Sluder Lane to Deep Creek

Today we had seven hikers (Boodie, George, Gloria, Bob, Carl, Gary, and John). The hike is rated as strenuous and was about 6.5 miles. The day was pretty but cold with the morning temperatures starting around 20 degrees. We originally planned to hike to Big Soddy Creek  but turned around at Deep Creek due to icy conditions and above average water levels in Deep Creek. One of our hikers tested the water temperature at Deep Creek and found it to be a little chilly. A few pictures of the hikers and icicles are attached. All seemed to enjoy the hike.

A few of us stopped by the Huddle House to enjoy a chocolate milkshake on the way home.  

Mowbray Pike

Today's hike on the Cumberland Trail left from the Mowbray Pike trailhead and traveled to Sluder Lane. This is considered the southern-most part of the Soddy Gorge segment and its’ length was approx. 5 miles and would be considered by most as moderate. The weather was sunny with the temperatures ranging from mid 40’s at the beginning of the hike to lower to mid 50’s at the finish. This hike included a total of 13 hikers and a very friendly canine and we had to stage vehicles at the two trailheads in order to complete our hike. The water in the creeks was up and running well today and created several small but scenic waterfalls to enjoy along the way. Our hike leader was George Bonneau and thanks to his leadership we didn’t lose a soul along the way. Many of us finished up the hike by stopping in at the Blue Ribbon Café located in Soddy Daisy and the food was almost as good as the hike! If you would like to see a few pictures click on the Mowbray Pike tab above.

Rainbow Lake

Today there were only two hikers.  The number of hikers was definitely reduced due to the anticipated rainy weather forecast.  As in the words of our famous hike leader, "The others must have wimped out."  Other than a light misting in the Bi-Lo parking lot, the remainder of the morning on the trail was rainless.

"Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather."

We left from the Rainbow Lake trailhead and deviated from the planned route on the chapter’s hiking calendar.  Instead of staging a vehicle at Rainbow Lake and one at Signal Mtn. Highschool, since there were only the two of us, we decided to just take one vehicle and hike a modified Rainbow Lake Loop utilizing the blue blazes where we crossed a swinging bridge on the North end of the loop.  From there we hiked South where we picked up a portion of the Cumberland trail heading to Edwards Point and then diverted to an atv or spur trail leading away from the ridgeline through the forest on top of the plateau and back around to Edwards Point.  There we had a short lunch and picked up the Cumberland trail again along the ridge where the trail was flowing at times with quite a bit of water.  On the ridge trail there were multiple waterfalls cascading down the ridge to Middle Creek.  We met four young ladies along that portion of the trail which were on their way to Edwards Point but I cautioned them against the upcoming water crossing that faced them in about a quarter mile or less.  They were wearing low cut trail shoes which were no match for the upcoming heavy and fairly deep stream of water.  On all of the trails we experienced multiple water crossings much wider as well as deeper today than normal due to the heavy downpours from the night before.  After descending down the trail to cross Middle Creek for a second time on the longer swinging bridge near the Rainbow Lake Dam we left the CT and picked up the Rainbow Lake Loop where we made it back to the trailhead.  Later we saw the young ladies back at the trailhead and they had made a wise decision not to attempt the water crossing but to return and tackle it another day.  Our hike ended up totaling approx. 6.5 miles and I certainly appreciated George (our hike coordinator) having the tenacity not to call off the hike due to projected poor weather conditions. I would rate the hike as difficult.  If you would like to see a few pictures of the hike, click on the Rainbow Lake tab above.  Thank you Larry for the hike description.  

North Chickamauga

This hike consisted of 11 hikers.  On our Saturday hike we started from the upper trailhead on the North Chickamauga segment near Grant Road traveling towards the Montlake Road trailhead. We began by going off trail and following the orange tape on the trees instead of taking the logging road to the trail intersection. They definitely ran out of tape before we came to the trail intersection back on the road but it was fun. There were three young ladies that had traveled from the Nashville Chapter to hike with us as well as another young lady from Flintstone, Georgia which made the hike that much more enjoyable. The trail was challenging at times, due to quite a few trees down between trail heads, the Cooper Creek crossing, ice on the trail in sections and the cable crossing at the water falls was exciting to say the least. This was my first time on this trail and I noticed that most of it was not built to CTC standards - lol. All in all it was a great hike and I believe one of the ladies put it best when she said that they wouldn't have any trouble going to sleep that evening!  The hike would be considered moderate and was about 8 miles in length.  If you would like to see a few pictures click on the North Chickamauga tab above.  Thanks to Larry for the description of this hike.  

Roaring Creek

1.1.14  This hike was on the Roaring Creek segment of Graysville Mountain.  There were 7 hikers.  They hiked a little further than necessary due to a wrong turn.  The total distance was 7.4 miles.  At an overlook at approximately the halfway point they had a hot lunch to celebrate January 1, 2014.  You can see the spread in the pictures.  Everyone had a delightful time.  I would rate this hike as moderate.  To see a few pictures, click on the Roaring Creek tab above.