Chimney Top

Chimney Tops Trail…4 Miles
Road Prong Trail…4.8 Miles
Total Miles….8.8 Miles

Lora and I went over to the ponderosa for the night. We got up the next morning and headed out with Dad for a hike to the Chimney Tops.

The Chimney Tops trail is considered a strenuous trail due to the elevation change. You gain 1300 feet over two miles. At the top you do some rock climbing for a spectacular view. There is some competition as this is one of the most popular trails in the park. Get there early. There were five cars there when we started and a line of them when we got done.

We hiked up to the Chimney Tops, but did not climb the rocks all the way to the top because they were wet and slippery. From there we hiked back down to the Road Prong Trail and hiked it to the Appalachian Trail and Clingmans Dome Road.

The Road Prong Trail used to be an old toll road in the 1920’s. It runs from the Chimney Top Trail to Clingmans Dome Road, A gain of 1500 feet over 2.4 miles. There are a couple of areas that you can still see the road bed, but for the most part it is a single path trail along Road Prong. There are some areas that you actually hike in Road Prong so you would not want to hike this in high water.

We did see some bear sign; A fresh pile of scat that would make any bear proud and some trees and stumps tore up.

Both of these trails are beautiful hiking trails and full of wildflowers in the spring.

Pictures:

Mt. LeConte Hike

Day One:
Alum Cave….5 Miles
Rainbow Falls…..0.1
Day Two:
Boulevard…5.4
Myrtle Point…0.4
Jump Off…..1
AT……………7.7
Hughes Ridge….0.4
Day Three:
Hughes Ridge…..0.4
AT…………….9
Snake Den………0.7
Maddron Bald…1.5
Day Four:Maddron Bald…..4.5
Old Settlers…..9.2
Day Five:
Old Settlers….6.6
Total Miles..51.9

DAY ONE:
After getting off shift I headed home to pick up Lora. We headed to my folks house in Maryville and had a wonderful lunch at the ponderosa. After lunch we headed out to drop off our car at the Old Settlers trailhead in Greenbrier. After that we headed to the Newfound Gap Road to start our hike at the Alum Cave trailhead. We didn’t get on the trail until 4pm.

The Alum Cave trail is a beautiful trail with many wonderful sights, not to mention all the wild flowers this time of year. You hike along the Alum branch of the Little Pigeon River.

The first land formation that you come across is the Arch Rock which there are stairs going through. After that you get to inspiration point where there is a beautiful overlook of the mountains all around you. There was lots of Sand Myrtle growing in this area. As we were enjoying the view, Chong and his girlfriend came hiking up the trail. The guy looked like Chong of Cheech and Chong. He had the long hair and the white wide bandana thing going. They were wearing flip-flops carrying a bottle of water and their car keys. They hiked right behind us up to Alum Cave Bluffs where they dumped the water out and headed back down the trail. While we were standing at the bluffs a Falcon flew up to a nest over the bluffs.

After enjoying the view at the Bluffs we hiked on up to Mount LeConte lodge and on to the shelter where there were six others already gathered. It was 7:20pm so we claimed our bunks ,ate a snack, and headed to the Cliff tops to watch the sunset. There were a lot of people from the lodge there and more were gathering. After a while it got so noisy that we hiked back to another lookout to get some peace. The skies were overcast and the sunset into the clouds instead of over the mountains.

We hiked back to the shelter and started dinner. The others had already eaten and were settling into their bunks for the night. After dinner we were ready for bed. I woke up in the night for a bathroom break and the stars were shining so bright that I didn’t need a light. It looked like they were on the tree tops and you could see billions of them. It was so cool.

DAY TWO:
We got up the next morning and got everyone else in the shelter going. You can’t really sneak out of a shelter. We ate our breakfast and hiked to the lodge to fill up our water bladders. First thing in the morning everyone that stayed at the lodge was hiking to Myrtle Point to watch the sunrise.

We packed up and head out on the Boulevard Trail. We took the side trail to Myrtle Point because it was there. You get some wonderful views from the point. The Boulevard and AT are fun trails to hike in this area because you can look back and see where you have hiked. It’s like a large bowl that you hike around and has the most rugged sections in the Smokey Mountains. We stopped on the side of the trail for a snack on the ridge and took in the sights.

