Savage Gulf SP

Today's hike was at Savage Gulf State Park. We hiked out to the Rattle Snake overlook. With a little mistake, we hiked the day loop adding on to our out and back. On the way back we turned onto the day loop and hiked back around to Rattle Snake overlook. We tried to make it look like we did this on purpose.

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Savage Gulf

Today Lora and I hiked at Savage Gulf. We hiked the Day Loop trail and three miles on the South Rim trail. Yesterday when we were at my parents home in Maryville we heard the Cicada's and today the woods were full of them. Made for a loud hike. We saw lots of flowers and the water was up for the waterfall. When we left you could see the Cicada's in the road that had been hit.

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Savage Gulf

So Lora said that she would hike with me, but it had to be atleast 10 miles. We headed over to the Savage Gulf and hiked in from Greeter Falls, headed to Stone Door doing the loop and back. After getting in her miles, we added another one going to the Blue Hole and back to get a swim in.

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TTA Savage Gulf Day Loop Trail- Will

What a great day for a hike! We gathered at Savage Gulf for a wonderful stroll through the woods. Not much water in the falls, but some great views of the gulch. The weather was beautiful and cool. The lazy designated hike leader coerced several of the hikers to lead portions of the hike and they did a fantastic job. There were ten hikers today which is just about the correct amount. The duration of this hike was two hours and twenty minutes with a distance of 4.3 miles.

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Savage Gulf South Rim Trail

Lora and I took advantage of the beautiful day and went to the Savage Gulf and hiked the South Rim trail. The colors are changing and beautiful to look at. We had lunch at one of the overlooks before the campground. On the way out we noticed a family and their children hiking and we were so glad to see them out on the trail. As I talked to the dad I noticed that I knew him. He was one of my firefighters from my volunteer fire department of many years ago. So great to see him. 

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Savage Gulf

 Got 10.5 miles in at the Savage Gulf today. We did the day loop and then a loop using the Mountain Oak trail. It was a beautiful day.

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Savage Gulf

Lora and I had a day to get some hiking in before it rains. We headed to Savage Gulf and hiked the South Rim trail and the Day Loop. It was a beautiful day of hiking.

Savage Gulf Mountain Oak Loop

We needed a little exercise after all the Christmas eating so we headed over to the Savage Gulf ranger station and did the 9.7 mile Mountain Oak Loop. A little much after the fact, but you know us.

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Savage Gulf TTA

Craig had to work on my birthday so I went hiking (happy birthday to me!) in Savage Gulf with Richard Savage as leader for the Upper Cumberland TTA. I met them at the trailhead by the Savage Gulf Ranger Station.

Lots of overlooks, wildflowers blooming in purple, and yellows. Savage Falls had plenty of water spilling over. Always so pretty to see. Hiked Savage Day Loop, North Rim, Mountain Oak, North Plateau back to day loop. 9 miles.

One lady had issues with her boots and had to slow down. Vicki and Mike went back to check on her, then Vicki found the snake of the day. COPPERHEAD!

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South Rim Trail - Savage Gulf

For our Memorial Day hike we headed to Savage Gulf Ranger station. We hiked the South Rim trail out to Stage Coach Campground.

At the trailhead we met a couple from Murfreesboro who was finishing up a three day backpack. As we continued out there were more backpackers coming through who had been out for three days. The Mountain Laurel and Flame Azelea were wonderful! The water level was down a bit, but would be added to today.

When we got to the South Rim Trail we hiked through the Savage Falls campsite, because neither of us had been to the campsite. There are eight sites here and they are spaced apart pretty good. We came out up above the falls.  We stopped at all the overlooks to take them in on the way to Stage Coach campground. We had lunch along the way and then on the way back we stopped at Savage Falls for a quick swim to cool down. The water is still a bit chilly!

It was a wonderful day to be in the woods. Got in around 12 miles.

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Collins West

I had a day off and wanted some time in the woods. Ann and Ann from the Boro agreed to meet me at the Collins West Trailhead in the South Cumberland State Park. They had never hiked this section. We were excited about looking for wildflowers. The waterfalls were really beautiful today, lots of water flowing over. We did find wildflowers after decending for a while. Lots of violets, some trilliums, Jack in the Pulpit, stonecrop,  foam flowers, sweet cicily, wild geraniums. We had lunch at Horsepound Falls.
We met 3 backpackers that spent the night at Sawmill. They warned us about a bear they had seen close to their camp. We didn't run into Mr. Bear, but we did find a lot of teeny weeny grasshoppers. The bridge at Suter Falls has a wood walkway to get on the bridge, the walkway was loose, a little rock and roll action. When we got back to the parking lot, a Park Ranger pulled in. I introduced our group,  Ranger Murray is a new Ranger for the  South Cumberland Park but worked as a seasonal ranger 10 years or so ago.  We told him about the bridge and the backpackers seeing the bear, and some trees across the trail. He will be leading a hike there Saturday, looking for wildflowers.

