Fall Creek Falls

Saturday 4/9/11 Fall Creek Falls

I drove to FCF to hike with Upper Cumberland TTA. Weatherman says it's gonna be a hot one-bring a hat and sunscreen!

The original plan was to hike the Upper Overnight Loop but that changed when the Ranger said turkey hunt--hunters with weapons. Plan B Lower Loop. We checked out Cane Creek Falls by the Nature Center. The sunshine on the mist from the falls made a pretty rainbow. We dropped one car at Piney Falls and drove the others to the maintenance shed overnight parking area. We sprayed down with deet - it's tick season you know-and started thru the woods. Eleven of us with Margaret leading the way. Some campers were at the first campsite, people out taking advantage of the warm weather. First snake sighting--a black snake coiled up asking us to not bother him; not a problem for me, I don't mind taking a wide berth. We saw several yellow violets and the leaves of puttyroot, pipsissiwa, and rattlesnake plantain in the woods. I was so looking forward to the wildflower show. We had a lady with us that knows her flowers and was a wealth of info for inquiring minds. I was carrying my wildflower guide but couldn't walk and read at the same time. But it did come in handy for verifying some of what I found when we stopped. We started down into the gorge and WOW the wildflowers were everywhere. It began with blue violets and phlox, then star chikweed, buttercups, green violets, white and purple violets. Next was hepatica, tall larkspur, anomone, bluets and cumberland spurge. We also spotted a woodpecker as it briefly landed on a tree and then took off again.

We stopped for lunch at the bottom of the gorge by the creek. Thanks to all the rain lately the creek was beautiful and guess what- more wildflowers; pennywort, jack-in-the-pulpit, white and yellow trilliums, and violet wood sorrel. Good food and some dark chocolate covered almonds (thanks Steve) got us ready to climb out of the gorge. And see more wildflowers. Purple phacelia all over the rocky hillside, blue cohosh and squaw root.

It's quite a climb up to campsite 2 and it was getting WARM! Found a stream and wet our bandannas and hats to cool down. Got to watch out for overheating, rest stops and lots of water!. I have only been on this trail one other time and the creek was dry then. I had never seen the waterfall at the top of the gorge. It was pretty cool. When we got to it, a few of our hikers stood under it to cool off.

When we got to campsite 2 there was a backpacker already set up for camp. The pump was working so we filled up our water bottles and sat down for a little while to cool off. Then on thru the woods. Piney Falls was really putting on a show, more water coming over than I've ever seen and I've seen it many times thru the years. Five of our hikers drove out from here and the rest of us hiked on to Fall Creek Falls where the others met us with a couple more cars. We decided it was getting too late for us to walk back to the maintenance shed. We had to see the waterfall. It was beautiful- 256 feet high- highest one east of the Rocky Mountains. YES we're proud of our Tennessee State Parks. I got a ride back to the parking area to get my car.

When I drove back thru Pikeville I checked to see if there was still singing going on at the John Ross House. They had performances all day and I was hoping to catch some of it. Carrie Hassler was just ending her set and the other performers were about to have a jam session. They call themselves the Sequatchie Valley All Stars and they played Southern Rock- a little Skynyrd, Hank Jr, Jackson Brown, and some Eagles. Watched the sunset and then headed home. Beautiful hike and a beautiful day.

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Soddy Gorge

CT Soddy Gorge Lora
Sunday April 3
I met up with Diane and friends from Nashville and M'Boro to hike the Soddy Gorge section. We left one car at the 111 exit and then the 5 of us piled into the Outcastmobile and drove to Hotwater Road to begin our hike. Yellow trilliums greeted us at the trailhead. Birdsong was the music for the day and we had a bird enthusiast hiking with us identifying the birds. We warmed up quickly shedding layers and zipping off pant legs.

The views from the trail are pretty- you can see Soddy Lake and further out towards the river. Seeing the trees starting to put on leaves
makes you really appreciate spring. Dogwoods are starting to bloom and the redbuds. The streams were flowing down the hillsides and dripping off the rock walls. Lots of rain lately. Creek crossings could be interesting today. We were noticing that someone had been cleaning the trail and I said it had to be the Soddy Chapter. This is their adopted trail section to do maintenance on. Yep there's Nancy Jo raking and doing a great job. We stopped to talk and compliment her on a job well done. This was the same area I was helping rake 2 years ago when some backpackers came thru and stopped to talk to us. When they told us they were firefighters from Murfreesboro who backpacked together, I recognized they were the Outcasts. I had been reading their trail blog. That's where I first met Craig.

