Saturday's hike was a pretty good hike. The humidity was nasty, but the temperature was temperate enough. We departed the Big Soddy Trailhead shortly before 9am. A little over a mile into the hike, we reached the bridge that crosses the creek heading to the Cumberland Trail. I should say the bridge that was suppose to cross the creek--it had been washed out sometime during the spring rains. We had to cross the creek at the old crossing point. There was water in the creek, but large boulders were placed in the creek so we could cross. En-route to the CT, we missed the turn onto the CT and ended up on a trail up to the top of the mountain. We followed it until we ran into another hiker who also missed the CT turn-off. She said the trail ended in a short distance. We reversed our direction and picked up the CT where we were suppose to and continued on to the bridge. We arrived at the bridge around noon and had our snack. We began our exit around 12:30. We didn't meet many hikers on the way in, but by the time we exited the trail, just about every swimmable spot along the creek was occupied with small groups of weekenders, trying to escape the heat. Not many hikers and frolickers wore masks, but everyone seemed to be trying to maintain their social distancing. Our 5.5 mile hike turned out to be an 8+ mile hike, but still was enjoyable.
FYI, I did see a study done by Duke University regarding masks. They seemed to suggest we not use neck gators as masks against Covid-19. Many of the gators are made of spandex material that breaks up the larger droplets we breath out and creates a fine aerosol vapor mist that hangs in the air longer.
Tom M.
If you would like to see some 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.
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