Pickett State Park 4.20.2024

 A full day of adventure… that’s the best way to describe our hike of the Hidden Passage Trail! 5 Scenic City members joined by one Plateau chapter member made the long road trip up to Pickett State Park for an incredible hike with a ‘Wow’ around nearly every turn. Half of the group decided to hike the shorter route… but still got in 7.5 miles of hiking & saw the beautiful Crystal Falls, a “hidden passage” through the rocks, a small arch, huge rock shelters, amazing rock formations, & took in beautiful views from Thompson Overlook. The other hikers decided to tackle the whole trail plus two side spur trails… racking up their total miles for the day to 11.5! They saw all the same sights listed above but also saw an additional waterfall, Double Falls, and experienced a real adventure… walking through an unfinished, abandoned railroad tunnel. The tunnel is huge & required our hikers to wear a headlamp or use a flashlight to see their way through. Pickett State Park never disappoints, & the Hidden Passage Trail is a great example of that. It was a great day with a great group!!

Today’s hikers were:  Jennifer Davis (hike leader), Tom McElhone, Tim Booth, Rita Wilpers, Jason Knutson, & Celia DeLeon Suarez (Plateau Chapter)

If you would like to see some very nice pictures taken during this hike, click here.  

Never trust a train, they have Loco Motives.

Far Enough Trail 4.23.2024

 This hike was a little different than most of our hikes.  Half of the hike involved a walk through parts of Saint Elmo to look at the architecture of the old houses, most of which have been remodeled.  Seventeen of us met at Food City in Saint Elmo and walked from there.  It was a short walk through town to the trailhead of Far Enough Trail.  This trail is very new and few of us had hiked it before.  The distance hike on this day was 3.56 miles with a time of 2 hours and 19 minutes to our lunch.  We averaged 2.0 mph on this hike which is not bad.  The Far Enough Trail was beautiful and led us past some monstrous boulders which was very interesting.  Part way through the hike we intercepted the Guild Trail which we followed under the Lookout Mountain Incline Railway and then we took another trail back down the mountain to Saint Elmo.  There we walked sidewalks to the Purple Daisy Cafe which is one of our favorite stopping places.  Beautiful day for a hike!

If you would like to see some pictures taken during this hike including maps and an altitude graph, click here.  

Do gun manuals have a troubleshooting section??

Chickamauga Battlefield 4.16.2024

 What a beautiful day to combine hiking & history! A great group of Scenic City chapter members came together to hike the 5-mile General Bragg Trailhead at Chickamauga Battlefield. The trail is a beautiful path through the woods that highlights important people & events that occurred in the Battle of Chickamauga. The trail is so beautiful & peaceful now that it’s almost unfathomable how much blood was shed there between September 18-20, 1863. The Battle of Chickamauga was the 2^nd bloodiest battle of the entire Civil War, surpassed only by Gettysburg.

This hike lasted for 3hrs and 20 minutes with an average walking speed of 2.4 MPH and a distance of 5.4 miles

Our group consisted of group leader, Jennifer Davis, and the following Scenic City members & guests: Luke Spiekermann, Jean Smith, William Smith, Bill Ragsdale, Kathy Thelen, Tim Booth, Earl Helmer, Randy Medley, Tom McElhone, Ginny Kidd, Donnalea Day, & Craig Scott.I you would like to see a few pictures taken during this hike including a couple of maps,         click here.  

The little mermaid wears seashells.  A and B shells are too small.

Booker T. Washington 4.13.2024

 I do not yet have a write-up for this hike.  As soon as it arrives, I'll post it.  

If you would like to see some pictures taken during this hike, click here.  

If a cow doesn't produce milk, is it a milk dud or an udder failure?

