Foster Falls - Sara

There were 12 hikers on the Foster Falls hike today. We started at the Foster Falls trailhead and had a group picture taken at the overlook. There's a new set of wooden stairs as you start the descent down to the falls. The trail has been improved also with stone steps and rock borders. Half the group decided to take the climbers loop trail to the meet up with the others who backtracked back up the steps and took the trail over the falls on the Fiery Gizzard trail. We met on the Fiery Gizzard trail and hiked on to see views of the gorge. We had lunch at a nice overlook and the weather was perfect.

 After hiking Foster Falls the hikers from Murfreesboro (Jan, Jay, Joni and Sara) decided to hike to the waterfalls in Denny Cove. Except for Sara, the others had never been there before. We hiked to the overlook and then continued on to the waterfalls.  It was well worth the rock hopping to get the waterfalls. We saw some rock climbers but otherwise we had the trail to ourselves.

Hikers were Jim Barritt, Jay Brain, Joan Hartvigsen, Richard McClure, Joni Perrine, Sara Pollard, Jan Safavi, David Sehrt (new hiker from Nashville), Cynithia Skidmore, Kathy Stutts, Reba Walters, and Jack Walters. 

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Foster Falls and Fiery Gizzard - Sara

 

We had five hikers on the cold morning hike at Foster Falls. We started out at the observation deck but decided not to hike the climbers' loop and go to the base of the falls. There was a lot of ice on the rocks so we decided just to hike the Fiery Gizzard trail to Laurel Gorge and back. The waterfall was beautiful with all the frozen water on  the side of the falls. We also got to see the new trail mile markers donated by TTA through the Evan Means Grant. We enjoyed lunch at the Small Wilds campsite. Hikers on this joint hike with the Highland Rim chapter were Joan Hartvigsen, Tom Hartvigsen, Joni Perrine, Sara Pollard and Marietta Poteet.

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Foster Falls - Nabil

We were only four, including Ann Ford, Wayne Yancey and Roy Duncan who did the driving. This was our second attempt at hiking down to Foster Falls. (The hike in March had to be cancelled because of rain.) The weather this time was fine and actually cooler than anticipated because most of the hike was in the shade. We encountered many rapell climbers as we walked beneath the famous cliffs. Some had come all the way from Georgia. As we hiked the top of the cliffs we saw a beautiful but very poisonous mushroom of the genus Amanita. On the way back we had a refreshing lunch at the Dutch Maid Bakery in Tracy City.

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