Leggett Road to Rock Creek

We met at Durham Street parking lot at 8am and departed for the Lower Leggett trailhead.  We (John, George and Tom) departed the trailhead at about 8:20.  I will call this the 'Reptile Romp with Flowers'. The weather was pleasant, I believe the temperature was in the lower 70's.  We expected to see more flowers along the first part of the trail but saw few.  George thinks because of the colder than normal April weather, that may have pushed the blooming back by a week.  Later on the hike, we did see white, red, orange and yellow flowers (can you tell there was not a hiker among us who had much of a botany background).  We briefly stopped at an overlook I believe about 2 miles in.  The trail is pretty much closed in by foliage and the views of the creek and rock formation that were available on the winter treks, are now less observable.  Me made it to the Rock Creek Bridge at 5 miles by around a little after 11am and had our snack prior hiking out.  The trip back was a little more eventful.  I (Tom) was at the lead for about a mile back when for some unknown reason I stopped and said to John – why don't you take the lead.  John did so and not 5 steps further John says “whoa”.  Curled up on a rock in the middle of the trail looking like a nice pile of leaves was a 3 foot timber rattler.  I did not see it and would have stepped on the critter. John this time had his camera ready and took his picture.  John flipped the snake off the trail and we continued for about another 100 feet or so and John stops because an eighteen to twenty inch copperhead lay across the trail.  This snake was not as laid back as the rattler and took off as we approached and we were not able to take its' picture.  We continued our exit and encountered two more reptiles, a frog or toad and a box turtle.  The temperature continued to rise and we exited the trail around 2:20.  So I would say if your out trekking in snake country, take John along – he seems to be able to do a great job spotting them. If you would like to see some very nice pictures, click here.

Heiss Mtn. Flower Walk 5.12.18

Another beautiful day for a walk in the woods.  Although there were only four of us today, it was a very nice time on this 2.7 mile walk.  I would rate the difficulty as moderate.  Our purpose was to see the Rhododendron in full blume.  Unfortunately, while they were certainly blooming, it was just the start of their bloom.  Give it another week or so and it will be much better.  If you would like to see a few pictures, click here.

Reflection Riding 5.11.18

This was a new adventure for us.  Previously we had made an arrangement with Reflections Riding Arboretum and Nature Center that would allow the club to hike the trails on the facilities property without having to pay admission each time.  It was now time for the group to fulfill its part of the agreement.  Therefore, we we agreed to spend some time at Reflection doing some work of their choice.  There choice was privet removal.  As you can see from the photos, we did a bang up good job in the over two hours we spent pulling.  I would rate this as severe.  Now for those of you who didn't make it, the great trail hiking spirit in the sky is not happy.  The next time it rains or you fall on the trail, remember this occasion.  Following our job, most of us went to the Mojo Burrito and had a nice lunch.  If you would like to see some pictures of the work we did, click here. 

Ritchie Hollow 5.8.18

What a hike!  We started on an absolutely beautiful day.  The temperature was perfect and not a cloud in the sky.  Today we had 14 hikers on what has been a confusingly rated trail.  This trail has be rated from easy to severe.  I'm now going to set the record straight.  Although it is a short hike of only about four miles in and out, I will rate it as moderately severe.  It is a constant up hill climb after a short flat start.  About 3/4 of the way up, there is a turn off to the falls.  Today the falls were absolutely beautiful.  After waiting a short time for the stragglers, we decided on on Chinese Buffet near Walmart at Signal Mountain.  If you would like to see some pictures, click here. 

Savage Falls 5.5.18

  We (George, John, Don and Tom – here after known as the geezer hikers) met at the Durham St. parking lot at 8am and departed for the ranger station at Savage Gulf.  The weather was great for hiking – upper 60's with rain threatening but never appearing.  We departed on the trail at 8:40 on what was booked as a 10 mile south rim hike.  We settled on labeling it a 12 mile hike after we compared fit bit, GPS and park map write up of the hike.  Although it was a long hike, the elevation transition was minimal along the ridge trail.  The falls were all running at full splendor (they rivaled the falls along the Zambezi).  We visited several lookouts along the trail.  One lookout I labled the Mountain Goat lookout.  This lookout required some cautious traversing down a rocky decent to the lookout.  We continued to the lookout at the 5.8 mile mark and had lunch.  We then proceeded to exit the trail.  Along the exit, John, who was in the sweep position (unusual for John who normally occupies the lead position) calls out 'snake on the trail'.  I (Tom) dropped back and observed an 11 to 12 inch viper headed snake lying in the leaves along the trail.  John nor I being combat photographers, failed to take a picture of the critter.  We discussed the genus of the snake and decided it most likely was a copperhead.  After the deadly viper slowly slithered off, we continued on our perilous but rewarding hike.  We exited the trail at 2pm, tired but mentally refreshed.  Don said this would probably be his last hike of the season.   He is devoting his energies to bike riding during the warm summer months.  He already had an encounter with the pesky tick during his last hike on Tuesday.  If you would like to see some beautiful pictures including some short videos, click here.