After lunch we encountered the bird. The bird came down from the high side of the trail and walked in front of us. I brought it to Lora’s attention and we watched it walk until it left the trail. We went through the list of birds in the mountains and all we could come up with is “Chicken”. It looked like a chicken, it walked like a chicken, and it didn’t match any bird that we knew were in the Smokies. Not very impressive to tell people about, but that is what we saw.

The next side trail that we added on was to the Jump Off. This is a tough trail, but worth the hike for the views. The Jump Off is a rock that drops straight off the mountain. You can see the Appalachian Trail, Charlies Bunion, Sawteeth and Mt. Guyot from here.

We hiked on to the Appalachian Trail and made a stop at Icewater Shelter. Hiking along Mt. Kephart you get some good views of Charlies Bunion before you get to it. Once there we did the photo shoots and took turns taking pictures of others that were there. We climbed on the Bunion and ate lunch with the spectacular view. While we were eating a large rock fell from the knob above the Bunion and just missed a young couple that was eating lunch below. I almost had to go to work.

Parts of the trail over Sawteeth according to the bible are only ten yards wide. The measurement that Lora and I got was about ten foot wide. We also saw a grass hopper that was about five inches long. From here we hiked on to the shelter at Pecks Corner. This was our stopping place for the night and we were greeted by our four new friends that were already there. Two of these guys were from England and two from Indiana. They had a fire going in the fire place for some unknown reason. It was 80 degrees.

Once at the shelter, we headed down to the spring for a bath and then some drinking water. We visited while we made and ate dinner. The English guys had hiked for 8 hours without eating. Why? They arrived famished and worn out. Surprise! Lora was asking them if they saw all the wild flowers. What flowers? She told them about the Spring Beauties, the Bead Lilies, the Trilliums both white and painted, and the Violets. She told them about our hike from LeConte and they said that it took them two days to hike that.

At dark everyone settled in for the night. The stars were shinning that night and the owls were talking. The only noise we heard that night were when I kicked the shoes off the top bunk and they hit the bottom bunk.

DAY THREE:
The next morning we got everyone up and ate breakfast. We were the first to head out. We stopped for a snack before climbing Mt. Sequoyah. The two English men caught up to us and stopped to eat as we got up and left. They caught up to us at Tricorner Knob shelter where we stopped for lunch. There was a bear warning sign up there. We talked about the privy there that faced the shelter like being on a stage. We filled our water bladders and continued on.

After climbing Mt. Guyot we had completed our top three highest mountains out of the four highest in the Smokies. Clingmans Dome was not on this hike. The second highest is Mt. Guyot followed by Mt. LeConte, and Mt. Chapman.

When we got to the Deer Gap Creek Helipad we met the trail runner, Scott. He asked about our hike and told us about his job, which included hiking back and fourth along the AT helping people out and reporting trail conditions. He felt like he was a glorified trash collector. He told us that a large male black bear had taken a hikers backpack at Tricorner Knob a month ago and that is why it is still posted. He also told us the correct pronunciation of Guyot that neither Lora nor I can remember.

From there, we hiked on to Snake Den Ridge trail. We took a break at the trailhead and the guys caught up with us again. We talked for a little while and then headed out. As we hiked down Maddron Bald trail, we had a little blue bird jump up next to us. As we looked down where it had flown up from we found a nest with four little eggs in it. This happened another time as well. As we neared campsite #29 we came across Lady Slippers, Foam Flower, and Toothwart.

We were the only people at campsite #29. That didn’t last long. As we set up our tent a couple of guys hiked in and picked the far campsite. Shortly thereafter, a group of four girls and a guy came hiking in. We had the creek there to clean up and fetch some water. After dinner it started to rain lightly. We got in the tent and it quit shortly after. We got out and did the bathroom break thing. It was dark by then and we called it a night. Then the rain came. It poured down so hard that it was splashing back up high enough to mist in the tent under the rain fly. It didn’t last very long and later that night the stars were shining.

