What a great day to hike on the Fiery Gizzard Trail. Five fortunate hikers were rewarded with a day of great hiking. We departed the Foster Falls trailhead at 9:57 am local time. The temperature was in the 50's with clear skies. We proceeded to the top of Foster Falls viewing deck and observed a falls flowing with fresh runoff from the recent rains. We then departed on the Fiery Gizzard traveling along the rim of the gorge heading to Small Wild Campground. The trail was in good condition and well blazed. along the way were were able to view several waterfalls and really nice views of the gorge. We arrived at the campground around noon and enjoyed a 20 minute relaxing period before beginning our exit. The trek to the campground and returning to the Climber's Loop trail was easy. The Climber's Loop trail was not easy, and required a bit more caution traversing the rock trail. The great weather brought out many climbers to the climbing area. We all agreed that if we weren't so "long in the tooth", we would be climbing the cliffs with the youthful climbers. We proceeded to the base of Foster Falls where we joined numerous local hikers enjoying the day. We climbed out of the gorge and exited the trail around 2:30 as the skies were just clouding over. This was a very enjoyable 5 1/2 mile easy hike and Tom did an excellent job as hike leader. The drive back on 24 was less enjoyable-we spent 30minutes in a 10 mile stop and go traffic snarl while looky-loos slowed to look at a disabled big rig in the center divider just before approaching the Brown's Ferry exit.
If you would like to see a bunch of very nice pictures taken during this hike, 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.