AT - Dicky Gap to VA 625

Day One: 10 Miles
Dicky Gap to VA 601
Day Two: 10.9
VA 601 to Chatfield Shelter
Day Three: 11.4
Chatfield Shelter to Reed Creek
Day Four: 11.3
Reek Creek to Lick Creek
Day Five: 1.4
Lick Creek to VA 625
Total Miles: 45

When Lora got off work Friday we drove to Hungry Mother State Park so we would be able to start our backpack earlier on Saturday. This is a beautiful park in Marion, Virginia. Three different camping areas and a pretty lake. We had supper at the restaurant there, outside with a view of the lake. Good food. We joined the interpretive Ranger at the group campfire, she had marshmallows to roast and a story of how the park got it's name.

Saturday we drove the Back of the Dragon to meet our shuttle driver Bubba. We blew pass our unmarked VA 625 and had to turn around and drive back to find it. VA 625 is a long rough gravel road. Bubby was waiting for us at the trail head. We left our trusty Subaru and headed to Dickey Gap with Bubba. He had lot's of stories to tell. We spotted a groundhog and some deer on the drive.

We hiked to just before VA 601 and started to set up camp when a hiker came through. We asked how close the next road was. He pointed behind us and said "Right there" hmmmm. We picked up the packs and moved on past the road up on the ridge.

DAY TWO:

Sunday we saw lots of deer and chipmunks, and heard a bear crash thru the woods by the creek. We went up and over lots of ridges with only one view all day on Glade Mountain. Lots of South bounders, all of them telling us there was no water going North. It made us nervous about having water until we kept crossing water.  One guy finally told us, North of where our car was, water was scarce, about 15 to 19 miles between water sources.

The Partnership Shelter was impressive; Built with logs, and a SHOWER! That was a first for us. To bad it was too early to camp. We went into Mt Rogers Ranger Station/visitor Center and saw a huge stuffed Hellbender salamander. They had a live one too in an aquarium.

Chatfield Shelter was our camp spot for the night. We hung our hammocks and gathered wood, Two guys showed up and hung their hammocks on the other side of the shelter. We swapped blog addresses.

DAY THREE:

Monday we crossed lots of water. Saw deer, chipmunks, and two grouse startled us. We crossed train tracks, cow pastures, boardwalks, and I 81 where we stopped for chips and tea to go with our PB/J sandwiches. We ate lunch on the wooded hillside overlooking the ducks swimming in the creek.

We stopped at the Old Settlers Museum and looked at the school. Three apple trees in the back got our attention, Yumm!, and then Lora spotted the grape vine growing up the back of the school house and they were ripe. We traveled on munching apples and grapes. We passed through more farmland, and old apple orchards, and saw wild cherry trees. Found a crooked style, but no crooked man walking a crooked mile.

Got to Reed Creek in Crawfish Valley and found a sweet campsite. The water was in different pockets, we found one that had enough for taking a bath. While I was scooping water I saw a Hellbender salamander in the creek. I was so excited being the first one I have ever seen in the wild. Lora saw it's tail, but it hid under a big rock. We went back to the creek after dark and she saw its head but it was still too far under the rock. I told her to look around in the creek for more. She was real excited until a spider bigger than the salamander scared her out of the creek.

That night by the fire we had owls and coyotes talking to us for a long time, then one owl that came into camp way in the night to see who was hooting earlier.

DAY FOUR:

Tuesday we hiked in all sorts of ecosystems. Open fields, farmland, new forests, old forests, cedar forest, and lots of fences. We became experts at style climbing. Lora stepped in a cow patty after crossing VA 610, but got over it after the climb and view back at the valley.

We passed by the Historical Tilson Mill which ground wheat and corn in the 1860's for the residents in North Fork Holston River valley. Another good water source.

We then stopped at the Knot Maul Branch shelter for a break. It stunk of moth balls and does not have a reliable water source.

Lynn Camp mountain was a good climb for late in the afternoon. Lora saw a yellow jacket fly into a hole on the side of the trail. When she walked by about twelve flew out. I gave the command "RUN" and we took off up the mountain. Luckily not stings. On the way down the other side we had a massive tree across the trail that we had to climb through.

We continued on to Lick Creek where we spent our last night. Lots of owl talk again during the evening.

DAY FIVE:

We hiked the last mile to our car. We could hear the beagles from the bear hunters. Hunting season started two days ago. We found our car under a heavy dust from the road and leaves. On our way back to town, we picked up a backpacker. Took him to town and then dropped him off at Mt. Rogers headquarters.

