Bulldawg
01-20-2008, 15:49
In preparation for my 4 day hike in the spring I am trying to do a little hiking each weekend at the very least. After the brutal cold moved into Northeast Georgia last night I decided I didn't want to go far for a hike. There is a Boy Scout Eagle Scout project trail very close to my home I decided to hike. I had never actually hiked the trail, but grew up playing in the woods it passes through. It is marked as 2.6 miles, so it's a bit short, but at least something to get me out of the house.
I had my wife drop me at the trail head around 1 after a good warming lunch at home. Being 1 mile from a trail head sure is nice. I was hoping more of the snow from yesterday would have remained, but it did not. I almost made this hike yesterday during the snow, but changed my mind last minute.
After starting at one I told my wife to give me and hour and a half since I assumed I'd be cold and have to stop to make hot cocoa. It was 23 when I started. I hiked quickly down the mountain. The Rhododendron stand here is supposedly the largest stand of this particular type of Rhododendron in the Eastern United States. The first mile or so is spent descending Chenocetah Mountain with few switchbacks. At about the one mile mark one encounters a split in the trail. To the right leads to the Lake Russell Camping area. Continuing straight takes one to the road about a mile north of the camping area. I continued straight since the camping area is closed and I would hav ehad to walk to the other trail head to be picked up anyhow. Just below the split one crosses the first of two creeks. This one in it's infancy as it rises out of the mountain just a few hundred yards above this crossing. This creek is crossed by a bridge. After crossing the bridge the trail levels out as it moves through the remnants of a thick pine forest decimated by the Southern Pine Beetle infestation of recent years in this part of the Country. After traveling about 1/2 mile one descends a bit more to the second creek. This creek is forded and during dry weather, such as now, one can rock hop across. Shortly after fording creek number two the hiker ascends to an old forest service road, one not used in almost 50 years. At this junction if you turn slightly left instead of following the trail you can see a small waterfall trickling over rock cliffs in the cove to the right. I camped many years ago atop this waterfalls.
Returning to the trail, it follows the old roadbed for the remainder of the hike. The trail follows the confluence of your first two crossings for this last mile. At about mile 2 one see lovely Cascade Falls. Two stages of falls about 15 feet each on the creek.
The trail ends rather abruptly at the Lake Russell Recreation area road.
A loop trail can be made by road walking the mile to the Lake Russell Campground and taking the trail back up the mountain to the split at about mile one. While not marked, I would venture to say this would be about a 5 mile loop.
This hike took me about 40 minutes today, so thats a pace of almost 4 miles per hour. Thats my fastest pace thus far in my workouts to take a multi-day hike. I usually average around 2 to 2.5. I think a lot of this is because this trail was mainly a descent with hardly no climbs. A nice trial to walk, not sure if it's worth a long drive for people unless you combine some of the other trails in the Lake Russell area. I enjoy it since it is so very close to home.
Pictures from today at: http://picasaweb.google.com/walkingjohn75/2008Hikes/
I had my wife drop me at the trail head around 1 after a good warming lunch at home. Being 1 mile from a trail head sure is nice. I was hoping more of the snow from yesterday would have remained, but it did not. I almost made this hike yesterday during the snow, but changed my mind last minute.
After starting at one I told my wife to give me and hour and a half since I assumed I'd be cold and have to stop to make hot cocoa. It was 23 when I started. I hiked quickly down the mountain. The Rhododendron stand here is supposedly the largest stand of this particular type of Rhododendron in the Eastern United States. The first mile or so is spent descending Chenocetah Mountain with few switchbacks. At about the one mile mark one encounters a split in the trail. To the right leads to the Lake Russell Camping area. Continuing straight takes one to the road about a mile north of the camping area. I continued straight since the camping area is closed and I would hav ehad to walk to the other trail head to be picked up anyhow. Just below the split one crosses the first of two creeks. This one in it's infancy as it rises out of the mountain just a few hundred yards above this crossing. This creek is crossed by a bridge. After crossing the bridge the trail levels out as it moves through the remnants of a thick pine forest decimated by the Southern Pine Beetle infestation of recent years in this part of the Country. After traveling about 1/2 mile one descends a bit more to the second creek. This creek is forded and during dry weather, such as now, one can rock hop across. Shortly after fording creek number two the hiker ascends to an old forest service road, one not used in almost 50 years. At this junction if you turn slightly left instead of following the trail you can see a small waterfall trickling over rock cliffs in the cove to the right. I camped many years ago atop this waterfalls.
Returning to the trail, it follows the old roadbed for the remainder of the hike. The trail follows the confluence of your first two crossings for this last mile. At about mile 2 one see lovely Cascade Falls. Two stages of falls about 15 feet each on the creek.
The trail ends rather abruptly at the Lake Russell Recreation area road.
A loop trail can be made by road walking the mile to the Lake Russell Campground and taking the trail back up the mountain to the split at about mile one. While not marked, I would venture to say this would be about a 5 mile loop.
This hike took me about 40 minutes today, so thats a pace of almost 4 miles per hour. Thats my fastest pace thus far in my workouts to take a multi-day hike. I usually average around 2 to 2.5. I think a lot of this is because this trail was mainly a descent with hardly no climbs. A nice trial to walk, not sure if it's worth a long drive for people unless you combine some of the other trails in the Lake Russell area. I enjoy it since it is so very close to home.
Pictures from today at: http://picasaweb.google.com/walkingjohn75/2008Hikes/