Daddy's Creek

Saturday George and I decided to take an impromptu hike on the Daddy's Creek portion of the Crab Orchard Section of the Cumberland Trail.  We met at 8am at the Soddy Daisy parking lot and headed north to the trailhead.  It took us approximately and hour and a half to get there.  The weather was pleasant, and we departed on the trail at 9:30.  The trail to the campsite is listed at 2.7 miles.  We went a short distance on the yellow trail and then onto the main CT trail.  The trail was wet but not muddy.  The trail was well blazed.  It had been raining off and on the previous few days.  We made it to the overlook and began our descent to the creek.  We followed the creek for about a mile to what we thought was the campsite but later discovered the listed site was actually approximately ¼ mile further on the trail.  The first site we thought was the campsite appeared to have been used more than the listed site.  The listed site was unfinished and unused.  We returned to the lst site and had our snack and began our ascent and return.  I would agree with the on-line hike description, that of a moderate hike.  The hike from the creek up to the lookout was difficult in the rising heat of the day, but I've been on worse ascents.  We did see two box turtles on the trail and that was it for any wildlife on this trip, except for an owl we heard in the distance.  If you would like to see some pictures of this hike, click here.

Retro Hughes Rd. 6.26.18

What a hike!  The only two things that saved me were George and the weather.  This was only a 5.1 mile hike, but the return was a killer.  Lucky the weather was overcast and cool for this time of year.  It had been raining the previous week so the trail was wet and very slippery at times.  Going down to the Rock Creek Bridge was not too bad.  You did notice that I said "down" as the return was a steady slog back up the mountain.  We got a little disoriented once, but thanks to the GPS, we were able to get back onto the trail.  There were 10 of us on this hike and a few smart ones turned back at about the halfway mark.  We did see a beautiful copper head right next to the trail.  Since I was very slow, this hike took me almost 4.5 hours!  At one point the ladder had broken so we had to bushwack our way over some rocks.  Following the hike several of us had lunch at the Blue Ribbon.  If you would like to see some pictures and maps, click here.