Month: May 2020

Bucket list: Cahaba Lily

| Ruth Wright

We have lived in Alabama for more than 20 years now and in all that time, I’ve never managed to see the famous Cahaba Lilies in bloom in person. I’ve seen documentaries about them, and some stunning photographs, but I’ve never once made the trek to see them with my own eyes. Hymenocallis coronaria (their scientific name) is a kind of aquatic spiderlily in the amaryllis family that grows only in Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and parts of North Carolina. While it once grew throughout the southeast, it is now limited to about 70 stands. It needs a very specific kind of environment to grow – namely it only grows in clean swift flowing water over rocky shoals in an area with lots of sun. The densest population of them anywhere grows in Alabama’s own Cahaba River National Wildlife Refuge, west of Birmingham. The flowers bloom for only a month each year – between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, and each individual bloom only lasts for 24 hours – so now was the time to make that trip.

Seeing the flowers was the primary reason for making the drive, but we also wanted to do a bit more than just that. We found a couple of short hikes in the area to tack on to our flower-spotting excursion to make the drive a bit more worthwhile. The first was a short loop hike, and the second was a short out-and-back to a waterfall nearby. We headed for the refuge first, letting Google direct us to the gravel road off of Bibb County Road 24. There is a sign and kiosk at the entrance, but not much of a place to park, so we didn’t manage to get any pictures of that. From the entrance a fairly narrow gravel road follows along Little Ugly Creek until the creek hits the Cahaba River, at which point the road turns to follow along the river. I’m not sure what I expected, but I have to tell you right up front that it was crowded. Very crowded. There was a traffic jam right at the turn, since there’s a bit of a boat ramp right there and lots of people were launching canoes and kayaks. We almost just parked there, but Chet was able to figure out that the start of our hike was a good bit away still, so we should just keep going. I was very glad that we decided to drive the little Honda Fit, and not Chet’s big Ford F150 – this road isn’t exactly built for two way traffic. We finally decided we were close enough and just pulled in to the next open wide spot in the road.

We still tried to maintain our six foot social distance, though I’m sure we got closer than that a few times. We walked down the gravel road towards the trailhead for the 1.4 mile Cahaba River Loop trail that we’d picked out, but soon were seeing tons of Cahaba Lilies in bloom right there in the river. They are gorgeous. I could not resist taking off my boots and wading across the shoals to get close enough to take pictures. I wasn’t the only one by a long shot, but folks were spread out enough that I felt OK about it. As an added bonus, a little stand of American water willow was growing right next to the lilies in the river. Bucket list item checked off, it was time to do our usual hiking thing so I left the river and got my boots back on.

American Water Willow (Justicia americana)
Cahaba Lily (Hymenocallis coronaria)

The first part of this trail is really just on the gravel road, lined with a few pull-offs and even a nice sandy beach area. If it weren’t for the crowds, it would be a lovely relaxing hike along the river, but I was a bit anxious to get away from people, so I was happy when we spotted the trail sign marking where the trail split off from the road and headed into the woods. The woods here are primarily mountain longleaf and loblolly pine making for a nice soft footbed underneath. The first two tenths of off-gravel-road trail are pretty much straight uphill and a bit overgrown. Climbing away from the river, though, we soon were rewarded with blissful silence broken only by a bit of birdcall.

At the top of the uphill stretch, the trail makes a sharp turn to the right and follows along the ridge for a short ways before veering left to head slightly downhill. Most of the trail seems to be old roadway, making it a very easy, comfortable hike. We walked through the pines and past loads of oakleaf hydrangea, Maximillian’s sunflower, and sensitive brier, not another soul in sight, until we came to the end of trail back at the gravel road again. Our loop clocked in at 1.2 miles, per our GPS track. The next challenge was to figure out how to turn the car around on the narrow and jam-packed-full little road. I was a little worried about it, but people were good about taking turns and making way for traffic when they could so it was no problem at all.