The weather was great for our whole trip. We never used our tarps at all. A bright moon every night and lots of stars in the clear sky. Overall we saw right at one million chipmunks, lots of deer, grouse, ducks, squirrels, and the Hellbender. Our flowers were Gentain, Asters, Queen Anne Lace, Golden Rod, Thistle, Daisy, and lots of unnamed ones.

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Harbor Light Boat ramp - TN River

Lora and I put in at the Harbor Light Boat ramp off Dixon Pike in Soddy Daisy. The ramp fee was $7. We have never paid more than $5 to put in. The lady was worried about the parking lot filling up due to the Hamilton County Fair being at Chester Frost. The 3 trucks/trailers were evidently taking up a lot of space. After looking at the ramp, I hope the $7 fee is that high so they can resurface the ramp.

We paddled 4.7 miles out to the main river and hit the inlets up to the islands near the Sequoyah training center. Real nice area to paddle.

When we got back to the ramp, all the other boats must have gotten back ahead of us; we were still the only car/trailer in the parking lot.

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TTA Center Hill Dam

Saturday we put in at the Center Hill Dam. We floated 8.6 miles of the Caney Fork river down to the Betty's Island take out. There were lots of kayaks out as well as fishermen. We enjoyed the Eagles, Blue Herons, and Green Herons.  We even saw more fish than all the fishermen that we passed saw. There were 12 of us on the water. TTA Highland Rim, Sumner Trails and Murfreesboro float/camping weekend.

When we got to the take out, the boat ramp was nowhere near the water! One of the local outfitters was driving their van across the river bottom to the water's edge, so we did the same with the trusty Subaru and John's van.

The campers were going out to dinner so we met up with them at the Ragland Bottom Campground and negotiated with the campground host to not pay a day use fee. A storm coming in convinced us to hurry to the Sligo Marina, but we weren't fast enough to beat the rain. Wet, hungry, but welcomed anyway. Good catfish dinner.

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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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Signal Point to Edwards Point

I met Sara at Signal Point for a Sunday hike. We managed to miss the Rainbow Falls path, so no waterfall today. We could hear it but didn't see it. There were lots of hikers and lots of four legged hikers, most of them unleashed. The dogs should try harder to keep their people on leash...

The views were beautiful looking into the creek gorge and the TN river gorge. I looked at the Outcast Hiker Blog to see the waterfall we missed.

We will have to go back.

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Gabe's Mountain TTA

Plateau TTA chapter arranged a hike in the Smoky Mountains, so I was excited about going to the mountains. Five of us rode together to Cosby Campground to start our in and out hike. Lots of mushrooms and other fungi on this trail, and some late summer wildflowers. We had lunch at Hen Wallow Falls, then hiked until we reached the 4 mile mark, then back to the parking lot.

Early supper at Carver's Applehouse and Restaurant. Good food, with starters on the table, apple fritters, apple butter, and apple cider. We had already been to the dessert, fried apple pies and ice cream. We all came home with some apples.

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Center Hill Lake Campout

After hiking with the TTA at Window Cliffs State Natural Area, Lora and I headed to the Cookeville Boat Dock to put in the canoe. We had reservations for campsite #5 on Davies Island. It is 4.7 miles on the water to the campsite. We found out that the maps shows it on the North side of the island, but the campsite is on the West side.

It is a busy waterway on the weekends, but we got out there late and stayed to the shoreline. We did have to cut across the big water, but the traffic was along the sides. We got to witness two water snakes doing the wild thing on the shoreline. Got to see other wildlife as well.

After setting up camp and eating dinner, we walked the shore line and watched the sun set. The lake quieted down after that and we had a peaceful night around the too hot campfire. 2 different owls talked to us during the night. 
At breakfast we heard a pack of coyotes barking and howling, must have found their breakfast.

The next morning we paddled back to the marina to dump off camping equipment. Then we headed East to see Fanchers Falls. It is actually Taylor Creek that flows off the falls. We went as far upstream as we could. You could see the falls from there, but you have to hike about three hundred and thirty yards upstream to get to the base of the falls. Fancher Falls and Mist Falls are right next to each other. They are listed at 80 foot tall, but Mist Falls is higher. There is another fall before you get to them on the left which is the same height, but little water. Beautiful area! Birds entertained us; a bald eagle, blue herons, green herons, osprey, ducks. Then we saw a critter that I called everything but what it was: a groundhog. Then a second groundhog. Never saw them along the river banks before.

We did us a little more exploring and then headed home. We got in about ten miles of paddling the second day.