DAY FOUR:
The next morning one of the girls, Mandy, came over and wanted a picture of us. They were beginning hikers and she was pregnant. They were from Cincinnati and the guy was the only experienced hiker. She wanted the picture for her scrap book.
We ate breakfast, packed up, and headed up the trail. We saw Rhododendron, Mountain Loral, and Magnolia blooming.

When we got to the Old Settlers Trail, a couple of guys told us that they had seen a bear when they came in that morning. This was the last people we saw on our hike. The Old Settlers Trail has a lot of history on it as we came across many rock walls and chimneys. We took a lunch break by the creek where we came across the first rock wall. The humidity was extremely high and we really appreciated it every time the wind blew.

After lunch we had a Baird Owl fly through the woods and landed on a branch in a tree next to the trail. We walked up slowly with the camera in hand to catch it on film. It was expecting us to be walking a little faster as it crapped on the trail in front of us, then flew off before we got the picture. We also got to see a humming bird, a small dark blue bird with a yellow spot on it, and a salamander.

According to the trail description, after you walked through a rock wall and saw signs of a settlement on the other side of the river, there was suppose to be a side trail to a barn that was still standing. We crossed over the river and searched the area over. Then we backtracked on the trail and read the description about four different times. Finally we just hiked on. Down the trial was a big trail sign that said “BARN” and had an arrow pointing down the trail. OK, we found it. It was a cool old barn that they had kept in good shape.

After that we started coming across a lot of bear sign. There was scat, turned over rocks, trees tore to pieces, and tracks at the creek crossings. The trail is overgrown in some areas and we started to get some light rain. We covered our packs, but the humidity was too much to put the ponchos on. Even though we heard a lot of thunder, it never did rain hard.

We finally crossed the creek into campsite #33. One site actually has an old rock chimney in the campsite. There are three sites there, but only one had bear bag holders. With all the sign we saw that day, we wanted to use them for sure. We listened to the woodpeckers and laughing bird until it got late enough to watch the fireflies. We got a good nights sleep that night with peace in the woods and no other campers.

DAY FIVE:
The next morning we got up and headed down the trail. There were a lot more rock walls and chimneys to see that day. At one point Lora started talking in a foreign tong and backed up four feet into me. I grabbed the hiking stick and was ready for what ever was coming down the trail. It turned out to be a copperhead snake laying in the trail. It was not interested in us or anything else. After trying to get it to move, we decided that we would just hike around it.

Another fifty yards and Lora started with the “bla….bla…..bla….” I looked around her and saw a five foot black snake on the trail. I helped her out with pronunciation of “Black Snake”.

So now that Lora was studying the trail that we were hiking, she didn’t see anything else on the trail including the extremely large black bear that jumped over the rock wall in front of us and ran across the trail down to the creek. I got her attention and tried to get the camera ready. The bear started up the mountain on the other side of the creek. He stopped and looked back at us then head up the mountain.

We stopped back by the Ponderosa and had dinner with Mom and Dad and some family friends from Ohio that had stopped by.

Another great hike!

Pictures:

Big South Fork Scenic Railway

Blue Heron Loop 6.6 miles
Yahoo Arch, Negro Creek, and Sheltowee Trace 10.9

Tornado, large hail, and server thunderstorm watch. Yep, that’s what they are calling for so its time to go hiking. We had already gotten tickets to ride the Big South Fork Scenic Railway and you can’t cancel them. We headed to Stearns, Kentucky for a train ride and hike. I took off an hour early from work to make the 11am train.

It’s an hour train ride to Blue Heron from Stearns. They slow down for some scenic areas and you go through a tunnel and through the historic town of Barthell. They had some short hikes and programs planned, but we decided to hike the Blue Heron Loop as a wild flower hike instead.

We ate at the snack bar and then hiked the loop. The Ranger wanted us to know that the hike was 6.6 miles and we had to catch the last train which left at 4:30. He made it sound like it might be hard to do. Anyway, we headed off. We hiked up through the Crack -in-The- Rock’s which is a rock formation that you actually hike through. Then we took the side trail to the Blue Haron Overlook. From there you hike to the Devils Jump Overlook. Somewhere in this area we got the thunder storm noise, but only a light rain for about 15 to 20 minutes.

