Another very nice hike led by Trish.  This time we headed for a further away location along the Ocoee River.  Trish had the forethought to call the ranger station and check on the trails beforehand.  She was told that our original selection was probably not the best idea and could possibly be washed out.  Therefore, she led us on a trail that was not the original selection.  It worked out wonderfully.  The day was a overcast for the most part and this made it much cooler than some of our recent hikes.  We had an excellent turnout of sixteen hikers.  The water table was the lowest I have ever seen.  Because of this, we had an excellent opportunity to see what was normally hidden by water.  This hike did take a little longer than usual at 3 hrs and 8 min.  I was expecting about a 4.5 mile hike, but the distance shown on my GPS, was 5.6 miles.  Up on finishing, I counted 14 souls which equates to about an 88% return rate.  Pretty good I think!  Actually we all made it back to our vehicles for the longish ride back to our original meeting place in Ooltewah.  If you would like to see a bunch of pictures, including a map and altitude graph, click here. 

Glenn Falls 10.2.18

Fourteen of us started at the trailhead across the road from Ruby Falls on Tuesday, October 2. After a short walk on the Whiteside trail we started up the Shingle trail and looped back down the mountain to Ochs highway. Here we crossed the road to the Glen Falls Trail. We received our reward as we reached the Falls area because it was running fairly strong following the recent rains. It was a treat to explore this beautiful area as we climbed up through the rocks to view the area from a variety of perspectives. On the way back, some hikers took a shortcut down to St. Elmo while others retraced their steps back to the parking lot. We all met up again at a new lunch spot, The Parkway, on Riverfront Parkway. Everyone agreed, it is now near the top of our favorite lunch spots.  If you would like to see some pictures, click here.

This was one of our longer hikes.  I would rate this 6.2 mile, 4 1/2 hour hike as easy-moderate.  The moderate part is because of the distance, temperature and one moderate up-hill section.  It was definitely a very humid day with not a breath of air flowing.  The thirteen hikers were soaked with perspiration at the end. We met some of the hikers at Reflection Riding and then drove to the Gazebo.  This was a good plan as this removed about 1.5 miles of an already long hike.  Skyuka Springs was flowing, but the amount of water was quite low.  At the springs, we enjoyed a break for a snack.  Five of the hikers left us and returned at this point.  Just as we ended the hike, the rains came.  Lucky we were at our vehicles before it rained hard.   I took a couple of group pictures at the springs, but for some reason, they just weren't there when I downloaded all of the pictures.  I have no idea why.  I guess someone was not smiling!  Anyway if you would like to see some pictures of the hike including a couple map pictures and an altitude graph, click here.

Club BBQ 09.13.18

Oh what a good time we had.  Trish again was hosting the annual BBQ at her house with the ever present Donna taking care of the details.  Thanks to both of you.  What a spread we had.  There was BBQ Brisket, BBQ Chicken, BBQ Ribs and my personal favorite BBQ Pork.  Of course there were salads, breads, chips, pineapple something or other which seemed to be a favorite of everyone and of course George and Sarah brought their home made icecream, Yum! I think it goes without saying that everybody had a good time.  News of this event must be spreading because there were members present that I had never seen before and some that hadn't been on a hike in years.  There might have even been a couple of interlopers!  If you would like to see a few pictures of the event, click here.  If you have trouble opening the site try copying this link to your browser and opening it from there.
 https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipNPt7oYbIAV74LBePcLWWKq2CTGgppL19Vp3-3doHTBMsKzO5dkvtIta6UBN8iCvA?key=cTh5UjNZbXBhbUFIZTkycWlrR0k1dmVnSnU4VUhB

Benton Falls 9.11.18

Another fabulous hike presented by Trish.  We had a rather long drive up to the trail head.  It was quite foggy on the way up the last 7 miles but once we broke through the fog layer there were only high clouds blocking the sun.  This was fine as it made for a much cooler hike than normal.  The only problem was that the fog obscured the overlooks on the way up.  However, on the way back down the fog had lifted and we had some really beautiful views.  The the problem was condensation on the camera lens which ruined some of the pictures.  The total distance of this 2.5 hour hike was 3.5 miles and I would rate it as mostly easy with a couple of moderate areas.  The falls were absolutely beautiful as you can see by the pictures.  At the falls most of the hikers had snacks and lunch.  On the way back, we took a slightly different route which made the hike a loop and more interesting.  Everyone of the 14 hikers had a great time I think.  If you would like to see a bunch of pictures including a map and altitude chart, click here.