Little Cedar Mountain, Girls Who Hike Tennessee

 

Dawn invited us to hike with her on an unofficial GWHT.  Jennifer, Dawn, LouAnn and I explored the moss covered limestone rocks, kind of eerie in the fog and drizzle. Beautiful and so interesting here, this treasure right beside the Interstate, and the Tennessee River. We did a figure 8 to see all the trails. Odd finds with a pair of toddler socks, then a pair of crutches abandoned? Hmmm. The river views were cool. Dawn said she and her dad had explored here lots, so it would be cool to come back and explore more.  Picture credits to Dawn and Jennifer.

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Little Cedar Mountain

Sunday afternoon hike with Sara. I got there early, paper was scattered all over the place from the turnoff to the kiosk. The parking lot was covered, it was in the grass too. I put on gloves and got a shopping bag out of the car and started picking up paper. Got bitten by black ants on my arm. People pulling in asked me if the papers were mine, LOL. A few folks that pulled int helped pick up some of it. I filled up both their trash cans with the paper. Looked like travel magazines you find in rest stops, someone had torn the pages out and scattered them. The police officer that drove thru waved at me, wouldn't even stop to ask questions. What would possess someone to trash this place???

Sara got there and we started our loop hike. Wildflowers were out! We saw trillium, larkspur, purple phacelia, stonecrop, Little Brown Jugs, wood sorel, and a yellow flower I think is Hoary Puccoon.

The views of Nickajack Lake were really pretty. Several family groups on the trails, everyone happy to be out on a pretty day.

Stopped on the way home at Stone Cave Bakery for some fresh baked bread. Washed my itchy arm in the cool spring water across the road from the bakery, swallowed a Benedryl and tried not to scratch.

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Little Cedar Mountain and Dunlap Coke Ovens

Lora and I headed out for Little Cedar Mountain to do some hiking.  We had heard about it from Tony who had done trail work on it.  There is four miles of trail according to their map which if you do the pond trail you get five as an out and back.  The trails of course are in great condition after just being worked on.  The trails take you through good rock formations, good views, and along the lake.  Great hike.

After the hike we checked out Marion County Park on the lake and then went to see the Nickajack Dam where we got to watch a tug boat change out barges.

From there we stopped in Dunlap on the way home to see the Coke Ovens.  The museum was not open, but since they were working on the grounds, they let us in.  Really nice people.  The park is run on donations only and staffed by volunteers.  We enjoyed the museum and then walked around the grounds seeing the ovens.  We want to go back and do some more exploring in the area to see more of the historic sites up the side of the mountain.

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