Maximillians sunflower (Helianthus maximiliani)
Sensitive briar (Mimosa nuttallii)
Oakleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia)
Footbed
End of the trail

At the entrance again, we turned right to head towards our next destination – Falling Rock Falls Trail in the Cahaba Wildlife Management Area just outside Montevallo. Parking for the falls is off Shelby County Road 22. There’s a small gravel area at a gated off road labelled “Landview Road” by Google. We actually started seeing cars parked at another gravel area a bit before the “real” spot, and after the parking craziness at the Refuge, I jumped in to the first place that looked like a good parking spot. As it turns out, there was probably room right at the trailhead, but it wasn’t much of a walk so we just stayed put. The “real” trailhead isn’t marked in any helpful way. Other than the cars parked in the gravel, there was only a sign about the property being part of the Wildlife Management Area, and a spray-painted “Falling” sign to give any indication we were in the right spot.

28fallingrock_gate

This hike is a very easy one for 99% of the hike. The route is over closed gravel roads which cut through an overgrown clearcut area enlivened by flowers. We spotted narrow leaf vervain, bull thistle, lobed tickseed, and wild bergamot in the brush beside the road. At the first intersection, go left on another gravel road. At the next intersection, you bear right.

Narrowleaf vervain (Verbena simplex)
Bull thistle
First fork
Lobed tickseed (Coreopsis auriculata )
Wild Bergamot

At that point, keep your eyes peeled for a clear trail heading into the woods on your left. Here, the trail starts heading down slightly until you arrive at a water crossing. We could hear people and splashing but weren’t exactly clear which way to go. The trail continued straight across the little creek, but there was also a trail heading off to the right. We chose to go straight and ended up at the top of the waterfall. Going right would have worked, too, though. We had read that trails on both sides would take us down to the base of the falls, so we picked left. In true “Ruth” form, it wasn’t the best choice. In only a few feet the trail that way became pretty steep and kind of scary looking. We backtracked to the top of the falls again and went the other way. This was was a much clearer path, but please note that it is very narrow, very root-y, and ultimately the only way down to the base of the falls is pretty steep. Not “get out your climbing ropes” steep, but if you’re not sure of your footing (or are with somebody who maybe isn’t) it will give you pause. We passed a couple of women who had decided to wait near the top while the rest of their family went to the bottom. We felt a little braver then that, so down we went.

This is a gorgeous spot. Water flows over the top of a rock house to fall 90 feet into a basin. The “cave” behind the waterfall is tall and deep, with a mix of sand and boulders to walk on. Below the falls, the water collects briefly in a small pool before flowing on down the canyon. The day we were there, there were about 12 people milling around, including a family with two young children and several dogs, all having a grand time splashing in the plunge pool. I didn’t try the pool, but it looked inviting and not terribly deep. We soaked in the beauty of the spot, chatted (from six feet away) with a nice couple from Birmingham about the Cahaba Lilies, tried to spot the snake the couple had seen on one of the logs (never found it), but unfortunately got very few pictures, almost none of which were even usable. You’re going to have to trust me that it is a really pretty spot. The hike back out was simply retracing our steps, though we did find out later that there’s a second fall just down the creek if we’d gone that way back. All told, we hiked 1.2 miles one way on this little jaunt.

I’m pretty sure in storytelling 101, they tell you to structure things so that you end your story with the most exciting part. We totally broke that construct here. This day started out with a bang with my bucket-list viewing of the rare Cahaba Lily and nothing was going to top that. Still, I enjoyed both of our little hikes and I think you would too!

Top of the World, Ma! Boulder Gorge at Moss Rock Preserve

| Chet Wright

Our daughters live out of state, so this past Sunday I was deputized to take Ruth on a Mother’s Day hike.  It didn’t take much convincing, of course!  Though travel restrictions have been loosening up, we still needed to find a relatively nearby hike that wouldn’t be overrun with people.  So naturally, I thought of heading to the most populous city in Alabama.  Well, technically we were going to the most populous suburb of the most populous city:  Hoover, Alabama, home to the Moss Rock Preserve.