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TTA Stone Door

Today's hike included Murfreesboro members: Craig, Jennifer and daughter Lizzie, Danielle, and Alex. Soddy Daisy: Lora. CT Volunteers: Don, Carol, TC, Judy, and Caroline.

It was a beautiful hiking day in the snow.  We hiked the Stone Door, Big Creek Rim, and Laurel trails for a total of seven miles. We got our lunch in at the Alum Gap campground. Afterwards some of us and Cindy from Highland Rim chapter went down to see Laurel Falls.

Don gets credit for photo's and most trail maintenance. Jennifer get's most adventurist for walking through the water instead of using the stepping stones. Most active goes to Lizzie, who went down the Stone Door and back. She also got the only fall at Laurel Falls. Lora got most creative for making a snowman.

It was a great day spent with some wonderful people. After hiking Lora and I went over to see Greeter Falls.

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Don's Pictures:

Collins Gulf - TN Meetup Hikers

Black Friday is the perfect day to go hiking. Car had gas, didn't even have to shop for that.

Met one hiker at the proposed trailhead. The gate across the road that had a private property sign on it had us turning back. We met the other hikers at the road, studied the map, and drove to the Collins Gulf trailhead in Gruetli Laager. 7 hikers ready for an adventure. Jeff was our fearless leader. GSP in hand, off we went. 

Suter Falls was our first adventure. The icicles hanging from the rock walls were sparkling in the sunshine. The steps were a little tricky but our leader showed us how NOT to take them. Lying on your back is not the best way to descend.....He shook it off and kept on. 

Horse Pound Falls was pretty today, lots of water. Then on down into the Gulf. We crossed the creek at the bottom without any wet feet. We had lunch at the Sawmill camp. We had to get our energy up for the climb out of the Gulf. We saw lots of waterfalls, lots of rocky trail, a boulder field, more rocks, and then a pretty walk on the rim back to the cars. 

Good workout and a beautiful trail with new friends.

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Collins Gulf Loop TTA

I drove to Savage Gulf to hike with the Columbia/Upper Cumberland TTA  group. We met at the Collins West trailhead. Our hike leader was Gary and he planned a loop for us to hike. Other hikers were Louise, Kathleen, Richard, Jeff, Jennifer, Vicky, and Cynthia and her 2 dogs. We hiked to Suter Falls and I was thinking the last time I was here it was covered in ice.... then on to Horsepound Falls which was beautiful. Everything was a little damp so the trail was a little tricky. We had some trail dancing going on. We saw a lot of wildflowers starting to bloom, Trillium, Dutchman's Britches, Bloodroot, Toothwort, Rue Anemone, Hepatica.

We hiked down into the gulf and took the spur trail to Schwoon  Spring. We got on the Connector Trail to get to Stagecoach Road. Richard took the alternate stage road, exploring the high road. We met up again and then we took the Collins Rim Trail. We checked out all the overlook spur trails. The views were really pretty, you can see the trees budding. The boulder field was challenging today as the rocks were damp and slippery. At one of the creek crossings, one hiker had to see how much water he could get in his shoes.

The rain held off and we had a beautiful day of hiking. We did somewhere between 11 and 13 miles.

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Water Fall HikeP

I drove to Savage Gulf, Greeter Falls trailhead to meet up with Upper Cumberland TTA. It was raining when I got to the parking lot, cold rain, zipped the pant legs on, too cold for shorts. Two cars pulled up, nine hikers emerged ready to hike. Richard, Kathleen, Margaret, Pete, Louise, Gary, Mike, Cindy and Pokey Pete. The rain stopped as we started out. This park is loaded with waterfalls. It’s a short hike to Upper Greeter Falls and Lower Greeter Falls. Lots further to the last one we would see today. I tried to get pictures of them all, along with the wildflowers blooming along the way.

The Mountain Laurel was starting to show its blooms. All the early spring blooms are gone and the late spring ones are blooming now. Stonecrop, Maple leaf viburnum, Sweet Betsy Trillium, just to name a few. If you look at the pictures you will notice I didn’t label them all. (cause I don’t know what they were).

Board Tree Falls was pretty. We hiked into the Gulf. The Sinks didn’t have any water but Ranger Falls was flowing great. There were pretty purple blooms all over the rocks leading to the falls, not sure what the tree is. The Ranger we met on the trail thought it was a Princess Tree. I looked at images online later and found that it is invasive. Pretty blooms though.

We hiked the Connector trail to the junction with Collins Gulf and took a spur trail to Schwoon Spring which is really cool to see coming out of the cave.

Then on to Horsepound Falls and then Suter Falls coming off the trail at Collins West trailhead. 14 miles today.

We stopped at Mary’s in Coalmont for supper. I think they were a little surprised by all of us coming in at once. They didn’t mind our muddy boots and the food was good. Stop in for the sweet tea. It’s good.

