Turtletown Falls Trip

     A little over 4 years to the day since we had last been to this trail, Jackie and I decided that we would redo this trail.  This trail has two waterfalls along it's 4 mile length.  The last time that we hiked this trail, we only went to one waterfall for some reason.  I would think that we were trying to get back to the paved roads before dark.  We did get lost and had to ask directions the last time we were there. I am happy to admit that I did not have to do that this time.

The Trail Head.  The trail begins in front of the Jeep

     Today, we got to the trailhead around 2.00 PM.  There was one car there already and a Jeep followed us in.  We clipped Mia's nails and headed up the trail.  The trail starts off following an old logging road going up a ridge.  After a steady climb, the road drops down the ridge and begins to follow the creek.  If one wanted to try and fish this stream, there are a couple of good looking holes, but I do not know if it holds any fish.  If you aren't into fishing, there are several good swimming holes along this stretch.  If there has been a lot of rain before hiking this trail, you might want to wear boots since there are little streams that cross the trail going to the creek.

 

This is the Choice.  Waterfalls go to the left if that is all you
want to see.  For a loop ending with the waterfalls, go
straight.

 After .7 miles the road begins to climb again.  Looking closely, off to the left there is a white blaze and a trail going down.  You have to make a choice here, straight or turn?  This time we went straight.  I wanted to end the hike with the waterfalls rather than begin with them.  We hiked up the ridge and then dropped down the back side.  The trail climbed back up another ridge and runs into another trail sign.  To go right would take you to another trailhead that requires an old Jeep or 4x4 to get to.  We turned left and walked along Shinbone Ridge.  The trail winds along this ridge for about 2 miles or so.  We ran into a woman and her dogs and talked waterfalls for a little bit before going on.  The trails comes to what looks like a Y after about .75 miles.  Make sure to stay right, on the road, if you want to get to the waterfalls.  If you want to camp and get away for a night, then go left up the ridge to a nice camp site.      After this Y, the trail goes down hill for the rest of the time.  The trail looks to dead end at Lower Turtletown Falls, but it does not.  Look closely for some of the white i's that mark the trail and it will take you to a lookout for the bottom falls.  Below is a video that I shot from the lookout for the falls.

 

The trail junction to look for.  Easily missed

     After looking at the waterfall, trace your way back along the trail.  Look closely for a tree marked with the white i and a trail going off on the right.  It is after the blow down damage that litters this part of the trail.  The trail goes from logging road to single track.  This trail is better marked than the logging road section, but paying attention following it would not be a problem.  After a mile, this trail comes to Upper Turtletown Falls.  There is a set of steps that the trail follows and to get to the base of the falls, there is a side trail to the right that leads to a viewing area.  The views of the upper falls are much better than the lower falls.  Below is a video that I shot of the Upper Falls.

     After climbing the steps from the Upper Falls, the trail switchbacks a couple of times and continues to climb.  After the switchbacks, the trail's climb is not too steep.  The trail is only .4 miles from the switchbacks to the main trail going back to the car.  

     Overall, this trail is not too difficult.  Make sure to go after a rain so that the falls will be running well.  There are some places along Shinbone Ridge where there might be a view during the winter, but the two waterfalls are the main attraction of this trail.  There are a couple of places to pitch a tent if you are looking for a quick night away.  I am glad that we revisited this trail.  It is always nice to have a secluded trail not too far from home when the urge comes for a quick get away.

  Directions:  take TN HWY 68 to the Farner, TN Post Office.  Turn onto the road running in front of the Post Office and cross the railroad tracks.  After crossing the tracks, take the first road on your left. It looks to be a driveway running right beside a house, but it is a road.  At the next Y, stay left.  There is another Y with Newman Road, stay left but know that you are close.  On the right in the woods ahead, there is the Forst Service road you are needing.  Take it for 1.5 miles to the trail head.  There is an improved creek crossing, with concrete helping to keep it from being rutted out.  This road is not bad.  My Chevy Cobalt did not have any problems going down this road.  If you use GPS, type in 1234 Farner, or Old Farner, Road.  You could all use the intersection feature for Farner Road and Forest Service Road 1166