Talk about a wildflower hike. We saw at least 15 different varieties including the lady’s slipper and all of them in abundance. We even had a turtle pose for a picture. When we got back we still had a half hour so we hiked over the coal tipple bridge and also caught the ranger talk which was pretty cool. She pulled out a guitar and went to singing an old folk lure about the Devils Jump. As it turns out, they were mining salt when they hit oil. Not knowing what is was, they decided to sell it for medical purposes because it tasted bad. They put it in a barrel and tried to raft it down the Cumberland River. At Devils Jump, which is a rapid, the raft crashed and the Cumberland got its first oil spill. This ordeal actually puts this as the first oil well in the America’s.

We enjoyed the train ride back in the rain. Our plans were to camp at Alum Ford. Because of the rain, we stopped at the restaurant in the train depot, Suzanne’s . Well, the owner took us for a tour of the dinner buffet and explained to us that everything was homemade by her. She was so proud of her food; we just had to eat there. It was well worth it as everything on the buffet was wonderful. We highly recommend this restaurant if you are in the area.

Well as we were sitting at the table, we recognized a lady there that had led one of the hikes. We asked her about how her hike went and after talking a bit she introduced herself to me and I recognized the name. She was one of my contacts for hiking the Sheltowee Trace and I have been sending her the trail condition reports as we have been going along. You never know where you might meet folks.

After dinner we drove up to Alum Ford. The rain had stopped and we put up the tent. More rain was supposed to come in, so we just walked down to the river to enjoy the evening. We got a wonderful show as the sun went down with all the different clouds and colors. We also got to watch as an otter swam playfully down the river in front of us. After dark we went back to the tent where we got to listen to three different owls talk for a long time. Sometime in the middle of the night, they decided to talk again and we woke to hear them.

The next morning we got up and enjoyed breakfast. As we were taking camp down, two fishermen stopped to talk to us as they were hiking up the trail a little ways to do some fishing.

We got on the Sheltowee and headed south along the Cumberland. The woods were full of wildflowers. We had a wild turkey fly up in front of us. We hiked down to Negro Creek and took Negro Creek trail back up to Yahoo Arch. We took the .5 mile spur trail to Markers Arch which is worth it. From Yahoo Arch we hiked the upper trail at Yahoo Falls, then went to the bottom and ate lunch. It was a beautiful day and the Yahoo Falls area had a lot of people on the trail.

After lunch we hiked down to the Sheltowee and took it back to Alum Ford. We would highly recommend these trails to anyone that is interested in wildflowers.

Pictures:

Newton Bald Hike

Kanati Fork Trail 2.9
Thomas Divide Trail 3.1
Newton Bald Trail 5.3
Total 11.3 Miles

I drove over to Maryville for a hike with Dad’s Hiking Club, the Retired Citizens of the Smokies. We all met up at the Sugarlands Visitor Center. There were fifteen hikers in all. We drove to the Kanati Fork trailhead then the drivers dropped off two vehicles at the Newton Bald Trailhead.

They rated the hike as strenuous and it was a good workout. The Kanati Fork climbs 2150 feet in 2.9 miles. The Thomas Divide trail takes you up another two hundred feet then you drop five hundred feet so you can climb back up. You climb another hundred feet on the Newton Bald trail and then drop 3000 feet in 4.5 miles.

The weather was wonderful as well as the company. We had a great time and after we got out of altitude on the Newton Bald trail, we saw lots of wildflowers of various types.

Pictures:

Frozen Head II

Day One: 3 Miles
Day Two: 11.3 Miles
Total: 14.3 Miles

After work, Lora and I headed out to Frozen Head for a campout and hike. We planned on hiking the Cumberland trail section of the park. We got packed, stopped for gas and stopped to fill our stomachs. We got to the park just as the Ranger was locking the gate. Thankfully he let us in.

