Walls of Jericho

 

Walls of Jericho hike , 27 June 2026, Peggy Harris, Don & Joanne Nalin, and Joe Campbell

Cummins Falls and Burgess Falls State Parks

 

We had 8 hikers to hike Cummins Falls State Park & Burgess Falls State Park on a hot and humid day. We met at the Mack Prichard Visitor Center at Cummins Falls and hiked the Blackburn Fork Trail to the overlook. We took the John Cummins Trail to start another hike on the other side of the park. We took the Low Gap Trail to the Lou Garrison loop and then continued on to the river overlook. Our views were limited because of the foliage but we saw a few flowers and lots of blackberries about to be ripe. Then we drove to Burgess Falls State Park and enjoyed lunch under a pavilion. We hiked the River Trail to see the waterfalls along the way and returned via the graveled Access Trail. Hikers were Melodie Baker, Jim Barritt, Jay Brain, Craig Doucette, Lora McBride, Sara Pollard, Bobetta and Russ from Knoxville. 

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Santeetlah Lake

  

This joint event with the Highland Rim chapter was planned for June 16-19 but because of the menacing weather report for Thursday, we paddled Santeetlah Lake Wednesday but didn't stay to paddle Fontana Lake on Thursday. We packed up Thursday morning and didn't stay until Friday. Joan, Brian and Ruth Wofford stayed behind and paddled Fontana Lake though. We paddled about 8 miles on Santeetlah Lake passing beautiful homes and awesome views of the mountains.  We stopped for lunch at a picnic table in a shoreline camping area. After paddling, we returned to camp and hiked the connecting loop trails in the Joyce Kilmer National Forest off the Cherohala Skyway and saw some beautiful, old forest trees. We camped in the Rattler Ford Campground in the Nantahala National Forest. Campers were Chuck Deen, Patty Deen, Cyn Hartlieb, Joan Hartvigsen,  Sara Pollard, Lynn Rosser, Brian Wofford, and Ruth Wofford. 

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Stones River Battlefield

Sara Pollard led a hike at the Stones River Battlefield in Murfreesboro. We watched the 9-minute video in the Visitors Center about the Civil War battle in the area before starting our hike. It was a warm day, but we were able to stay in the shade most of the time. After the hike, Evonne Drown, Wayne's wife joined us for lunch at the Red Robin Restaurant. Hikers were Jay Brain, Anna Lina Buckley, Betsy Dozier, Wayne Drown, Sheila Finney and Sara Pollard.

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Chapter Picnic 2026

We had our chapter picnic tonight and enjoyed hot dogs, sides, and desserts. Thanks to everyone that came to fellowship.

Tim's Ford State Park

We hiked the Lost Cove Overlook Trail crossing over 2 long suspension bridges, had a couple overlooks to Tim’s Ford Lake. At the second overlook, we continued our hike on the Evan’s Point Trail, aka Ray’s Shoreline Trail, to the Devil’s Den Cave where we had our lunch. We traced our steps back to the Marble Plains Trail then arrived back to the second overlook where we hiked to paved trail back to our vehicles.  We hiked a total of 7 miles, then enjoyed some ice cream at the visitor center. 

Those in attendance with TTA were leader Cheryl Smith, Alan Nguyen and his wife Hana, Sara Pollard (Murfreesboro), John Gizelar (Sumner), and our non TTA hikers were Shay Schofield, Paula Farley, Shannon Cox, and Lori Beers. 

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Tennessee River Paddle

It was decided to paddle the 7.5-mile loop to see the partly, submerged graves in Nickajack Lake. We started at the Bennett Lake boat ramp off Highway 27 and paddled along the shore into Mullens Cove to find two graves.  Residents were buried here in the 1800s before this part of the Tennessee River was dammed. TVA placed riprap around the graves to prevent waves from knocking the headstones over. It was a warm day and water weeds were thick in places along the lake. Kayakers were Jean Breuer, Sara Pollard and Joan Hartvigsen

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