The Sand Cave 2017

The hiking club headed up Ewing trail to visit the Sand Cave for the third time since our inception in 2013.  We have hiked it every other year.  The Sand Cave is within our own county, at least the trailhead is, and it is one of the most magnificent features I have ever seen.

The hike begins in Rose Hill at the Civic Park.  It is among the most difficult hikes we do, and involves quite a climb.  Once at the top on Ridge Trail, you think you have it licked, but the trail drops down over the ridge into Kentucky and the footing becomes a little tough.  But the high steps into the cave can be accomplished by even short legged people like me with the help of hiking sticks.  Once at the bottom, you must navigate a small stream that is created from a waterfall at the cave's entrance.  Then you are there, in a huge opening, that holds an acre and a half of sand.  It is an awesome sight!  If you want to get a nice picture, you then have to climb to the rear wall of the cave in loose, fine sand, and that is difficult too!  However, it is well worth it, and I don't mind returning in the future.

Waterfall at Cave's Entrance

Entering the Cave

From the rear wall

Steele Creek Park

The hiking club headed out to Steele Creek Park this morning.  The fall color is a bit lackluster this year, but the October weather has been great.  Today was no exception.  The day warmed quickly and we explored the park and hiked lakeside and other trails for about 4 miles total.  Steele Creek is quite nice.

Breaks Interstate Park

Today we drove northeast toward the Kentucky Virginia line to Breaks Interstate Park.  It was about an hour and 45 minute drive from Pennington.  None of us had visited the Breaks, or if so, had little memory of it, so we had to get oriented to things when we arrived.  We got a map and selected some trails to hike.  Most of the hikes are short, and don't stray too far from campgrounds, picnic shelters or the park road.  So we didn't have to gear up and carry a load with us like we usually do.  We first hiked about a mile and a half along Lake Trail.  It went downhill from the visitor center and along the lake.  We explored in both directions and walked across the earthen dam to a fairly new small water park area.  After we hiked back to the visitor center and took some pics of some historic elements, we picnicked at the site of the Appalachian Heritage Festival.  Here, they were making molasses, grinding cornmeal, woodworking, and such.  The younger ones enjoyed learning about these skills more than I would have expected.  After we all looked around the festival and finished our lunch, we went toward Loop and Overlook trails.  Here we had multiple views of the gorge that is the signature feature of the park.  We could see the steep face of the mountain cut by Russell Fork of the Big Sandy River.  We could see the river and hear its roar, and even could spot of few kayakers.  A train track ran along the river also, with several tunnels visible as well.  At our final stop, we watched some brave souls zipline along the mountain adjacent to the gorge.  It was a nice day; we have plans to return.

Pinnacle Mountain Fire Tower

Only six of us were available this past Saturday to make the hike to the Pinnacle Mountain Fire Tower.  We met at our usual place at Dot and headed out around 8:00.  We found the trailhead easily just off I-26 exit 32.  There is a small parking area at the trailhead, but it did have nice restrooms available to utilize before the long hike began.  Yes, the long hike.  It is 4.8 miles one way.  Although the hike is lengthy, it is a great trail of packed earth and few rocks.  The ascent is gradual at 300 ft. per mile.  Our group took our time, as usual, and we made it to the tower around 12:30.  The day was beautiful, but a little warm for September.  Several of us took advantage of the shade on the deck of the tower for our lunch spot.  The tower is only a few years old and is well constructed.  It is 40 ft tall and 57 steps with handrails on each side take you to the top.  The trip to the top of the tower is well worth it, as you will be afforded 360 degree views.  After a lunch break at the summit, we took an access road for about 6 tenths of a mile before getting back on the main trail.  The shortcut made our round trip just under 9 miles.