We got to Deep Creek and looked at the crossing. Someone has stretched a rope from the middle of the creek to the other side. Getting to the rope was going to be a problem as the water was high and rushing over the rock just before the rope. Hmmmm. Maybe go up the creek a little and find a shallow spot to cross. We thought we could make it and wondered how slick the rocks would be. Only one way to find out....boots off, crocs on.( Outcast training) I crossed the creek and was waiting for everyone to follow. Only no one did, so I crossed back and after the feeling came back in my feet, put my boots back on and we backtracked to the roadbed above the creek to have lunch and figure out what to do. We decided to hike back to the Outcastmobile and try to come in from the other end of the trail.

Drove back to 111 and started walking, it was already 3 pm so we decided to walk in about an hour and then come back out. After walking along beside a fence for a while we started down a hill and saw this would be a good place to come back when the blackberries get ripe. Getting back into tree cover was nice, the temperature had gotten up a bit. We came to the creek crossing and saw where a crew had been working on a log bridge. I think this was the Eagle Scout project Tony and Ann Hook were supervising the day before. It's looking good. We hiked to a beautiful shady spot by Board Camp Creek and made good use of the big log laying by the trail. We sat for a few minutes resting and took a group pic. It was getting late so we hiked back to 111 where Diane and crew headed back towards M'Boro and Nashville and I headed back to the mountain.

Beautiful hiking day. Diane, maybe we can cross the creek next time. And maybe even cross Soddy Creek without me going in for another swim.

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Snow Pocket Wilderness

Lora and I were going to see our Nephew's concert in Dayton. We had some extra time in the morning so we went to the Snow Pocket Wilderness Area and did a hike in and out. It was a beautiful day and the wild flowers were out.

After our hike we went to the park in Dayton and watched our Nephew's band "The Red Letter Apostles" play. They were very impressive with some great songs.

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Rock Creek- Cumberland Trail

Lora and I hiked the Rock Creek section of the Cumberland trail. Our origanal plan of doing an overnighter in the Smoky Mountains got changed due to weather.

This section lies between the Possum Creek Section and the Laurel Snow Segment of the Cumberland Trail. It has 9.6 miles of through-trail and associated side trails near and in Rock Creek Gorge. This is the northern-most section in the Three Gorges Segment of the Cumberland Trail, which altogether contains 36.2 miles of trail.

We parked at the lower trailhead on Leggett Road and hiked the connector trail to the Cumberland trail. Then we hiked the Cumberland trail to Retro Hughes Road, took a break and hiked back to the Loop trail coming back out at the upper trailhead on Leggett Road. A total of 12.9 miles.

With all the rain we've had lately, the water falls and cascades were beautiful. There were alot of different wild flowers out as well.

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Greenbriar Pinnacle

Greenbriar Pinnacle March 19

I went to the GSMNP to hike to the Greenbriar Pinnacle. The drive into the trailhead at Ramsey Cascade was beautiful, the sun was trying to peak thru and the Middle Prong of the Little Pigeon River was rushing over the rocks. Lots of fishermen on the river today.

I met up with the Upper Cumberland TTA hikers at the trailhead. Ten of us started up the trail stopping by the entrance to see the bloodroot starting to bloom, along with some yellow violets. First of the spring wildflowers!

At mile 1.5 you come to where the Ramsey Prong meets the Little Pigeon and we turned left on the Old Greenbriar Pinnacle Trail. It was beautiful in the forest, there was a LOT of rhododendren and mountain laurel that will be covering the trail with blooms later. We climbed over several huge trees across the trail on the way up, and under some and around some.....

It looked as if we were hiking up into a cloud, wondered if we would get to see a view from the pinnacle or not. We stopped where some logs were down for a good lunch. Thanks to Carol for the Thin Mints (next time we want Samoas) and Steve for the dark chocolate covered almonds. Just as we got almost to the overlook, the sky cleared and wow! The overlook was awesome. Picture time. We climbed on up to where the old fire tower used to be for a short break and hanging out talking, then started down the mountain. Isn't it amazing how the trail looks so different going the opposite way? A couple of our hikers started down first and got turned around on the trail, instead of under a downed tree and sharp right, they went straight. 3 of us started down after them but never caught them. We didn't know they had taken a wrong turn, thank goodness they had a whistle and got the attention of the others in the group who guided them back to the trail. I know, I know, everyone stay together!!!

The sun was shining and I could see some blue sky between all the clouds. We got to see a few old growth trees and one really huge one right by the trail, tree hugging time. Down at the junction we saw a few people heading up the trail and chatted with them. You wonder why anyone would hike in rubber crocks and where is their water bottle?

