Virgin Falls Hike with TTA

I have not been good at staying up to date with this blog, so I'm having to go backwards a bit. On November 6, 2010 we did a joint hike with the Sumner & Nashville Chapters of the Tennessee Trails Association and my HFUMC Hiking Group. River Rat Al approached me about possibly merging our group with the Sumner County TTA group. It seems like a great idea...we would both gain hike leaders and share our members & the organizing load. This was our first hike together so we could check on another out.

We had six people from the HFUMC hiking group and seven people from TTA. We even met Santa, who was heading out on a backpaking trip! We had three hike leaders so that we could offer 4-mile and 8-mile options. It was ridiculously cold when we started out, but Anne kept a brisk pace to help us warm up. There were gigantic magnolia leaves along the way. We all hiked to the first fork and 11 of us took the trail up to the overlook. It was a great view! Of course it's been so long that I have forgotten the name and the story behind the overlook. After our snack, we climbed back down and rejoined the others for a downward slope to the first waterfall. There were a lot of people backpacking in the area, and some had chosen to camp under the waterfall in the cave.

We waved goodbye to the four mile crew and headed on to Virgin Falls. The trail was beautiful with the fall leaves, mossy boulders, and sunshine. At the falls, we stopped for lunch. Sadly, my photo of Virgin Falls did not turn out. Afterward, we headed the four miles back to the cars. It was a steep climb out at points. This was beautiful trail and a great way to meet some new friends.