We planned on hiking the two thirds mile to stay the night at Judge Branch campsite. Well, we hiked in and took the first left onto North Old Mac trail. After hiking about a mile we decided to check the map. Yep, wrong trail. So another mile and three quarters night hike and we made it to camp. You can see flowers on a night hike. We had to walk off that dinner anyway and the stars were beautiful. We got the fire going around 10pm. We didn't burn long and after a little cough medicine and listening to the owls, we were ready to call it a night. Sometime in the night we woke and listened to a couple of owls talking back and forth.

We got up the next morning and got breakfast going as we checked out the rest of the campsite. We packed up and headed back to the park office. We knew they were doing a flower hike and was wondering which trail they were hiking. It turned out they were hiking to the falls.

From the park office you have to go across the field and river to start the Cumberland trail loop. Nothing like a good old foot washing. They have applied for the grant to build the bridge and they have it marked where it would be built. We hiked up to Ross Gap and had lunch there. A couple of hunters on four wheelers drove by with a turkey tied on back.

After lunch we hiked to the retention pond and watched the fish and tad poles swimming. The tad poles were large with all four legs and a short tail. We hiked on to see mushroom rock and then on to the overlook. There were many beautiful flowers all along this trail. We crossed over North Bird Mountain trial and took a break at Bird mountain campsite. There is a spring at this campsite, but I don't think you can count on it as it was low already.

We took Lookout Tower trail back to the Big Cove campground. Lookout Tower trail is a dirt service road. When we got to the campground we looked up our TTA friends that were staying the night. We had a good visit with them and then headed back to the house.

Pictures:

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.

Pictures:

Fiery Gizzard

Soddy Daisy TTA members Lora Smith with guest Craig McBride, Casey Stryker with his sister Kristin on her first hike, enjoyed a joint hike with 6 members of the Murfreesboro TTA. We had blue skies and sunshine with chilly breezes while climbing Chimney Rocks and picking our way along the rocky trail. We stopped along the way at Sycamore Falls and at Black Canyon where Big and Little Fiery Gizzard Creeks junction. A couple of hikers decided to get their socks wet in one of the stream crossings. Nothing like ice cold water on your feet to get you moving in the morning. On the way up to Raven’s Point we found Raven’s Arch. After a hunger building workout climbing to the rim, we had lunch at Raven’s Point taking in the beautiful views into Gizzard Cove. After waking up the resting new hiker we started down the Dog Hole Trail which wanders thru the forest along the rim of Gizzard Cove. Beautiful views on this trail into the gorge. After a steep decent into the gorge we walked beside ice covered walls with huge icicles hanging over the trail. Back along the creek our minds were on the sugary treats at the Dutch Made Bakery in Tracy City. A quick phone call to the sweet lady at the bakery reassured us they were still open. Pecan Tastys, 7 Layer Delights, Fruit filled Turnovers, sweet breads—what a great way to end a perfect day spent hiking with friends, old and new.

Pictures:

Big Frog

Lora and I headed out to do a five day hike in the Chattahoochee National Forest. We started out with a plan which we would need a shuttle. After doing some more figuring we came up with a plan B which would be a loop hike. We were planning on hiking from Beech Bottom, to Jack’s River, to Rough Ridge, to Sugar Cove, to Jack’s River, to the Benton MacKaye, to Hemptop, to Chestnut Mt., and a road hike back to the truck for a total of 30 miles.

We had called the ranger to check road and trail conditions and everything was fine. They said that part of Big Frog road was closed due to ice but we could still get in from the South end. After I got off shift, we headed out. TN road 221 is a dirt road with a lot of pot holes and mud. When we got to the South end of Big Frog the gate was locked so we decided to drive to the North end which we found also gated. By this time I was thinking it would really be good to have a four wheel drive as we were sliding around corners with no guard rails to stop you from plummeting over the the steep drop offs. We ended up driving to the Wolf Ridge trailhead and hiking in from there.

Plan C added another four and a half miles on our trip. We found a place to park at the actually crowded trailhead. The truck was covered in mud from our ride in. We were just happy to be on the trail and solid ground. We had decided to hike our trails the opposite direction which would put us staying on top of Big Frog Mountain the first night. As we started the climb up Wolf Ridge, we met another couple that was doing an overnight trip going up to Big Frog Mountain. When we passed them, we told them that we would see them up there.