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Window Cliffs State Natural Area

Lora and I joined the Murfreesboro Tennessee Trails Association on a hike at Window Cliffs State Natural Area in Cookeville. It is a 2.75 mile hike one way to a prominent geological clifftop feature that consists of a very narrow, elongated ridge that lies in the neck of an incised meander of Cane Creek. While it is about 150 feet wide at its base, it is only a few feet wide on the narrow clifftop 200 feet above Caney Creek. There are nine water crossings on the trail. They all have cables to cross with, but you wouldn't attempt these with high water.

Tony was our fearless leader. He not only led our hike, he also took the only fall for us. We had a great time visiting with everyone along the route.

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Greeter Falls TTA

Marietta scheduled a hike for waterfalls and swimming, I'm in! I had to drive thru the 127 Yard Sale to get to 111 and head far away from it. We met up at the Greeter Falls parking lot. I barely got there on time after having to follow flatlanders thru Altamont. Gotta love those winding roads. Boardtree Falls was dry and we wondered whether there would be any water at Greeter. Turned out there was plenty. Enough in the pool for a guy to somersault off the rocks. We had a snack there and then hiked to the Blue Hole for a swim. The other ladies didn't get hot enough to jump in but I had to. The water was so inviting and I knew Craig would be disappointed if I didn't.
Thanks to Marietta for a good hike, and nice to see Marcia back on the trails. And nice to meet Molly and Jean, more new hiking friends!

After our goodbyes, back to the valley and the Yard Sale. If you can't beat em, join em. Saw some interesting things, an old Studebaker with an old camping trailer attached, a plywood rowboat for $500, big deer horns, several bicycles built for two, and LOTS of people.

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Ohio Family Vacation 2017

This year's adventure was in Logan Ohio. The majority of our time was spent exploring Hocking Hills State Park which is amazing. I guess every state has a beautiful area. Even in the midst of corn and soybeans.

The only downfall of our adventure was my sister Deanna and her family could not make the trip for medical reasons.

We rented a couple of houses at Cabins on Waters Edge. They turned out to be a wonderful place to stay. There is a small pond on the property and we got to watch a heron, kingfishers, and a snapping turtle play there. The deer wandered thru the fields between the pond and the river. And a hammock to stretch out in by the pond. It's good for napping.

On our second day we started out with a hike of Old Man's Cave. A beautiful river gorge with three waterfalls. That afternoon our family friends Ron and Carol came to visit. Afterwards we went to the Hocking Hills Winery for some music.

Sunday was the canoe trip down the Hocking River. We used Hocking Hills Adventures for our canoe rentals. We had an interesting drive over to the river in an old school bus. They had a canoe paddle for a stick shift. The river was about a foot high after all the rains they had and we had lot's of mud to go through to get our canoes to the river. We did trip #3. The water was flowing well so we only had to steer. Paddling was only necessary to stay out of the tree limbs in the bends along the way.

Once afloat all was well.Oreo cookies and Twizzlers. We stopped and did the short hike to the Natural Rock bridge armed with Deet to fight off the mosquitoes. And then we stopped at the train bridge for lunch. Nate and Garrett entertained us with a rope swing, along with Jim and Lynelle getting the rope to them. We had a great time on the river.

 After that we went back out and hiked Conkles Hollow and Rock House.
Conkles Hollow was a paved path that led into a rock walled hollow with a couple of waterfalls. We knew we could get Betty to come to this one.
Rock House is an amazing rock feature. It is a mixture of cave and rock house. It is like a rock house with pillars. Lots of names chiseled into the walls.

Monday Lynelle and family left that morning. After goodbyes, we went back to the Rock House and Conkels Hollow, this time with Mom, Kathy, and Betty. We followed that up with Cantwell Cliffs and Cedar Falls and Ash Cave.

Cantwell Cliffs is another hollow that you have to hike down into. Waterfalls and rock walls to check out. Lots of steps!

Cedar Falls was a large water fall and Ash Cave was another HUGE rockhouse and waterfall. Ash Cave was a paved trail as well.

Tuesday we went to Rockstall Nature Preserve, Cedar Falls, Hemlock Bridge and Whispering Cave, and then Corkscrew Falls.

Rockstall was located just behind our cabins. Another pretty hollow with two water falls, privately owned by Camp Atika, but open to the public. At Cedar Falls this time we hiked the trail towards Old Mans Cave which rewarded us with three more water falls. One being Whispering Falls which had lots of bikini action under it. I recommend this falls!

Hemlock Bridge turned out to be a swinging suspension bridge. Whispering Cave was another large rockhouse and waterfall.

On the way back just down from the cabins was Corkscrew Falls on a short unmarked trail.

Wednesday was departure day for everyone else. What a great time with family.

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