Fiery Gizzard

Day One:                                                 Outcast Total Miles: 1429.88
Fiery Gizzard Trail 8.1
Day Two:
Fiery Gizzard Trail 4.4
Total Miles: 12.5

Marco and I headed out to hike the Fiery Gizzard in Tracy City.  We dropped our car off at the trailhead and then headed to Foster Falls to start the hike.  There were no cars at either parking area so we figured we might have the trail to ourselves.

We started at Foster falls and took the trail down to the bottom of the falls.  We had a big rain so the falls were wonderful.  It was a little wet with all the mist at the bottom.  We walked along the famous climbing walls and took the second exit back up to the Fiery Gizzard trail.

Just before we got to the first campsite, we came across three different logs that had been torn to pieces and scattered across the trail.  So if there were any questions, Yes, there is bear in this area.  The logs were over five feet long and two foot in diameter.

We visited all the overlooks and water falls on the trail.  The trail follows the rim of the gorge except where it drops down to Laurel Branch.  Right before we got to Anderson Falls there is a newly build shelter with a sign on it about "Indian Rock Campground" which is new.  I have no information other than the sign.

At Anderson Falls we took the 196 steps down to the base of the falls.  A good work out it is!  This is also your water source for the campground.  When we got to the Raven's point campsite we found that there were now fire pits in all the sites.  Yes, you can now have fires as the private property now has a new owner.

Shortly after we got to camp another backpacker came in.  He was looking for the building where you check in at.  Ben was a brand new backpacker from Cincinnati Ohio.  He had ran the half marathon in Nashville and now was doing a little camping.  We spent the evening visiting with him.  We hiked down to Raven's Point to see the sunset before heading back to camp.  We took Ben over to the falls hoping that the lights would work on the stairs, but they didn't.  He had to go back the next morning to see the falls.

Marco surprised me with a burrito dinner.  The fancy trail dinner turned out a success.

The next morning we parted company and headed down into the gorge.  The gorge was covered with wildflowers.  Lots of water falls and rock formations. Marco danced all down the trail.  He is always so happy:)  This is considered the hardest part of the trail do to rocks and elevation changes.  It is also a very pretty section of trail.  We passed the only other person on the trail when we were leaving close to the end.

We stopped at The Lunch Box in Tracy City for our lunch.  They got some really good food.  After that we headed back to Foster Falls to recover our vehicle.  There were probably ten cars in the lot most of which were rock climbers.  

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