Snow Falls 11.2.2024

 Saturday’s hike at Snow Falls/Laurel Falls just outside of Dayton was a collaborative effort. Even before we parted from walking along Richland Creek, we (I) walked past the wooden TRAIL sign and arrow – too focused on my feet & not looking up. Another hiker called us back to the right turn away from the creek and up the rocky path. Next, crossed the bridge over Laurel creek and turned left to follow the Snow Falls trail. Winding through the forest, we reached the 150 foot-3 section bridge over Henderson Creek. Doing fine, switch backing up the mountain, until we lost the trail again. Maybe all the fallen leaves were misdirecting us. Shortly, back on the trail again, we climbed up the crack in the bluff. Ah, relief – flat land. We wandered to Dunn overlook then headed to Morgan creek. There was a bridge over the water! No more wondering if the water was too high or too cold to cross. No more water shoes needed! Soon the CTC will be officially opening a new trail, featuring the Morgan Creek bridge and a connection to another trail.

Snow Falls was modest, and we traipsed around, searching for the trail again. I had just gotten so excited seeing the new bridge, I hadn’t paid attention to the path. Once we found the old road to Buzzard Point Overlook, the trail was obvious. We lunched at the overlook, acknowledged the 2 resident buzzards and returned to the trailhead. We hiked 10.5 miles with an elevation gain of 1440 feet.

If you would like to see some really nice pictures taken during this hike, click here or on the group picture above.  

Be decisive....the road of life is paved with flat squirrels.  

Chattanooga National Cemetery 10.29.2024

 Nineteen Scenic City History lovers gathered at the Chattanooga National Cemetery for a history Walk to honor those veterans who served and to learn more of the complex role this area served in the Civil War.  We looked over the Chattanooga from the spot General Grant watched the Battle of Lookout Mountain. We visited grave sites of the first Medal of Honor winners who were involved in Andrews Raiders great locomotive chase as well as other heroic soldiers who died more recently.  

If you would like to see a couple more pictures taken this day, click here.  

John's Mountain 10.22.2024

Beautiful day, beautiful hikers!  Fourteen of us trekked up and around Johns Mountain in North Georgia.  No one turned back at the stone steps climbing u[ the side of the mountain, but there was a lot of huffing and puffing.  The snack at the top and the views made up for the effort.  Unfortunately, the hike on the northeast side of the mountain was quite the ascent too.  Finally, we arrived at the second observation deck and some of the hikers found out that they could have driven to this overlook!  Not a problem for these hardy hikers, as we picked our way through some boulders walking down the mountain.  Next stop, Keown Falls, which dripped into the nice rock house.  Another mile or so and we completed our double loop trail.  We hiked about 5.5 miles with 1000 foot elevation gain.  

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

What disease did cured ham actually have?  

Raccoon Mountain 10.19.2024

How did Raccoon Mountain get its name? Apparently from the many raccoons living on the top of the mountain. We didn’t see any raccoons but were greeted by a deer family and an owl gliding through the forest. The hikers started at Laurel Point. We traveled up and down the River Gorge section to the base of the rocky dam. Next the Megawatt trail wandered through the woods to the Visitor Center The center was closed but we enjoyed the beautiful lookout of the river valley while munching on our lunch. On the return trip we finished the hike by walking the Electric Ave trail, which was easy, flat & pine-needle covered. The moderate trail was 8.75 miles with an elevation gain of 1.168 feet.

If you would like to see some great pictures including a great picture of a Barred Owl, click here.  

 If you see this vehicle driving in an unsafe way, please don't call us, It increases our insurance.

Signal Mountain 10.12.2024

  It appears the fall schedule of hiking has arrived. We had all donned jackets at the  beginning of the hike. I believe it was in the 40's when we departed the trailhead. It felt like fall had truly arrived. Most of this hike I had not been on previously. I did pre-hike  the first half of this hike on Friday because I could not find a trailhead on the Signal  Mountain trails map. Betsy was nice enough to accompany me on the pre-hike. It  turned out the trailhead is unmarked just north of Middle Creek on Edwards Point road.  Just about all of this hike is in Pentice Cooper Park, which explains the fact that it is  poorly blazed. You really need Alltrails on your phone or a GPS to know where you are  on the first mile or so of the trails leading to the Orange/Yellow Trail. One plus which  helps, is the first mile or so of the trail follows Middle Creek. So if you think you have  wandered too far off trail, if you make your way over to the creek, you probably will run into the trail that leads up to the Orange Trail or the Orange/Yellow Trail. From this  point on, the trails are sort of blazed well enough to make your way up to the Blue Loop  Trail. As I said, the first mile or so of the hike, follows Middle Creek and is rocky and  cris-crosses other trails that rock climbers have established as they made their way to  climb the nearby bluffs.

 So about a mile of following Middle Creek, we got on the Orange Trail and headed  north until we got on the Orange/Yellow Trail where we continued hiking north toward  the Blue Loop Trail. We crossed Edwards Point Road and reached the Blue Loop Trail.  We hiked counter clockwise on the Blue Loop Trail and made our way to where we had  staged vehicles at Shackleford Ridge Park. Three of the four hikers decided at this point that 6+ miles of this hike was enough for the day. So we called it a day and Betsy went  on to hike some more.

 I would rate this a moderately difficult hike. It was a great fall hike and would make  a greater hike when done when the forests have reached their peak colors later in the  fall. 

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

An ELECTION is a process of choosing who will spend your money.