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Had an opportunity this past weekend to spend Fri/Sat/Sun backpacking with my son and his Scout Troop. Funny thing is, since many of our Scouts are in marching band, we ended up with 3 Scouts and 5 adult leaders (myself included) on this hike. It was a moderately difficult hike - a little over 13mi in a day and a half and plenty of elevation change along the way - but the boys toughed it out, as did all us old guys.
We hiked about half a mile via headlamp to get to our trailhead camp, Father Adamz campground near Foster Falls, late Friday evening. Saturday morning brought great weather and temps never really got bad all day, with a high of about 82deg. We hiked about 8mi along the valley rim on Saturday, stopping in a very nice gorge for lunch and water refills, and continuing on the rim a bit, then following the trail through rolling woodlands for the last couple of miles. We made it to Raven's Point primitive campground just after 4p, a little earlier than we'd anticipated. My son was beat, but helped me set up camp and then promptly plopped down on a stool. I figured he'd earned it, having hiked most of the day with a bruised knee from a nasty fall early in the day. He tripped and went down about 2mi into he hike, and when offered the chance to backtrack he turned it down. I checked out his knee and the bruise and knot were above the knee at the base of the thigh, so no serious damage. No pain on movement, no throbbing, just a dull ache from whacking it. I was (and am) very proud of him for being tough and sticking out the hike. Then he got the idea to walk the half-mile out to Raven's Point, and take our stove and dinners out there with us. It was a great idea and I got to have dinner with both a great view, and great company. We crashed not long after dark Saturday night, and snoozed until Sunday morning about daybreak, which came just before 6a up on the mountain. A rooster from a nearby farm got an early start around 445a so my last hour of sleep was a little fitful. We packed up camp and started toward Grundy Forest State Natural Area, the end of our hike. Sunday was shorter, just under 5mi, and was really the better part of the hike, in terms of terrain and landscape. It was beautiful as we hiked through a number of different drainages and then down a steep set of switchbacks, past an old, abandoned coal mine, to the creekbed below. The last mile and a half of the hike was through the creekbed, over some rock and boulder fields, offering some tremendous views of the formations along the forest floor. In a few places, towering stacks of rock stood off to one side or the other of the trail. A couple even appeared to be pillars along the forest floor. Really an amazing place and my little point and shoot camera just did not do it justice. Here are some pics, in no particular order.
Looking into the Foster Falls basin (you can't really tell here, but the brown crescent at the bottom of the pic is the plunge pool for the falls):
Some shots from along the rim of the valley the first half of Saturday:
Going down into the gorge where we stopped for lunch:
Looking up toward the head of the gorge:
Along the trial Saturday afternoon:
Passing some hikers going the other way:
The view from Raven's Point:
My son Hampton picked out a nice pair of flat rocks for table and chairs for us:
Hiking down into the creek bottom Sunday morning it was so dark even the flash did not brighten up the pics very far ahead. The whole morning was cool and dark. A totally different feel from the day before, up on the rim. This first shot shows some of the troop at the mouth of an abandoned coal mine:
Again, my p&s camera did not do the area justice, but you can make out the creekbed beyond the trees in this photo from about three fourths of the way down into the gorge Sunday:
Here is a series of panoramics from the floor of the gorge, where we refilled our water Sunday:
One of the neat rock formations on the way up the gorge to the end of the trail:
Plenty of rock scrambling Sunday:
A couple of the falls we saw along the way:
And a very cool tree rooted in the middle of the stream. I liked the root structure adhering to the rocks where the floods have washed away most of the soil over the years:
And a huge rock overhang right at the end of the trail:
The Grundy Forest State Natural Area parking lot sits just above this overhang, though you can't tell it from the trail below.
Overall, it was a great trip. Hope y'all enjoy the pics. Not nearly as good as what Guy takes, but I did the best I could.
We hiked about half a mile via headlamp to get to our trailhead camp, Father Adamz campground near Foster Falls, late Friday evening. Saturday morning brought great weather and temps never really got bad all day, with a high of about 82deg. We hiked about 8mi along the valley rim on Saturday, stopping in a very nice gorge for lunch and water refills, and continuing on the rim a bit, then following the trail through rolling woodlands for the last couple of miles. We made it to Raven's Point primitive campground just after 4p, a little earlier than we'd anticipated. My son was beat, but helped me set up camp and then promptly plopped down on a stool. I figured he'd earned it, having hiked most of the day with a bruised knee from a nasty fall early in the day. He tripped and went down about 2mi into he hike, and when offered the chance to backtrack he turned it down. I checked out his knee and the bruise and knot were above the knee at the base of the thigh, so no serious damage. No pain on movement, no throbbing, just a dull ache from whacking it. I was (and am) very proud of him for being tough and sticking out the hike. Then he got the idea to walk the half-mile out to Raven's Point, and take our stove and dinners out there with us. It was a great idea and I got to have dinner with both a great view, and great company. We crashed not long after dark Saturday night, and snoozed until Sunday morning about daybreak, which came just before 6a up on the mountain. A rooster from a nearby farm got an early start around 445a so my last hour of sleep was a little fitful. We packed up camp and started toward Grundy Forest State Natural Area, the end of our hike. Sunday was shorter, just under 5mi, and was really the better part of the hike, in terms of terrain and landscape. It was beautiful as we hiked through a number of different drainages and then down a steep set of switchbacks, past an old, abandoned coal mine, to the creekbed below. The last mile and a half of the hike was through the creekbed, over some rock and boulder fields, offering some tremendous views of the formations along the forest floor. In a few places, towering stacks of rock stood off to one side or the other of the trail. A couple even appeared to be pillars along the forest floor. Really an amazing place and my little point and shoot camera just did not do it justice. Here are some pics, in no particular order.
Looking into the Foster Falls basin (you can't really tell here, but the brown crescent at the bottom of the pic is the plunge pool for the falls):
Some shots from along the rim of the valley the first half of Saturday:
Going down into the gorge where we stopped for lunch:
Looking up toward the head of the gorge:
Along the trial Saturday afternoon:
Passing some hikers going the other way:
The view from Raven's Point:
My son Hampton picked out a nice pair of flat rocks for table and chairs for us:
Hiking down into the creek bottom Sunday morning it was so dark even the flash did not brighten up the pics very far ahead. The whole morning was cool and dark. A totally different feel from the day before, up on the rim. This first shot shows some of the troop at the mouth of an abandoned coal mine:
Again, my p&s camera did not do the area justice, but you can make out the creekbed beyond the trees in this photo from about three fourths of the way down into the gorge Sunday:
Here is a series of panoramics from the floor of the gorge, where we refilled our water Sunday:
One of the neat rock formations on the way up the gorge to the end of the trail:
Plenty of rock scrambling Sunday:
A couple of the falls we saw along the way:
And a very cool tree rooted in the middle of the stream. I liked the root structure adhering to the rocks where the floods have washed away most of the soil over the years:
And a huge rock overhang right at the end of the trail:
The Grundy Forest State Natural Area parking lot sits just above this overhang, though you can't tell it from the trail below.
Overall, it was a great trip. Hope y'all enjoy the pics. Not nearly as good as what Guy takes, but I did the best I could.