We’ve previously visited Moss Rock, but at the time of our first visit we covered mostly the central and western portions.  On this trip, we visited the northeast end of the preserve, which is topographically a little more challenging and has some different habitats.  This 350-acre nature preserve is administered by the city of Hoover (and maintained by many volunteers), and the city has an excellent web page with details on the trails and the three trailheads.  For this visit, we parked at the Simmons Middle School parking lot.  There was some road construction in the area so it took us a little while to figure out how to get into the parking lot — it’s between the school and the fire station — but once we arrived at the large paved lot it was obvious that the trail began at the southwest end of the parking lot, next to a kiosk.  A set of wooden stairs leads into the woods.

The trails at Moss Rock are generally color-coded, and our trail of choice was the Orange trail.  Once we reached the bottom of the stairs, we turned right and walked along a wide dirt path next to Hurricane Creek.  It didn’t take long for one of the wildflower superstars of this preserve to put in an appearance: violet wood sorrel.  Orange paint blazes on the trees made it easy to stay on the trail, which became narrower and rootier as we headed northwest.  At about .25 miles, Hurricane Creek joins with the north fork of Hurricane Creek to the northeast, and the Orange trail turns northeast to flank the north fork, heading upstream.  Hurricane Creek can be forded at this location if you want to join up with the White trail (which has been running along the other side of Hurricane Creek) and explore the trails in the central section of the preserve.  There’s a large metal sewer pipe that spans the creek at this location, which might be helpful if you’re attempting a high water crossing.

Violet wood sorrel

Our route called for following the Orange trail, so we stayed on the same side of the creek.  It was a beautiful day!  Mountain laurel was in bloom along the trail, which followed the north branch upstream past limpid pools and occasional narrow channels.  Always on the lookout for a basking rock, Ruth found a nice one at a pinch point of the creek.

Mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia)

Over the next .25 miles, the trail offered creek views to the left and wildflowers to the right, with large bluet, oakleaf hydrangea, and two-flowered Cynthia in bloom.  After passing a less photogenic small powerline cut and a concrete drain pipe on the right, we continued past the junction with a loop of the Orange trail (we planned to hike the loop later) and came to a confusing trail junction at about .65 miles.  The trail appeared to fork, with both sides looking somewhat worn.  We tried the split to the left, which headed back toward the creek, but didn’t see any blazes.  We then backtracked and took the more rutted trail to the right, which also was not blazed.  It headed uphill and was working its way toward Chapel Road, but was getting increasingly narrow and ultimately indistinct.  After checking our location on Google Maps and comparing it to road junctions that were on our trail map, it was obvious we had gone the wrong way, so we headed back to the fork.  Moss Creek volunteers, this would be a good place for a handy paint blaze on the left fork.

Two flowered Cynthia
Confusing trail split
Oakleaf hydrangea

Once we were back on the Orange trail after a detour of about .2 miles, it began to slowly gain altitude, passing through a few of the trademark boulders on this preserve.  We saw partridgeberry in bloom here, about the time that we began to hear rushing water ahead.  We passed the other junction with the loop of the Orange trail and continued northeast to arrive at High Falls, approximately 1 mile from the Simmons trailhead.  There wasn’t a lot of water flowing (it’s usually dry through the summer), but we spent a little time at the base of this multi-stage waterfall.  The overall drop is probably around 20 feet, with the main drop farther upstream and difficult to see.  While we were enjoying sitting by the pool, Ruth had enough cell signal to receive a Facetime call from our daughters, which was a nice surprise.  They’ve been socially isolated from each other for several weeks, so it was a treat for them to be together too.

partridgeberry

After the phone call, we were ready to continue uphill on the Orange trail, which passes an overlook that gives a slightly better view of the upper drop of the waterfall.  About .1 mile from the waterfall, the Orange trail climbs to intersect with Chapel Road, passing a few yellow wood sorrels, some New England asters, and winding through a nice stand of periwinkle before leaving the woods. At this point, the trail continues north for a few yards to get past a fence by the roadside, and two options present themselves.  You can cross the road and continue on the Orange trail to a viewpoint called Top of the World, or you can turn northwest on a connector trail.  Or, you can do both, as we did.

