Well, it has taken a while to get this blog up (two weeks to be precise) but here it is. I went up on the day after making maple syrup, because what better way to relax than a hike and what better place than Holston Mountain.
This mountain is the Tri-Cites mountain. It sits in proximity to the Tri-Cites, Johnson City, Kingsport and Bristol (also Elizabethton) and because of this, all the local TV antennas stand on the mountain. Lucky for me my hike didn't take past these monstrosities. But my hike did take me by the tallest fire tower in the Blue Ridge, Holston High Knob. Let me go back and say that I had only hiked once on the edge of Holston Mountain coming up from Cross Mountain, on the Appalachian Trail, to Double Springs Shelter which is the start of the East end of the Holston Mountain Trail which I would be using most of the day.
First, let me mention the drive to the trailhead. Forest Service roads can vary in roughness let's just say, so having driven the first short section of FS 56 to the Blue Hole I was expecting the worst. However to my surprise after a not bad gravel section, the road became paved and was this way except near the parking for the trailhead. A gated old Forest Service Road (#56A) serves as the trailhead, but remember don't park in front of the gate. This old road is the unofficial start to the Holston Mountain Trail (#44) and heads uphill for a mile to the Holston High Knob Fire Tower.
This fire tower is one of the tallest in the Blue Ridge Mountains, standing at 100 feet. It is a transplant from Mississippi which accounts for its size. Unfourtly it sits behind a fence (which looks pretty new) so I couldn't climb. The Holston Mountain Trail goes straight at the bend in the road as it heads left.
The theme for the next two miles was down as the trail headed first through Big Creek Gap before slight uphill then back down to Flint Gap. From here is where you leave the blue blazed Holston Mountain Trail for the blue-blazed Flint Mill Trail (yes confusing). Luckily there were signs and I had a map and Johnny Molloy's book Five-Star Trails: Tri-Cites of Tennessee and Virginia. From the trail junction, it was a half-mile to the hike destination...Flint Rock. You know Flint Rock is close when you reach the horse posts.
Once there you find a fantastic vista, including, South Holston Lake, Clinch Mountain, Whitetop Mountain, High Knob, Bristol and the racetrack. After lunch, with a view, it was time to head back.
I knew it would be a tough climb back and I wasn't disappointed. The first, out of Flint Gap was the steepest but was helped ever so slightly by switchbacking near the top. The second out of Big Creek Gap was not as steep but was one of those long uphills. Once at the top the tower came into view from here it was all downhill to the trailhead.
While I beat Molloy's book time by 20 minutes, it still isn't a three-star hike more like a four. I wasn't finished because I stopped on the way back for the short hike and view the four waterfalls of the Blue Hole. It was a nice end to a day on Holston Mountain.
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