The Cherokee Hiker. June 2010 Volume 26, Issue 6. Cherokee Hiking Club, Inc Varnell Road Cleveland, TN

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1 The Cherokee Hiker June 2010 Volume 26, Issue 6 ~CHC Hike Calendar~ Cherokee Hiking Club, Inc Varnell Road Cleveland, TN June 12, 2010 Saturday. Piney River Dayhike, 8.5 miles roundtrip June 13, 2010 Sunday. Rhododendron Trail Hike, 2.5 miles June 19, 2010 Saturday. Blood Mountain, 6 mi. roundtrip JUNE HIKES June 12, Saturday - Piney River Dayhike, 8.5 miles roundtrip, rated moderate. Hike leader: Richard Harris. The Piney River hike will cover a section of the Cumberland Trail. We will hike from Newby Branch Forest Camp on Walden's Ridge downhill to the picnic area at Shut-In Gap near Spring City. A car shuttle is required. The hike has less than a 500-ft elevation change as we hike along the Piney River's many cascades. The hike is 8.5 miles in length, rated moderate because of the length. Good information on the hike can also be accessed on the CT website After the hike, we will eat dinner at the Red Barn Restaurant in Spring City. You can reach Richard Harris at (home) or (cell) or by at HarrisRi@aol.com. Please notify Rick if you are coming by Friday, the day before. Directions to the carpooling location: Meet at the back parking lot of the McDonalds at the TN68 exit on I-75 (Exit 60) at 8AM or in the back parking lot of the Spring City McDonalds at 8:30 AM. June 13(Sunday) Rhododendron Trail, miles, rated easy. Hike leader: Jane Bohannon, or cell This is a lovely, newly built trail which extends from the Thunder Rock/Ocoee Powerhouse #3 and follows the Ocoee coming out at the picnic area just below the Ocoee Whitewater Center. It is a very easy, handicap accessible walk with a beautiful section of boardwalk that juts out over the river, where you can halt and gander at rafters and kayakers floating by. Carpooling directions: we will meet the Athens and Etowah area hikers in the Bi-Lo parking lot in Etowah at 1:30 PM. Hikers in the Cleveland area meet at the Ocoee Hardee s at 1:45 PM and car pool from there. I will not be meeting the Ocoee Hardee s group until I see you at the trail head. If not carpooling, please meet at the trailhead at 2:30 PM. Directions to the trailhead: Your turn off of Highway 64 will be at the Thunder Rock Campground sign, which directs you across a bridge. After crossing the bridge you will see the trail head sign on the left. A large trail head parking lot is across the gravel road near the Thunder Rock Campground 1

2 entrance. June 19, Saturday - Blood Mountain, 6 miles roundtrip, rated moderate to strenuous. Hike leader: Gail Gray. Blood Mountain, at 4461 feet, is the highest point on the Appalachian Trail in the state of Georgia. There are magnificent views from a rock outcropping at the summit. Blood Mountain is known for an old stone shelter built by the Civilian Conservation Corps during the 1930s. The hike starts from the Byron Herbert Reece parking lot, located off of US 19 just north of Neels Gap. The combination of trails will have you climbing 1,418 ft. in little more than 2 miles of trail. The first 0.7 miles of trail starts gently through lush rhododendron and mountain laurel before you begin to switch back your way up stone staircases to Flatrock Gap. Here we will turn to the right and follow the white blazed AT up towards the summit of Blood Mountain. The trail is rugged and often steep as it winds its way up to the mountain summit. Here there is a picnic rock or large boulder that serves as a popular viewpoint for hikers. The carpool will leave the Hardee's in Ocoee at 8:30 a.m. Hikers will need water and a lunch, hiking sticks, and tons of energy. Those planning to hike need to contact Gail at (423) Other hikes in June: be sure to check the club website at for more May hikes that may be planned on short notice. *NOTE: As a courtesy, ALWAYS contact the hike leader in advance of the hike to facilitate planning. OTHER EVENTS OF INTEREST June 10, Thursday Monthly Club Meeting, 6:30 p.m, at Fletcher Park in Cleveland. The meeting will be picnic style, and attendees should bring a potluck item to share. Drinks, ice, and tableware will be furnished by the club. There are now two shelters that have been reserved. Ann Gray will arrive early to hold a table. Directions: Fletcher Park is located at 1575 Tennessee Nursery Road, NW. Going south on Keith Street in Cleveland, turn right onto Harrison Pike. Take Harrison Pike to Tennessee Nursery Road. Turn right, and then go approximately one mile; the park is on the left. June 5, Saturday - The Benton Mackaye Trail Association celebrates National Trails Day at the Ocoee Whitewater Center (this is a re-announcement) The BMTA has reserved the conference center at the Ocoee Whitewater Center for National Trails Day on Saturday June 5th. This will be a combined event with the Mountain High Hikers ( the Cherokee Hiking Club, and the Tennessee Forest Service ( with the BMTA ( as hosts. We will meet at the Center at 9 am for hiking, with a potluck lunch to follow in the conference center. Rafting is available from the various rafting companies, or you can watch the river action or cool off in pools of water along the side of the river. Please bring a covered dish to share. Two, possibly three, hikes will be offered, starting at 9 am:. 1. Rock Creek Trail 5.5 miles, rated moderate. Hike leader: George Owen. This trail is in the nearby Little Frog Wilderness. We will come back out to Ocoee Powerhouse #3, with only a few minutes shuttle. 2. Copper Mine Trail miles, rated easy Hike leader: Pam Sullivan. This trail runs along the Ocoee River. 2

