Signal Point to Edward's Point 5.18.19

Today we had a great day for a hike. It turned out that we had seven club members participate in the 5 miles ( or so) hike. The trail was was very busy today as we shared our hike with 20 to 30 other hikers ( and several well behaved pet hounds mostly on leashes).

I would rate this hike as moderate. The temperature started out at close to 70 and made it to about 80 by noon.

We lunched at Edward's Point and enjoyed a pleasant view of the Tennessee River Gorge and a hazy Chattanooga about 5 miles away.

On our hike back to Signal Point we decided to use the alternate route via the 8th hole and a couple of sand traps.

If you'd like to see a "few" pictures please click here.  If you are trying to view the pictures through the TTA website and having trouble, please go directly to the Blog at www.sdctta.blogspot.com.  Google Chrome is the preferred browser.  

Savage Gulf 5.14.19

Well, Trish did it again.  She must have some connection with the big man upstairs.  It was another perfect day for a hike.  It was a beautiful sunny day with the temperatures in the mid 50's as we started this 5.35 mile hike.  I would rate it as easy as everyone enjoyed the mostly level trail.  Savage Falls was flowing nicely and most of the hikers had a snack there.  There were 21 of us today on this hike.  The maximum hiking speed was 3.9 mph on a downhill stretch with the moving average 2.1 mph.  It took us 3.5 hrs to complete this hike.  Alas, despite much searching, there were no rattlesnakes found at Rattlesnake Point.  Following the hike all of us tried to get to the Cookie Jar Restaurant, but they had an extremely long wait.  Therefor some went there and some went to the Dalton Restaurant in, guess where, Dalton.  If you would like to see a bunch of pictures, including maps and altitude graph, click here.  If you are having trouble viewing the pictures and are trying to see them from the TTA website, please go directly to the Blog at www.sdctta.blogspot.com.  Google Chrome is the preferred Browser.

Joke of the Week....
Two guys are out hiking.  The first guy says, "Did you see that?"
"No," the second guy says.
"Well, a bald eagle just flew overhead," the first guy says.
"Oh," says the second guy.
A couple of minutes later, the first guy says, "Did you see that?"
"See what?" the second guy asks.
"Are you blind?  There was a big, black bear walking on that hill over there."
"Oh"
A few minutes later the first guy says, "Did you see that?"
By now, the second guy is getting aggravated, so he say, "Yes, I did!"
And the first guy says, "They why did you step in it?"

Piney River 5.11.19

Piney River Hike 05-11-2019
  Well once again, with the aide of a cell phone and a weather app., I managed to get a good hike in.   Sitting in the Soddy Daisy parking lot and wondering if anyone would show up, or if the weather would cooperate, one new hiker showed up and was willing to take a chance on my decision to do the hike.  The same weather conditions that existed last week,  seemed to repeat itself this week.  The rain appeared to be ending for about 4 to 5 hours.  So off we went to hike the Piney River Trail.  The new hiker was just returning to hiking after a long hiatus, so instead of doing the scheduled long hike, we decided on doing several of the loop trails off the main trail.  It turned out to be the right decision.  We departed the trailhead shortly after 9am.  The sky was overcast and threatening, but the rain did appear to be over for the time being.  We took the Twin Rocks Nature Trail up to the twin rocks overlook. It was a moderate climb up.  We were rewarded with beautiful rock formations, blooming mountain laurel, and at the top, a uniquely constructed overlook that required a traverse across an approximately 20 foot gap between large boulders (see pictures).  We then descended to the main trail and took the Flat Rock Loop Trail to the river.  The river was really flowing because of the recent rains, and we were rewarded with a water falls on the river.  It started to sprinkle and we headed out to exit the trail.  We arrived at the parking area to witness a group of butterflies engaged in their mating ritual (I thought to myself, “they need to get a room”).  It was then, as it was last week, that the rains arrived.  It was an approximately 1.5 mile easy hike. 
If you would like to see some really nice pictures, including maps, click here.  If you are having trouble viewing the pictures and are trying to view the pictures through the TTA website, please go directly to the Blog at www.sdctta.blogspot.com.