Shakerag 4.4.2024

 Wow!  What a hike!  This hike started off as all hike do.  We had eleven hikers all ready to go.  It was a cool day and mostly sunny for this 3.8 mile hike.  The hike lasted for 3 hrs and 49 minutes which is quite a bit of time for slightly less than 4 miles and we only averaged 1.5 mph.  The reason for this was both good and bad.  Our hike leader Delores, took us on a hike on Thursday which had been rescheduled from Tuesday because of weather.  First the good.  Everyone was happy since this hike was wildflower heaven.  After we descended a bit we began to see more and more wildflowers, which of course meant that we had to stop for identification, and picture taking.  Hence the extended time of the trip.  Every time we rounded a corner there was a new flower to look at.  Just wonderful!  Now the bad.  One of the hikers took a nasty fall on the way back due to some dumb rock's decision to protrude in the middle of the trail.  We severely punished the rock with several kicks however, so I don't think it will cause problems in the future.  After some time recuperating from this fall we took our time returning to the car.  Following the hike, most of the group had lunch in Monteagle at Papa Ron's.  I think everyone enjoyed our lunch.  

If you would like to see a bunch of pictures including a couple of maps and an altitude graph, click here.

I'm sorry, but your password must contain at least 8 characters, upper and lower case letters, a symbol or number, a hieroglyph, a haiku, a musical note, the feather of a hawk and a drop of unicorn blood.  

Fiery Gizzard 3.30.2024

 Saturday, 5 hikers traversed the first part of the Fiery Gizzard trail to Raven’s Point. We started at Grundy Forest Day Loop, a cool morning walk alongside the Little Fiery Gizzard creek. At 0.25 miles, a hiker tripped over a boulder and fell. A few bruises and scrapes but nothing serious and it was the only accident of the day. Passing by Blue Hole falls, we came to the confluence of the Little and Big Fiery Gizzard creeks, crashing and roaring together down Black Canyon, to eventually form Sycamore falls. The trail flattened along the bottom of the gorge as fields of white trillium bloomed. The trout lilies bowed their yellow heads and purple phacelium crowded between the boulders. We had arrived at the endless boulder fields, one after another. We then ascended, huffing and puffing up the side of the bluff to the rim. The hardest part of the hike was accomplished! Lunch at Raven’s Point overlook was our reward.

Rested & refueled, we returned by way of the Dog Hole trail, largely boulder-free and gentle ups and downs. We passed the coal mining opening which was “so small only a dog could crawl into it,” and descended once more into the gorge to exit by way of the Day loop. A good but exhausting hike at 9.9 miles and an elevation gain of 1188 feet.

If you would like to see some really nice pictures of this hike, click here

Dear optimist, pessimist, and realist. While ya'll were arguing about the glass of water, I drank it.  Sincerely, the opportunist.  

. 

 

Rock Island State Park 3.23.2024

Rock Island State Park Outing, March 23, 2024.  We enjoyed a full day a beautiful Rock Island State Park.  We visited Great Falls and Twin Falls and saw spring wildflowers.  We Hiked Downstream Trail, Eagle Trail, Bluff Trail and Collins river Nature Trail.  We enjoyed our lunch at Badger Flat Picnic Area along Caney Fork River.  We hiked along the cascading Caney Fork River and Collins river.  We saw TVA's Great Falls dam releasing vast amounts of water into Caney Fork River Gorge.  We visited with Ranger Evan Greene.  Our fifteen hikers were from Scenic City, Highland Rim and Murfreesboro Chapters.  Our hikers were Connie Lusk, Antonella Riveolta, Randy Medley, Dave Gram Julie Roberts, David Markley, Will Latham, Tome McElhone, Betsy Darken, Anna Lina Buckley, Margie Schumacher, Ray Schumacher, Jeanie Coulter, Stuart Coulter, and Taylor Gregory.  Joan Hartvigsen was the hike leader.  

Have you heard of the new sport called silent tennis?  It is exactly like regular tennis but without the racquet.  