3 3. Rhododendron Trail (optional) 2.5 miles, easy. This hike runs along the Ocoee River hike, and will take place after lunch. If interested in this event and/or any of the hikes, please RSVP to Pam Sullivan at or as there is a group limit. Note: There is a $3 parking fee per car - we are to park in the lower lot. Warning: if Hwy. 64 is still closed, this event will be canceled, as the Whitewater Center will be closed too. June 27, Sunday TN/NC BMTA Walk-Thru. (the Tennessee/North Carolina Benton-Mackaye Trail Association Walk-Thru). We need each of you to go with at least one other person and hike a section of the BMT between the GA state line and Deals Gap at the south end of the Smokies. Volunteer for a section, or sections, by going to the BMTA walk-thru page at and sign up or me and I will sign you up. Please contact me, Rick Harris, at HarrisRi@aol.com or This is a great way to spend a nice summer Sunday. If you are unavailable on June 27, you can go any other day, but you will miss out on the before and after activities. We plan to meet at Prospectors Dining Company for all-you-can-eat pancakes at 8AM in Tellico Plains, then we will meet at Michael s Restaurant in Etowah for supper at 5PM. Michael s has great pasta. I love their carboniera dish. If we have enough for the dinner, we will reserve the back room just to ourselves. I ask that when you do your walk-thru, you do the following: 1. You should not hike your own section. Let someone else evaluate your section. That is the fair and honest way to do it. 2. Fill out the form, which is attached to this newsletter, and return it to me at the dinner or by mail or later. The form is also available on the BMTA website on the walk-thru page noted above. 3. If you have a GPS, please take it with you and waypoint the locations of big downfalls and sections which need a lot of brushing out or tread work and describe the work needed in your report. Then either send me your waypoint file from your GPS or put the waypoints in your report. The form is a Word document, so you can type right into it, then save it under the section name (such as: BMT- Section-13e.doc) and or snail-mail it to me. If you don't have a GPS, please describe the locations as best you can. 4. Be sure to comment on the condition of the blazes. Are there too few, too many, in need of repainting, etc? 5. Also note any confusing junctions which would benefit from a wooden routed sign. We have several available, thanks to Marty Dominy, to put out on the trail where needed. June 30, Wednesday - Deadline for TN Appalachian Trail license plate (this is a re-announcement) The following letter was sent to Club member Rick Harris from Joe DeLoach of the Appalachian Trail Deep Regional Partnership Committee (this is a re-announcement): I'm writing on behalf of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy to first of all thank you for posting an announcement about the Tennessee Appalachian Trail License Plate on your website, and secondly let you know about a special offer. The plate is now available for a limited time for only $15, a $20 savings over the standard $35 fee. (Renewals once the plate is established will be at the regular $35 annual rate.) A year's free membership in the Appalachian Trail Conservancy remains as part of the plate offer. We have until June 30, 2010 to sell the 1000 plates necessary for the plate to become officially adopted by the State of Tennessee. We'd greatly appreciate any and all help the Cherokee Hiking Club could give 3