Yellow wood sorrel
Periwinkle
New England aster

We crossed the road (carefully — it’s a busy road) and plunged into an orange-blazed opening.  The trail to the boulders at the Top of the World is very short — only .05 miles — but is briefly steep, with a couple of switchbacks to carry you past the boulders up to the top.  The view is to the northwest, but is probably best after the leaves are down, as the view is occluded.  Nonetheless, it was a nice place to take a rest, and for the mama pictured below to relish her day.

We backtracked to the road and crossed over again.  It’s worth noting that this open area, clearly an old road that was perhaps at one time for access to a powerline cut, had two very eye-catching wildflowers:  narrowleaf vervain and one stand of stiff verbena in a shaded area next to the road.  The connector trail is a graveled path between some stands of immature hardwood trees, crossing over the feeder stream (which was dry this far uphill).  Blackberries were fruiting but not yet ripe, and Queen Anne’s lace was in bloom, along with another similar wildflower which I couldn’t solidly identify.  One of my options was a deadly poisonous plant when ingested; the other is a harmless fragrant plant, and I don’t want to get those two confused!  So that one isn’t going into this next set of photos.

Narrowleaf vervain
Stiff verbena

About .15 miles from the road, the connector trail splits.  There’s no signage, but either fork will eventually tee into the Powerline trail.  We wanted to see the Native Prairie Restoration Area, so we took the right fork and soon came to a wide junction with a fenced area to the south.  This is the prairie restoration area, so we took the trail into the grassland, dotted with various interesting forbs, such as crimson clover, butterfly weed, yellow thistle, Virginia dayflower, large-flowered tickseed, and prairie purple coneflower (just starting to bloom).

Crimson clover
Butterfly weed
Yellow thistle
Large-flowered tickseed
Prairie purple coneflower

The trail splits within the prairie, with one fork heading left toward a birdhouse.  This fork heads back toward the connector trail, so we took the right fork toward an obvious powerline cut.  And indeed, this is the Powerline trail, which runs the entire northern length of the preserve.  Almost immediately, we passed a remnant glade on the right side of the trail.  There are two of these sandstone glades in the preserve, where plants such as prickly pear have specialized to grow in these open, almost pavement-like habitats.  Shortly after passing the remnant glade (called the Moon Rock on the trail map), we tried a connector trail on the left but turned around when we realized it was just going to loop back toward the prairie.  But in that 100-yard side trip, we were treated to a nice display of showy evening primrose and a large prairie rose bush.

Prickly pear
Showy evening primrose
Prairie rose

After we returned to the Powerline trail, we headed southwest for about 50 yards before taking a much smaller connector trail on the left side down into the woods, just where the powerline jogs to the right and uphill.  Upon entering the woods, we immediately saw orange blazes and knew we were on the Orange trail’s loop.  We headed southwest, hiking the loop widdershins.  This portion of the loop passes through a pine grove and crosses a small creek twice (an easy stepover both times), to reach the massive Rock House boulders, very close to the north fork of Hurricane Creek.  Two more wildflowers were in bloom here — the ridiculous spurge nettle and the sublime Indian pink.

Connector trail
Rock House Boulders
Spurge nettle
Indian pink

From Rock House boulders, we descended to the North Fork of Hurricane Creek, made an easy crossing over stepping stones, and retraced our route on the Orange trail back to the Simmons trailhead.  According to our GPS track, we had covered a smidgeon over three miles.

