Chinquapin Bike Trail

Lora and I did a day hike on the Chinquapin Bike Trail at Fall Creek Falls State Park. This is pretty much the last trail that we have not done. It is an old road bed that does a lollipop style trail. This time of year it is covered with grass. There were lots of squirrels and we scared some turkeys.

Eaves Spring

Lora and I took the canoe out for the first trip this summer.  We canoed eight miles. We headed to Eaves Spring Boat ramp off Hwy 30 in Decatur. We put in and headed West along Butcher Bluff and explored all the inlets down to Hunter Island. There is a bridge over the first part to Hunter Island that you cannot get under so we went around the Island and explored the cove. From there we headed back across the Tennessee River and explored the inlets on the way back to the boat ramp.

We saw a Bald Eagle twice, some Loons, some Osprey, some ducks, Turtles, Salamanders, Water Snake, Deer, Herons, and some fish (giant carp, and a gar)

We got to see an Osprey chase off a Bald Eagle that was too close to her nest. It was the same one that ran us off too earlier.

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Turkeypen Ridge

We went over to Maryville to celebrate Mother's Day with my mother. The next day we did a hike of Schoolhouse Gap to White Oak Sinks and after checking out the sinks we took Turkeypen Ridge Trail to the road. Lora needed to complete the Turkeypen trail.

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Big Ridge and Norris Dam

Once again the Plateau chapter was hiking somewhere I had never hiked. We met up in Crossville and drove to Big Ridge State Park in Maynerdville. There was a renaissance festival going on when we arrived. We left two of our hikers at the parking lot and headed out on the Lake Trail. There were several Boy Scouts and a pile of lumber at the trailhead. Eagle Scout project. We hiked a combination of trails to make a loop. Right away we had one fall off a walkway into the mud, messy, but only a small boo boo. We saw lots of wildflowers and some geese sleeping on some logs. After we looped back to our trailhead we met the Scouts carrying the lumber to the bridge project they were working on. We told them about another bridge we found that needed a little work.

We picked up our two festival hikers and headed to our lunch spot. Museum of Appalachia has quite a selection of fixings for lunch, plus a real sweet lady to take your lunch order. If you look at the pics you will see one hiker I won't name that was a little hungrier than we thought.

After lunch we drove to Norris Lake State Park for our other hike. 3.2 miles on the River Bluff Trail. Of course we went uphill first since we were still stuffed from lunch. It's a really pretty trail, with views of the lake, wildflowers and ferns. We spotted what looked like a natural bridge but didn't get close enough to check it out. I zoomed in with the camera. The loop back along the lake was so pretty with ferns and greenery everywhere, even a giant sized Jack in the Pulpit.

Our after hike treat was refreshing, ice cream! These hikers know how to do it right!

We stopped on the way back for a little history. The Wheat Community African Burial Ground, on a hill next to the highway in Roane County is a really interesting place to visit. The marker at the entrance tells the history of the cemetery since there are no markers on the graves.

Thanks Plateau folks for another adventure.

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Pogue Creek Canyon

Wednesday hike with the Plateau Chapter was a Ranger led hike at Pogue Creek Canyon. This area borders Pickett State Park. It is not open to Joe Public just yet. We had 17 hikers plus Ranger Cameron Martin. There was a cable across the road we went in on.  We walked a road bed for a while then entered the woods. The rock walls are so cool, rock houses, small arches, and a few large ones. There were two stairways to the top of the bluff, built by Amish volunteers. Huckleberries are blooming there. The Mountain Laurel is budding all over the area. Another week they should be in full bloom.
We did a little off trail, soon to be trail, down into the canyon to get to our lunch spot. After climbing back out we walked out the roadbed to a beautiful overlook of Pogue Creek Canyon. You can't see the creek but Ranger Cameron assured us it is down there.

This is a beautiful State Natural Area, hope they open it to the public soon.

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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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Soak Creek - TTA

TTA joint hike Soddy Daisy and Plateau led by Ranger Josh and Ranger Ryan. We had 17 hikers plus the two Rangers. Lots of wildflowers and  water in the roadbed to try to rockhop around and through. We hiked the 2.5 miles to the creek crossing, and lunch by the creek.There is an old well in the area to the left of the creek crossing. It's fairly deep and rock lined. 

This area will someday be linked to Stinging Fork Falls SNA and Piney Falls SNA. 
Thanks to Cheryl and George for organizing the hike. 

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Big Soddy Creek Gulf

Lora and I went back out to Jones Gap Road. There is a sign up now calling it Big Soddy Creek Gulf. There were lots of spring flowers out. This time we went behind the cabin and took the old road bed up the side of the Gulf. They have added some benches along the main roadbed and at the cabin. We used the cabin one for lunch.