Cumberland Trail Stinging Fork Falls 10/26/2013

Reaching back into the archives for this trip.  Ever since I heard about the Cumberland Trail, I have been fascinated by it.  When it is finished, it will be a long distance trail that runs from Chattanooga, TN to Cumberland Gap National Historic Park on the Tennessee Kentucky line.  In 1998, the state has come in and decided to help with the trail, naming it the Justin P. Wilson Cumberland Trail State Park.  The trail will be a little over 300 miles long when completed.  There are currently 190 miles of trail open.  In my mind, this trail is like the Benton MacKaye Trail a long trail right in my back yard!
      Stinging Fork Falls like Virgin Falls and the Laurel-Snow Pocket Wilderness used to be owned by the Bowater Paper Company.  Bowater set the lands aside to not be logged noticing their beauty and then they donated the lands to the state.  The Stinging Fork Falls makes up the Falls Segment of the Cumberland Trail.  So far the trail to the waterfall and the overlook are the only constructed parts of the Cumberland Trail constructed in the Falls Segment.  The Cumberland Trail Conference currently does not know how it is going to route the trail through this segment.

The trail from the parking lot

     I always like to find an excuse to hike on the Cumberland Trail.  My wife like to hike when the trail goes by a waterfall.  She says that it give us something to look forward to.  So when I can, I try to find a trail that takes us to a waterfall.  After searching and running the numbers, translates to driving time vs. hiking miles, I ran Stinging Fork by Jackie.  She was up for it. We drove to the trailhead and saw another couple getting out of their car for a hike.  The parking lot is right on the side of the road.  It would hold around six cars.  The trail starts from the side of the parking lot and goes downhill from the start.  It is not a bad slope, but it is downhill.  As the picture shows, the trail starts off grassy, but once past the curve it turns to a dirt trail.
     After half a mile, the trail splits.  The trail that goes to the right, leads to the waterfall and the trail that goes to the left goes to the overlook.  We chose to go left since the other couple went right.  The trail is at most a quarter mile long.  It was fall when we went so the view was fairly good.  The only problem was, there wasn't much to see.  It wasn't a bad view and we were able to see up and down the gorge.

A panorama of the gorge

     We after we finished our pictures we went back to the split and went in the direction of the waterfall.  It was about a mile hike to the falls.  The trail comes to some stairs and then continues down into the gorge.  The trail then goes through several switchbacks while still going down towards the creek and the falls.  The trail becomes very rocky when it reaches the top of the falls.  There is another set of stairs leading down again that were beginning to fall apart when we were there.  As the trail goes down the stairs, it leads you away from the waterfall.  Once the trail reaches the bottom of the gorge it drops into an old roadbed and turns to the left to go back to the fall.

End of Trail at the Falls

     We had not had a lot of rain when we went to the waterfall and it was a little disappointing.  We had hiked to see the waterfall but it was just a trickle.  I could imagine how the waterfall would look running full, but after putting in the work, it was a little disappointing to have to imagine how it would look.
     We hiked back to the car, going a little slower.  It was tougher going back up the gorge to the car.  Once we reached the trail split the trail eased out.  We had hiked some parts of the Cumberland Trail before and I have decided to dub it the trail of switchbacks.  With how the trail is laid out and the terrain that it covers, the trail makers have little choice but to use switchbacks.

Little Hiker Guy I like these

Stairs needing repairs

I would this trail to people.  I have high hopes for how the Cumberland Trail will run when it is finished.  The only thing for this particular trail would be to go after some rain, but that is standard advice for just about any waterfall.  For the Cumberland Trail Conference's page on the hike, visit this page: http://cumberlandtrail.org/website/maps-and-guides/trail-segments/stinging-fork/

National Trails Day 2014 Lula Lake Hike #2

     After our first trip to the Lula Lake Land Trust area, Jackie and I have been wanting to go back and explore some more.  For this year's National Trail Day, we decided to go back.  The Land Trust's popularity has grown since we were last there in 2011.  I was happy to see all of the people on the property.  The Trust must be doing something right.  We got to park close to the trailhead for the main trail, but we were not interest in starting with that trail.  There was a young man sitting by a table who gave us a map of the trails, which was nice since we did not have one three years ago.  We thanked him and walked down the driveway towards the falls.  At the table there was also a small box for donations and stickers for sale.

