Scott's Gulf Wilderness State Park

The Murfreesboro and Plateau chapters hiked Amber's Glen, a new trail at Scott's Gulf Wilderness State Park. Sheila Miller of the Plateau chapter led the hike with 7 others. After leaving cars at the Virgin Falls trailhead, we drove to Welch's Point to begin the hike. The group photo was taken at Welch's Point and Carol Hill of Spencer joined our group but didn't make it in time for the photo. We hiked the Amber's Glen Trail down to the Caney Fork River. Morgan Brown, an experienced caver knew exactly where the Amber's Den cave was located near the river. We had lunch at Big Laurel Falls and then hiked to the Virgin Falls trailhead on the steep Hemlock Springs Trail. The hike was longer than the map indicated, and the total hike was about 7 miles. Hikers were Jay Brain, Jean Breuer, Morgan Brown, Carol Hill, Mandy Mew,  Sheila Miller, Bob Obohoski, and Sara Pollard.

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Mullens Cove Loop

Cheryl Smith led a hike on the Mullens Cove Loop - a side trail of the Cumberland Trail and located in the Prentice Cooper State Forest.  Along with her grandchildren Shy and Albany, there were 4 other hikers. By starting the trail counterclockwise, we got the rock garden out of the way first. We enjoyed lunch at the Mullens Cove overlook. We hiked through the Hemlock Branch campsite, which was dry and then on to take a break at Snooper's Rock. It was a challenging hike with lots of ups and downs, but the fall colors were beautiful, and perfect weather for a hike. Other hikers were Jay Brain, Anna Lina Buckley, Sara Pollard, and Hoa Smith. 

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North Chickamauga Gorge Overnight Backpack

We had four backpackers to hike into the Stevenson Branch campsite to camp overnight. We started the hike at the Barker Camp Road trailhead on Thursday morning. The hike to the campsite was pretty easy until we descended down to hike along Cooper Creek. The trail was narrow and rocky. We came to our campsite after crossing the Cooper Creek bridge. There was only a trickle coming from the waterfall and the Stevenson Branch was dry. We could still filter plenty of water though from the North Chickamauga Creek next to our campsite. After setting up camp and eating lunch we decided to take a short hike to the Cable Crossing Campsite. Even though it was only a mile away, it took us over an hour to get there. The trail after leaving Stevenson Branch was extremely steep, narrow and rocky. We had to do a lot of boulder scrambling. We enjoyed a nice fire that evening and hiked out the next morning to our vehicles. Backpackers led by Sara Pollard were Scott Jordan, Cynthia Skidmore and Todd S.

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Peacock Hill Nature Park

We had a small group of hikers to enjoy the day at Peacock Hill Nature Park about 30 miles from Murfreesboro and in Williamson County. We first stopped in the Visitor Center that was a Bed & Breakfast in the past. The owners restored the cabin with antique items that were originally there. We hiked all the trails for a total of 6 miles. It's a well-maintained park with plenty of benches, a chapel, small pond, and lookout tower. Hikers were Jay Brain, Cindy Charest, Sara Pollard and Raisa Zavelion.

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Normandy Lake Paddle

There were 5 kayakers who spent several hours paddling Normandy Lake in Manchester. We headed left from the boat ramp, paddled under the Mountain Road bridge and explored the northern section of the lake. We enjoyed a nice take out for lunch at a picnic table. Kayakers were Jim Barritt, Judith Fries, Joan Hartvigsen, Lacee Lanier, and Sara Pollard. 

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Chilhowee Camping, Hiking, and Kayaking

 

Joan Hartvigsen of the Highland Rim chapter reserved 4 campsites in the Chilhowee Campground located in the Cherokee National Forest. The campsites were located in Loop A and were close together. We had 4 tent campers and Brian and Ruth Wofford stayed in their RV next to our campsites. We enjoyed a meal together the first evening. Brian grilled brats and hot dogs, and side items were shared. We had three copperhead snakes to pass through our campsite after finishing our dinner. Tuesday, we kayaked from the Parksville Lake boat ramp and explored the boy scout camp. Then we hiked to Benton Falls from our campsite. Wednesday morning, we put in at the Kings Slough Boat Ramp and kayaked Baker's Creek and Indian Creek. We spotted a bear on the shoreline taking a drink from the lake.  After the 8-mile kayak trip, we decided to break up camp and head home since a storm was coming in. We had nice weather and saw lots of wildflowers around the lake and on the hike. Campers were Cathy Conley, Joan Hartvigsen, Sara Pollard, Lynn Rosser, Brian and Ruth Wofford.

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Barfield Park

Lynn Rosser led 6 hikers on the Marshall Loop trail at Barfield Crescent Park. Two of the hikers had recently moved here and one has been living in Murfreesboro for less than a year. We started behind the Wilderness Station, and we followed the West Fork Stones River along the trail and stopped for a break before heading back on the paved section. There was very little water in the river and Tammy was able to identify some wildflowers for us. Hikers were Karen Bailey, Jay Brain, Tammy Gross, Guizho Hollandsworth, Connie Matthles, Sara Pollard and Lynn Rosser.