This trail needs lots of maintenance and this was the time to take it, before it grows over for the summer. Once you get far enough up, there are some rock walls and an old foundation from the mining days. Past that you come to a water fall with an old walkway across the creek. We explored the other side of the creek and went down to the bottom of the fall. The actual road bed does not cross the creek, but goes straight up to the top of the mountain. Just as you start up off to your right is a vertical mine shaft and the foundation for the hoist. We went all the way to the top into someone's yard and then turned around and hiked back down. It was about a mile and a half hike, but all uphill one way.

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Ladie's Spring Backpack 2015

Ladie's Spring Backpack 2015
Day 1
Tunnel by Pass
Goldmine Loop
3 to 4 miles

Diane and Amy planned this one to knock out some more trails on Amy's map. It would also knock out some of mine and Sara's. The forecast was for beautiful and sunny (NOT) Thunderstorms, rain, thunderstorms, rain...but it wasn't raining yet. My sister drove me to Crossville to meet up with the other ladies. Diane's Honda WILL hold 4 backpacks! YEA! Another trip across the Dragon Tail, to the Road to Nowhere. At the parking lot we met a family from Amy's home town in Maryland. Going on to Nashville to visit family that live on the street Zvi grew up on; the world got smaller.
We started on the Tunnel by pass trail, joined the Goldmine Loop to campsite 67. There's a bench in camp and Diane hung her tarp there for a sitting area. It came in handy. We set up and gathered firewood, and here came the rain. Just enough to get our firewood really wet. Sigh.
Time for bed anyway, I had worked all night; Outcast Hiker.

Day 2
Goldmine Loop
Lakeshore
Forney Creek
Bear Creek
5.2 miles
Looks like a pretty day ahead. On the hunt for wildflowers. Pussytoes, Chickweed, Anemone, lots of violets. The Dog Hobble is just starting to bud. When we got to camp, it looked like it had been vacuumed. We gathered a lot of wood, we will have a fire tonight.  Amy and I stayed up to see stars. The moon came out and lit up the sky. The creek is  good background music for sleeping.

Day 3
Bear Creek to Welch Ridge and back to camp
Forney Creek
Lakeshore
10 miles
Bear Creek is a horse trail and an old railroad bed. We climbed to 4890' at Welch Ridge. The ridge top was in a cloud and spring beauties coverd the trail junction.#74. This is a big campsite. Nice people had left firewood stacked, and a pile of pinecones for firestarter. Amy's firestarter worked great; cotton balls and vaseline. We found a clothesline, and Manas Furniture set up the seating and adjusted the rocks around the firering. The creek was just the right temp for taking a bath. More stars for tonight. Beautiful weather.

Day 4
Forney Creek
Jonas Creek
12 miles
We re-adjusted our plans for the day to get Jonas Creek done while the weather was pretty. We hiked to campsite 70 and got set up, had lunch, and with super light packs headed up the Jonas Creek trail. Supposed to be 4 rock hops. We counted 6. At the first one, Diane skirted around the rim to the right and found some bigger rocks to hop across, still a little wet for the rest so we went with crocs. All the others were swift and knee to thigh high, for us short folks. The junction with Welch Ridge is just over 4500.' Another phone signal so Diane and I got to talk with our honeys. On the hike back to camp, the last crossing now had a bright yellow rope tied across the creek where Diane had rock hopped. Our campsite had some horse hoof prints that were not there when we set up. Things that make you say hmmmm?
We were too pooped to gather firewood. Supper then yawns. Amy and I stayed up for a little while, then more yawns. Bedtime. Creeks were so loud, the owls would have to be over our heads to hear them.


Day 5
Forney Creek
Whiteoak Branch
Lakeshore
Trailhead
Tunnel By Pass
Noland Creek
11 miles
Our morning looked a little cloudy. We had just gotten everything but the tarps packed when it started sprinkling. We cooked under Diane's tarp. The Mountain House eggs with turkey, red pepper flakes and onion flakes were yummy and the cheese stick made it complete. We had a wet and steamy hike to the Whiteoak Branch trail. It's a short trail between Forney and Lakeshore. We hiked back to the car, dropped our packs and hiked the .4  of the by pass trail out and back. We drove to Noland Creek trailhead and hiked the mile to campsite 69 and back. Lunch at the car. Then head for home.
We stopped in Bryson City for coffee and snacks. La Dolce Vita Bakery had really good cookies. One fills up a saucer. Coconut Lime, and Cowboy Cookies, yummy. They have cheesecake, cookies, cakes, gelato, shakes, and coffees.
We drove thru Cherokee, and across Newfound Gap. In Crossville we stopped for supper at the Cracker Barrel and Craig met us there.

We were very blessed with the pretty weather. So thankful for wonderful friends to backpack with.
Total miles 41.9

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Roaring Creek

Good Friday hike with Connie. We both had the day off, so we hooked up at the trailhead for a hike filled with wildflowers. It was a beautiful day.


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