The creek crossing on Ford Trail

    Just before we got to the exit on the main road, we came to a little trail off to the right called Ford Trail.  It led strait into a creek.  I asked Jackie if she felt like exploring a little and she said she was.  I bent down to pick Mia up before we started into the creek and found a tick on her.  I plucked it off, sent it to its maker, and thought about how it was now summer.  Mia would wind up with two more ticks and I would find one on me.  Jackie seems to have repelled them this trip.  The crossing was not deep and the water wasn't that cold.  If we had hiked further than we had up to that point, it would have felt refreshing.

The North Creek Trail 

     
     After crossing the creek, we joined North Creek Trail, old Trail A.  I hoped it was North Creek Trail at least, there was not a sign.  Without a map I would have still turned left since that was the direction of the falls but I would have been a little more unsure than I was.  The North Creek Trail is just a half mile (.5) long, but with all the ups and downs it felt a lot longer.  The trail follows Rock Creek as it makes its way to the Connector Trail.  This is a nice trail for solitude.  Even though there were a lot of people on the property, we did not see a single person while we were on this trail.  I enjoyed the forest walk with the sound of the creek in the background.  The fisherman in me kept looking in the creek whenever it came into view for the chance swirl of a trout tail or the shadow of a perch, but I did not see anything but minnows swimming in the water.
     The Connector Trail runs up the mountain from the Handicapped parking/Port-A-Potty Bathroom area just beyond the bridge over Rock Creek to the Middle Trail.  We turned left to go down this trail to reach the old railroad grade that would take us to the waterfalls.  This part of the Connector Trail is pretty steep and rocky, but when you are going only a tenth of a mile it isn't bad.
     The falls going into the lake looked very nice this day.  Our still rainy spring gave the falls plenty of water.  There were a lot of people gathered around the lake.  It is a nice place with picnic tables and a couple of the box charcoal grills.  There is a cut where the railroad used to run that you pass through before the picnic tables that I always find interesting.  I love to think about the railroad booms that swept our nation and how men and steam conquered mountains and rivers to expand our national horizons.  I know that I have a slightly rose colored glasses look at this, but Lookout Mountain rises practically strait up from the Tennessee River and I am just awed by the nerves of the engineers who used to drive those old steam trains up the sides of the mountains.  End rabbit trail/rant.  After snapping a few pictures of the lake area, we continued down the trail/grade to Lula Falls.

The trail to the base of the falls.

     On our previous trip, we did not go down to the bottom of Lula Falls.  We felt like exploring more of the area than a hike down into the bottom of the gorge.  This time though we wanted to see the bottom.  I had hopes of possibly recreating a picture I saw on Lula Lake's Facebook site that was taken during the Civil War once I got to the bottom.  The trail to the base of the falls was very steep, washed out, and crumbling.  The picture to the right is just at the start of the trail.  It is quite possibly the best part of the trail down.  Once past the tree in upper center, the trail becomes crumbling sandstone and gullies.  We had to hold onto tree limbs and roots to keep from sliding or falling the entire way to the bottom.  Once we did make it to the bottom though, we were rewarded with great views of the falls.  There were people down swimming and splashing around, but they were careful to not wet others.  It was nice.  I was surprised to see several women in bikinis at the bottom, they are not what I would consider hiking wear but to each their own.  I will admit that they put shorts and shirts on before they climbed back to the top.  Due to downed trees and new plant growth, I was not able to recreate the picture I saw, but in comparing the two I was happy to see that in 150+ years the waterfall had not changed much.  The area below the falls is pretty open and there was plenty of room for lots of people to spread out and do their own thing.  Jackie and I took a spot just to the right of the frame of my picture by a couple who were sunbathing.  We sat for a little while and enjoyed the view and people watching.

The picture from 1860's I wanted to recreate

The picture that I took.

