2017 Year In Review

2017 was a great year, the highlight of course marrying the love of my life Robin L Calhoun last May. We've taken a number of road trips together, and while perhaps not as far reaching as the places I visited in 2016, there was much beauty to be found. As always, a number of new trails nearby...

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Hiking Tallulah Gorge State Park, GA 08/20/17

Trails: North Rim Trail, South Rim Trail, Hurricane Falls Trail Distance: 5 miles [View Photo Gallery] One of the Seven Natural Wonders of Georgia, Tallulah is the deepest gorge east of the Mississippi River, and something that had been on my bucket list for some time. So, when I discovered it was a mere half...

Hiking Marbut Bend, TVA Lands, AL 04/17/17

Trails: Marbut Bend Trail, unnamed trail Distance: 1.5 miles [View Photo Gallery] There's not many trails in this area that I've yet to set foot on, and even rarer are those I've never heard of. The Marbut Bend Trail, part of TVA's sprawling series of public properties fits both those categories. On a weekend that...

Hiking Nickajack Cave Wildlife Refuge, TN 04/01/17

Trails: Boardwalk Trail Distance: 1 miles [View Photo Gallery] I discovered the Nickajack Cave Wildlife Refuge by pure accident one day while researching places to hike around Chattanooga, TN. My real interest in the area was of the Little Cedar Small Wild Area, one of the many hiking spots the TVA maintains along the Tennessee...

Hiking Little Cedar Mountain Small Wild Area, TN 04/01/17

Trails: Little Cedar Mountain Trail, Pond Trail Distance: 4 miles [View Photo Gallery] For part two of the day's adventure, we drove around the other side of Nickajack Lake to one of the many small wild areas the Tennessee Valley Authority maintains, and this one not seemingly well known despite it's proximity to the interstate....

Hiking Green Mountain Preserve, AL 03/19/17

Trails: Alum Cave Trail, East Plateau Loop, West Plateau Loop, *unnamed unfinished trail*, Oak Hill Trail, Buzzard Falls Trail Distance: 4.5 miles [View Photo Gallery] I first hiked this new preserve before it was even named last year, and quickly fell in love with it. It has a certain feel to the place that the...

Overnight Hiking / Camping Quillan/Riddle Creeks, Sipsey Wilderness Area, AL 02/18/17-02/19/17

Trails: Quillan Creek, Riddle Creek Distance: 7 miles [View Photo Gallery] Some seven years since we last set foot in the woods together, Randall, Matt, and myself broke the streak on a much needed return to the Sipsey Wilderness. These get togethers are few and far between now, and it's been even longer since the...

Overnight Hiking / Camping Service Park, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Land, AL 02/10/17-02/11/17

Trails: Pink Loop, Orange Loop, Yellow Trail Distance: 2 miles [View Photo Gallery] The second stop on mine and the dog wonder's little road trip/camping outing was meant to be nothing more than a place to hang our hats while we ventured over to Bladon Springs State Park, and a visit to nearby Choctaw National...

Hiking Choctaw National Wildlife Refuge, AL 02/11/17

Trails: Nature Trail Distance: 0.75 miles [View Photo Gallery] Just upstream on the Tombigbee River from Service Park is a bit of a hidden birder's paradise, the Choctaw National Wildlife Refuge. Approximately 4,200 acres in size, it serves mostly as a wood duck habitat, and most areas of it are low and inaccessible; much of...