From the ridge that we were hiking, you could see that Big Frog still had snow on it. Soon, we too were hiking in snow. When we got to the crossing of Hemp Top Ridge trail, we met the Boy scouts. This was as far as they were going. They had set up camp and had a crew going for water. There were three adults and eight scouts. They told us about an area just above them if we wanted to camp there. We told them that we were going on to the top. They weren’t sure that we would make it before dark.

The further we hiked the deeper the snow got. Luckily someone had hiked this way before us so we had footprints to follow. They do not blaze trails in this wilderness. We stopped for a snack and as we got up, the guy from the couple we passed hiked up to us and sat down for a break. This was the last time we saw them. The rest of the hike to the top was quite strenuous and the snow got up to twelve inches deep. We found the campsite that was buried in snow and set up camp. An owl talked to us while we worked. This was the first time Lora had done any snow camping and she was quite impressed with the hiking in shorts in the snow. She had seen it in magazines, but never done it. We got a fire going and enjoyed the sunset over the trees. Sometime in the night I woke to a coyote howling and then growling. I guess he saw the tent and wasn’t sure what it was. He growled a couple of times and then I didn’t hear any more from him.

Day two:

We got up and cooked breakfast just outside the tent. It was challenging enough last night making a fire with wet wood so we didn’t even try this morning. We got camp packed up and headed on down the trail. It didn’t take long for us to come to a spring so we filled our water containers up. After that the footprints that we had been following stopped and we had to do our own forging of the trail through the foot deep snow. We ended up hiking in and out of snow all day with the climbs and drops. We got our one and only phone connection at Double Springs Gap. It worked out as we had to update our people of the change in trail plans.

From there we hiked down the Benton MacKaye trail to Jacks River trail. We passed two young boys and their Labordoodle. Never seen a curly haired Lab before. They were hiking up to Big Frog so we notified them of the snow they were about to get into.

The reason we had changed directions on our trail loop was that they were calling for rain tonight and we wanted to get across Jacks River before the rain. The Ranger had said that it gets up fast and drops fast as well. Well, we got to cross it about five times. The river crossings were thigh deep and the river was running fast. The first time across I miss judged the weight of Lora and her pack. I got to the other side and turned around to find her fighting for survival in the middle of the river. I quickly went back and grabbed her as the current was trying to take her away. The second crossing I kept her within reach.

We figured that we had to be close to the Sugar Cove Trail when we saw a campsite on the other side of the river. There was nothing there to show a trail crossing or any sign telling us to cross here. We hiked a little further down the trail and came to a river crossing. After studying the map and trail description, we went back and looked at the campsite again. No sign of a crossing there so we hiked back down to the river crossing and crossed. We hiked about another half mile and saw no signs for Sugar Cove trail and went to studying the map again. It had to be back at the camp, so we hiked back, crossed the river at the crossing, and hiked to where we saw the camp and made another crossing. We found the trail. No sign anywhere.

It had been a long day with a lot of river crossings so we decided to stay at the camp by Jacks River. Besides that, according to the trail description Sugar Cove Trail is the most difficult trail to hike in the park and we were now going to hike it uphill. We got a fire going and enjoyed a quiet evening. Sometime during the night we had sleet and rain hit the tent. It never did get bad and by morning it had stopped.

Day Three:

Another morning of cooking just outside the tent and then up we went to our most challenging trail. We found a pair of pants at the bottom of the trail and then further up we found a pair of tennis shoes. We don’t know what happened, but we know he had to be going fast!

The Sugar Cove trail is overgrown and it is a challenge to stay on. It is STEEP! 730 feet of elevation change per mile. We had trouble following it without snow. It really became a challenge when we got to the snow. There is a campsite along the creek about halfway up. We topped off our water here. From there to the top was hit and miss as far as being on the trail. Finally, we knew that we were off the trail, so we just hiked up to the top of the creek and up to where the ridges merge. Here we found the Rough Ridge trail. We took a break as our hearts got back to a regular beat and had to eat some energy food.