     After we had taken a break, we began the hike out.  It was a pretty tough climb back up to the top of the gorge.  The real hardest part was when we bumped into a guy with a pit bull and the dog wanted to say hi.  I was down hill and the dog was up, so it kept trying to help me get back to the bottom in a quick fashion if you know what I mean.  It really was a sweet dog and the owner apologized for it jumping on me.  I told him no worries, Mia didn't even get excited by the dog, and we went on our way.
     Jackie and I started to go up the Bluff Trail, but it was a little overgrown for my taste and Jackie was a little tick shy so we went back to the car.  To be honest, lunch was calling our name pretty loudly and I didn't want to ignore it much longer.  There was a guy who was struggling after climbing up from the waterfall in front of us.  An older woman from Alabama told us that the guy was on the verge of over heating and she was slightly concerned for the boy.  She was with a group who was there visiting and she said that they had given him some water.  We kept an eye on him until we were able to catch up.  I tried to talk to him a bit as we walked, but he was fairly quiet.  He met up with his group and we went on.
     This trip to Lula Lake wasn't as extensive as our trip three years ago, but I still enjoyed it.  Any time we are able to go there, I find something new that I had not seen before.  The Trust tries to keep the area low impact and it shows.  The trails are similar to hiking in some of the National Forest Wilderness Areas, but are a little better maintained.  If you have the chance one first weekend of the month, I would suggest a visit.  The trail they were making to connect Lula Lake with Cloudland Canyon is now complete so that opens up even more hiking opportunities!  This is the link for the Land Trust http://lulalake.org/

Beech Bottom Trail and Jacks River Falls

     Apparently, it is my habit to put up a bunch of trip reports all at one time instead of right after I finish hiking the trails.  So much for trying to keep the hiking blog current huh?  My wife and I recently decided to tally all of the waterfalls that we have been to in the seven years we have been together.  That total has come to 54, yes that is right fifty four waterfalls.  So, since I have been hiking several more times since the last post and tallying up the number of waterfalls we have been to, I will try to update the blog with trips that are not repeats of what is already on here.  So with that spirit, here goes our trip.

     Memorial Day weekend, my wife and I decided to get out of the house.  Since she loves waterfalls and I did not feel like driving an insane amount of time to go to a falls in our home state that we had not seen before, I talked her into a wilderness hike.  We had attempted the Jacks River Trail before but when we came to the first of forty something water crossings, we decided to turn around.  This time though, I came up with hiking the Beech Bottom Trail to reach the Jacks River Trail and then seeing Jacks River Falls. Round trip, this would be a little over nine mile hike.  The Beech Bottom Trail is 4 miles long and it is another .6 miles on the Jacks River Trail to the falls.

The Parking Area.  At one point it was a fee area but I could
not find a station to pay.  My car is the blue one on the right.

     After talking it over, we set out. Contrary to the directions in the book and living here my whole life, I knew the way to get to the trail head.  Instead of going down Ladd Springs Road all the way, I decided to go Highway 64 to Cherokee Corners and then down the Forest Service Roads to the trail head.  I drive a Chevy Cobalt; this was not the best decision for me to make.  After the rain that we had been having, the road was pretty well washed and rutted out.  I felt like I was back four wheeling in my Jeep, picking the right line so my car would not drag.  It felt like it took forever to reach the trailhead, about an hour or so in reality.  Other than a guy in a Honda S2000, mine was the only car I saw the whole way in.  Sometimes being a man who doesn't always follow the directions isn't a good thing.  Following the directions at the bottom of this post will provide a safer car route than what I took.  It is still bumpy but it is not as bad as the way I went.
     The parking is on the left hand side of the road as you come around a curve, with the trailhead proper

being on the right.  The parking area was just about full when we arrived.  Everything I could find out about the trail said that it was one of the most popular in the area giving easy access to Jacks River Falls.  I could believe it.

     The trail begins pretty much on the state line between Tennessee and Georgia.  After passing the kiosk, there is a sign announcing the Cohutta Wilderness.  The trail then meanders through the forest.  After a mile, the trail drops down and crosses its first creek.  After crossing the creek, the trail begins to climb again.  This is the main climb of the trail and it last for roughly a mile.  After reaching the high point, the trail drops down to Beech Bottom.

An elevation profile of the trail that I have "borrowed" from ChucksNetWerx at Trimble Outdoors

There used to be a hunting camp in this area back in the day, but I did not look too hard for the foundation of any old buildings.  The Forest Service has signs posted all in the area saying that there is no camping allowed between April and October in the bottoms.  If you go after the blackout, the whole place looks like a good area to set up camp.  The trail crosses another creek and meanders through the trees before ending at its junction with the Jacks River Trail.
     Once we reached the end of the Beech Bottom Trail, we turned right to go to the falls.  We started running in to people left and right on this trail.  I was surprised but with it being a holiday weekend, I shouldn't have been.  We just normally do not see so many people on the trails we hike.  After turning onto the Jacks River Trail, it is .6 miles to the falls.  This trail was more narrow and more overgrown in places than the Beech Bottom Trail.   Jacks River Trail is a single track while Beech Bottom follows old roads and I would consider it a double track trail.  The only hard part of this trail was the creek crossing right before the falls.  The rocks are at angles and could pose a hazard with slick soled footwear

