Signal Pt. to Rainbow Lake Loop 4.23.19

I am repeating myself lately, but this was another perfect day for a hike.  The weather was clear and sunny with a temperature in the mid 70's.  I missed a last minute notice of a change in locations and as a result showed up at the wrong place.  This was due to some trail closures caused by turkey hunting.  I eventually caught up with the group at Rainbow Lake, but missed the first 1.4 miles of the hike.  This wasn't such a bad thing as I also missed a rough rocky section that wasn't much fun.  The Rainbow Lake loop was beautiful and rated as easy.  There were two swinging bridges that we crossed which added to the hikes diversity.  I hiked a total of three miles which is shown on the attached map.  The rest of the group hiked an additional distance of 1.4 miles for a total of 4.4 miles of delightful hiking.  Middle Creek was flowing nicely and its roar was always in the background.  There were either 16 or 17 hikers, (depending on who counted) and I think everyone enjoyed the hike.  Following the hike, the hikers broke up into groups and went to lunch.  If you would like to see a bunch of pictures, map, altitude graph and a couple short videos, click here.  If you are trying to view the pictures on the TTA webpage and having trouble, please go directly to the Blog at www.sdctta.blogspot.com.  The preferred browser is Google Chrome.

Ever wonder why...
We park on driveways and drive on parkways?
Your fingers have fingertips, but your toes don't have toetips?
Yet, you can tiptoe but not tipfinger?

Roaring Creek 4.21.19

Three hearty hikers met at the Durham Street Parking Lot Saturday and decided, despite the ominous weather outlook, to proceed with the scheduled hike at Roaring Creek. We departed the trailhead around 9:30, under overcast skies and 40 degree temperatures. The first section of the hike was along Roaring Creek, which was really roaring after 2 days of rain. The trail was sloppy and flooded in sections. Just shy of a mile we began our accent to the upper plateau. Along the way we forded several small streams and one fairly fast running stream. We managed to cross the stream with getting only our ankles wet. At the top of the accent we crossed a waterfalls and stopped at an overlook with a view of the Tennessee Valley below. The view was pretty good considering the rain in the area. At this point, the rain began and continued for the rest of the hike. The rain was steady but we were fortunate that it didn't rain hard enough for us to don our ponchos. We continued our hike to Gilbreath Branch Creek and arrived shortly before 1pm. We had our snacks and enjoyed the waterfalls. We departed for the return decent and arrived back at the trailhead and shortly after 3pm. We exited the trail just as the rain increased to a downpour. Last week the dominate flower along the trail was the white and red trillium. This week the dominate flower was pinxter azalea and wild geranium. As you can tell, I have expanded my knowledge of the local flora (I purchased a Wildflowers of Appalachia identifier card). Hopefully I will be able to identify some of the flowers on my hikes and not refer to them as white, yellow, pink and purple flowers. The hike was listed as a 9.8 mile strenuous hike. I would agree with the description. Footnote (Literally): I want to thank Sarah for gifting me Georges hiking boots. Sarah said they were the boots George wore on his last hike with Boodie and Larry. They were a perfect fit and it was an honor to hike a mile (and more) in George's boots. I will hopefully be hiking many more miles in them in the future.
If you would like to see a bunch of really nice pictures, click here.  If you are trying to view the pictures through the TTA website and having problems, please go directly to the Blog at www.sdctta.blogspot.com.