loop from the Visitor Center parking lot was an easy hike, very little elevation change. We hiked across the main road and followed the Yellow Trail south to the site of Jay's Mill at Brotherton Road, passed many war monuments. We made our way to the headquarters of General Bragg, who let the Confederate Army to victory in this battle. Then the Red Trail back to the Visitor Center. It was a beatiful day, visiting with some long time friends. After the hike a group of us enjoyed lunch at Parkway Restaurant. 

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Soddy Gorge to Hwy 111

 

Today's hike started at Big Soddy Creek Gorge on Back Valley Road in Soddy. We took the Jim Adams' trail and Board Camp Creek trail to the Cumberland trail and headed North to Hwy 111. We met Jim and Ruth on the way in on Jim Adams' trail. It was a beautiful day for hiking and we only saw four people on the CT. Board Camp Creek Gorge is always beautiful and hiking along the Creek the whole way. There was some ice on the trail which was challenging along the rock walls. On our way back we saw two does crossing the trail.

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Mowbray Pike Trailhead CT

Found the new parking lot on Mowbray Mountain Road for this segment of the Soddy Creek Gorge South. Saw huge boulders where the climbers play. Lots of rock walls and small stream crossings. One bridge crossing over the biggest creek. The overlook at Indian Rockhouse was pretty and we went thru the Little Stone Door. Hiked into the area where the coal mining was done. Crossed the strip mine trench, up to Clemmons Point, then back out. On the way out we got to see an armadillo off the side of the trail. The climbers were all around the boulders, as we hiked back thru. 

Hiked about 8 miles.

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White Oak Mountain TTA

 

I met up with the Scenic City TTA at the Southern Adventist University in Collegedade. They have a well maintained trrail system. We hiked the Big Red Loop, on the wooded ridge. My GPS led me to the overflow parking, so I drove around a little and found the trailhead but the parking lot was full. There are restrooms at the trailhead. It started out cold and frosty, everyone in hats and gloves. We warmed up climbing the ridge side. 21 hikers. We started to smell the sweet aroma emanating from the Little Debbie factory. We also encountered pretty beech trees and frozen fungi. We got a good workout with approximately five miles of switch backs and ups and downs. At the end of the hike Carl offered us homemade toffee, delicious. 

I stopped to take pictures of the carved stone sculpture of Elijah and Elisha, called Passing the Mantle.

Thank you to Julie for leading the hike.

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Chilly Chili Hike

The Marietta Poteet’s 25th annual and last Chilly Chili Hike. There were 44 people who hiked and about 65 people for chili.  We met at the Sewanee Gates at the Shakerag trailhead and hiked Shakerag Hollow on the Sewanee Perimeter trail and returned on the Beckwith Point trail. The hike was about 3.5 miles. After the hike we went to Marietta's home in Clifftops to enjoy chili and all the fixins. We also had a champagne toast for Jim Poteet, Marietta's husband who passed away last summer and organized the first chili hike. There were hikers from several chapters - Highland Rim, Murfreesboro, Nashville, Sumner Trails, Scenic City, and Columbia Franklin. Hikers from our Murfreesboro chapter were Jay Brain, Anna Lina Buckley, Joe Campbell, Lora McBride, Sara Pollard, Georganne Ross, Lynn Rosser, Tim Rosser, Martina Terrazas and her son Eduardo.

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Stinging Fork on the Cumberland trail

 

Today's hike started at Stinging Fork and then we headed South on the Cumberland trail. This is a very pretty section of the CT. It was a little chilly this afternoon, but worth it.

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Cumberland Mountain State Park

Byrd Trail .5

Pioneer Short Loop 1.8

Pioneer Trail 2.55

Total 4.85

New year's day hike at Cumberland Mountain SP. We hiked from the Ranger Station down around the lake. Lot's of people out today and the weather was great.

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