Nice observation deck

Nice packed earth trail with gentle grade

Splashes of red making an appearance early

Sugar Hill Trail System

Had a nice Labor Day Hike on the Sugar Hill Trail System in St. Paul, Virginia.  We had a bunch of hikers today, 16 in fact, out to enjoy the trail.  The Sugar Hill trails have several features that made for a great hike.  One trail is along the Clinch River.  Another section is up on a cleared, bald area, which also was the location of a French Settlement.  Remnants of a chimney are still there, along with a covered picnic shed and a restroom, both of which were pleasant surprises.  Our group enjoyed lunch at the shed, and then hiked back out for about a 4.5 mile hike.  Part of the loop trail was closed due to erosion, but we took a modified route which worked out nicely.  This hike is kind of a hidden gem as it was quite enjoyable, offered varied features, and was not crowded.  The weather was perfect too!

Beautiful view from the trailhead

We walked about a mile along the Clinch

Views from the bald area on the ridge above the Clinch

Frenchmen Settlement remains

Flag Rock

Today we hiked some trails in the Flag Rock area, which the city of Norton is working to improve and expand.  Katie Dunn of the city of Norton volunteered to join us on the hike and show us around, and of course, make sure we found all of our turns.  Her husband, Wally Smith, UVA- Wise joined us too.  It was a little wet from recent rains, but everything was lush and green, and the salamanders were out in force enjoying the damp conditions.

The 5 mile loop starts at Upper Norton Reservoir and loops around, runs along an old forest road roadbed, and makes its way back to the reservoir.  The hike looped through several areas of varying foliage and conditions, meandered by interesting rock formations, and crossed a small stream, which made for an interesting hike.  We exchanged lots of trail and hike information with Wally and Katie as we hiked through the forest.  It was good to see the nicely marked trails and even more trails being installed.  We would like to return, perhaps in late fall or even winter, when the foliage doesn't obscure the views as much.

Kingsport Greenbelt

About 14 of us did Kingsport Greenbelt, at least a section of it, and we were quite pleased with this urban trail.  The trail is nice and wide and quite scenic.  It's hard to imagine that you are in the middle of Kingsport, TN while taking in the views along the trail.  We began at the Eastern end near the Exchange Place and walked about 3.3 miles before heading back.  The trail is well marked with distances both ways, and has a couple of restrooms and water fountains available.  Benches were widely available along the trail as well.  Most of our hike was along Reedy Creek, which was quite muddy from recent rains.  Once we neared the old Kingsport Mall, the creek appeared to be the home of several species of ducks.  We walked a bit further and took a break for a snack and then headed back and called it a day.  We decided though, we would like to return and do the entire trail.

Long footbridge along the trail

Carvers Gap/ Roan Mountain Hike

Today we headed over early to Carvers Gap to hike out on the balds and do a few shorter hikes from the Rhododendron Garden area.  The weather had been iffy most of the week but was forecasted to clear out in the wee hours of the morning.  Well the forecast and reality were quite different.  We arrived at Carvers Gap about 9:30 or so and the parking area was overflowing already, despite the foggy misty conditions.  We first headed out to Round and Jane Balds and the weather had a brief break and the sun and blue skies peeked through the fog.  This afforded us a few views of the valley.  We sat around on a huge rock for a few minutes and then headed down pretty quickly as we noticed the fog rolling back in.  Right about the time we hit Engine Gap the rain started coming down.  We got the raingear out and hurried back to the parking lot.  All except two of us....who took what was thought to be a shortcut and came face to face with a rattlesnake!  Guess he didn't mind the rain.  We decided to see how conditions would be after lunch so we could add to the 3 miles we had already done on the mountain.  We drove up to the Rhododendron Gardens parking area and ate lunch in our vehicles and waited out the showers.  Although we looked like a bunch of drowned rats, we walked around the gardens, which were past prime, so we only saw a few of the Catawba rhododendrons.  After exiting the gardens, we were still fogged in so we decided to call it a day since our other hike options were to overlooks.  Hopefully we will go back again and hike from Carvers Gap to the old Cloudland Hotel site.

Flame Azalea

Jane Bald

Looking out from Jane Bald

A few rhododendron still blooming

The Great Channels of Virginia

We had a record number of hikers for Memorial Day.  Friends and family in addition to our regulars.  But of course, the more the merrier.  Some of us had been before and we enjoyed having others along to enjoy the beautiful views and rock formations.  The Channels have been described as a slot canyon in the East.  The hike is on a fairly wide trail with a gradual climb of three miles.  It was muddier than expected, but otherwise the footing is good on this trail.  At the top, there is an old fire tower, rock outcroppings with views, and the Channels, which is a rock maze.  The hike is well worth the reward of exploring the maze and seeing the views.