Little Cedar Mountain .19.2024

 It was a little cold at the beginning of this hike.  Everyone was glad they had their gloves on.  The problem was that it is always very difficult to take pictures with gloves on and if you stop and take your gloves off, take a picture and then put gloves back on, the group is way ahead of you and you have to hustle to catch up.  About a quarter of the way through, it warmed up enough to take my gloves of and start taking pictures.  We hiked the loop in just under 3hrs and the distance was 3.6 miles.  The total ascent was 728 feet.  We snacked at our regular lookout point and then continued on. Our hike leader kept us together and moving and on course.  A very nice hike.  

If you would like to see some very nice pictures taken during this hike as well as an altitude graph and map, click here.  

My friend was explaining electricity and I was "Like Watt"?

Walden Ridge 3.12.2024

 I do not have a write up for this hike, but as you can see from the photos it was cool and sunny.  It looks like some of the group had some ice-cream.

If you would like to see some pictures, click here.    

I don't understand why people have to "Get ready for bed".  I'm always "Ready for bed"!

Five Points, Cloudland Canyon, 3.5.2024

 Rain? Bah! Wind? Who cares?  Fog? Not a problem.  None of these thwarted the adventurous souls from an "enjoyable" hike.  Ad when I say enjoyable, what I am really referring to is the nice warm shower when you get home.  Four of us braved the day and actually had a nice ike until the last 1.5 miles when we had a bit more precipitation then was desirable.  Everyone took a turn at leading the way and we didn't get lost in the "spaghetti" that is the 5 Points area (check out the Alltrails map).

If you would like to see an additional picture, click here.

Shoutout to anyone who got through today without a nap!  Pulling an all-dayer is tough!

Roaring Creek 3.2.2024

 I do not have a hike report for this one, but it looks a bit cold with some snow on the ground.  This is a great hike and there were at least 11 hikers including the photographer.  No reports of any deaths to I suspect that everyone had a good hike.  

If you would like to see some very nice pictures taken during this hike, click here.  

Never give your printer any hints that you are in a rush, they can smell fear!

Harrison Bay 2.27.2024

 As the sprinkles & light showers scattered the area, 10 courageous hikers eager to get out on an unseasonably warm morning, gathered around the trail head for instructions. The temperature was well into the mid 50’s with some moderate breeze off & on.   The group then hiked out in a clockwise fashion on the loop trail. About a mile into the hike, the clouds were breaking up, rain had stopped, and the sun even broke through for a bit.  Everyone seemed to be glad they made the decision to hike in spite of a little rain.   After a short break, we continued to meander around the bay.  Once we reached about the 2-mile marker, one hiker noticed 2 dear lying by the trees without a care in the world.  Upon further observation and as they started to get up, we noticed there were actually about 5 dears.  Dear in Harrison Bay are used to seeing people and are not skittish.  After a few minutes, we continued on.  At the 2.5 mile, we broke for a snack break & pictures, enjoying conversation & views of the bay. Our final 2 miles were uneventful, other than the breeze continued to get stronger but was appreciated by most.  Everyone seemed to have a good time on the trail and most of the group then enjoyed lunch at Fresh Burger Grill. Enjoy the pictures.

 Click hear for pictures.

5 ants rented an apartment with 5 other ants.  Now they are tenants together.  

Greenway Farms 2.20.2024

 Fourteen people gathered at Greenway Farms for a delightful country walk surrounded by the city. We started by taking the short jaunt behind Bethel Bible Village before doubling back and following the dirt path hugging the North Chickamauga Creek.  Luckily, most of the mud from recent rains had dried.  Back on the gravel/paved path, we enjoyed views of the creek, the lovely homes across the way, and of the old quarry from which limestone to build Chickamauga Dam was quarried during the 1930's.  A couple of hills helped get our heart rate up.  After the hike, several hikers adjourned to Mike's Tavern for well-earned refreshments.

If you would like to see some pictures taken during this hike, click here.

Just sold my homing pigeon on ebay for the 22nd time!

