Retro Hughes to Rock Creek 3.9.19

  The hike from Retro Hughes to Rock Creek Bridge turned out to be a really good hike, despite the rainy weather.  It was scheduled as a combined hike with the Soddy Daisy and Eastern Tennessee branches of the TTA.  However, the stormy weather caused the Eastern Branch to cancel the joint hike. The Soddy Daisy hikers, which consisted of Tom and Larry made the trek and as I indicated, it was a good hike despite the rain.
  We departed the Retro Hughes Trailhead around 9:30am under raining and cool conditions.  The trail was sloppy but navigable.  The recent rains made for several tricky creek crossing where we got our boots wet but neither of us got anything beyond our boots wet.  We made the hour and a half trek to the Rock Creek Bridge in approximately an hour and a half, arriving shortly after ll:00am.  We had our snacks and departed on the return climb out of the gorge.  The return trip was uneventful except for getting off trail when we missed the turn blaze.  The rain had pretty much stopped on the return and we arrived at the trailhead shortly after l:00pm.  The hike was approximately 5.5 miles and I would rate it moderately strenuous due to the climb out. 
If you would like to see some very nice and wet pictures including maps,  click here. 
If you are trying to view the pictures through the TTA website and have difficulties, please go directly to the Blog at www.sdctta.blogspot.com

Keown Falls & John's Mountain 3.5.19

There were fourteen hikers who braved the cold temps to hike the double loops of Keown Falls and John’s Mountain in the wildlife management area near Villonow, Georgia on Tuesday, March 5^th. We need not have worried about the cold though, because within a few minutes we began to take off layers and gloves. The sun was bright and we had classic mountain views almost the whole day. Keown Falls is not a large falls but it was running pretty strong from recent rains. We met at the overlook above the falls before beginning our trek up the right side of the John’s Mountain Loop. After a fairly steep climb we came out on the summit just across from a gorgeous overlook of 180 degrees, taking in the whole Armuchee Valley with the span of Lookout Mountain at the far side of the vista. Here we enjoyed a lunch sitting on the large boulders before continuing along the ridgetop for about a mile before cutting back down the mountain to the far side of the Keown Falls Loop. We were rewarded with a walk behind the falls as well as spectacular icicles and a second falls. The total distance was between 5 and 6 miles. What a beautiful day and wonderful company!
If you would like to see some very nice photos, click here. 
If you are trying to view these pictures in the TTA website and having trouble, please go directly to the Blog at www.sdctta.blogspot.com.  Google Chrome is the preferred browser. 

Stone Door-Laurel Falls 2.26.19

Another great day for a hike.  Just a little overcast, but mostly sunny.  It was a rather long drive to Stone Door-Laurel Falls, but everyone enjoyed the company and it was a great day.  Seventeen of us arrived in a caravan of five cars.  The falls were really beautiful after all of the rain we have been having.  I would rate this rather short 2.6 mile hike as easy.  The overlooks were absolutely gorgeous!  The stone door was very interesting.  As can be seen in the photos, a large slab of the bluf had separated from the main portion creating a split.  Through this split rock steps were placed and hence the name stone door.  Several of the hikers went through the stone door thinking that was where we were headed, but actually this was the turn around point since continuing to the next stopping point was another 7 miles!  We got them turned around and everyone returned.  Following the hike most of the group had lunch at the "Old Goat" restaurant in Monteagle.  The hike took about 2 hrs and 13 minutes with a maximum walking speed of 3.9 mph.  The average speed was 2.2 mph with an actual moving time of just over one hour.  If you would like to see a whole bunch of pictures, including maps and altitude chart, click here  If you would like to see a short video of the falls click here and click here. If you are viewing the pictures through the TTA website and having trouble, please go directly to the Blog at www.sdctta.blogspot.com.  Google Chrome is the prefered browser.
New photos added 3.3.19

Reflection Riding with J. Ogden 2.19.19

Trish pulled off another great idea.  James Ogden who is a noted historian and ranger with the Chattanooga Chickamauga National Military Park, guided us on an abbreviated hike within Reflection Riding.   The day was very cold with some sleet and rain.  It had been raining extensively this week so, as you can see from the pictures, the Lookout Creek was seriously overflowing its banks.  Because of this the hike was shortened some what.  We did have 20 hardy soles show up and everyone thoroughly enjoyed Jim's presentations.  He is known for acting out the roles of various Civil Ware soldiers and he is very good at it.  He definitely kept everyone entertained.  Everyone is looking forward to the next hike involving Jim which is scheduled for the end of March.  If you would like to see a few pictures, click here.  If you are viewing the pictures through the TTA website and having trouble, please go directly to the Blog at www.sdctta.blogspot.com.  The prefered browser is Google Chrome.

Heiss Mtn. 2.9.19

This was a nice day for a hike from the Heiss Mtn  Trailhead to the Little Possum Creek bridge and back. The weather started off in the low 30's with a little breeze. Temperatures climbed to the low 40's by the end of the hike.

This hike is probably moderately strenuous with the exception  of the 30 minute 650 foot climb out of the Little Possum Creek gorge to the adjacent  pine covered mountaintop on the way back. I would say this segment is very strenuous. Today's hike distance was 7.5 miles.

We had 6 hikers today including 3 visiting hikers that we hope will hike with us again soon.

We lunched at the turn around point which was the Little Possum Creek  bridge.

Today we saw two large tree blowdowns within about 0.3 miles of the Little Possum Creek bridge and one pine tree blowdown ( logs only) in the large pine thicket at the Perkins Point mountaintop.

If you would like to see some pictures of this hike, 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.  The prefered browser is Google Chrome.