Hiking the Sinking Waters Trail

Sunday, November 7, 2021

Hi Blog!

We are camped in Blountville, Tennessee, just a few miles south of the Virginia border and west of western Virginia. This is as far south as we wanted to go before turning back north to meet up with the Philly and Arlington Scrantons for Thanksgiving. The move to Blountville gave us a chance to explore the eastern fringes of Tennessee. This area is very hilly because of the limestone and shale. The limestone is quick to erode creating sink holes, hollows and caves, while the shale makes lots and lots of lumpy humps. To better understand the geography, we stopped at Warriors' Path State Park. Here we are at the trailhead for the Sinking Waters Trail.

Dusty is standing guard at the trailhead parking area. While there was one other car in the parking lot, the owner was sitting eating his lunch. We had the trail all to ourselves.

Just after hiking down from the trailhead, we crossed a small bridge over a tiny run.

Just beyond the bridge, the run began as a tiny spring which is now protected by this very large roof.

Our hike of exploration would take us through three different ecozones. The first loop was the woodland loop. We left the main path and headed up and up and up until we were hiking across one of those lumpy humps.

As we hiked along the ridge, we were hiking through a hardwood forest. Because this ridge is exposed to high winds, many of the leaves were already on the ground. The bare trees allowed us to look down into the hollows below.

What goes up must come down. Luckily for us, the trail builders added a stairway from the ridge back to the road.

As we returned to the portion of the trail that followed the main road that ran through this area, we came across one of the most descriptive tail markers we've ever seen:

As you face this sign, you can choose to go straight ahead up the trail to the ridgeland loop back to the parking area. This will take you through some older forests with fine views (especially in winter) from the ridgeline, or, you can turn left and continue along the old road. This will take your to the lower field with good views of the creek valley. You will then have a chance to go down to the marsh and boardwalk.

Since we just came from the ridgeline, we decided to continue down the road.

Below, Dave takes a break at the trail junction of the Field Loop trail with the Woodland Loop. When this park was first acquired in 1952 from the Tennessee Valley Authority, there may have been a field here. However, as we hiked around the field loop, we found ourselves in a young forest.

We noticed a number of different bird boxes throughout the park. We later learned that the local Boy Scouts troop created and installed these bird houses.

We had a perfect bluebird fall day. The temperatures were in the high 50s. However, the bright sun made some photos difficult because of the glare. We did our best to try and capture some of the fall color.

As we hiked down from the upper side of the Field Loop, Kathy noticed something shining in the woods. She ventured off-trail and discovered a mylar balloon!

Since it can take up to four years for a mylar balloon to decompose, we decided to take it with us and dispose of it properly.

From the Field Loop, we ventured down to the Marsh Loop. To help folks explore the marsh, a boardwalk was constructed from recycled plastic water bottles.

As we wandered around the marsh, we discovered a cave! Kathy encouraged Dave to do a little spelunking, but the opening was just a little too tight!

As we worked our way around the boardwalk, we discovered the reason why this trail was called "Sinking Water." Cedar Creek, which we hiked along, just disappeared into a sinkhole.

On our way back to the trailhead, Dave discovered his own mylar balloon!

As we hiked back along the trail, we noticed this vineyard.  Somehow, on our way down to the sinking waters, we had walked right by this vineyard and never noticed.

While not the longest hike we've ever done, having a chance to explore three different ecozones was a lot of fun. If the weather warms up enough, we hope to get in a paddle on Fort Patrick Henry Lake. Stay tuned.