Panorama of Jacks River Falls

     Once we reached the falls, it was crowded.  I had heard that the falls were a popular swimming hole but I had no idea they were this popular.  Outside of the Boy Scouts we saw going to Cloudland Canyon, I do not believe that we have seen as many people on a trail in the Cherokee Forest.  I would say the number of people there ranks with our hike to Abram Falls in the Smokies.  Everyone was having a good time and there were plenty of dogs around.  Mia, our 8 year old Chihuahua did not like seeing all the other dogs, but Chihuahua's have that rep.

     After taking all of our pictures and watching the water for a little bit we went back to the creek crossing to eat our lunch.  There were several nice places that people could set up camp from November to March but there was the nice little sign again...

So we ate the snack lunch and rested for about 30 minutes while Mia barked at the dog parade going by.  Everyone apparently got a kick out of our 5 pound Chihuahua doing a 9 mile hike but that is what she knows.  I had heard that there was a "short cut" back to Beech Bottom that would pretty much cut the .6 miles off of the hike back to the car.  There used to be an old trail that ran to the right of the creek that the Forest Service chose to stop maintaining when the area became a Wilderness.  I saw several groups of people going up this old trail and talked Jackie into following it.  It might have been shorter, but the trail ended at a creek crossing and it was a 30 minute bushwhack back to Beech Bottom.  I ended up carrying Mia and hiking up the middle of the creek due to a lab and golden retriever that Mia thought wanted her as a snack.  When we finally hit Beech Bottom Trail again, I told Jackie that our short cut was a bad idea.  Then the thunder rolled.  We began to high tail it back to the car since we did not have rain jackets or my tarp.  On the way back, we had just crested the high part of the trail and turned a curve when the top fell out of a tree 50 yards behind us and crashed to the side of the trail and rolled down the ridge.  That was a little unnerving.  No one was hurt though.  We walked a little faster after that though.  We were glad to reach the car.  The sky had turned jet black than the thunder sounded like it was right on top of us.  For all of our running to get back to the car, we saw no lightning and it did not rain a drop on us.

     Overall, I would give the trail a rating of 3 of 5 stars.  The trail would be more scenic during the fall, and there might be some views during winter, but during the spring and summer it is a green tunnel.  For a group hike to go see the falls and maybe swim, it would be nice.  With the trail being wide, people would be able to talk and carry on freely.  On a physical scale, I would say the trail is moderate, but that is really on due to the length.  It took us roughly 5 1/2 hours to hike to the falls and back, with a 30 minute break in between.  The thunder probably helped to motivate us to hike faster on the way back.   If you are interested in an easy way to see Jacks River Falls or just for a long hike in the woods, I would recommend this trail, but probably not during the summer.

Directions: From Cleveland, TN, head east on TN 74/Waterlevel Hwy. to the US 411 exit; turn right at the end of the exit, heading south. Continue on US 411 for 6.6 miles and turn left on Willis Springs Rd. Go 3.1 miles and turn left on J Wilson Rd. In .9 mile, continue straight on Peavine Sheets Creek Rd. In 5.2 miles, turn left to stay on Peavine Sheets Creek Rd. Go 1 mile and take a sharp right on Big Frog Loop Rd. Continue 4.3 miles to Beech Bottoms trailhead parking.  (borrowed from http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/1449025  I am not good a typing directions so thanks again ChucksNetWerX.  I did use his track on my Backpacker GPS App just to see how it worked)

Assault on Big Frog Take 1

   

