Saturday, February 14, 2015

Bear Den / Walls of Jericho


Day One: 8.8 Miles                                            Outcast Total Miles: 1809.73
Bear Den Point Loop 4.7                                              
Walls Of Jericho AL to camp 2.5
South Rim Trail 1.6

Day Two: 6.0
Walls of Jericho 1.6
Walls of Jericho TN 2.0
Mill Creek Loop 2.4
Total Miles 14.8


Marco and I headed out for our multi-state hike. We dropped a car at the Tennessee trailhead and headed to Alabama for the Walls of Jericho trailhead. Troy could not make this hike and we missed him.

We started out on the Bear Den Point Loop.  This trailhead is on the North side of the parking area and the trail crosses Hwy 64 and does a loop on the East side of the road.  There are some good rock formations and a water fall on this trail.

From here we headed down to the Walls of Jericho campsite.  All down hill! After getting to camp, we decided to go ahead and do the South Rim Trail.  We found out that this is not a loop trail.  It follows the rim with no good views and then ends before you get to the falls.  Not much of a trail, so we headed back to camp.

We had to search like looking for Easter Eggs to find firewood for the night. It is obvious that this is a popular campsite.  After we got camp set up we saw the only people that we saw on this trip. A man, woman, and dog were heading to the Walls. Just before dark we heard a loud noise.  It sounded like a flock of geese and then died down.

As the darkness fell, so did the temps and the fire grew. We had a good warm fire and took a couple of breaks to hike out in the field to see the stars.  Awesome! We told lies and took our cough medicine.

The next morning we woke to the same loud noise and found it to be a flock of turkeys. We got up, had breakfast, and broke down camp. We headed to the Walls along the creek.  You cross over the lower falls and then climb into the large rock amphitheater.  There a couple of levels you can climb before you get to where the largest of falls would go underground.  It is a wonderful place of beauty.

We hiked back through camp and then climbed the Tennessee side of the trail.  When we got to the Mill Creek Loop we went West by the Blow Hole. We had an owl talk to us in this area. We did not go to the Blow Hole but continued up back to the overlook and parking area.

Another great hike!

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