Rough Ridge trail was a wonderful break for us to hike. We got some wonderful views from the top and by the time we got toward the end we were ready to call it a night. Lora even lay down in the middle of the trail once after a fancy trail dance. We stopped at the first campsite we came across. We had enough daylight that we could bath in the creek. We had another peaceful night by the fire.

Day Four:

The next morning we got a breakfast by the fire which was peaceful until the log we were sitting on broke in half. No food or hot chocolate was hurt during this incident.

We hiked on down to Jack’s River after a couple of fords over smaller streams. The ford over Jack’s was around chest deep. With the current, I figured that this just wasn’t going to work. Option two was to climb straight up the side of the mountain ridge and cross at the Hickory Ridge trail crossing which was one ridge over. We went for it. It was a pretty good workout, but worth it. The Hickory Ridge trail crossing was only calf deep. From here we took a 1.2 mile side trip to see Jacks River Falls. We ate lunch at the campsite just above the falls.

Beech Bottom trail is an easy hiking trail that is mostly old road bed. It is a popular trail that is used for hiking to Jacks River Falls. We forded Beech Creek and hiked on to the next creek crossing where we set up camp. This was the first night that we actually had dry feet, no snow hiking, and dry wood to burn. We even had a tree that made a comfortable love seat with a back to rest on. Too bad the wind blew the smoke in that same direction. This was also the first day that the owls didn’t talk to us.

Day Five:

We had a nice breakfast by a warm fire. We packed up and hiked to Big Frog Road. We met a couple of hikers that had parked at the trailhead there. Obviously they have opened the gate. From the trailhead on was still closed. This is where we hiked to get to the Hemp Top Trailhead. The wind was blowing ice cold on the ridge. We had some wonderful views as we hiked to Wolf Ridge. The clouds had came across the mountains and left a covering of ice on all the trees. As we drove back over the mud roads, we were glad that the mud was a little more stiff with the cold weather. This is a beautiful area and I would highly recommend this hike to anyone.

Trails:
Wolf Ridge..2.25
Hemp Top/Benton MacKaye...10.4
Jack's River..3.9
Sugar Cove..2.3
Rough Ridge..4.9
Jack's River...6
Jack's River Falls..1.2
Beech Bottom...4
Big Frog Road..2
Hemp Top..1.9
Wolf Ridge...2.25
Total: 35.7


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North Chicamauga Creek Gorge

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North Chickamauga, Cumberland Trail

9 miles round trip rated moderate

Lora and I hiked the North Chickamauga segment of the Cumberland trail on a cold New Years Day. When we got to the trailhead there was one other car there. We took the upper loop on the way in. The wind was a little rough on us when it got whipping, but the rest of the time it was good hiking weather. It is pretty easy hiking until you go down the second ladder. From there to Stevens Branch campsite it is a lot of rock hopping and climbing.

At the mineshaft, we decided to check it out at least as far as you can see without lights. Glad we don't have to work in a coal mine.

Right before the first ladder, Lora and I met Tom. He said that he had hiked to the overlook and couldn't find the rest of the trail. So Lora and I decided to show him. We were quite proud as we hiked right by the first ladder and soon realized that we had lost our trail markers. When we stopped and said something to Tom, he said that we had already passed the ladder. So being the tough hikers that we where, we just climbed straight up to meet the trail at the top. This is not the suggested way of hiking this trail. On the way out Lora and I came down that ladder and it is pretty obvious that it is there. We are still not sure how we missed it as the ladder also has a walkway so there is treated lumber all up the side of the rock wall next to the trail.

Once we got back on the trail, it follows a old road way to a waterfall. There is a cable crossing and then you go down another wooden ladder to the base of the big fall. Look for the trail going down from here under the rock overhang as it is hard to find. You rock hop down to the river and campsite number one. This is where Tom left us and we continued on to Stevenson Branch campsite and waterfall. I would imagine that this part of the trail would be under water in spots during high water.

We ate lunch at Stevenson Branch campsite and then hiked out. We met quite a few folks on the way out. We even took in the overlook and used the ladder to get back down. One of the water falls down a rock wall put on a show for us with a rainbow. We also caught the sun dropping behind the other side of the gorge on film. We took the lower loop on the way back to the truck.

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