Big Frog in Winter.  Photo taken by Jackie

     In honor of Nation Trail Day, Jackie and I decided to try and tackle hiking Big Frog Mountain in Polk County Tennessee.  Big Frog is one of the largest mountains in the local area, reaching around 4,200 feet in height.  Also to the west, there are no mountains that are higher than Big Frog until Texas and South Dakota are reached.  Big Frog was designated as a wilderness area in 1984, the same year that I was born.  With looking at this mountain for my entire life, I have always wanted to climb it.  I mean it is the tallest peak around and the wilderness and I are basically the same age so I had more reason to go to the top.  I have "hiked" to the top of Clingman's Dome, the highest point in the state, several times and so I figured that if I could climb the Dome that I could bag Big Frog.  Recently I began to research the trails that lead up to it.  From Tennessee there are three trails go to the top of the mountain and there is one that come from Georgia.  I looked over the trails.  I wanted to hike the Benton MacKaye Trail up the mountain, but did not know if we would have the time to do most of the mileage.  So I looked at Wolf Ridge Trail, the shortest route up the mountain, and discarded it because it is supposed to be the most strenuous trail.  Then I looked at Licklog Ridge Trail, but it was longer than the others and since we were not planning on camping out, I decided against a 12+ mile day hike, even though we would fly coming down the mountain.  I did not want to hike in from Georgia since the drive would cut into the hiking time.  So, that leaves Big Frog Trail, 5.6 miles of mountain climbing trail.

Copied from http://www.sherpaguides.com/georgia/mountains/blue_ridge/western/map_big_frog_wilderness.html

Wilderness Sign, in the wilderness.

     We got a later start than we planned, but still got to the trail head before 12.  We were also the only ones at the trail head, which surprised me.  The trail starts out on an old Forest Service Road and begins a gentle climb.  There was grass growing along the road, with the trail leading through it. After about a mile, we came to a sign by the trail saying that we were entering the Big Frog Wilderness.  I was slightly surprised to see this sign in the woods.  It was a nice sign, just not what I expected.  There are several wet weather streams that run across the trail but did not pose a problem to us.  We kept climbing and climbing the shallow grade.  Then I felt something on my leg.  I looked down and there was a tick.  No surprise, I mean we were walking through grass along the trail so there was bound to be a tick some place.  We brought Mia with us, and she had two ticks attached and going at it on her.  Then Jackie found a tick crawling her leg.  This gave me a slight pause, four ticks in less than a mile on the trail?  We did not spray any Cutter or Off on ourselves before we left so it was a chance we were taking.  The grass thinned out ahead so we kept going.
   

The trail then met with Rough Creek Trail.  Rough Creek Trail runs for 3 miles in a North-South fashion and connects Big Frog, Fork Ridge, and Licklog Trails.  I was thinking of coming down Fork Ridge and cutting across Rough Creek but the trail looked rough and over grown so I decided against that.  We climbed to Low Gap and turned left following Big Frog Trail on up the mountain.  At Low Gap, there was a trail running down off the ridge to the right and someone had taken a permanent marker and wrote Grassy Gap on the sign pointing at a faint, faint, faint and over grown trail going between the two trails.  After going through the gap, the trail shot up.  It was a steep slog up the mountain.  We hiked past several good camping spots that people had made in the past.  Along the way, we found six more ticks on Mia and ourselves.  Then it happened.  3.4 miles into the hike, 2.2 miles from the top, and around 1,200 feet higher than where we started we were stopped.  The trail hit an area where it was overgrown by grass and ferns.  It was a lovely spot to look at.  I looked at the faint hint of a trail showing through all the green and then at Jackie and Mia.  We were up to ten ticks and would probably get ten more just passing through this grassy area.  I was planning on eating lunch at the top of the mountain.  We were all a little hungry.  Grass.  Food.  Ticks.  Decisions...  With a sigh, I remembered that not everyone reached the summit on their first push and some people who did, did not come back to tell their tale.  I looked and Jackie, petted Mia on the head and said, "Let's turn around."
     So, down the mountain we went.  We stopped at a camping spot right above Low Gap and fixed our lunch of Grilled Cheese Sandwiches.  The new Trangia stove did a good job of cooking the sandwiches.  I misjudged how much alcohol I would need and ran out.  It was not a problem though.  I also bought the Trangia Gas burner and finished cooking lunch.  Both systems worked great.  There was a pretty good wind blowing and I did not have the stove really protected so that helped burn off the alcohol faster.  Looking back on the hike, Jackie and I enjoyed it.  If there were not so many ticks, or we were better prepared for them we would have went on, I think.  I was surprised by the way the trails looked.  In several of my guide books and areas on the internet, people have said how well maintained the trails were.  From what I saw, I would rate these trail maintenance as mediocre.  Still though, trees were blooming and there were flowers growing all along the trail to add color to the woods and I enjoyed the hike.  Aborted or not.  Jackie and I have been talking about it and we will try to reach the top again.  This time though, we will probably go up the path of the Benton MacKaye Trail.  I drove over to its trail head and it looked more maintained.