Rock Creek 2.17.2024

 Saturday, eight hikers braved the cold, first shuttling cars here and there - Upper Leggett trailhead, Lower Leggett trailhead and finally transporting all the hikers to the Retro Hughes trailhead, the starting point for the hike through Rock Creek gorge.  Occasionally a spit of snow floated through the air, while a small dusting settled on the leaves alongside the path.  

We began hiking fast on the pine needled trail to warm up.  Descending into the gorge, an old wooden ladder was discarded in the brush, no longer needed due to the fine rock steps.  We crossed the surging Rock Creek on an 80 foot metal bridge, then lunched at a nearby campground.  Only one tree obstructed our path.  We rock-hopped numerous small streams (the wooden bridges were gone), admired waterfalls and scenic overlooks.  Some hikers exited at the Upper Leggett trailhead, while others continued to the Lower Leggett trailhead to complete 8.25 miles with an elevation gain of 1083 feet.  Good job hikers!

If you would like to see some very nice pictures taken during this hike, click here.  

I don't watch football so I don't know who Taylor Swift is, but he sounds fast.  

Goforth Creek 2.13.2024

 Nine fortunate hikers got to enjoy two great hikes in the Ocoee on Tuesday.  On the Goforth Creek Trail, we began our hike by going up a short distance on the eastern side of the creek (perhaps 100 yards).  We then reversed our trek and proceeded up the western side of the creek for approximately 1.5 miles.  Most of this part of the hike was on an access road like trail.  The creek was roaring quite nicely due to the recent rains.  It was great to experience this trail and the almost continuous cascades and waterfalls that we most certainly wouldn't get to see any other time of year.  At the 1.5 mile point we began our exit trek and it was like experiencing 2 different trails.  On the first half of the hike, the sky was overcast and cool.  On the exit, the sun came out and lit up the cascading creek.

 We then proceeded to the Scenic Spur Trail. This trail is also part of the Rainbow Falls Trail. We  hiked on the trail for approximately 1 mile, before being stopped by what appeared to be too much fast flowing water in the creek.  We opted to not venture across the creek.  We will save the falls for another hike.

 On the drive back, we pulled off at the ranger station and drove up the road connecting to Benton Falls.  We were treated to a spectacular view from several of the overlooks presenting a marvelous view of the Ocoee.

Both trails yielded a combined distance of approximately 5 miles and 800' of elevation.  

If you would like to see some fantastic pictures taken during this hike, click here.  

Roses are red, that much is true.  But violets are purple, not freakin' blue.

Foster Falls 2.6.2024

 I do not have a trip report for this hike, but from the pictures it looks like they had a beautiful day for a great hike.  

If you would like to see another picture taken during this hike, click here.  

I think I would be a great mirror inspector.  I could see myself doing that.  

Prentice Cooper 2.3.2024

 What a beautiful day for a hike.  Sunny skies and warm enough to enjoy, cool enough to avoid overheating.  Fourteen Scenic City hikers and friends joined together for a great hike in Prentice Cooper, walking past Indian Rockhouse and on to Lawson Rock.  We had great views of the river, mountains and sky.  Several fallen trees tested our visual-spatial acuity, but fmost failed the cognitive test of counting off at the beginning of the hike. 

If you would like to see several pictures taken during this hike, click here.  

 "Alcohol" because no great story ever started with a guy having a salad.  

Sewanee Perimeter Trail

Our hike from Roakes Cove Road to the Forestry Cabin on the Perimeter Trail did not have a promisisng start.  We met next to the LaQuinta off I-24 with mists and fog rolling into the area.  The temperatures were in the high 30s with reports of possible freezing fog.  Since we were meeting friends from other Tennessee Trail chapters, we continued with the knowledge we would drive in fog for a while.  When our group arrived at the top of the plateau, the fog suddenly lifted to beautiful blue sunny skies.  We rendezvoused with our 8 friends from the other chapters at Green’s View making us a total of 20 hikers.  After a quick look at the view, we consolidated into 5 vehicles due to the limited parking at the trailhead.  After a short shuttle we arrived at the trailhead and started our hike on the Perimeter Trail to the cabin.  The trail was dry for the most part with only a few muddy spots.  It was not exactly flat but had rolling ups and downs to add variety.  About a third of the way we took a short spur to KA Point, where the view was spectacular, and no fog here.  We continued to the cabin where we saw our third view of the day.  The cabin was ready for visitors with picnic tables, a porch swing and other wooden chairs for us to use as we relaxed, chatted and snacked.  There was also an outhouse that did not go to waste.  We returned to our cars by the same trail and said good bye to our friends from the other chapters.  Nine of  us then stopped for lunch at Mountain Goat deli before driving home.

