Fairfield Glade Hiking Group announces their 2012 Spring Schedule
For The Vista
The Fairfield Glade Hiking Group says it is time to stop saying, “I am going to go out for a long walk,” or “I am going to go to the gym because our first hike is real soon.”
It is time to get up and stretch the muscles, hamstrings, knees, and other parts of the body to be ready for this year’s spring hiking season.
Some of the golf courses are closed; therefore, take a walk on the cart paths. It is going to be wonderful to get outside in the woods again and enjoy mother nature. Most of our hikes in the spring include waterfalls and wildflowers
The Fairfield Glade Hiking Group is beginning its spring 2012 season on Friday, March 9 with the first of 13 pleasant hikes throughout eastern Tennessee.
This informal group of people hikes every Friday until the first Friday in June. If you are new to the area and are thinking of trying some hikes you are welcome to join us.
The following is the schedule of hikes. There will be a sign up sheet posted on the bulletin board across from the FFG post office the week of the hike. Participants in the hikes should be in good physical condition. Walking on paved and level surfaces does not compare with hiking on uneven trails with roots and rocks and with elevation gains and losses. Please check out our web site www.ffghikers.blogspot.com for more information.
March 9 – Mayland Lake Camp Nakawana. This is a hike close to The Glade and a nice walk around a lake. This is rated easy and is 4 miles.
March 16 – Fall Creek Falls Paw Paw Trail. There are several nice hikes in the Fall Creek Falls State Park and this is one of them. This is rated easy and is 4 miles
March 23 – Brady Bluffs. This hike is part of the Cumberland Trail. This is rated moderate and is 5 miles.
March 30 – Standing Stone State Park. The park takes its name from the Standing Stone, an eight-foot tall rock standing upright on a sandstone ledge, which was supposedly used as a boundary line between two separate Indian nations. This is rated moderate and is 6 miles long.
April 6 – Rock Creek Loop at Sale Creek. This hike is near Sale Creek and is another part of the Cumberland Trail. This is rated easy and is 4.5 miles
April 12 – 13 – Overnight hike in Sewanee. These 2 hikes are near the University of the South. They are rated easy and are 5 and 4 miles.
April 20 – Maude’s Crack. Maude’s Crack is an opening in a large rock that legend has it was the shortest route up and out of the Big South Fork valley for the early pioneers. This is rated moderate and is 4.5 miles.
April 27 – Pickett Palooza. This hike is in Pickett State Park and combines several scenic linking trails in Pickett State Park. This is rated easy and is 5 miles.
May 4 – Upper Rock Creek Gorge. This hike is in Dayton, TN and is a section of the Cumberland Trail. This is rated moderate and is 5 miles.
May 11 – Old Stone Fort. We will hike the perimeter trail around Old Stone Fort which was named by early European settlers because of the appearance and construction of a walled area. This hike is rated easy and is 3.5 miles.
May 18 – Cumberland Mountain State Park Overnight Trail. Obviously this hike is very close to home. This is rated moderate and is 6 miles.
May 25 – Abrams Falls in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We will travel to Townsend, TN then on to Cades Cove. Abrams Falls is not tall, but it has the largest volume of water of any waterfall in the park. This is rated moderate and is 5 miles.
June 1 – Piney River Falls. We will see two waterfalls and go behind one of them. This is rated easy and is 3 miles. We will have our end of the season picnic after the hike.
The Group’s rating system
As a general rule hikes up to 5 miles in length and elevation gains less than 1000 feet are rated easy.
Hikes of 5 – 8 miles in length with elevation gains less than 1500 feet are usually considered moderate.
Hikes over 8 miles or those with substantial elevation gains or rough terrain may be strenuous.
These ratings are subjective and will depend on the physical conditioning and mental readiness of the participant. An outing participant will sometimes find their own assessment of the difficulty of the outing to differ from the posted rating.