Big Creek Loop

 February 26, 2022: The Friday night before our trip, the weather looked relatively good, with little chance of rain for Saturday. Well, so much for weather forecasts. On Saturday morning, the chance of rain had quintupled to around 70% around noon or 1 o’clock, with the temperature hovering around 40° at best. Cold weather and rain can be a really lousy combination. Not wanting to be responsible for a bunch of cases of hypothermia, the trip leader Betsy decided to warn potential participants ahead of time. To her surprise, they all showed up anyway! These brave souls included Tom, Tammy, Will and Patty. It helped that there was no rain when we headed out to Stone Door, nor any ice in in that dark passage. We headed downhill to the Big Creek Gulf Trail, where we found the creek to be high. It provided an entertaining whitewater show as we wended our way upstream. We were not surprised to find that crossing over the creek on the spur trail to Ranger Falls was out of the question unless one wanted to swim. Somewhere along the line it started to rain, but we were all prepared for it. It never rained very hard and we continued to enjoy our walk back up to the canyon rim and along the scenic Big Creek Rim Trail. (Well, it may be a bit of an exaggeration to say that we enjoyed hiking up out of the gorge, but we all made it eventually.) Somewhere along the way, the rain stopped and was replaced by fog. One minute the gulf was there, the next minute it was gone! Surprisingly, this provide interesting variety as we hiked back to the ranger station. All in all, we had a good hike, even in the face of less-than-ideal conditions.  

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

Sewanee Perimeter Trail

 Wow! I didn't expect this.  This was a combined hike with the Highland Rim chapter and the Soddy Daisy chapter and I expected just a few from each chapter.  I thought that maybe the 6 mile length would deter some hikers but boy was I wrong.  The beautiful weather, 68 degrees, along with beautiful clear blue skies, brought out everyone.  We had 20 hikers about half from each chapter.  The hike itself was rated as easy and the total distance was 5.8 miles with a hiking time of 4 hours.  There were mostly flat trails with gradual short ups and downs as well a few rocky places.  There were even a couple of easy creek crossings.   Everyone was having a good time as could be determined by the amount of chatter.  Of course there was the obligatory stops to get a drink and shed clothing as the temperature rose.  At almost the exact halfway point, we stopped for a nice snack before beginning to retrace our steps for the return.  About two miles from the finish we branched off and took a different return trail.  Following the hike, a group of the hikers stopped at an old favorite of ours, The Mountain Goat, for lunch.  All and all a great day.  

If you would like to see a whole bunch of pictures taken during this hike, including maps and altitude graph, click here.

 Five souls braved the elements on Tuesday to hike the Bluff Trail on Lookout Mtn.  As we reached the top of the mountain we were engulfed in thick fog.  This did not bode well for experiencing the beautiful views from the west side of the mountain which is why winter is the best time to hike this trail.  As we turned off the main road and headed west toward the trailhead, like a miracle, the fog disappeared.  We had an unobstructed view the entire length of the trail and no rain.  We proceeded on our hike to Sunset Rock where we enjoyed a snack and nice conversation with a couple visiting from Texas.  I am only sorry that so many others missed out on a great day. 

If you would like to see a couple of pictures taken during this hike, click here. 

Board Camp Creek 2.19.2022

 Prior to proceeding to stage our vehicles at Heiss Mountain Trailhead and begin our hike, we hiked in from Big Soddy Trailhead to check on the water level and flow of Board camp Creek.  The Bridge was still out and the water in Big Soddy was flowing pretty good due to recent rainfalls.  We didn't want to hike all the way down from Heiss Mountain just to find we couldn't cross the creek and have to hike all the way back up the trail.  We all agreed that we would probably all get our feet wet, but the creek was crossable.  We continued to Heiss Mountain trailhead and parked off highway 111.  This cutoff about a mile from the hike, but we offset this with the 2 mile in and out at Big Soddy Gulf Trailhead.  The sky was clear and the temperature was 24 degrees when we started our hike at 9:40 am.  Once we were on the trail, the wind subsided and we were very comfortable with the hike.  The trail was clear except for the spot where we had to run under a waterfall. along a bluff shortly after passing Board Creek Campgrounds.  This was about halfway along the trail.  Shortly after enjoying the unavoidable shower, we stopped and had our snacks.  We continued our hike and crossed the creek at Big Soddy, where we all got our feet wet.  as we thought we would.  We finished the hike around 2:30 under a clear sky and the temperature was a pleasant 50+ degrees.  A great 8+ mile winter hike on a nice trail with good friends.  

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

 Fifteen hikers met near the Whitewater Center on the Ocoee River.  The water tumbled over the rocks and the wind whipped the cold through our coats, hats and gloves.  It was SO cold, as we slung on our backpacks and grabbed our hiking poles.  We walked quickly to the Bear Paw trail.  Once in the forest and sunshine and hiking uphill, we warmed up.  There were only a few downed trees; otherwise the trail was easy.  We hiked the connector path to Chestnut Mountain trail and walked clockwise to Riverview trail.  After hiking awhile, not seeing the river, it was time for a lunch break. Retracing our steps to Bear Paw Loop, we finished the trail by walking across the bridge commemorating the 1966  Olympics held here.  The hike was 5.9  miles with an elevation gain of 1027ft.

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