mikebellhelo

Date: 08/24/2021 Name: Whiteside Mountain National Recreation Trail Distance: 2.2 Difficulty: Moderate Total Climbing Elevation: 522 Type: Loop Notes: It was a nice day for a hike at ~75°F and clear skies. Being Tuesday, we were surprised by the large number of folks on this trail. We took the loop counter-clockwise with a short, but […]

Date: 08/20/2021 Name: Bartram Trail – Courthouse Gap to Pinnacle Knob & Warwoman Dell Distance: 6.2 Difficulty: Easy to Moderate Total Climbing Elevation: 1175 Type: One Way Notes: Considering the recent heavy rains including the morning of this hike, the trails were in pretty good condition even though wet, but not soggy. The inclines on

Date: 08/10/2021 Name: Park Ridge/Park Creek Trail Loop Distance: 5.7 Difficulty: Easy Total Climbing Elevation: 676 Type: Loop Notes: This was an easy hike with just one short section of incline connecting the Park Creek and Park Ridge Trails. For a well used trail, it was in fair condition, although there were a few sections

Date: 08/05/2021 Name: Blood Mountain & Freeman Loop Trails Distance: 6.1 Difficulty: Difficult Total Climbing Elevation: 1,594 Type: Out & Back Notes: A more challenging hike today with lots of large and small rocks and roots on a well used trail in generally good condition. The weather was good with generally overcast skies and temperatures

Date: 07/27/2021 Name: Bartram Trail-Earl's Ford to Dicks Creek Falls Distance: 5.5 Difficulty: Easy Total Climbing Elevation: 735 Type: Out & Back Notes: This was an easy hike with the trail in good condition without many roots or rocks and well marked with the yellow Bartram Trail blazes. Access to the trailhead is good although

Date: 07/22/2021 Name: AT & Dockery Lake Trails from Woody Gap to Dockery Lake Distance: 7.1 Difficulty: Moderate Total Climbing Elevation: 1050 Type: One Way Notes: We had a small group of four hikers today. The weather was good with partly cloudy skies and temperatures in the 70's, but quite humid. Despite several days of

Date: 07/16/2021 Name: Opossum Creek Falls Trail Distance: 4.8 Difficulty: Easy Total Climbing Elevation: 860 Type: Out & Back Notes: This description covers two hikes, one by Jeanne, Bruce, Vic, Christine and Ray on July 15th and the other by me on July 16th. I got on the trail by 8 AM to take advantage

Date: 07/06/2021 Name: Unicoi Gap to Andrews Cove via Cheese Factory Distance: 6.7 Difficulty: Moderate to Difficult Total Climbing Elevation: 1,450 Type: One Way Notes: Turned out to be a nice day and a nice hike on our second one-way hike. The trail was in good condition considering its heavy use. Rocky and a steady

Date: 07/01/2021 Name: White Twister Trail and Stonewall Creek Falls Distance: 4.8 Difficulty: Easy Total Climbing Elevation: 617 Type: Loop Notes: With the threat of afternoon thunderstorms, we decided to stay a bit closer to home and a lower chance of rain. This worked well and we enjoyed the trail which was in good condition

Date: 06/23/2021 Name: Spoonauger Falls + A Mile Distance: 2.2 Difficulty: Easy Total Climbing Elevation: 174 Type: Out & Back Notes: A wet day, despite a rainless forecast. But, hey, we drove over an hour and were hoping the weather would improve so it was worth taking a chance. The trail is actually in fairly