No cell service in the area so if you need to call someone to tell them you’re going to be late, you have to get back on Hwy 111 to get service for Verizon. Sorry to worry you Mom and Craig. Great hike, now home for shower and sleep….zzzzzzzz

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Hobb's Cabin- TTA Hike

Craig, Paula, and Marco are members of the Murfreesboro TTA, Lora is with the Soddy Daisy chapter. Dad also joined us as well as Pam. This was Pams first backpack.

We got on the trail around 9:30. We took the day loop trail to see the Savage Falls and then head down the Rim trail to Hobb's Cabin. It was a beautiful day and we got some great views in. We met up with the Upper Cumberland Chapter lead by Margaret that were doing a day hike in the area.

After we got to Hobb's Cabin, George joined us for the night. He had hiked in the Connector trail.

The first real entertainment was setting up Pam's tent. Of course this was the first time she set it up. We got some laughs as the four of us tried to figure it out.

We were then entertained by Pam as she carefully picked out a rock, wrapped it up in tin foil and then placed it over the fire. We were all thinking that there are other lightweight meals with more flavor. She was thinking that she was going to warm up her sleeping bag with this. We explained the melting of fabric and she changed her mind. She made a good comeback with making smores for everyone.

There were stories told from pies to chickens and some cough medicine taken. Ranger light foot stopped by to visit as well. Lot's of laughs all night. We apologized to other campers in the morning for our wild behavior.

The next morning we hiked out on the Plateau trail. We took a good rest break at lunch and Paula waited until the last bit of the trail before she showed Pam the correct procedure to use while falling with a backpack on. Always the teacher.

We got in a total of 17.6 Miles.

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Savage Gulf 10 mile loop

Savage Day Loop
North Rim Trail
Mountain Oak Trail
Big Tree Loop
North Plateau Trail
Savage Day Loop
Total Loop: 10 Miles

Lora and I got to do a little hiking. We were going to do an overnighter at Hobb's Cabin, but the weathermen talked us out of it saying that it was going to rain all day Thursday. Once again they were wrong.

It was a snow hike and we were not alone as there were many backpackers out that were coming back from Hobb's and going to Hobb's Cabin. It's great to see people enjoying the outdoors and using the TN State Parks.

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South Rim Trail

Lora and I headed out to the Savage Gulf to do a little hiking. We planned to do the Day Loop trail and swim at the Savage Falls since it was only going to get to 100 degrees today. After we got on the trail we started talking about the only trails that Lora hadn't hiked yet, so with a quick change of plans we hiked the South Rim trail to the Stage Coach campground and then back to the falls for a swim. So instead of a six mile hike we did a 12.2 mile hike.

Just another day of hiking.....life is good!

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Connector Trail-Savage Gulf

Ranger station to Stone Door….2 miles
Stone Door Trail….1.8
Connector Trail..13.4
Historic Cator Savage Cabin…0.5
Hobbs Cabin…0.25
Total……..17.95 Miles

The weather was too nice for me. It was getting late and I was heading home. I sent a text to Lora, who was still at work, asking if she wanted to go camping. I immediately got a phone call asking where. We decided after we left the house to go to Savage Gulf and then started narrowing down the trails. We stopped to eat and then headed on to set up camp at Stone Door. We had decided to hike the connector trail to Hobbs cabin the next day.

When we got to Stone Door the parking lot was full. I almost had to turn the car on its side to find a place to park. We were thinking……….CROWDED! The Ranger was walking through the parking lot and told us that there were a couple of scout troops camping and that the Alum Gap campsite was full. We asked him about the trail conditions on the Connector trail. When we told him about doing it as a day hike he asked if we knew that the Connector trail was the most difficult in the park. Of course! Luckily we found a site that didn’t have anyone on either side and enjoyed a peaceful evening sitting next to the fire and looking at the stars.

We had a quite morning and didn’t get on the trail until 10am. Only 18 miles to go. It was a beautiful day and even with all the people in the park we only came across a few on the way to Hobbs cabin. The most beautiful area was at the first bridge just East of Stone door. We got to see many wild flowers on the trail as Spring has sprung.

We hiked down to the Historic Cator Savage cabin on a spur trail to check it out. It’s a little cabin in a clearing at the bottom of the gulf. We ate lunch shortly thereafter on the trail. We passed our first people as they were packing up their campsite at Sawmill campground. The strenuous parts are the climbs at either end of the trail; Stone Door and the climb to Hobbs cabin.

At Hobbs cabin we filled our water containers. We had carried just one backpack and took turns carrying it. Lora was carrying it when we left Hobbs cabin. We passed by three hikers on the Rim trail. They looked at me and then at Lora. I asked them why they didn’t have a woman to carry their packs. They got to laughing and said that was what they needed. I told them to watch and learn as we headed out.

We passed a lot of hikers on the way back to Stone Door. It had taken us about four hours one way to make this hike. It was a lot of fun, and we got our camping fix for the week.

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