Ruth enjoyed her Mother’s Day hike, and hopes all moms were lucky enough to find some joy on their special day.  Though we met quite a few people on the trail, it was easy to keep our distance.  We had a brief chat with one local hiker, who told us his family usually hikes on this end of the preserve, as it has far fewer people.  That is, of course, a relative assessment, as we probably saw around 40 people along those three miles.  Still, it’s amazing that we never felt crowded, and even had some short stretches of solitude at Top of the World and on the prairie.  But we all had one thing in common — we had a nice visit with Mother (Nature).

Dancing down the trail: Rock Creek Gorge

| Ruth Wright

When I was young, so long ago now, I was a dancer. I started taking ballet lessons at the age of 3, and dance in many flavors (but primarily ballet) became the center of my life until I was 18. I took classes, taught the baby ballerinas, choreographed pieces for recitals, auditioned for and was accepted into the small town Civic Ballet company where I lived, performed in the Nutcracker every Christmas and some romantic ballet from the classic period in the spring. Granted, I wasn’t blessed with the right kind of body really – my bones were never bird-like; my legs were medium length, not leggy; I was strong and limber, but my muscles grew bulky, not long and lean. Other girls from the company went off to New York or Ballet West to be, for a time, professional dancers, but I knew I wasn’t cut out for that life. Nonetheless, I loved the world of dance. Expressing myself through movement to music was liberating, especially since I was pretty shy. These days, I mostly just “dance down the trails” and this past weekend was no exception. After our successful and isolated hike last weekend to Whitaker Preserve, I was feeling brave and energetic, so I picked out a hike on the Cumberland Trail in Tennessee for this weekend.

Now, last time we hiked on the Cumberland Trail, it about killed us, so I was cautious about which segment I picked out this time around. For those of you unfamiliar with the Cumberland Trail, it is a planned 282 mile trail set in a “linear park” that stretches from Chattanooga up to the Cumberland Gap where Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia meet. Currently about 131 miles of trail have been completed. The excellent Cumberland Trails Conference website provides information and maps on each of the 12 segments of the trail. Each segment is further broken up into several shorter sections. I picked the Three Gorges Segment and the Rock Creek Gorge section near the Sale Creek Community, from Retro Hughes Road to Upper Leggett Road. It’s a 5.4 mile (one way) moderate to strenuous hike. At least this time, we weren’t hiking this often rugged terrain in the heat of midsummer, and we brought double the water we usually carry. We aren’t in shape for a 10+ mile hike at this time, so we took two cars, planning to park one at the Upper Leggett Road Trailhead. That’s a small roadside parking area, though, so we had a plan “B” which was to use the Lower Leggett Road Trailhead instead. That would have added a couple of extra miles, though, so parking there also meant doing a totally different hike.

Google Maps helpfully has both trailheads in its list of “known places,” so getting to the trailhead was no problem at all. There was even an empty space or two at Upper Leggett, so we thought for sure we were in the clear. The Retro Hughes parking area was about 25 minutes away – 3 miles as the crow flies, but 15 miles over the small winding area roads. Having seen so few cars at the first place, we were a little shocked to find the bigger lot at Retro Hughes was full to overflowing, with cars parking along the roadside. Oh dear. Maybe this wasn’t going to be a “socially distancing” kind of hike after all!

01retro_hughes_parking
Retro Hughes parking area

We parked along the road and booted up and then walked up a short set of wooden stairs to the gravel parking area and its informative kiosk. We could see signs for “Cumberland Trail” on the other side of the road, as well as on the side we were on. Another large group of people was just heading out and crossed the road to the entrance on that side. We dithered and overthought things a little while before we realized the trail we wanted to take was the one on this side. Just to the left of the kiosk was a trail with a set of wooden barriers designed to let people through but discourage vehicles. Nobody else was heading that way, so we ended up having the trail mostly to ourselves after all.