Appalachian Trail to Beauty Spot

We finally got to do the hike we had been putting on the schedule since last fall.  Rain, injury, home maintenance etc... prevented us from getting it in, but today was the day!!  Yay!  The hike is Northbound on the Appalachian Trail,  a 4.6 mile total out and back hike to Beauty Spot, a grassy bald with 360 degree views.  It was a bit warm, but the native Southern Appalachian shrubs put on a show to make it a bit less painful.  We were pleased to find the Catawba Rhododendron, Flame Azalea, and Mountain Laurel in bloom.  I took lots of pictures on the way up.  Partly due to the endless views of flowers along the way and partly due to the fact that I needed a rest from the relentless climb in the humid conditions.  The hike was pretty typical of an AT hike.  The trail was well maintained and marked with the white blazes.  There was no issues following the trail.  Most of the hike is wooded until the last few tenths when the trail emerges from the woods onto the bald.  Another great hike for our club!

Laurel Run Park

I had always heard that wildflowers were profuse at Laurel Run Park in April, thus it was a priority to return there in the spring.  Five of us headed over to Church Hill, TN this morning to visit the park.  The wildflowers were not difficult to find; the embankment adjacent to the road into the park were carpeted with trillium, larkspur and wild phlox.  I was excited to begin taking pictures.  We parked, used the restroom, which was super clean, and hit the trail.  The creek was flowing pretty good, but I didn't think much of it.  We crossed the footbridge and were pleasantly surprised that the trail was in excellent condition with few marshy spots.  However after the first climb we headed downhill and approached the next crossing, and unfortunately, the water was too high to cross.  The rocks that are normally used to cross the stream were submerged.  Nobody really wanted to risk having to hike with wet, cold socks for the remainder of the day so we decided to return to a spur trail that said Overlook Trail.  This trail proved to be a bit of a challenge but we arrived at a nice overlook with a bench at the top of a hill that overlooked the entire valley.  We hiked back down to the parking lot and had some lunch at the picnic area.  The day had warmed nicely by then and we explored around the park before returning to Lee County.  Nice park and good day!

Dwarf Larkspur

From the Overlook

White Trillium

Warrior's Path State Park

In April of 2013, our club was founded we and had our first all girl hike this past Saturday, March 25th.  We headed out to Warrior's Path which is one place we had never hiked.  The plan was to hike Devil's Backbone and Fall Creek trails.  We were expecting to have a nice, little hike in a state park.  We found, though, that Devil's Backbone was quite the devil.  It wasn't a long climb, but it was quite steep.  And the day grew quite warm.  Needless to say, we were all a little pooped upon returning to the trailhead, but we had quite a nice hike nonetheless.  We saw a few spring wildflowers peeking out of the leaves, and Fall Creek is a beautiful stream.  It was an unusual hike with a golf course on one side, Fort Patrick Henry Lake on the other.  Once we got out on Fall Creek trail, our view was of a very nice neighborhood that sat overlooking the park.  We all coincidentally ended our day at McAllistar's, where the tea was especially refreshing after this tough little hike.

First Day Hike 2017

This year we participated in a Virginia State Park sponsored First Day Hike at Wilderness Road State Park.  We had a good sized group with a few new hikers despite the persistent drizzle. There were also three other families/couples that participated.  The naturalist was quite pleased with the size of the group, and he led us out on a mile and a half loop with his young son at his side.  We learned a few things about the park, which is quite nice, and some about the flora and fauna in the park.  They had a lot of recent bear activity in the corn field he said.  Martin's fort is supposed to be one of the most authentic in the area.  It was built with the tools and methods of the day.

It was good to get outside and enjoy the day with our group.  Hopefully, we will visit the park again.

View of Martin's Fort

Our group of First Day hikers