Sherwood Forest and Pack Hollow

We had a cool and windy day to hike Sherwood Forest and a short section of the new Pack Hollow trail led by Sara.  Sherwood Forest and Pack Hollow are in the Head of the Crow State Park near Sewanee. The Pack Hollow trail still being built and will eventually end at Buggy Top. We passed the natural bridge and didn't have the views we normally do in winter because of the tree foliage. We enjoyed lunch at the Mountain Goat Market in Monteagle after the hike. Hikers were Jay Brain, Chuck Deen, Patty Deen, Peggy Harris, Joan Hartvigsen, Sara Pollard, Jan Safavi, and Cynithia Skidmore.

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Stone Door to Greeter Falls

Saturday, May 9, 2026, we did a shuttle hike from Stone Door to Greeter Falls.  We started off by doing the Laurel Falls loop, then proceeded to Stone Door.  Our next stop after Stone Door was Ranger Falls where the water was overflowing with lots of water and beauty.  We had lunch there.  We then traveled to Boardtree Falls and on to lower Greeter Falls, upper Greeter Falls and back to our vehicles.  We had amazing views at the overlooks and lots of waterfalls and bonus waterfalls  along the trail.  It turned out to be a perfect day and great weather with approximately 9.5 miles.

Those in attendance with the hike leader, Cheryl Smith, were her grandchildren, Shy and Albany Murphy.  From the Plateau chapter, we had Sheila Miller, Misty Fell, Mandy Mew, Cindy Clark, and Diane Vaughn.  Cindy brought a visitor, Steve Shepherd. We also had John Gizelar with the Sumner chapter and Malinda Tucker, non TTA member.   

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Blue Heron Camping and Hiking

We had 12 hikers for our trip to the Blue Heron area of the Big South Fork. The predicted weather report kept some campers away but it only rained for a few minutes Tuesday evening and Wednesday afternoon. We hiked the Blue Heron loop on Wednesday and celebrated Marietta's birthday at our community meal that evening. Thursday, we drove to Yahoo Falls, hiked the loop and then on to Markers Arch. We also hiked the Natural Arch in the Daniel Boone National Forest.  After packing up Friday morning, we visited the Blue Heron Mining Community and Split Bow Arch. We saw lots of wildflowers and an abundance of Mountain Laurel. 

Campers/hikers were from the Highland Rim, Murfreesboro, Nashville and Plateau chapters: Jim Barritt, Joe Campbell, Cathy Conley, Chuck Dean, Patty Dean, Wendy Fish, Cyn Hartlieb, Mark Hubbard, Melissa Love, Sara Pollard, Marietta Poteet, and Georganne Ross.

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Flat Rock Cedar Glade

We had 17 hikers from several chapters to hike the loop at the Flat Rock Cedar Glade in Murfreesboro. Mark Hubbard of the Nashville chapter led us and identified an amazing variety of rare and common wildflowers. The trail is flat with little elevation change and we took our time to enjoy the abundance of flowers along the way. Too many to name, but a few we saw were Blue False Indigo, Sunnybell, Prairie Larkspur, Phlox, Columbine, Wood Sorrel, Shooting Star, and Missouri Evening Primrose.  

Hikers were David Brand, Susan Brand, Doug Burroughs, Mary Ann Clairmont, Betsy Dozier, Debi Dunson, Wayne England, Chris Hoffman, Mark Hubbard, Nita Kjelvik, Sterling Kjelvik, Connie Matthies, Starlith McAdams, Christy Ortner, Sara Pollard, Dianna Richter and Julie Walski. 

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Collins Gulf - Cheryl

We hiked 5.75 miles at Savage Gulf South beginning at the Collins Gulf trailhead.  We saw a small amount of water at Suter Falls.  We did see several wildflowers along the way.  On this hike, we went past the entrance of Horsepound Falls to the river.  It was dry but there were some small amounts of water flowing over the rocks.  We walked over to the cave and didn't see any water there.  We traced our steps back to Horsepound Falls where the water was flowing really pretty this time of year.  Everyone enjoyed lunch there.  This was an in and out hike; once we were done with lunch, we headed back to our vehicles.

Those in attendance were hike leader Cheryl Smith, Sara Pollard, Amanda Carkhuff, Jay Brain, Alan Nguyen, Jean Breuer all from Murfreesboro chapter.  Misty Fell, Sheila Miller, and Carolyn Day from the Plateau chapter.  Kim Bowers from the Nashville chapter.  Non TTA member Kelly Jackson joined our group. 

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Rock Creek Loop - Sara

We had 6 hikers to hike the 7.5 mile Rock Creek Loop at Big South Fork. We hiked it counterclockwise starting at the Blevins Cemetery. It's a beautiful trail that goes along Rock Creek most of the way. We saw an abundance of wildflowers which Mark could identify for us. The trail has rock steps that lead up and down slopes with wooden plank bridges and larger bridges across side creeks. We had a nice breeze and enjoyed lunch beside the creek. Hikers were Jim Barritt, Jean Breuer, Debra Dodd, Joan Hartvigsen, Mark Hubbard and Sara Pollard

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Virgin Falls - Sara

We had two chapters represented on our out and back hike to Virgin Falls, and it was a hot day to be hiking in March. We saw lots of beautiful wildflowers along the way. We explored Sheep Cave and all the waterfalls we passed were flowing nicely. We left our packs at our lunch spot and hiked to the top of Virgin Falls. Coming down was tricky in the narrow passage, but we all made it.  

Hikers were Jean Breuer, Craig McBride, Lora McBride, Sara Pollard and from Clarksville Evelyn Bishop, Cinde Jones, Paula Sanders, Steve Turner and Deborah White.

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