Tales From The Wood Booger: Our House (Mountain), Over Knox County

Thursday, February 2, 2017

Our House (Mountain), Over Knox County

It was around a year ago I first heard of House Mountain, the High Point of Knox County. Fast forward to 2017 and I finally made it to House Mountain on Tuesday.
It is surprising it took so long as it is just under an hour to get to the mountain from St. Clair. Just over a mile off Highway 11-W, just inside Knox County, I have to say it reminds me of Sawnee Mountain Preserve in Cummings, GA. If you have are familiar with this blog you will know that for a number of years Sawnee Mountain was my "backyard." I loved hiking to the Indian Seats and the trails in the park.

Bean Station Overlook...

...& Cherokee Lake I passed on the way to...

...here, which reminded of...

...Sawnee Mountain Preserve...

...& the Indian Seats.

Now I am not saying they are the same at the main trailhead Sawnee Mountain has a visitor center with a huge parking area. While not as large it is nice, and it does have some toilets...of the vault kind. Where it is similar is that it is popular, there were plenty of cars (especially on return) in the parking area and there were even a two van loads from the University of Tennessee (UT). There is even an overflow lot, which gets used on weekends because it is really popular on these days.

Sawnee Mountain Visitor Center...

...& facilities at House Mountain.

UT Students in the parking area.

Information sign...

...for House Mountain.

Going left up to the West Overlook Trail up is actually pretty steep, As for trail condition it was better than I expected since Johnny Molloy in his book Five-Star Trails: Knoxville gave it two stars, but I thought the trail was wide and the condition was good. It also had a feature that remained me of Sawnee, wooden rails at certain points. They were also working to fix places people cut the trail.

Today left.

The trail went up & had...

...rails...

...like Sawnee Mountain.

Seems all trails have this problem (rant soon...maybe).

As the trail crest, you come to the West Overlook which has a nice view including the Smokies. The wind was blowing in from the west, so it was breezy. The rock outcrop reminded me of the Indian Seats themselves.

Vista from the West Overlook...

...with a view of the Smokies...

...& Holston River.

Standing on the West Overlook it reminded me of...

...the Indian Seats at Sawnee Mountain...

...& its view.

From here the Crest Trail gets wide, two people wide and passes some large sandstone rocks, which is why the trail is sandy. There is a nice overlook half-way on the Crest Trail. There are some more small overlooks and the trail passes a small communication tower, the only one on the mountain.

Headed on the Crest Trail.

...which had views...

...& the sandy trail got wider...

...vista about halfway...

...with this view.

It could more Deja Vu.

The lone communication tower.

Trail continues....

Finally, the Crest Trail comes to a junction with the trail going straight to the East Overlook. Something that must be said this part of the trail skirts private land, which is punctuated by signs. I take it a great overlook is now blocked because of this.

Crest Trail connects with...

...the East Overlook.

No hikers!

Next stop the East Overlook.

However, the East Overlook is pretty nice and was busy today. The view from here reminded me of the Indian Seats, including people hammocking here. Because of inside information, I knew to continue another tenth-of-a-mile to a small outcrop.

East Overlook...

...the 103.5 WIMZ Tower.

You didn't know the Wood Booger had a twin1

While the Indian Seats might be busy...

...House Mountain is too...

...& it has hammocks.

Now out to...

...the Far East Outcrop...

...& its view.

Once back to the trail junction the Mountain Trail heads steeply back to the parking area. I have to say this is the closest mountain I have found with the Sawnee Mountain vibe, so I know I will be going back.