4 in making it a reality. We'd also greatly appreciate anything your members can do to spread the word amongst your club and in the community. I'm going to get some new applications with the $15 rate to the Cherokee National Forest headquarters in Cleveland, in case it's more convenient for people to have the hard copy in hand. If you have any questions, please let me know. Thanks for your help to date, and we hope you can continue with that through the homestretch!! Sincerely, Joe DeLoach Appalachian Trail Deep Regional Partnership Committee Chair Tennessee Eastman Hiking & Canoeing Club AT Committee Chair Club members Rick and Brenda Harris have signed up for this plate, I (Rebecca Levings) have, and so have several others in the various hiking clubs in the area, as well as the Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC). They are getting close to the 1000 mark, and just need a little more applications to get them through the home stretch. This specialty plate will broaden awareness of the Trail within the state of Tennessee. Once 1,000 applications are received and the state begins producing tags, ATC s share of the renewal fees will serve as a permanent funding source for the organization's work to protect and maintain the 280 miles of the Appalachian Trail within the state. The Tennessee State Recreation Plan calls the A.T. Tennessee s First Recreation Trail, and the A.T. frequently receives accolades, such as #2 of Top 10 USA Outdoor Adventures (ABC s Good Morning, America and National Geographic) and Favorite Long Distance Trail (by the readers of Backpacker magazine). A grant from the Eastman Chemical Company Foundation is allowing the Appalachian Trail Conservancy to offer reduced prices for 500 people that apply for an Appalachian Trail license plate in Tennessee. As a result of the grant, the Appalachian Trail license plates are now available for $15 instead of the usual $35 annual fee. Renewals will be at the standard $35 annual fee. For more information and an application to take advantage of this offer, call ATC at (828) or go on line to I have also attached the application to this newsletter. The Cumberland Trail Conference The Cumberland Trail Conference has become a membership organization. If you are interested in supporting the organization that has been solely, diligently working since 1997 to establish and complete the Cumberland Trail, please consider becoming a member of the Cumberland Trail Conference. With your help, all of us working together can create a trail from Signal Point to the Cumberland Gap. Please read the information below for the May 4 update about the CT project. Please pass information to others that might be interested. Tony Hook 4

5 1. During the 2010 BreakAway program an additional 3.89 miles of the Cumberland Trail was constructed with volunteers and students graciously donating 8078 volunteer hours. While the weather did cause issues with accomplishing the main goal, the completion of trail between Cooper and Caine Creeks, in the North Chickamauga Gorge segment, 66.6% of the goal was accomplished. Future BreakAway plans are to finish trail construction in this segment. Additionally, the Audubon Acres connector trail was finished. From this connector trail, future trail will connect the Rock Creek segment with the newly acquired Graysville Recreational Management Area. 2. The CTC (Cumberland Trail Conference) is continuing the effort to complete the New River segment of the CT. This segment is located in Campbell, Scott, and Morgan Counties, which is a very mountainous region of the Cumberland Plateau. Once completed, this segment will connect Cove Lake and Frozen Head State Parks, adding 35 miles to the over-all trail and fitting together another piece of our linear puzzle. In April, a CTC trail crew and volunteers constructed 1.25 miles of trail in this segment. This was a successful outing. Trail personnel camped at an established remote base camp, fully equipped, even with a hot shower. The weather was excellent, it was a good time, and a lot of work was accomplished. Other trail building programs for this segment are planned with the goal of completing this segment by June The Fall/Winter Cumberland Trail newsletter has been attached. The CT newsletter includes a membership application for those interested in joining the Conference. You can also join the Cumberland Trail Conference Facebook group by going to Conference/ ?ref=ts& a=41&v=wall and clicking the Like button at the top. You must be a member of Facebook first. Joining Facebook is free, and is a good way to keep up with your friends and favorite organizations. Join the rest of the Cherokee Hikers on Facebook! Membership in the Cherokee Hiking Club FB group is now at 49 members, so we keep growing. To connect, press the CTRL button on your keyboard, and then click the image below to navigate to the CHC Facebook page. In Memoriam. To paraphrase the words of Ken Jones, club member: Gayle, my wonderful wife of 40 years, lost her battle with cancer the morning of Thursday, May 27 and went to be with the Lord. I appreciate your prayers and support in getting through this heartbreaking time. Ken Recent Hike & Event Reports Loop Around Indian Boundary Lake April 18, Sunday (ed. note: this hike should have been in the May newsletter but was left out. So I am including it here). Six members of the Cherokee and/or Hiwassee Hiking Clubs enjoyed a beautiful Sunday afternoon walking around scenic Indian Boundary Lake. We had the trail almost to ourselves meeting only two hikers and two bikers. The water level of 5

6 the lake was quite low for an unknown reason. Participants included co-leader Bob Lee and younger hikers, Effaleda Lee (co-leader), Jane Finch, Jane Bohannon, Brook Mueller, and Ruth Jordan. Whigg Meadow Hike/monthly meeting May 8, Saturday. Thirteen Cherokee Hiking Club members (including five with dual membership in the Hiwassee Hiking Club), three visitors and Samson, a St. Bernard, enjoyed a beautiful hike to Whigg Meadow. The weather was sunny but unseasonably cool, with a brisk north wind blowing. Spring flowers were in abundance, especially the bluets on the meadow. Leon Bates, our expert plant identifier, helped us identify the flora and fauna. On our return drive down the mountain, we made a brief stop at Eagle Gap to locate pink Lady Slippers near the Flats Mountain trial head and counted approximately 20 plants in bloom. Following the hike, the Harris's hosted a monthly meeting/grill-out at their mountain home. After the club meeting, everyone enjoyed a nice meal of burgers, hotdogs, and delicious side dishes. Making the hike were club members Effaleda and Bob Lee (the hike leaders), Jane Bohannon, Ron and Esther Nunley, Leon Bates, Randy Morris, Carol and Carroll Guhne, Kathy Seymour, Martha Firestone, Ann Gray, Rick Harris, and guests Josh and Jessica Falls and Elaine Allman. Starr Mountain Hike - May 15, Saturday. With the weather report calling for rain, only three people showed up at the meeting place for the hike on Starr Mt. And no one to do one of the longer hikes. The group decided to change our hike and we hiked off trail in the Gee Creek Wildernesss, (Only three people are allowed in a group off trail in the wildernesss). We hiked in about 2.5 miles and had lunch at a spring and area that had been used as a camping site. After lunch we followed our route back to the vehicle. The mountain laurel was in bloom and Jane found a Little Brown Jug flower. The hikers were Jane Bohannon, Lettie Burres and Clayton Pannell, hike leader. Thank you, Jane Bohannon, for the picture shown below, featuring Clayton and Lettie. 6

