Ambling by Eagle Bluff on the Cumberland Trail

I've been wanting to hike sections of the Cumberland Trail for a while, and have tasted a few short bits, but never a full section. Late last year I even had plans to hike the Obed River with a friend at NIMBioS but those plans fell apart when we realized that the area was in full-hunting-swing. So when I got in touch with another NIMBioS hiker, I jumped at the opportunity to do a long hike with him. We settled on the Eagle Bluff section of the CT since it would have nice ridge-top views throughout the hike. It was also one of the easier sections to get to and shuttle cars to both ends, as well as being a bit shorter. Since this would be our first hike together, it just seemed prudent.

Sunrise at Tank Springs Trailhead

We met at the Bruce Gap trailhead at 7:30, where Jake left his car and we shuttled over to the Tank Springs trailhead a dozen or so miles away. Right off the bat I was taken aback by how light Jake had packed. He had a single nalgene water bottle for him and his two dogs, and a small fanny pack. That's all he needed for a 12 mile hike. Me on the other hand, I had my large daysack with extra clothes, geocaching stuff, 3 litres of water for myself and my dog, hot tea, binoculars, two cameras, emergency blanket, compass, headlamp... By my standards not all that much, but compared to Jake I felt like the over-packed, over-prepared boyscout. I was still fiddling with getting my GPSr turned on and tracking our progress while Jake was rearing to go. And off we went.

The trail starts off at a nice little spring across from an old quarry. There is actually a cool little bit of Civil War history here. The gap, called Big Creek Gap, was one of the few passable gaps in the Cumberland Mountains and was fought over by the Union and Confederate troops who were trying to maintain control of the supply routes to the area. Apparently some of the civil war era earthworks are still present around the old quarry. The trail climbs up slowly to the ridgetop where the earth is weathered away revealing exposed fins of rock. We had nice views out over the valley within half a mile of hiking, and the views continued throughout the day. We also made our first geocaching stop at a cache which had been archived back in 2003, GCC8AD. Amazingly, the cache container was still there, sitting out in plain sight under a small boulder. The tupperware was full with a block of ice, and the plastic fell apart as I banged out the ice. There was no logbook. Jake had never hiked with a geocacher before, but he took it in stride.

Abandoned a dozen years ago, but still findable!

Once we were on top of the ridge, the hiking was really quick. Sure there were some small descents and climbs, but no more significant elevation changes. And the ridgetop was trail was very nicely done. Usually the trail would stay right on top of the narrow exposed rock fins, or it would shoulder around them. The ridge line actually is made up of two distinct ridgelines, separated buy a shallow valley. Often you would be hiking along and suddenly would be adjacent to a steep cliff on one side or another. In short the terrain was wonderful. And with the trees being leafless, we always had pretty good views. The downside is that we were never far from the urban noises below the ridge. The towns of Lafollette, Jacksboro and Caryville spread out along the mountain in the valley below, and the hum of cars and trucks was persistent.

Great looking climbing wall near the shelter

Ammo can geocache tucked under that rock

We reached the one and only still active geocache along this portion of the trail by mid morning. CT Rock Fin is actually one of the older geocaches in the state, placed in September old 2002. Despite its age, it has only been visited by 17 geocachers and many of those were in a group visits. It certainly is a lonely cache, having last been found 2 years ago. But it really isn't that far of a hike. And the trail is superb. One of the nicer hiking trails I've been on. The cache was very well stocked as well. I traded a flashlight for a knife, and grabbed a pathtag from one of the local geocachers, Diggin'UpBones. Jake thought the whole business was pretty funny, but amusing. I actually let him use the GPSr and he made the find as I was looking in the wrong spot. The geocache is placed in a really cool area, not far from a camping shelter. There is a large rock fin with a highly textured wall that looks like it would be awesome for climbing. I can just picture hiking out here with a bunch of climbing gear, spending a few nights at the shelter, and climbing all over the wall. The only water source along the ridgetop is also located here. Sounds to me like a fun trip, but it is not likely to happen in my future.

