This is a much shorter trip than I usually write up, but mostly it is an excuse to write up another Cumberland Trail section and to show off some good pictures I got of flooding along the Obed River.
From
2012 through 2015 I was a member of the Board of Directors for the Cumberland
Trail Conference. Prior to that I had contributed to the CTC’s guide to the
Cumberland Trail. The guide was first envisioned as a book, but then the group
made the decision to put the material online to make the trail information more
accessible to the public. The guidebook work involved measuring the trail with
a wheel, writing a description, and submitting photos. My three sections were
Frozen Head State Park, the Emory Tract, and Emory River Gorge. I’d mapped and
described the FHSP and Emory Tract Sections in 2010, and I also worked with the
CTC’s mapmaker to include the other, non-CT, trails in the park in the map that
would appear on the web site.The Iron Bridge at Nemo over the Emory River.
After
running Barkley in 2011, I had the time, and energy, to turn to my final
section which is a dead end stub leading from the Obed River east toward the
town of Wartburg. I hadn’t hiked this section before, and it would give me the
chance to explore some new ground on both sides of the Obed River.
The
section starts at the NPS Obed Wild and Scenic River’s Rock Creek Campground
and follows the campground and Catoosa roads to the historic iron Nemo Bridge
which runs next to the modern bridge. The old bridge was saved in the early
2000’s to become part of the Cumberland Trail. Next up is the Obed WSR Nemo
Picnic Area and River Access where I started my hike. The high point of the
hike is a stunning overlook constructed as part of the railroad tunnel that
passes just below the trail. The trail still ends a mile from the picnic area
at a bridge over a small stream just shy of the confluence of the Emory and
Obed rivers.Small creek near the end of the trail segment.
The link for my CT Obed Section write-up on the CTC web site is here.
4-16-11
Two
days later I returned to the area intending to explore and ride some of the
gravel roads in the adjacent Catoosa Wildlife Management Area. Unfortunately
for me it was turkey season, and only hunters were allowed in the WMA at that
time. I had read that Catoosa was closed to non-hunters during big game season,
but I just hadn’t realized that turkeys are considered big game.
However,
this gave me a chance to rehike Emory Gorge section, and explore some other
places near Nemo. We’d had major flooding since my earlier visit and the picnic
area was gated shut and mostly under water. Three inches of recent rain had led
to the Emory flowing at 70,000 cfs vs. a typical flow of around 2,000 cfs. On
my second trip I realized that the Obed/Emory confluence was in view from the
overlook, as was the mouth of the next tunnel to the north. I re-GPS’ed the
route and returned to the car. Flooding in the Picnic Ground.
Next,
I went back over the river to Rock Creek Campground and hiked the short nature
loop at the start of the CT Obed section. Much of the campground was under
water and there was a collapsed tent that looked hastily abandoned.The river at flood stage. Flooding at Rock Creek CG.
Finally,
I drove over to the Lily Bluff Trail on the north side of the Obed. I tried to
hike the Point Trail, but reached a washed out bridge and didn’t dare try a
ford of a normally small looking stream. I was able to hike the Boulder Trail,
which gave me a glimpse of some of the rock climbing areas in that part of the
park. View from the overlook to the flooded river. Flooded creek along the Point Trail. Flooding from Lily Bluff.
