An AT Trail Magical Weekend Courtesy of the Greeneville Hiking Club On Camp Creek Bald
It has taken me a while to get up this blog on my hiking day out and the Trail Magic of the Greeneville Hiking & Cycling Club (GHCC) this past Saturday. The reason it has taken so long is I had no computer Saturday night and hockey and wrestling got in the way Sunday and Monday. Anyway, the first part of this blog is about the incredible efforts of the Greeneville Hiking Club and their Trail Magic efforts at Jones Meadow just below Camp Creek Bald.
There is Camp Creek Bald at Jones Meadow....
....off that road in the distance on the left....
Past these cars....
...short walk to the Trail Magic Camp.
I found out about it during my hike with the GHCC the weekend before. This was the sixth year that they have set up on the mountain to provide food and a rest stop from the trail for AT (Appalachian Trail) thru-hikers. When they set up, on Thursday, just off the road up to Camp Creek Bald it was cold (in the 30’s), windy and sleeting. They provided lunch and dinner or Friday, all three meals on Saturday and breakfast Sunday morning. They ended up feeding over 75 thru-hikers and anyone else who stopped by. My hats off to them for a job well done and I plan on helping out more next year.
It was cold & windy when I got to the camp Saturday morning.
Warming up by the fire.
Some of the tents.
Food area at breakfast...
....& lunch.
It got busy in the afternoon...
...with club members...
...& plenty of thru-hikers.
One of the signs letting hikers know.
So, this year, I decided to stop by and and give a small donation of candy bars and do a little hiking of my own. I decided to hike out from Jones Meadow to Big Firescald Knob and I also hit White Rock and Blackstack Cliffs. This was my third trip to these three spots. Once in April of 2013, then April of 2015 and then last October. I did it as an out-and-back to Big Firescald Knob unlike October when I did a loop with the Bad Weather Trail.
Headed up Jones Meadow.
Looking back at Camp Creek Bald.
Hiking the blue blaze trail past the year round mud hole...
...& the old AT shelter.
Painted Trillium.
This guy was my hiking partner for a short time.
A stop at White Rock Cliffs
For a vista like this...
...with views back to Camp Creek Bald...
...& into N.C.
Remember some of the cliffs are closed until August.
Back headed north on the AT...
,,,which was sloppy in spots.
I headed right.
Up...
...Big Firescald Knob.
Howard's Rock...
...up close...
...& the vista.
...Greeneville...
...& the area where Deb's Mom's house is.
Big Firescald Knob (proper)...
...Tennessee side...
...& North Carolina.
I had thought of going to Jerry Miller Shelter, but I wanted to hang out at the GHC Trail Magic event so I decided on the out-and-back with a detour. That was down the Jerry Miller Trail at Bearwallow Gap to Baxter Cliffs. I hiked down to Huckleberry Gap and found the junction described in JohnnyMolloy’s books. I went down the ‘faint” side trail, but wasn’t able to find Baxter Cliffs. Later, when I looked at my map, on GeoTracker, of the hike, I discovered I went right past them (there was no trail down). I had noticed it earlier when I had passed, but when I returned to head out to Blackstack Cliffs I could ignore that someone had vandalized the sign at the trail junction.
Bearwallow Gap...
...the junction with the Jerry Miller Trail.
Headed down to....
...Huckleberry Gap...
...it was back up after not finding Baxter Cliffs.
So I headed to Blackstack Cliffs (sign has seen better days).
Vista from Blackstack Cliffs.
Area around Greene Valley.
Green creeps up the mountain.
Big Firescald Knob.
Site of the old Valhalla Inn from the cliffs....
...& now looking back from the Inn site.
After hanging out with the GHCC I decide to hike back to the summit of Camp Creek Bald. This was my fourth trip to the summit including last week. I hiked over six-and-a-half miles and got to partake in some trail magic....that was a good day. Oh, if you want to take part in trail magic the Mid-Appalachian Hiking Club is having an event at on Highway 91 at Cross Mountain.
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