Rogers Ridge Hike

Sunday, I headed to the northeast corner of Tennesssee to the Rogers Ridge Scenic Area in Cherokee National Forest.  I first drove to the end of the road and parked at the trailhead for Gentry Creek Falls.  We had tried this waterfall before in very high water, but Alex was not able to cross so we couldn't get it.  But today the water level was lower.

In fact, I didn't even get my feet wet as I could rock hop all the crossings.  There were some scenic cascades along the trail.

There were some beebalm flowering along the creek, but nothing like yesterday.

In a little over 2 miles, I made it to the beautiful Gentry Creek Falls.

The waterfall consists of two 30-foot drops though the upper drop is not as easy to see.

Although the creek was low, the waterfall still looked really nice.

I thought about climbing to the upper section, but with low water, the sun poking out and being alone, I decided not to.  Back at the car, I drove back on the forest road, thankful there was no oncoming traffic as it is very narrow with almost no pull-offs, and parked at the Rogers Ridge Trailhead.  It's a larger parking area, suitable for horse trailers, as Rogers Ridge Trail is mainly a horse trail.  After crossing Gentry Creek, which I could rock hop, it headed steeply up the ridge.  And being a horse trail, there weren't any switchbacks, just straight up and up and up.

It leveled off in a few places, but it was just a tease as there was always another steep section.  After about three miles, an old road came in and it got kind of confusing, but all routes seemed to head straight up.  I found a few blazes to stay on the right trail.  There was one open area and then another very steep section until it finally opened up to the balds after more than five miles.

The views when I finally reached here was fabulous and made the steep hike up worth it.

But after descending a bit, there was another steep uphill to what I believe is the end of the trail as well as the high point.

A path to the east looked like it headed into North Carolina, less than half a mile away.  I had lunch up here, enjoying the view then headed back down.  At least it was mostly downhill.

Near the end, I saw a big rat snake across the trail.  He didn't seem to want to move, so I went around.

Back at the car, I headed back to Johnson City and stopped in downtown for dinner.  I got tacos from White Duck and beer from Yee-Haw.  The orange creamsicle IPA was really good, but I drank the last of it.  After dinner, I went back to the hotel for the evening.