These were blooming along the trail after the first mile.

Links for more information:
Benton MacKaye Trail information on the Big Frog Section: http://www.bmta.org/sections/BMT-SecDescrip-11.pdf
Summit Post Information: http://www.summitpost.org/big-frog-mountain/185481
Sherpa Guide Information: http://www.sherpaguides.com/georgia/mountains/blue_ridge/western/big_frog_wilderness.html
Forest Service Page: http://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/cherokee/recarea/?recid=35022
TNWild Big Frog Map

An Old Time Favorite

     Well after many chores this morning, we decided to go for a short hike.  After a short discussion, we decided to go to Rattlesnake Falls.  We have been to this waterfall several times in our years together; so it is like an old friend.  The hike itself isn't too long, 1.5 miles there and back.  The parking for the hike is free.  Free is always good.  The only time it isn't, is when the lot is full.

     When we arrived today, there was a family standing by the trailhead and looking at the info kiosk.  Mom and dad were trying to figure out where to go, because the trail splits and one goes up the mountain, past Benton Falls, and to the campground and the right hand branch goes to Rattlesnake Falls, they asked which one would be better.  We told them that they should go to Rattlesnake since they had smaller children.  They said ok and let us get ahead of them.  We did not tell them about the two creek crossing, but after we passed them, we did not see them again.  After a short climb up from the parking lot the trail splits at this sign, go right along the Scenic Spur Trail and to Rattlesnake Falls.

The first trail sign.  Stay right to go to Rattlesnake Falls.

     After passing this sign, the trail goes into a saddle and then up the ridge.  If you choose, you could go left at the sign and then cut right at an unsigned post and be on the trail.  That way is a little less strenuous but it does not cut off distance.  After climbing to the top, the trail drops again and goes through some timber and comes to another cross trail

The second trail sign.  About a half mile in.

Stay strait here to go to Rattlesnake.  The first water crossing is about a third of a mile from this sign.  It is the worst, in terms of trying to stay dry, if you are that type.  The rocks are clumped together on the parking lot side of the creek, but not really close enough together on the other to keep from getting wet.  There was a downed tree that we walked across today.  I do not know how long it will be there but I was a little worried going across it.  The trail then climbs, levels out, and climbs again but it is not strenuous.  After leveling out the trail begins to drop and there is the second creek crossing.  This one has rocks all across so unless there is a super amount of water flowing, it should be a strait forward crossing.

     After the second crossing, the trail begins to climb again.  Fairly strait up climb.  Then, with the water flowing in the creek below, you hear it.  Walking a little more you can begin to see it through the trees...  A waterfall!  It is a nice waterfall, casting spray and noise down the little valley.  Walking a little further the trail runs into a rock bluff.  Turn right and ease through the slippery rocks and mud and this is the sight.

This is Lower Falls or Rock Creek Falls.  The first waterfall you come to.

This is the way down to Lower Falls.

Go up along the bluff face to go back to Rattlesnake Falls.

After taking a break, turn back up the bluff and walk past the trail and begin scrambling along the bluff face and work your way along the top to reach Rattlesnake Falls.  I am not sure what the waterfall we just left is named.  Some people call it Rock Creek Falls and others just call it the waterfall.  After scrambling up the bluff, follow the worn trails up the creek.  The Forest Service tries to trick you into thinking the bottom falls is what you want to see, but with about .1 mile of bush whacking, you can see Rattlesnake.  All of the hiker made trails end at the creek.  To really see the waterfall, you must rock jump across and up creek.  I meant to take a picture of the rock garden you have I go through, but I was busy carrying the dog and helping the wife...

     After all the work, this is your sight..

Rattlesnake Falls

Rattlesnake Falls. There are rocks to rest on and it is a good place to eat a picnic lunch if you have one.  Also there is a swimming hole if you are so inclined.  I got some water from the falls and put it in the kettle with my new Trangia stove to see how it does in the wild, but lots of people kept coming up and I got tired of shooing dogs and kids away from a warm stove and aborted the test.  Hopefully a kit report will be following at some point. 