At the trailhead the bloodroot had all opened up in the sunshine. After everyone got off the trail, I said goodby andI drove toward the Ponderosa. On the Foothills Parkway, all the pulloffs were crowded with people trying to see that huge full moon. Saw lots of cameras set up and one telescope. The moon looked like you could reach up and touch it.
At the Ponnderosa I had a great hamburger and visited with Craig's Mom and Dad before turning in.

After we went to church Sunday morning Craig and Marco drove from the Boro to the Ponderosa to do an overnight with Craig's Dad. Tagteam hikers.

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Grandbaby Day

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Oregon 2011

Lora and I flew out to see the girls in Oregon. We had a great time. We did some snowmobiling and some short hikes in the woods. There was 70 inches of snow on the mountain.

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Cedars Of Lebanon

Hidden Springs Trail 5.0
Limestone Sinks Trail 0.5
Dixon Merrit Trail 0.5

Day two of the weekend. We hiked Cedars of Lebanon State Park. We started with the Hidden Springs Trail. The weather had warmed up enough that we were hiking in mud as everything had thawed out. This trail goes through limestone glades in the cedar forest. There are Limestone sinks, caves, and rocky outcrops. The Hidden Springs were down in a cave that you can hear running down through the opening. This is a very popular trail and we saw many people out hiking and running.

The Limestone Sinks Trail is actually attached to the Hidden Springs Trail. A spur does go out to the road, but there is no sign showing a trail head. It is pretty much the same as the rest of the terrain.

The Dixon Merrit Trail is hidden behind the nature center by Hermit Cave. Hermit cave was explained to us a fenced in enclosure. When we found it, it fit the description. There is a fence around a wooden fence around the opening of the cave. Pretty much a hole in the ground. The Trail is more of the same.

We had a good day of hiking.

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Long Hunter State Park

Couchville Lake Trail 2.0
Day Loop Trail 4.0
Volunteer Trail 5.5

Lora and I hiked at Long Hunter State Park today. We started out with the Couchville Lake Trail, which is a paved two mile trail around the Couchville lake. Every time I have been on this trail I have seen deer. The deer are not scared of people and usually just watch you go by. This is the first time I have hiked here that the lake was frozen over. Someone had actually drove some type of vehicle out on the ice. I'm not sure how that went as the tracks just stop out in the middle. This two mile trail passes by sinkholes, through hardwood forest, and crosses the lake on a 300 foot bridge.

After hiking the Couchville trail we headed over to the Day Loop and hiked it. The weather was warming up and the trail is beautiful. We stopped and had a snack on the bench overlooking the lake. When we got to the split where the Volunteer Trail comes in, we decided it was early enough that we could hike down towards the campground. We passed our first hiker on the way out towards the camp. We stopped along the lake shore and ate lunch. After lunch we hiked on to about two miles shy of the campground. Here we got to listen to a couple of Barred owls talking to each other. There were numerous different birds to see including some blue birds.

We turned and headed back. On the way out we past seven backpackers that were going to spend the night. We finished the Day Loop on the way out to the car.

This is a beautiful park to hike.

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Virgin Falls

Virgin Falls
I hiked with Marnel Cothran from Upper Cumberland TTA for her 100th hike at Virgin Falls. I met up with Pokey Pete and crew at Sparta for the drive to the parking area. Good thing, cause it got crowded. There were 21 hikers there to go with Marnell; plus other hikers including two firefighters from Cookville. It was a little cold and overcast but we warmed up as we got into the woods. One group hiked up to the overlook with Marnel and Lillian leading the way. The other group went ahead to the falls.

There was a lot of water coming over Laurel Falls; it was beautiful and so was Sheep Cave Falls, one group went up to the top, one group went on. We all met up when we got to Virgin Falls; alas no fire was burning in the fire pit. Several people said they had never seen this much water spilling over the falls. We had lunch and again broke into smaller groups to hike out.

When we got to Laurel Falls we took a different route along an old road bed and came out at the road leading to Welch’s Point and the party waiting for us to get there. The crew at Welches point had a warm fire built and hot water warming up for coffee and hot chocolate. Marnel brought brownies to share and others had brought along veggies and fruit and cheese and chips and dip….. One of the ladies was with Marnel for her very first hike to Virgin Falls.

We walked out to the Point for the view and it is spectacular. You had to brace against the howling wind and not get close to the edge (Steve this means you).

It was a great day for hiking and wonderful to celebrate with Marnel.

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