Devil's Bathtub

Our second trip to Devil's Bathtub was on the first chilly day of fall this year.  We headed out in low 40 degree temps and some brisk winds, but just as I suspected, there was little wind in the Devil's Fork hollow.  The weather was near perfect for hiking and the creek was low, making it easier to navigate than on our first trip last year.  We all managed to stay dry and didn't even need the gaiters we were sporting; they were just a fashion accessory.  The leaves had begun to turn and some had fallen to sprinkle the shale creek bed with gold.  It's a very beautiful area and I can imagine it would be quite refreshing to take a dip on a summer day.  On the return trip we stopped in Ft. Blackmore at Mann's Farm to purchase some apples and other goodies.  Ah..fall has arrived.

High Knob Recreation Area

The hiking club got back on the trail again after about a 6 week hiatus.  The humid, stormy weather that continued throughout August kept us waiting for a nice weekend.  Yesterday was perfect.  We had most of the gang out and a couple grandsons too.  We visited the newly reconstructed observation tower first.  It was very nice and offered some great 360 degree views.  From there, we hiked down Chief Benge trail for a 2 mile round trip and then headed down to the lake area.  At the lake, we were pleased to find restrooms and picnic tables.  After a picnic lunch, we headed out on lakeside trail.  We found it interesting that the area was well kept, with some nice touches, like fairly new cedar benches, and a trail bridge for viewing the spillway at the dam, but there is so little information on the trails.  There are many miles of trails connecting the recreation areas in the national forest between Wise and Scott counties.  It would be great to have a good map with accurate mileages.  We only logged 3 miles on the trail, but we were happy to be in the woods again!  And those kiddos sure seemed to enjoy their hike too!

AT to Watauga Dam

We finally got our crew together for a hike!  Vacations, reunions and sickness had kept this group of regulars from hiking together for quite some time.  So we didn't lack enthusiasm as we headed out and caught up with each other.  Even the the "bears are active in this area" warning signs did not deter us.  This was a nice, not too difficult hike along the AT to Watauga Dam, an earthen TVA dam.  The weather, though hot, wasn't terribly humid except for a couple of times when we were deep in the thickets of rhododendron.  There were nice scenes and it was interesting to see glimpses along the way of the many ways people enjoy the lakes in our region.  We saw stand up paddleboarders, jet skiers, pontoon fishermen, kayakers, mattress loungers, trail runners, backpackers, and of course, the common bass boat fishermen.  I think several of us were wishing we could frolic in the lake after being on the trail a few hours!

Shillalah Creek Road

The club had only one member willing and able to attempt this 10 miler!  The trail is actually the route that Cumberland Gap National Park staff uses when they take people up the mountain to tour Hensley's Settlement.  Bob said he made it despite the straight up hike without switchbacks to relieve the climb.  He also got wet, as we have had several days of storms in the area.  Bob returned with lots of good information though, because he got the opportunity to hike with the new Cumberland Gap Park ranger, and also because Bob doesn't mind asking questions. LOL!

Tri-State Peak/Cumberland Trail

The hiking club put together a hike to nearby Tri-State Peak after having to scratch the trip to devils bathtub due to it being fully booked.  Tri-State peak is always a popular hike, as it is fairly short, 1.4 miles on way, and takes you to the marker where Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia meet.  The Cumberland Trail, which is part of a trail system being developed all the way to Chattanooga, can also be accessed from Tri-State Peak trail.

Little Stony Falls / Bark Camp Lake

Headed out on Memorial Day to enjoy a short but scenic hike to see the falls of Little Stony.  There are three falls, each unique in their own way.  The laurels were beginning to bloom, and the wild magnolias were blooming.  The forest was cool and it was even cooler when we were in close proximity to the falls.  Fortunately, the rocks weren't slick this year and we had no mishaps as we walked out near the smaller of the three falls and did a little exploring and picture taking.  We decided to do the hike around Bark Camp Lake another time, although some of us ate lunch there and had a look at the trail.  We will be back to do that one. It would be gorgeous in the fall.

