Catching up on trail time - Savage Gulf
Last hiking thread I posted was in 2015, so I guess another one's overdue. Since I've been on a bunch of solid hikes over the past year or so, I'll just throw out a sampling of pics from the lot of them. Having two small children really limits my opportunities -- as does having an alarmingly gimpy left knee -- but I enjoy it as much as I ever did.
I'll probably break the hikes up into separate posts to keep this from becoming too much of a huge picture dump. As always, if you've done any recent hikes or other wilderness wandering, feel free to share as well.
South Cumberland State Park, Savage Gulf Natural Area (Tennessee) - March and April 2016
This place is incredible, and my hikes only skimmed the surface. The most wildflowers I've ever seen in one place, waterfalls everywhere, and scenic views in every season. There is also a pocket of virgin forest in the park, but it's not near any of the 50 - 60 miles' worth of trails. (My brother and I took a stab at scrambling/falling down the side of a gorge to find it, but stopped midway down when we ran across a huge rock-field and one of its resident copperheads.) It's about an hour north/northwest of Chattanooga, and about two hours northeast of Huntsville.
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Rutledge Falls (Tullahoma, TN) - June 2016
Not really much of a hike, but I'm throwing it in because it's a great place to hang out after touring the George Dickel distillery. My brother, my two-year-old, and I waddled around a wide expanse of ankle-high shallows above the falls for an hour or so.
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