If you would like to see some pictures taken during this hike, click here.

I sued the airline for losing my luggage.  I lost my case! 

Lookout Mtn. 1.16.2024

 I don't have an official report on this hike, but from the pictures, it was overcast and cold.  I guess nobody fell down as I haven't heard anything but it does look like it was an interesting hike.  

If you would like to see some pictures taken during this hike, put on a coat and click here.  

I tried calling the Tinnitus help line.  No answer, just kept ringing.  

South Rim, Salvage Gulf 1.13.2024

 We were greeted on our hike with a balmy 25 degree temperature.  Our fearless hiking leader was under the weather so the hike was led by Jim from the Highland Rim Chapter.  It was a mixed group – some from Highland Rim, some from Murfreesboro and three from Scenic City.  I was an absolutely beautiful day to hike (once it warmed up a little) – great views, great waterfalls, great company.

If you would like to see some great pictures from this hike, click here. 

If you get locked out, just slowly work out the problem.  Patience is the key!

Stinging Fork Falls 1.6.2024

Saturday, 6 hikers trusted the weather report by driving thru the rain to Spring City. As we approached the trailhead at Stinging Fork Falls, the rain stopped. We walked thru a mist for a short time. Instead of going to the falls, we turned left at the sign for the new thru trail, 16 miles to the Head of the Sequatchie. Our goal was 4.25 miles, lunch, then turn around.

The rain had stopped, but the first 0.2 miles of the trail was thick, slippery mud. After that we descended on a beautiful rock stairway to the bridge crossing Stinging Fork Creek. A gradual ascent thru the quiet, soft pine forest brought us to another hike down along Little Soak Creek which we easily crossed, multiple times, on rocks. One more steep climb out of the gorge, then rest and lunch. The one incident was when a hiker sat down on our lunch log and broke it. No more cookies for him! We hiked about 8.5 miles with an elevation gain of 1000+ feet.

If you would like to see some photos taken during this hike, click here.  

White Oak Mountain Trails 1.2.2024

 White Oak Mountain Trails

01/02/2024

10 anxious hikers started their new year out right with a glorious sunny morning and readiness to hit the trail.  The temperature at the trail head upon arrival was a frosty 30 degrees.   Everyone gathered at the map as Tim Booth reviewed the hiking path for the day.  The group hiked out and started on the relatively flat & wide Dogwood trail.  After crossing over several foot bridges and enjoying the small streams trickling in the brook adjacent to trail, they arrived at the Six Shooter intersection.   After a short break, they proceeded up the various minor & short inclines of the Krebs Cycle and onto the Tower trail with a considerable descent back to the Dogwood Trail.  The next excursion was a return trip back to the Six Shooter intersection with a short break and group picture.  The team then returned back to the main trail and proceeded up the winding curves & sharp inclines of the Big Red trail, crossing over the Christmas Top trail a few times.  After enjoying snack time, conversation, and the views, they proceeded back to the main trailhead via the intense decline of the Christmas Top tail.    The total encounter was almost 4 miles and took about 2 hours and 15 minutes.  Several folks and never hiked on White Oak Mountain but wanted to return.  I consider it a hidden gem.  Everyone appeared to have enjoyed the morning and were grateful to get out, get some exercise and visit with friends.  Enjoy the pictures.

If you would like to see a few pictures taken during this hike, click here.

Home is where dog hair sticks to everything but the dog.