03retro_trailstart
Retro Hughes Trail entrance

The trail description from the website that we were using to guide us indicated that the first half-mile was through a clearcut logged due to pine-beetle infestation. I was expecting few trees and lots of brush. What we got was a nicely shaded trail through young but tall-enough pines with a soft cushy footbed due to all the pine needles. It was lovely. There were also quite a few wildflowers still in bloom: Wild geranium, several types of violets, and both yellow and red buckeye were in bloom. The guide mentioned that this is a popular spot for some blackberry picking in late June and early July. I believe them – blackberries were everywhere!

Clearcut trail
Wild geranium
Birdfoot violet
Yellow buckeye (Aesculus flava)
Red buckeye

About half a mile in, we crossed the first of many small wet-weather creeks, this one with a useful rock slab for a bridge. We spotted sweetshrub blooming in abundance along with plantain leaf pussytoes. Another half mile and the trail joined with what the guide called a utility road used by loggers. It must not be used that much – it was still much more trail than road. Just after a couple of curves, I spotted a flower I’ve never seen in the wild – a pink lady slipper. It was a single glorious bloom, just off to the side of the trail. We stopped to take lots of pictures of it, hoping to get one that did it justice.

Sweetshrub (Calycanthus floridus)
Plantainleaf pussytoes (Antennaria plantaginifolia )
Yellow stargrass (Hypoxis hirsuta)
Pink lady’s slipper (Cypripedium acaule)
Pink lady’s slipper

We continued on along the trail as it descended into a small hollow, looking for the “ATV Trail” that the guide said we should cross in half a mile. We crossed something that might have, at one time, been an ATV trail but it was a bit hard to say for sure now. We spotted more wildflowers – Indian cucumber root, two different types of violets, and violet wood sorrel – before we came to an unbridged creek crossing.  It was no trouble though – an easy step-across in a lovely little bowl filled with cascading water and mountain laurel just about to bloom.

Indian cucumber root
Yellow woodland violet
Wood violet
Violet wood sorrel
Creek crossing

A sturdy flight of rock steps lead us away from the creek and past one of many examples of blooming Little Brown Jug. Shortly after that, though, I came around a curve and was stopped dead in my tracks. Ahead on both sides of the trail was a glade of pink lady slippers! There had to have been at least 20 scattered around in groups of two or three. I’d never seen a single lady slipper, and here I was looking at a whole batch of them! I was stunned. While not technically rare, these gorgeous orchids are considered endangered in Tennessee and are entirely dependent on a specific fungus in the soil for their survival.

Little brown jug (Hexastylis arifolia)
Lady’s slippers everywhere
Pink lady’s slippers

So far the trail had been pretty easy, mostly fairly level, with only gentle up or down slopes. Now, however, we got to the steep part. We went back and forth on switchbacks and down steep rock stairs to lose 300 or so feet in elevation as we made our way down toward Rock Creek. We were rewarded along the way with even more wildflowers, including Jack in the Pulpit, red trillium, foam flower, loads of violets, and false solomon’s seal.

False solomons seal
Jack in the pulpit
Sweet white violet
Foamflower (Tiarella cordifolia)
Red trillium (Trillium erectum)

We passed a small rock house and edged along several pretty little rock bluffs and across small wet weather cascades before we finally came to our next landmark – a short but steep ladder. Well, we found the ladder, broken and on its side along the trail, but luckily a new (though pretty rough) section of trail led us briefly back uphill before winding back down to the 80-foot bridge that crosses the roaring Rock Creek.

Footbed
Water crossing
Stone steps
Ladder
Jumbled footbed

On the other side was a perfect basking rock, so we stopped at this nearly half-way point and had a bit of lunch. Another couple and their dog had been following us down into the gorge and finally caught up with us here.  They asked if we’d hiked the trail before and if it was a loop. They had no idea what the Cumberland Trail was, how long it was or where it went.   Ah, the confidence of youth! We filled them in a bit and sent them on their way, following a few minutes later.

