2019 Townsend Eggscursion

After having our fiberglass trailer for over a year, we finally got to make an egg rally. We headed off to the Townsend Eggscursion. As soon as we pulled in we saw eggs (fiberglass trailers). The Eggscursion was being held at the KOA. A really nice campground with lots of extras. They had a guy show us to our campsite and even backed us in. I came into the camper and Lora said that we had a water leak. It was a brown water leak which putting two and two together I came up with Sweet Tea. Our pitcher had fell over in the refrigerator and leaked out through the lower cabinet and across the floor. We spent the first part of our day cleaning floors.

Dad and Mom showed up and we started our walk around the campground.  Talk about friendly people. We visited and everyone showed off their egg. Lots of stories to tell and what they liked and didn't like about their trailer.  With just one short break we pretty much spent the day doing the walk.

At six o'clock we headed to the pavilion next to our trailer for the pot luck dinner. What a spread they put out. Thirty two in all. As I was eating, I looked over at our trailer and there was brown streaks running down the side from the refrigerator panel. So after dinner, I was back to cleaning as Lora did a second cleaning of the floor.

We got a campfire going and invited the neighbors over.  They were worried about rain coming in tonight so they started packing up after dinner.  They had a 13' Scamp. They loaded their car and loaded their car all evening long. They were still loading as we went to bed. Where did they keep all that stuff and how much does one need to camp?

Sunday morning we hooked up the camper, said goodbye to the other egg people and drove to the trailhead for Schoolhouse Gap. They made the parking spaces long enough to park a rig here.

It was  a little rainy but that didn't stop us from going to the sinks to see the wildflower show. We saw a young photographer that was so engrossed in getting a trillium to smile for him, he didn't even see us till we spoke to him. It's cool to see young people so excited about the wildflowers.

Little Brown Jugs, Toothwort, Golden Alexander, Anemone, Dwarf Ginseng, Foam flower, abundant on the first part of the trail. In the sinks we found Pennyroyal, one Showy Orchis, Columbine was blooming on the rock wall, Shooting Stars and signs on the trail side telling us to STAY ON THE TRAIL, ZOOM IN. The areas close to the cave and water fall are fenced off, a lot more so than the last time we were here.

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Cummings Falls Wildflowers

I met Karla in Sparta to ride with her to Cummings Falls State Park. It was a pretty meandering ride thru the countryside to get to the park. There is a campground across the road from the entrance to the Park, with a general store.
We pulled into the parking lot and Karla decided to move as close to the edge of the gravel lot as she could. When she backed up and then pulled forward we heard a scraping noise. I got out to see what we might have trapped under her CRV and saw an orange cone wedged between the front wheel and the side fender. And it was wedged tight! I pulled and pulled and then had her back up to smush it under the tire. Then it wedged between the tire and front fender. She pulled forward again and it wedged under the car. We were entertaining some guys that were standing in the parking lot watching us, they felt sorry for us and came over and pulled the cone out. Only it was 3 cones stacked together.
Phew!

We were early for Anthony's Photography/Wildflower excursion so we hiked toward the Cummings Falls overlook. We got distracted by the wildflowers and turned back before we got to the overlook.
Found Anthony at the trailhead, along with some other ladies ready to see the wildflowers. After some pointers from Anthony for taking better pictures, we started out on the Downstream trail stopping to take pics of everything blooming. One girl was a botany student seeking the scientific names for the flowers, I offered her my book, Anthony gave her the scientific word he knows: SCIENCE, that's very scientific. No Latin needed. We were going to the secret waterfall to see the abundance of blooms in that area. It's beautiful here with high rock walls, two waterfalls, the river side, and wildflowers everywhere. The Botany student found a newt, a salamander, I found the remains of a frog....  Karla practiced with Anthony's bag of tricks. It was thundering and then it started to sprinkle. Karla and I started back and walked down the riverside trying to find the trail we came in on. We discovered some bluebells, and prairie trilliums by going the wrong way. We found the trail and on the way up it started raining, but I was prepared with my rain jacket and hat, but it was humid and too warm and we thought it would stop.  We pressed on, going to see the big waterfall at the overlook trail, rain came down harder so we put on the rain gear. By the time we got back to the parking lot we looked like drowned rats, and then the sun came out.

Lunch was at a great Mexican place in Cookeville. Hungry hikers. Then a little retail therapy for us girls.
It was a beautiful day to spend with my friend Karla, and with Anthony who got me started searching for wildflowers years ago.
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Fall Creek Falls Prater Homestead

Fall Creek Falls SP Seasonal Ranger Derek led 7 hikers and one 4 legged hiker on the Prater Homestead trail to Hemlock Falls. It's 2.7 miles to the waterfall. We found a LOT of wildflowers today, along with salamander eggs and frog egg jelly clusters. The temperature got warm today. After we finished the hike, I went to the Crusher Hole to see if the Columbine was blooming. I didn't see any, but there were lots of wild ginger, violets, and a Celandine Poppy. From the rain we had recently, Cane Creek flooded the Crusher Hole area and filled the area with sand. Not sure the wildflowers like the sandy soil.

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Wild Flower Hike 3/30/19

We got a couple of days with the parents. We got some projects done and did some wildflower hunting in the Smoky's.