     So once you are done at the waterfall, all that is needed is to retrace your steps back to the parking lot.  If you are inclined, the Clemmer Trail runs up to the top of the mountain and past Benton Falls.  The Clemmer Trail is what the Spur Trail branches off of.  We have hiked it before.  It is not bad.  Just give yourself some time.  We ran out of daylight before making it back to the car when we did it.  Round trip is around 9 miles.  If you take the Clear Creek Trail, it goes to Highway 30 by a picnic table or up the mountain to the lower camping area.  I have only hike about 3-3.5 miles of Clear Creek and was not impressed.  But if you are in the area, maybe rafting/kayaking/canoeing the Ocoee River, and want a quick hike then this trail to Rattlesnake Falls is a good choice.

Virgin Falls Pocket Willderness

     This trip is a difficult trip for me to write about.  Mainly, because I did not enjoy it.  There was nothing wrong with the hike or anything like that.  I was sick.  To be honest, I should have stayed at home, but Jackie and I had planned on seeing this waterfall for a while and finally had the time to do it.  I felt like it was a now or never venture and sick or not I was going to go.

     The hardest part about the hike is getting there.  Do not follow Google's directions.  They have a habit/history of taking people about two hours out of the way and on a dirt road trip.   Then if you do not run into someone who knows something about the area, then you might not make it to the falls.  The first thing to do is to find DeRossett TN, which is near Sparta TN. and on Highway 70.  When there turn south onto Eastland/Mourberry Road (the map on my iPhone says Eastland and my directions say Mourberry). The intersection forms something of a Y and there is a small, small sign signaling the way to the pocket wilderness.  Then go about 6 miles and then turn right onto Scott's Gulf Road.  After turning onto the road, which is gravel, the parking lot will be 2 miles on your right.  There, the hardest part is over with.  After the hike, you might disagree.  The mileage for these directions was taken from 40 hikes in Tennessee's South Cumberland 3rd Edition.

     The trail is on the north side of the parking lot.  It winds it's way through the woods and crosses over a small creek.  The trail then comes to a major creek crossing.  Unless it has been dry for a while, like it had been when we went, you will get wet. There is a metal cable strung across the creek to help with the crossing.  I remember that people had tents and a hammock set up here when went.  The trail here begins to decend.  After about a mile to a mile and a half, you come to Big Laurel Falls.  It was dry when we went so the falls were not going like I have seen in pictures.  The trail continues going down along the ridge.  Going in is not bad.  After about two miles the trail comes to Sheep Falls.  It was hard to see this falls due to its location and all of the trees.  The trail then begins a loop down to Virgin Falls. 

The trail crosses this creek.  There is a metal line to hold onto while crossing.

     The falls the day that we went were running about half or less capacity.  It wasn't bad but with the trees being bushed out we could not see much.  The waterfall comes over the brink of a cliff and then plunges into a cave.  It comes from the earth and goes back into the earth.  There are two camping places around the falls. Both were taken when we went.  I still found room to string up my hammock for us to eat some lunch.  The trail here makes a loop and swings around from one ridge back to the ridge we came down on the way in.  At this point the trail has hit the four mile mark.  There are four miles left to go before the car comes back into view.  As the loop swings around to take you back to the main trail, there is a side trail that goes to the Caney Fork River.  Seeing as how I also like to canoe, I have often thought about a canoe trip with a side hike to the falls.  Riding in a canoe is a lot of fun, especially when an 8 mile hike can be shortened a little.

This is the best picture of Virgin Falls that I have.    It is about the middle of the falls.  The falls themselves are around 100 feet tall.

     The return hike is not bad.  It is all up hill.  The whole way.  All 4 miles.  The slope is not that bad, but it is there the whole way.  There are a few steep sections, but nothing that last for more than maybe .25 of a mile.  While going back to the car I kept wishing for two things, one that I felt better and two, for a tent so that we could camp out.  The trail is worth the effort.  Even with the water being low, the waterfalls were ok.  We had hike just as far and seen worse so on the day we went I would give them a 5.  With more time I would not mind going back and camping out this time.  Hiking this trail is an all day affair.  But again if you have the chance, go for it.

Here is the TN website on the area: http://www.tn.gov/environment/na/natareas/virgin/
Map of the hiking trail is found here: http://www.tn.gov/environment/na/natareas/virgin/virgin.pdf