Archive for February, 2014
Despite the lingering of snow in the mountains, it was forecast to be a warm day near 60 and sunny so to cure some of the cabin fever my friend Sam and I decided to go on a hike on the first day of February. Our friend Bol’Dar was supposed to attend but, was unable to make it so I gave Sam the list of possible hike locations and of course he picked out the hardest one which was the Hidden Lake (also known as Birchfield Camp Creek Pond) located on the back side of Frozen Knob. Bol’Dar and I had been there in the past year by way of Birchfield Camp Creek but, I had not been the long way via Rocky Fork in some 20+ years so it was decided that would be the route. I knew it would be over 11 miles, half of which would be uphill and knowing I had not done that kind of mileage in a few years, and against my better judgement I decided to go along with that plan. We got a fairly early start from Hairnt-quarters of around 8am and was at the trail head by 9am. There was still a couple inches of snow on the road leading in to Rocky Fork and it was cold but, the sun was up and we could tell it was going to be a great day to be in the mountains.
Nothing golden about it so I will name this one ‘On Frozen Pond’
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Posted on 17 February '14 by RAT, under RATtreks. 1 Comment.
About thirty years ago when I first started hiking in the Rocky Fork area, I had a dream of standing on top of the lower and vertical part of the Flint Mountain cliffs. This dream finally came true on Martin Luther King Jr. day, Jan. 20, 2014. If you read my last blog you know that we did a recon of the proposed route earlier this month and did indeed find what I thought to be the easiest way to the cliff top and on this day we would find out if that was correct. Starting around 10 am at the lower Rocky Fork trail head to get to what I call the ‘old high road’ that leads to the top of Flint Mountain, we decided that we would not bother with risking wet feet at the deep creek crossing there but, instead we would back the jeep across the creek and park beside the first blue gate ! From there we made our way downstream and behind the second blue gate to follow the old high road up past the old homestead area to get to the access point we had scouted on our last trip ten days ago.
View of Whitehouse Mountain Cliffs from the top of Flint Mountain Cliffs
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Posted on 13 February '14 by RAT, under RATtreks. 1 Comment.
For over thirty years and ever since I first walked under the cliffs on the end of Flint Mountain in Rocky Fork, I have wanted to stand on the top of those cliffs. This desire was rekindled in the past three years with our recent accomplishment of standing on top of the Whitehouse Mountain Cliffs (aka Stonehenge) and looking over at them from the opposite side. Having studied the area and maps for all these years I have always had a solid theory on the best way to reach these cliffs however I never actually took the time to make it happen. I always thought that it would not be that hard to get to them but that it would be too steep and gnarly to actually be feasible. On Jan. 10, 2014 my friend Sam and I decided to go on a recon mission to begin the first phase of testing my theory.
Sam about to walk under part of the Flint Cliffs in Rocky Fork
Looking down on Flint Mountain Cliffs from Whitehouse Mountain Cliffs
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Posted on 5 February '14 by RAT, under RATtreks. 1 Comment.
My name is 'RAT' and I love the mountains and waterfalls of the East TN. area where I live and I hope you enjoy this blog about my outdoor adventures.
