| On a foggy morning
in November 2001, Troop 521 loaded up their gear and left for East
Tennessee to hike along the Little Fiery Gizzard Creek to Raven Point. |
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The trail is one of the most challenging in
Tennessee but the scenery is also some of the most beautiful. |
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| From the parking lot, we climbed down to the
creek and followed it to the Dog Hole mine. The name refers to
the fact that the mine was literally scooped out of the ground and
hillside in much the same way that a dog digs a hole. |
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Shortly before we left the creek, we stopped
for lunch and to refill our water bottles.
From this point, we had a 250' steep switchback
ascent out of the valley to the rim. |
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The picture to the left shows us as we
started the ascent. To the right, another photo shows some of
us about halfway up the ascent. The
ascent is the lesser of two ways up to the rim. Further down
the lower trail, the ascent becomes nearly 900' and much more
vertical! |
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| Once on the rim, we were treated to
absolutely stunning scenery. The trail continued to climb but
much more slowly. We could see all the
way back down to the Little Fiery Gizzard and realized just how far
up we'd climbed. |
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| We finally made it
to Raven
Point and set up our camp for the night. It may sound strange
but when we arrived around 4 in the afternoon, we were ready for a good
meal and some sleep. |
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| We were in bed and asleep
by 8:00 that evening, waking up early to cook breakfast and break
camp for the hike back to the parking lot. |
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| We hiked back along the rim trail until the
switchback and them climbed down to the creek. It was a little
easier going in that direction. |
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Finally, the parking lot and a stop for lunch
in nearby Manchester. This was an experience well worth
repeating. |
