Enterprise South

7.15.14    There were 6 of us on this 5 mile hike. Due to an accident on Hwy 153, we started out an hour late. The bad news was that Boodie was waiting for us and ended up walking by himself (sorry about that Boodie). The good news is when we finished walking it was lunch time.  It remained overcast and not too hot, so it was a fairly comfortable hike.  I would rate this hike as easy.  For a couple of pictures, click here or on the picture to the right.   

Board Camp Creek 7.12.14

7.12.14    The Saturday hike (7/12/14) for our Soddy Daisy Chapter was to take place on the Board Camp Creek trail of the Soddy Gorge Segment.  We met as usual at the Durham Street parking lot near the ball fields in Soddy Daisy and departed by 8:00 a.m..  Altogether there were five souls (Boodie Fox, Gary Selcer, Tom Long, Diane Walker and myself) willing to endure what was to become a very hot and humid 10+ mile hike.   Boodie drove us up to Jones Gap Road where we began hiking down a little over a mile towards the steps across the ROW fencing while he drove North on Highway 111 and found an emergency cross over so he could park his van on the Southern ROW near the same steps for the Board Camp Creek trail.  Today’s hike was rated as Strenuous only due to the mileage since I would normally rate the terrain easy to moderate.  Boodie was our hike leader for the day and I always enjoy his wit and humor when he’s around, the only drawback is if you’re following directly behind him you always have to be aware as he’s bending over to use his pruners to pursue his desire to maintain the trail that his hiking staff can and will take the shape of a weapon at times.  As he’s leaning forward the staff lunges back towards you – Lol.  Our initial intent was to hike as far as the “George Summers” steps with the handrail (cable) but we took a vote and lengthened it about ¾ miles further towards Big Soddy Creek.  On our way back we stopped for a break at the “Junk Yard” Falls as Boodie likes to call it, there’s no official spur trail but it’s about 50 yards off to the left of the main trail just before you hit the first set of descending steps and well before you reach the “George Summers” steps.   I believe there is more than one vehicle located on the opposite side of Board Camp Creek just above the creek bed (the one I could see was an old panel van).  When the water is running strong there is a small water falls (maybe 8’ high) upstream from the vehicles.   Well after the break Diane and I headed back towards the van so I could take advantage of some Blackberries on the ROW just before exiting the trail.  I found out quickly that the larger berries were the tart ones and the smaller berries were the sweeter ones, I’ve never picked them before but it didn’t take long to figure out which ones were the best for eating as I was exiting the trail.  I had never hiked with Diane before since I believe this was her second hike with our club but I found out that she could hold her on with any hiker in our Chapter – good job Diane.  As usual during the hot summer months I was soaked to the bone at the end of our hike but all in all it was another Great Hike!  Happy Hiking!  For a few pictures of todays hike click here or on the picture to the right.

Larry

7.5.14    Saturday’s hike for the Soddy Daisy Chapter was scheduled for Cloudland Canyon with a final estimated distance of just under 7 miles.   It was rated as Moderate too Strenuous on the hiking schedule for July but since most of us hiked over to the West Rim Loop and then went to both Hemlock & Cherokee Falls I would definitely have to rate it as Strenuous and in a second you will hear more about the Strenuous parts.  George Bonneau was our hike leader for this event and he kept up a very quick pace throughout the morning hike, good job George!  I honestly believe he was in a hurry to get back home to some of Sarah’s famous homemade Peach Ice Cream.  But I digress, we met at the Bi-Lo in Red Bank for an 8:00 am departure and we were pleasantly surprised to have not only seven of our regular chapter members but four new hikers by the names of Zachary Tate, Courtney Parker, Wayne Welch, and Melanie Welch.  Thanks guys for showing up and adding to our enjoyment.  By the time we arrived at Cloudland Canyon State Park we began our hike around 9:00 am and headed for the West Rim trail.  Once on the West Rim trail, the path follows Daniel creek for a short period before crossing it by way of a footbridge. The trail provides switchbacks up the hillside so be on the lookout for a couple of sharp turns, denoted by a double yellow blaze. Eventually you will come to a small footbridge and the Park’s information board with map.  Here, the loop part of the trail begins. The map description will follow the creek upstream making the loop clockwise.  This has to be one of the most scenic hiking trails in our area if not the entire Southeast, the trail provides magnificent views of Trenton, Georgia, neighboring Sand Mountain, and of Cloudland Canyon itself.  During the morning hours we were comforted with a steady light breeze which helped with evaporating the perspiration and making the temperature much more bearable.  Now let’s get to the part that aided in making this a Strenuous hike.  Once we completed the West Rim Loop we began our return towards the parking lot but before starting up the ascending staircase back to the parking lot we took a vote on going to both Hemlock and Cherokee Falls.  It didn’t seem like much of a quest to me at the time until we hit the multiple staircases going down towards Hemlock Falls.  I lost count as to the total number of steps going down but I believe they added some extra steps before we started back up.  I’ve since read that from the parking lot down to Hemlock it’s approximately 600 steps so if it’s 600 going down then that somehow equates to 600 to get back up to the top.  I guess you could say that it was worth the effort to be able to view a 90 ft. waterfall but somehow once we made it back up and then began our descent down to the 60 ft. Cherokee Falls it turned out to be a welcome relief from the first falls since it only had about 40 or so steps to be able to view it and it was, to me, a prettier setting with a larger pool than the first and was partly surrounded by an arching rock wall.  Also you were relatively closer to it at ground level than being restricted to staying on the viewing deck they had setup for the hikers at Hemlock.  The only sad part for the young and the young at heart is they don’t allow any swimming in either of the pools as they do in some similar settings at other parks.  Well after we bid farewell to Cherokee Falls we began our trek to the top and met up with the ones of our group that didn’t want to test their endurance by going to the Falls.  Oh and btw if you notice I don’t have my usual group photo included with this hike description it’s because I was convinced that I needed to let a bystander use my camera and take a full group picture which would have included myself  – well as luck would have it a nice lady volunteered, I’m not sure what button she pushed when she said she took two shots but when I returned home, guess what, no group shots on my camera!  My fault, Live & Learn  -  Lol  -  Happy Hiking!    For a few pictures of the hike click here or on the picture to the right.