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Frozen Head SP

Wayne invited us to join him and others on a backpack at Frozen Head State Park. There were six of us and we started out at the Lookout Tower West trailhead. It was a beautiful day for hiking and we had lots of visiting to do as well. We took the Lookout Tower West trail to the Bird Mt. trail. At the connection with the Cumberland trail we stopped and ate lunch. From there we took the Cumberland trail to the Coffin Springs trail and spent the night at the Coffin Springs campsite. None of us had ever stayed there before. Where the spring comes out there is a coffin shaped rock structure.

The Park Ranger said that it would get down to 23 degrees tonight so we gathered enough wood to stay warm to that temperature. We had a nice warm fire as we sat around and visited into the night. It never got below freezing or anywhere close that night.

The next morning we got up and continued the trail around to the Lookout Tower West trail and then took the Cumberland trail back to the North Bird Mt. trail and headed West. I believe that Lora and I were the only ones on this trail before. This trail finished Sara's list of hiking all the trails in the park.

We ate lunch at Phillips Creek and then climbed over Bird Mt. back to the cars. It was a strenuous but great hike with good friends.

It was about 6.5 miles in and 8.5 out.

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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.

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TTA Collins Gulf Loop

15 hikers met at the Collins Gulf Trailhead as a TTA joint hike with Highland Rim led by Marietta, Nashville led by Doug, and Murfreesboro led by Wayne.

We shared the trail today with trail runners there for the Savage Gulf Marathon. Can’t imagine running on the trails here, rugged and rocky, it’s tough enough to hike it.

It was a sunny day but a cool 31 degrees to start off. The M’boro folks along with one from Nashville started first. That was the last we saw of them. We gave right of way to the marathon runners, between that and admiring all the wildflowers, it took us a while to get to Horsepound Falls which was really flowing today. We were able to rock hop the water crossings and didn’t have to change into our water shoes. Found a pile of critter hair, that looked bad for whatever critter got in a fight. We saw the Rangers handing out trail magic to the runners, but since we weren’t running…. we had to climb out of the gulf and find a warm sunny spot to eat lunch.  

The forest along the rim had a mess of storm damage. Can’t imagine how many Rangers with chain saws it took to clear the trail. The snickers & twix  got us out of the Gulf before dark so the headlamps didn’t get any use today.

Wildflowers: Sweet Betsy trillium, yellow and long spurred violets, Bloodroot, Hepatica, Trout lily, Star chickweed, Spring beauties, Anemone, Toothwort, Dutchman’s britches, and Harbinger of Spring, and Golden ragwort, thanks to Nancy and Marietta for finding and naming.

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Franklin State Forest/Sherwood Forest

Sara and I wanted to hike on a non rainy Sunday so she planned an exploratory hike and brought Wayne, Jan, Jay and Beth to Franklin State Forest. I met them at the trailhead for the CCC Lake and Tom Pack Falls. There was some muddy trail and some tricky creek crossings, but the sunshine more than made up for that. I never could find Tom Pack Falls, and the trail blazing system is confusing, so we explored. We had a map that helped a little (very little) We were on a loop trail that we couldn't find the rest of the loop, saw flagging that went nowhere? But did see 4 wheelers.
The views along the bluff were beautiful.

We did an out and back and then drove to the Sherwood Forest segment of South Cumberland State Park. Thanks to Marietta for directions to the trail. There is a big gravel parking lot and a nice kiosk. The trail is well marked, even the flagging on the unfinished trail was easy to follow. The State Forest folks should ask for some advise on maps and trail blazing from the State Park folks. :) The views from the overlooks on the trail are breathtaking. There's a natural bridge with a stream flowing under it, you can walk across or go around. We found a Ranger working on the trail. He was doing a great job but wasn't able to recruit any of us to help him.

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Greenbrier Ridge Trail

Day One: 8.6
Middle Prong trail 4.1
Greenbrier Ridge trail 4.2
AT 0.3
Day Two: 8.6
Total Miles: 17.2

Working on that trails list, we embarked on another adventure. We started on the Middle Prong trail with quite a few people out enjoying the beautiful day. After we got on the Greenbrier Ridge trail we had the woods to ourselves. We found an old shelter or storage building just before we got to the AT. Once on the AT we headed to the Derrick Knob shelter for the night. We had this all to ourselves as well. It was a challenge to keep a fire burning with all the damp wood, but we managed.

After a peaceful night we got up and while we were eating our breakfast it started to sprinkle. About a hundred yards down the trail, it stopped and we made it back to the car with only a few sprinkles here and there. On the way down we saw a young doe and we stopped by the falls.

Another beautiful hike and now only two more trails for Lora!!

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Oregon 2019

We got another opportunity to be spoiled by our grand babies. We headed out to Oregon to spend time with my daughter and her family. My sister and her family joined us too.

We got there Wednesday night and my sister joined us that night. The next morning we headed to Black Butte Ranch where we spent the next three days. After lunch we headed to Hoodoo Ski resort to do some skiing. It was an entertaining time as I had not skied in 35 years and Lora never.

The next day, after our morning hiking adventure, we went back to Hoodoo and did the Autobahn tubing. We had the whole park to ourselves for quite a while. That night we got out the cards and threw down.

The next day after we had gotten six inches of new snow, we headed to the sledding hill and had a great time. Heading back to Salem and had dinner with Jagons family.

Another great time with loving family!

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