Signal Mtn. High School

2.15.14  Todays hike was originally going to be travelling from Signal Mtn. High School to the CT parking lot in the Prentice Cooper WMA but due to our low turn-out of participants, George, our hike leader for this trek, decided to not waste our time in staging a vehicle on both ends but instead rework the hike to maintain approximately the same mileage by hiking to Poplar Springs from the High School and back so we just had to take one vehicle for the day.  I believe it worked out much better in that we were able to hit the trail a good hour earlier than originally thought.  There were only three of us today, George, Boodie and myself.  It started out as a cold, crisp morning so I got to try out my camouflage neoprene full face mask and it worked great to keep my face and ears toasty warm.  Most of the snow from the previous week was about gone from the trails but you could still see remnants around the ridges where the sun hadn’t reached yet.  The mileage was between 9 and 10 miles and it was definitely what I would rate as strenuous based on the ascension of several steep ridges between the High School and the Campground.  This was territory that I haven’t had the opportunity to hike previously so it made for a great hike.   Once we made our way to the Prentice Cooper WMA we stopped a few hundred yards below Poplar Springs to snack at an Overlook above Highway 27 and there we met three very nice hikers from the Knoxville area that were also doing a day hike along the CT as well.  I imposed on them to get their picture made with George and Boodie and I've included it among the many that are posted for this trek.  With any luck maybe we will see them again one day on the CT.  After our stop for snacks and conversation with the guys and girl from Knoxville we parted ways and proceeded to our destination of Poplar Springs and from there we headed back to the High School to end our hike for the day.  I know that even though we were lacking in the quantity of hikers for this trip, we more than made up for it in the quality of a great Saturday hike!  Hope to see ya’ll on the trail real soon!!!