7 Urban Loop Hike May 23, Sunday. On Sunday afternoon six people, including the hike leader James Anderson, met at Kingsway Press to do a 6 mile urban hike, which included the greenway and the Tinsley Park trail. We hiked the 6 miles or so in two hours, which is a respectable pace. Those going on the hike included Randy, Phyllis, Aggie, James Anderson and two friends of James's, Grady and Jerry. The afternoon was bright and sunny and the walk was enjoyable. Along the way we enjoyed the dense forest along the Tinsley Park Trail and the wide open expanse of the Greenway. For those of you that didn't go you missed the encounter with the Big Horn sheep just below where Shoney's used to be, the sighting of the bison grazing at the north end of Tinsley Park, and the viewing of the vicious piranha that inhabit Mouse Creek just west of the Church of God Headquarters. Nah!! Had you going there for awhile, didn't I? Cherokee Hiking Club Minutes Of the May Monthly Meeting on May 8, 2010 Brenda and Rick Harris s Home The monthly meeting of the Cherokee Hiking Club was held on May 8, 2010 at 2:00 p.m., following the Whigg Meadow Hike. We would like to thank Brenda and Rick Harris for hosting the meeting at their home in Tellico. Sixteen members attended. We would also like to welcome Josh and Jessica Falls and Elaine Allman, who joined the club at this event. Following a delicious meal of grilled burgers and hot dogs, along with potluck items, President Randy Morris called the business meeting to order at 2:25 p.m. Minutes of the previous meeting were read by Secretary Jane Bohannon and were approved as read. Treasurer Ann Gray reported the current balance. Old business: Rick Harris discussed the possibility of treating hemlocks on the club s adopted section of the John Muir Trail. He thinks we will not be allowed to use predatory beetles, but will eventually be allowed to use the chemical imidacloprid. We also thank Rick for editing the Release of Liability/Hike Sign in form so club members can indicate with a check mark their permission for their photos to be displayed on the club website and the club s Facebook page. New business: In response to a member regarding shuttle service for hikers, Rick informed the membership that the BMTA provides shuttle service routinely upon request. (For more information, go to No one responded to the request for assuming an alternate representative to the SEFTC Conference. Hikes completed: The following completed hikes were discussed: the Alabama Wildflower Society hike, the Cohutta expedition (discussed by the Ristoms), the Three Forks to Springer Mountain hike, the Indian Boundary Loop hike, the John Muir Cleanup, and the Nell s Cabin Hike. The latter was regarded as fun, and the movie Nell, shown at the Harris s home after the hike, was much appreciated. Upcoming hikes: The following hikes are on schedule prior to the June 10 meeting: Starr Mountain Hike, the CSCC Nature Trail, and the Urban Loop Hike at the Greenway and Tinsley Park. Daily hikes are also scheduled at the SEFTC Conference on May at Monteagle. On National Trails Day, taking place on June 5, the hikes will take place near the Whitewater Center. Next meeting: The next monthly meeting will be picnic style at Fletcher Park in Cleveland at 6:30 7

8 p.m. Thursday June 10. Attendees should bring a potluck item to share. Drinks, ice, and tableware will be furnished by the club. There are now two shelters that have been reserved. Ann Gray will arrive early to hold a table. Directions: Fletcher Park is located at 1575 Tennessee Nursery Road, NW. Going south on Keith Street in Cleveland, turn right onto Harrison Pike. Take Harrison Pike to Tennessee Nursery Road. Turn right, and then go approximately one mile; the park is on the left. The meeting was adjourned at 2:55 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Jane Bohannon, Secretary Attachments: 1. BMTA Walk-Thru Report Form (MS Word file) 2. TN Appalachian Trail License Plate Special Offer (Acrobat pdf file) 3. Cumberland Trail Fall-Winter 2009 Newsletter (Acrobat pdf file) Cherokee Hiking Club, Inc Varnell Road Cleveland, TN