Mount Rogers Hike

There simply are no words to describe the vistas we enjoyed on this hike.  I am just incredibly thankful that our group was created so that we can go to all these wonderful places and hike.  The pictures speak for themselves.  We had views on about 3/4 of the hike.  The entire gallery of pictures is on our Facebook page. Lee County Hiking Club Facebook page

Iron Mtn/AT in Damascus VA

Well we decided to head over to Damascus and hike a bit of the Appalachian Trail while exploring the Damascus area.  We hiked about 6 miles: part in town, part on AT and Iron Mtn. Trails and a little of the Virginia Creeper too.  The hike began with a little "oops" as we accessed the wrong trailhead, which was my mistake, but we just decided to hike that route instead of our planned hike.  It certainly is nice to have agreeable hiking club members!  We decided we liked our chosen route better as the Creeper trail section was much shorter.  The Creeper trail was full, literally full, of bikers today!  It would have been harrowing to dodge those bikers for 4 miles!

Skylight Cave/Honey Spur Trail

What a beautiful day!  Trees are leafing out and the mountains are dotted with redbud and dogwood in full bloom.  Wildflowers are making their show too!  We had 10 hikers today including a few new hikers.  We are always happy to have more hikers!  The club logged about 6 miles today on the Skylight Cave trail, Honey Spur trail and Lewis Hollow trail in the Cumberland Gap National Park.  Stay tuned, we are heading to Damascus and Grayson Highlands next month!

Cave Springs Hike

Lee Hiking Club kept it close to home today and explored the Cave Springs area.  We arrived to find that the gate still locked although the hiking trails are stated to be open year round.  But we were not deterred; we are a hiking club after all!  So we parked roadside and hiked the half mile to the trailhead.  The weather was darn near perfect, with warm temps even at the beginning of the hike.  We hiked to the cave, the overlook and beyond.  We flushed a turkey off its nest and it took flight across the ravine below us.  The only less than perfect things were the blow downs blocking the trail and some blood thirsty ticks!

High Rock and Bad Branch Falls

Whew!  What a hike!  You ever heard of someone who claimed they went somewhere that was uphill both ways?  Well...this hike was uphill both ways!  We had a climb to the waterfall, which was a really nice falls.  It is about 60 ft. high and it was roaring.  Then we climbed to 2,900 ft to an intersection with Pine Mountain trail, descended to about 2,400 ft and up again to almost 3,000 ft.  The views from High Rock were just spectacular! And the huge expanse of rock was too!  Of course on the hike back we had that 500 ft to climb again, and we were dreading it. LOL!  Really glad we that we did this hike this time of year because it was one snaky looking habitat and we had to navigate among the rocks many times on the trail.  Another hike checked off our list!  Off to Damascus in a couple of weeks!

Bays Mountain

We had a very pleasant hike today!  We seem to be getting lucky with our selection of hike weekends.  It was a calm day with just enough warmth to be perfect for hiking.  The sky was deep blue, and we had great views through the naked trees.  We hiked the Azalea trail to the antennas and then out the ridge to the firetower, where we had lunch.  The trail, except for a few marshy areas, was easily navigable, which was quite nice, especially after having to watch our footing closely on recent hikes. We've gotten off to a great start this year!  Looking forward to many more hikes!

Chadwell Gap to Hensley's Settlement

Wow!  That was a tough hike.  We hiked over 8 miles and were on the trail over 7 hours.  The weather was warm and sunny until we got to the Ridge trail which crosses over into Kentucky on the north side of the mountain.  Up there, the wind fierce and the snow from Tuesday afternoon had not melted.  We hiked in about 6 inches of snow for the last mile, and observed tracks of raccoon, coyote, deer, and......bear.  A big bear it seemed had meandered around Hensley's settlement.  Thankfully we didn't encounter the bear; the tracks looked a couple of days old.  We ate lunch at Hensley's Settlement and didn't tarry long there.  I think all of us were anxious to get back for some southern trail exposure!

Kane Gap Hike

We began the new year with our own First Day hike.  It was a beautiful, sunny day and we logged 6 miles on a logging road. LOL!  Kane Gap is the route Daniel Boone and other early settlers took as they walked toward Cumberland Gap from East Tennessee.  We were joined by three geocacher guests from Wise County and we got lots of helpful information from them concerning some Wise Co. trails.  As we headed back down the logging road, we decided to divert the water from the road, which caused it to be quite muddy and soft.  We stopped three or four times and used a little teamwork to correct the course of the water to the ditch or across the road.  So today we were able to meet some new people, exercise out on the trail, catch up with each other, and perform some trail maintenance.  We ended the day with a little food and chit-chat at the local McD's.  What a fantastic way to start 2014!!