We Welcome all hikers and hope you will join us for our upcoming hikes below. Membership is not required however If you want to join go to this website http://www.tennesseetrails.org/index.php?page=mmbrsp_paypal and fill out the form. Annual membership is $25. Or print off the form and bring it and a check made out to Tennessee Trails Association to one of our hikes. Chapter Chair is Bruce Whitehead trailwalker80@gmail.com, 941-716-3620.
Wednesday, March 30, 2016, Hike -- Porter's Creek (GSMNP)
This is a great spring wildflower hike with 60' Fern Branch Falls in the
Greenbrier section of the Smokies. The forest floor can literally be carpeted
with bloodroot, hepaticas, white fringed phacelia, violets, white trilliums and
many other varieties. There are several old stone walls that are remnants from
the Elbert Cantrell farmstead, who settled in the Porters Creek community in
the early 1900s. We will also visit Ownby Cemetery, which also dates back to
the early part of the 20th century. A short spur trail takes you to John Messer
farm site, which includes a cantilevered barn that was built by John Whaley
around 1875 and a cabin that was built by the Smoky Mountain Hiking Club in the
mid-1930s. Members of the club were permitted to use the cabin as an overnight
facility until 1981. It is a moderate 8.5 mile hike with a 1500' climb over 3.5
miles to a campsite and then return the same way back. Depart Vanity Fair west parking lot at 7:30 am CT. We plan to stop for dinner on the way home at a restaurant to be voted on at the end of the hike. Carpool cost $8. Photos: Cheryl, Pat, Clark