Rainbow Lake Loop

8.19.14    The Soddy Daisy TTA Chapter was taking their usual Social Hike this past Tuesday and when I describe it as a Social Hike it would generally fall  between 3 to 5 miles with an intensity of easy to moderate.  Our hike on this day was leaving by 8:00 a.m. from the Red Bank Bi-Lo parking lot and carpooling to Signal Mtn for a hike around Rainbow Lake.  The total length was approximately 3 miles and I would rate it as moderate for the group since there were plenty of rock fields to traverse and earlier that day we had some rains which made many of them very slick to navigate.  We arrived at the Ohio Avenue trailhead near the Alexian Brothers Village.

There was a total of 12 hikers which showed up for this hike and we left the trailhead area and proceeded down the trail until we intersected the Bee Branch Trail and continued in a northerly direction where we crossed a swinging bridge and then reversed our direction in order to reach the Middle Creek suspension bridge.  At that bridge you can either take a right on the trail prior to crossing and heads toward Edwards Point or cross the bridge and turn right to head for Signal Point but after crossing we turned left where we started the ascent from the ravine passing the Rainbow Lake Dam and working our way up the ridge to the trailhead parking lot.

For a little history lesson on Rainbow Lake, the lake is a legacy of Charles E. James, who developed the 250 room Signal Mountain Hotel and some of the 4,400 acres which he purchased surrounding it back in 1913.  Mr. James constructed a dam in a ravine where two mountain streams met, and Rainbow Lake was formed.  The lake was 1,200 by 200 feet across, with an average depth of 15 feet.  It suffered a decline as the years passed by from silt flowing down into the lake and with people discarding old tires and trash in the ravine until the early 1980’s.  This is when the Friends of Rainbow Lake and scout groups began working to save it. The Town of Signal Mountain designated the area as a park and preserve, and Rainbow Lake is now connected to the Cumberland Trail.  As usual I digressed but I thought that tidbit of information might be interesting in how the area came to be.  Also while I’m highlighting the great work of the Volunteer community in saving Rainbow Lake for our enjoyment I would be remiss in not mentioning the outstanding work in the recent creation of brand new trail signage in this area by Sam Powell, Clyde Womack & Bill Fronk and the installation of those signs on the trail by the Wednesday hiking group of the Chattanooga Hiking Club which just happens to be led by the effervescent personality of Che Carico.

This story wouldn’t be complete without also mentioning what the Tuesday hikes are famous for and that’s going to eat after their ”long and arduous” hikes.  Today we went to Nikki’s Drive Inn on Cherokee Blvd., one of my favorites for hamburgers and homemade onion rings and you guessed it most of the attendees had their hamburgers with a plate of onion rings while several others tried their hand with the jumbo shrimp plates which looked equally good.  All in all we had a somewhat hot, humid, but satisfying day, thanks to the overall camaraderie of the group and the great meals we enjoyed.  Happy Hiking!  For a few pictures, click here or the the Rainbow Lake Loop tab above.  

Larry

Sluder Lane to Big Soddy Creek 8.16.14

8.16.14    Well it was another beautiful Saturday for a hike with the only downside being that the temps were to rise into the upper 80’s.  As usual the Soddy Daisy Chapter met for our Sluder Lane to Big Soddy Creek hike at the Durham Street ball fields in Soddy Daisy and departed by 8:00 a.m..  I guess it’s hard to stir up a lot of interest among our Chapter’s hikers when you state that the mileage is a minimum of 8 miles and they know it’s going to be Hot & Strenuous.  We did have five suckers, I mean hikers, that showed up with the mentality of no pain, no gain and I was one of them.  George Bonneau is not only our Chapter’s hard working Hike Coordinator but for today he was also our Hike Leader.  He surprised several of the group by saying that he wanted to bypass the shortcut out via the Rock Climbers parking lot and travel in and out via the Little Soddy Gorge, thus adding at least another 2 miles to our journey for a total of about 10+ miles.  I let him know the more the merrier for me but I would go with whatever he ultimately decided to do.  The others being Bob, John & Tom were not so easily swayed so they wanted to wait and see after we hiked over to Big Soddy Creek for a brief lunch before they committed to hike the additional mileage.

We arrived at the Sluder Lane trailhead and proceeded down through the Little Soddy Gorge but if you’ve never hiked this trail you would probably be a little dismayed at the old tires and a couple of rusty appliances along the trail that had been thrown down from the roadway up above.  At one time it was cleaned up by the State as I was told but the tires were left down there because the State had nowhere to dispose of them (that was hard for me to understand since there is a Hamilton County Tire Recycle Center next to the Silverdale Corrections Center) so for now they just sit down there in a pile or two as a reminder of how some people have no respect for themselves or our planet.  Otherwise it’s a nice trek alongside of the Little Soddy Creek where years ago they were actively mining coal from the area as labeled with some interesting signs along the trail.  One designated where an old home site had been along with several signs locating some old mine sites, a mule barn site and a stockade road.  We then climbed out of the Gorge and crossed over Hotwater Road where we proceeded along the trail towards the new Deep Creek Bridge.  On the way we passed Posey Point which provides no views except during the winter after the leaves have fallen, then the next point of interest is an abandoned Open Mine which makes you wonder if the miners were all midgets or had to work hunched over all day due to the low entrance height to the mine.  About a mile later we reached the Deep Creek Bridge and I’m glad to report that the State had returned to place a set of steps where once you had to climb down about five feet to reach the boulder below.  Many thanks to our local lead Ranger, Anthony Jones, and his team for adding the steps, now if I could just suggest that they add a cable mounted with standoffs along an upper boulder to safely traverse the crest of the lower boulder during wet and icy conditions until you can safely reach the main trail about 10 feet away.  I don’t want to push my luck but I’m just asking. 

We then left Deep Creek and trekked less than a mile to our “Ghost” Bridge at the Big Soddy Creek.  All of the Volunteers collectively put in thousands of hours I’m sure and worked so hard last summer in transporting the tons of ready mix concrete, lumber and steel beams down from the bluff up above and then zip lining it down to the bridge site below but that all came to an abrupt end late last year with Tony’s departure and the news that the State was to take over its’ completion.  We have the steel towers up, the cables and lumber had all been purchased with the grant money so the only thing left is to rig the cables and assemble the wooden bridge structure to be able to walk across which should be a “walk in the park” (no pun intended) but with the current priorities of the CT Park Manager seemingly not on the trail I can only assume we may be looking at five years or so before we actually have completion of the Suspension Bridge.  As I understand it the Deep Creek Bridge had a 2009 donation of $6,000 to his non-profit “Friends” group and it was constructed this year under his direction by State employees.  I hope he proves me wrong but only time will tell!  He was quoted in a May 1^st Chattanooga Times Free Press article concerning the Big Soddy Bridge completion (remember all of the material had been purchased last year by Tony while General Manager for the CTC):  “That one will be the "most costly," Fulcher said, projecting that expense at about $57,000.”???  Oh well, after reminiscing over the bridge project that never was we headed back where three of the group had decided to mutiny and take the shortcut out to Sluder Lane and George and myself returned back along the trail we came in on.  For my three fellow hikers that had cut short their adventure in search of their air conditioned comforts they still had a solid 8 miles racked up for the day (not too shabby) and for the other two, we had a minimum 10 mile trek for the day.  Either way I believe we all had an enjoyable Saturday and hopefully you did too!  Happy Hiking!  I would rate this hike as semi-strenuous.  If you would like to see a few pictures, click here or on the Sluder Lane tab above.