Hiking, history, & humidity… We had them all on our hike of the Dog Cove Loop Trail, Dry Falls Creek Trail, Rylander Cascades & Lost Creek Falls & Cave!
If you would like to see some really nice pictures taken during this hike, click here.
Ducks have feathers to cover their butt quacks.
Lucky that we got an advanced heads up that part of the trail we hoped to hike was closed. Lucky that there were bathrooms both at the beginning / end and midpoint of the hike, lucky that the trail was easy to follow and in relatively good condition, lucky that we finished up before the deluge of rain came, and lucky because we had 9 cheerful hikers.
A nice hike through the woods along the Ocoee river. Humidity was high, but the elevation change was low. All in all a nice day with good friends.
If you would like to see one additional picture, click here.
Please cancel my subscription to your issues.
Enterprise South always is a pleasure to hike when the weather threatens to rain on our parade. If we are threatened by inclimate weather showing up, we can get off the trail fairly quickly. The trails are always in great shape. Depending on which trail we take, there is enough of a challenge, or not, to feel a little burn during the hike. This particular hike had that. The history of the park and the ammunition bunkers were a draw to the new hikers who had not seen them before – and they got to go inside one and experience the echo-chamber effect of the bunker. We kids love to do that. Though the weather was quite sticky at best, Enterprise South is blessed with a forest canopy that makes hiking in hot and humid conditions, bearable. We started the hike shortly after 7:30 am and finished before ll:00 am. It was an enjoyable 5 to 8 mile hike – depending on whose tracking device we looked at. I believe it was approximately 6 miles long. By GPS, the hike was 6.4 miles and took 3 hrs and 25 minutes with 14 hikers attending. Our average speed was 2.1 mph.
I would like to take this opportunity to
comment on and thank the hikers who I have had the pleasure of hiking with
these past 7 years. I have always felt the caliber of Scenic City hikers and
hike leaders to be top of the line. I owe so much to those who have taught me
so much about this wonderful hiking experience. I hope to enjoy the experience
for as long as I can. Thanks Tim for leading from the front whilst I led from
the rear.
f you would like to see some not so good pictures, maps and altitude graph, click here.
Insect puns really bug me!
Five of us decided that it would be best if we pre-hiked this trail prior to the club hike in August. It's a good thing we did as there are many intersecting trails within the network of trails. The map shows our route.
If you would like to see a map and altitude graph of this hike, click here.
What brings six hikers into the woods on a hot, humid day? Why, a beautiful creek that twists & drops multiple times creating beautiful cascades & waterfalls, of course!!
The hike to
Gee Creek Falls has it all… water falling everywhere, rock scrambles, a
mysterious ending point, & an intriguing relic concrete structure that
remains in place today.
Always up for
a good adventure were Tom, Carl, John, Mike, Lori, and hike leader Jennifer.
The first part of the hike is just an easy walk through the woods but quickly
begins to get rocky with a slight incline. After passing several cascades, the
group encountered its first rock scramble, which required some careful
footwork. Next, we spotted something very unnatural in a natural setting… a
concrete flume of some sort. After the hike, we learned that the structure was
a concrete water diverter or flume placed there by the Tennessee Copper
Company. The company, in operation from 1825-1860, wasn’t mining copper at Gee
Creek but instead using the flume to wash mined silica that was used in the
copper smelting process… providing flux for furnaces processing copper. Almost
200 years later, Gee Creek still flows through this flume today!
Soon, the
group made it to Gee Creek Falls… a beautiful 25 ft. waterfall. The beauty of
the falls isn’t its height but how water diverts around stones to create a twin
waterfall effect. After taking a break & getting a great group picture at
the falls, some of the group soldiered on for more adventure. Crossing the
creek meant getting our feet in the water. We all decided just to plow through
in our hiking shoes & boots (who has time to put on water shoes?!… haha!),
and the water felt amazing! After crossing two creeks & scrambling through
more rocks, we came to several cascades & another beautiful waterfall. This
was our turnaround spot. The trail does continue on after this point, but the
trail is a bit overgrown, requires many creek crossings, hurdling lots of
blowdown, & following a faint trail that eventually disappears, so we
decided to save that adventure for another day. We had a great group & had
a good time on the trail. We also had a tasty lunch after the hike at The Local
Goat near the carpool meetup location in Ooltewah.
If you would like to see some really nice pictures taken during this hike, click here.
The love triangle soon turned into a wrecktangle.