So far, Jake had been keeping one of his dogs on a leash since she doesn't play well with others. Since we were relaxing by the shelter, I suggested he let her off to see how they would get along. The answer came quickly, not at all. Well, Sasha was well behaved, but Jake's dog, Pasta, pretty viciously attacked Sasha and clamped her jaws down on her ear and scruff. She wasn't letting go either and after a few nervous and terrifying seconds I clenched my fist and beat on her head until she released. Needless to say, she remained leashed the rest of the hike. Luckily, Sasha was not hurt, no tears or punctures, nothing at all. And within a few minutes she was wagging her tail and going over to Pasta again.Too kind for her own good. The dogs not getting along was the second downer of our hike. It would have been nice if they could all have been unleashed and free to run through the woods. But an attack like the one Pasta did is not something to risk again.

One of the many nice rock formations along the trail

Raised rock pathway

Public access walking trail to Eagle Bluff

A few miles further and we passed onto Private Property at Eagle Bluff. Eagle Bluff is a very prominent rock face that is visible from Jacksboro. The land was acquired by an individual who decided to build his cottage right on top of the cliff. It's hard to be mad at someone for doing this, because even though you look at his house and think "how could he build there", you also think "man I wish I lived there". The CT joins the road behind his house fora small stretch. And the owner has actually done something very nice here: instead of closing off his property to all tresspasers, he ahs created a small public use trail to the overlook. It would have made a great spot to have lunch, but it felt a little odd to be so close to someone's house. Their dog even came over to growl at us while we were admiring the view. But our stomachs were rumbling so after hiking a short ways from the house, we found a nice rock outcropping to eat lunch.

Eagle Bluff

Don't you dare swing on that swing!

Devil's Racetrack

A few miles further and I was on familiar ground. I had hiked up to Devil's Racetrack last fall with my wife, daughter and mother-in-law. Earlier in the day, I had made a prediction that we wouldn't see another person until we reached this point, and my prediction came true. As the american flag came into view, I started belting out the star-spangled banner, and only then did I notice a couple relaxing on the rocks nearby. Embarrassing. They soon left and we hung out for a while, collecting the smooth quartz pebbles that fall out of the sandstone matrix of rock. We encountered several more hikers on our way down off the ridge and past the waterfalls. This section of the trail is very pretty, very accessible, and apparently, pretty popular as a dayhike.

Once we got down near the triple falls of Bruce gap, I searched for a letterbox that was supposed to be there. Letterboxing is very similar to geocaching, but not GPS-based. I had written down the clue and felt that I was searching in the right place, but didn't find anything. Jake was not all that interested in searching and was just sitting with his dogs, so after 5 minutes or so of digging in the elaf litter I declared my search over and we got on our way to the waterfalls. They looked even colder than when we were here last, when I went swimming in the inviting pools. Icicles chandeliered the rock walls. And compared to that last visit, there was much less trash along the trail and around the falls. Either someone has been cleaning it up, or the winter rains/floods have swept the area clean. Either way, it was nice to see the area all cleaned up.

Left to right: Pasta, Sasha and Sasha. Yes there are two Sashas. 

The last few miles of the hike to Bruce Gap trailhead were literally along interstate 75. Trucks growled and coughed next to us, as we marched through the unremarkable woodlands towards the car. Parts of trail like this are not the greatest, but are probably unavoidable when doing a long through hike like the CT. You are bound to have to cross major interstates and squeeze between private property and DOT right of ways. And in the grand scheme of the trail, it is only for a few miles. Right at the trailhead, the interstate bridges over a stream and you can hike under the busy road and towards the next section of trail, the New River Segment. Ada and I hiked the start of this trail up to Cross mountain back on October and I hid a geocache there that still hasn't been found, GC5E2TK. I think I'll hide one on the Eagle Bluff Section too. The hikes are just too good, and I enjoy hiding caches too much. It was around 3pm when we reached the car. The 11.7 mile hike had felt like a breeze. Jake really liked the trail and hike as well. I think it's time to tackle one of the harder sections!

Bruce Gap Trailhead