Rock Creek
Basking
Rock Creek bridge

Our next landmark was a camping area only .2 mile down the trail, past a scenic bit of rock bluff.  Though camping is currently not allowed due to the pandemic, this is an absolutely gorgeous spot that I’d recommend to anybody once things open back up. The hike in is only about 2.5 miles and not terribly difficult and the campsites sit in shady spots with rock bluffs on one side and the blue-green Rock Creek on the other. As a bonus, some enterprising souls have built some very nice seating areas around spots just made for campfires. We saw a guy and his dog sunning themselves on one of the big rocks in the river. He and the couple that had passed us earlier were the only people we saw all day, other than people in the parking lots.

Bluff
Rock Creek
Campsite

From the campsites, the trail starts to climb uphill. Uphill is always less fun than downhill, so Chet and I passed the time  joking about how the second half of this trail had better “bring it” after the stunning lady slippers on the first half. Sure enough, it wasn’t long before the trail delivered another one of my favorite flowers – dwarf crested iris – along with common cinquefoil, two flowered cynthia, and pale blue-eyed grass. So more wildflowers, but different ones from the first half. And then, half a mile from the campsites we came to the beautiful Leggett Creek Cascade. The day we were there, at least, this was a symphony of mini-waterfalls tumbling down from above. I’d say the second half “brought it”!

Dwarf crested iris
Common cinquefoil (Potentilla simplex)
Two flowered Cynthia ( Krigia biflora)
Pale blue eyed grass (Sisyrinchium)
Leggett Creek Cascade

The next mile and half was an up and down climb over several folds in the landscape where creeks cut into the sides of the gorge. It seemed to us that this half of the trail is perhaps less used than the first half, but the second half kept giving – offering up more blooming mountain laurel, star chickweed, actual solomons seal, and tons of bright red fire pinks.

Footbed
Star chickweed
Fire pink (Silene virginica)
Bluff
Little waterfall

There’s a creek crossing at Rocky Creek Branch which at one time had a bridge. We skirted around the ruins of it but were able to cross easily enough on the rocks. Next was Flat Branch with its intact bridge making the crossing easy. After climbing back up a bit to a spot with nice views down into Rock Creek Gorge, we came to the final creek crossing at Boiling Springs Branch. This crossing also was supposed to have a bridge across it – “the largest one built recently” according to our guide. It, too, however, was in ruins. Must have been some powerful storms passing through here recently!

Rocky Branch bridge ruins
Flat Branch bridge
Boiling Springs bridge ruins

After negotiating the last creek crossing (pretty easy really), we came to what we looked back on as the hardest part of the hike. The trail here tees into the Rock Creek Loop, which as you may have guessed is a loop trail that runs between Upper and Lower Leggett trailheads. Going right would have taken us to Lower Leggett Trailhead, so we turned left towards Upper Leggett and our parked car. We were only half a mile from the car, but had to climb up out of the gorge in that half mile. It was steep, though aided by many many rock stairs. We passed a couple of beautiful examples of pinxter azaleas (another favorite), but mostly just huffed and puffed our way up out of the gorge. After .4 miles, we topped the ridge and found the trail to the parking lot heading off to the left, while the loop trail continued to the right. This piece was easy – .1 miles of flat ridgetop trail that was easy underfoot – and we were soon back to Leggett Road. I had a moment of panic when I couldn’t see a parking lot, much less our car, but quickly realized that the lot was a short walk along the road, past one last mound of wildflowers – sweet William this time.

Pinxter azalea
Footbed
Sweet william

Both of us agree that so far, this has been our favorite of the Cumberland Trail hikes we’ve taken. Rock Creek Gorge is a wonderland of creeks, views, and rockhouses, and despite our grumbling on that final half mile, it is a pretty moderate 5.35 mile trail. Go in the springtime like we did and you’ll be further enchanted by the wealth of wildflowers all along the trail. We lost count of how many we were able to identify – somewhere over 30 we guessed – and still can’t get over the lady slippers. I’m pretty sure those pink slippers, a bit reminiscent of ballet slippers, are what danced me down the trail this time.