This Tuesday morning, 14 hikers met on Chilhowee Mountain in the Cherokee National Forest in Benton, TN. It was a good morning for a hike with mostly overcast skies, keeping the temperature around 70 degrees and the enjoyment of occasional breezes, especially as we started the hike. The group started with a 1.5 mile trek down to the falls. While the falls were nice to see, the water flow was scarce (see picture). Making our way back to the main trail, we continued hiking parts of the Clemmer & Laurel Loop Trail, which was mostly easy to moderate. We then veered off, proceeded further west, on the northern part of the Slick Rock Loop trail. Here we got the cardio going & enjoyed some elevation gains. The westward end of this trail is more like a logging road that intersects with Oswald Road, which is the main road up to the Chilhowee Rec Area. We walked along the road to the Gazebo Overlook, enjoying a break and snack, while taking in the awesome views. The final journey was a .7-mile hike on the Gazebo trail, which took us around the campground, McCamy Lake & back to the parking lot/trailhead. Total hike was about 6.1 miles with 550’ elevation gain. Hikers included TTA Scenic City members: Tim Booth (hike leader), Lee Prichard, Tom McNally, Earl Helmer, Walter Harrison, Dave Graham, Lucy Cahill, Bonnie Norton, Ginny Kidd, Bob Anderson, Tom McElhone, Betsy Darken and Sue Christensen. One visitor – Lynn Clark (Lee Prichard’s mother). Afterwards, many on the hike enjoyed a late lunch at either El Maguey or Thai Chili Asian in Ooltewah, TN.
The total distance for this hike was 6.1 miles with a time of 3:38 minutes. If you would like to see some photos taken during this hike click here.
Don't burn bridges, just loosen the bolts a little every day.
No comments:
Post a Comment