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