Little Cedar Mountain 5.17.2022

 Little Cedar Mountain has always been one of my favorite hikes.  Once away from the highway noise, it is a absolutely beautiful walk in the woods.  There are many diverse landscapes and our favorite lunch space overlooks the Tennessee River.  We had 14 hikers on this perfect day with temperatures in the high 70's to low 80's.  We did the outer loop conveniently titled Cedar Mountain Trail.  This trail is just over three miles long and would rate it as mostly easy.  We did miss one turn, but it quickly became evident that we were no longer on the trail.  I think those that had not hiked this trail before, were pleasantly surprised. 

If you would like to see a few photos taken during this hike including maps, click here.  

Raccoon Mountain 5.14.2022

 

I think this hike may be one of the last spring-time hikes for 2022.  It was a fairly pleasant hike up to Laurel Point.  Though it was approximately 5 miles up and 1500 feet of altitude gain, the humidity was only in the 70% range.  The temperature got up to the lower 80’s.  There seemed to be few bikers on the trail that we had to lookout for.  I think there may have been a race being held on one of the other trails.  After several missed turns trying to get to the trailhead, we began our hike from the boat ramp up the mountain with our final upward destination being Laurel Point.  We had lunch at one of the covered pavilions on top.  We weren’t treated to much of a view of the valley below when we reached Laurel Point – the foliage has already reached a point where most of the view on the west side of the mountain is blocked.  We then began our descent after spending a few moments on the point.  We were on the Live Wire trail for a while until we connected with the High Voltage trail on the descent.  We arrived back at the boat ramp around 3pm.  The downward hike left me with sore feet for the rest of the day.  None of the possible predicted showers showed up and the trail condition was very good.  We estimated the hike was a strenuous 11+miles.  

If you would like to see pictures taken during this hike as well as a trail map, click here.  

Cloudland Canyon, Lollipop Loop, 5.10.2022

 When we arrived at Cloudland Canyon, there was a little mix-up of the meeting place, but we quickly straightened this out.  This was another joint hike with the Highland Rim Chapter.  When we all finally got together, there were 19 total hikers.  We set out around the canyon to the West Rim which was a nice hike to the Lollipop Trail.  This trail is kind of shaped like a lollipop with a loop followed by an out and back section.  The total distance was just short of 6 miles with lots of ups and downs, roots and rocks.  The weather was absolutely beautiful and the overlooks were spectacular.  Joan led the hike and as usual kept us all together which can be a daunting task.  Everyone survived and had a very good time.  

If you would like to see a bunch of photographs of this hike, including an altitude graph, click here.  

Piney River 5.7.2022

 

Saturday the club hiked the Duskin Branch/Piney River trail from Newby trailhead to the Piney River trailhead on Shut In Gap road.  The journey was 9.7 miles with an elevation gain of 860 ft with a perfect day in the forest with cool temps in the 50s to 60s.  The trail was exceptionally well maintained, except for 1 downed tree that we climbed through, over and around.  We stopped at White Pine cascades to take some pics. We then hiked the spur down to Spider Den Bluff; didn’t see any spiders but nearly walked on the Lady Slippers growing on the path.  After lunch next to the river, we continued our trek up the bluffs, and then down to cross the many bridges over the river, a few places of tumbled boulders as the path, required careful walking.  The Mountain Laurel is blooming as the trilliums are fading.  Check the pictures if you would like to see a beautiful picture of a Tennessee Newt, a type of Salamander. 

If you would like to see some some very nice pictures, click here.  

Stringers Ridge 4.26.2022

 I don't have a description for this hike as I wimped out due to the rainy conditions.  By looking at the photos, I can tell that everyone had a slightly wet, but great time hiking the ridge.  

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

Just a thought; If you dress like a cowboy, are you ranch dressing?