For being the first hike of 2022, this hike, hopefully, will be our club's trailblazer hike of 2022. I had some apprehension leading up to the hike. Fall Creek Falls Park is on the Tennessee
plateau,
where the day before,
it had experienced a rather strong
weather event. The temperature was in the 20's as I tried to contact the park to see
how much snow accumulation they had. I was unable to make that contact.
So I decided to take a chance and take
the group up to the park where we would be able to make the hike. As we proceded up route 111, the skies were overcast and the
higher we went, the more snow
appeared on the terrain. When we got
to the top of the Sequatchie rise, the skies cleared and the view was one of a landscape that appeared
as if someone had used a Christmas Tree flocking machine and sprayed the entire area. It
was spectacular. Even if we weren't
able to make the hike due to conditions
at the park, the drive up to the park would be worth the trip. As it turned out, the park and trail were covered with a heavy blanket
of snow, but only approximately 2 inches thick.
At
approximately 10 am est, we entered a winter wonderland. Everything was covered with a heavy blanket of snow. Some
of the trees along the trail were bent under the load of the snow. Though it was in the 20's, it didn't seem that cold. The sporatic breeze high in the trees, would shake the snow off
the tree tops and make it seem like
we were in a snow globe that had just been shook. We made our way along
the trail for approximately a mile and arrived at the lake. The trail along the lake provided us with a beautiful
waterside panorama filled with the sun's 'yakamoz'. Thank you Richard for introducing me to the beautifully
enlightening word for the day. Halfway
through the loop, we stopped at a leanto
and had our snacks. After our snacks, we continued for about another
mile where we left the lake and the trail began a short
moderate ascent. We continued our
exit and along the way, the sun's warmth
began to melt the snow on the trees. This
presented us with the sensation of being rained on and at the same
time being pelted with snowballs from above.
The trail,
though not blazed, was easy to follow despite the snow. There were several spots where
we had to rock hop across a small stream
but we did so without
anyone getting wet. We exited
the trail around 1:30 pm. Our winter wonderland was pretty much in retreat by then. This 4.3 mile hike I would rate as easy, even in snow. Loved this hike and felt it was so
fortunate to be able to catch it at this moment
of wintertime wonder.
If you would like to see some pictures and a map of this hike, click here.
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