Leonard and I have been making a project out of exploring some of the North Cumberland Wildlife Management Area trails around Brimstone Creek. After two previous recon trips, this was our third visit to area. Our goal this time was to make a loop hike from Lone Mountain Church up to the “Four Lane” to the east.
Falls along Mill Creek.
It’s not a good idea to underestimate the drive time to Brimstone. Lone Mountain is about far south as the road goes, and it’s a good 75-90 minutes from Oak Ridge. We parked behind the church, where there was already one ATV trailer parked. Once on the ATV trails, our first surprise was a ford of raging Mill Creek. Neither Leonard nor I remembered a ford from our previous trip, but we also couldn’t remember a bridge being there either. We could see some discarded concrete slabs ahead, so we assumed an old bridge must have been washed out. The water max’ed out at knee deep, but wasn’t too cold or too powerful. Well, at least we wouldn’t have to worry about trying to keep our feet dry the rest of the day….
Fording Mill Creek.
On our 2020 trip we’d walked through a farm area in the valley bottom, but that area was now signed and fenced off. We’d hope to use a trail marked on my old ATV trail map, but that route had gone through the farm and was now off limits. So, we continued south along Mill Creek passing two unmarked side trails before coming to the start of what we presumed was Trail 77. The ATV trails in this area aren’t blazed, and are usually unsigned. To complicate matters a bit more there are some older trail numbers that match my ATV trail map and the few legacy metal signs, but there is also a newer series of trail numbers on yellow posts that don’t match the maps. We were keeping out of the private Brimstone riding area to the north, but presumably those guys have their own trail numbers as well.
Three (different) trail signs.
At the Trail 77 junction we uncovered a sign for a cemetery, but no trail sign. Away from Mill Creek, Trail 77 forked almost immediately, first right, then left, but we kept along the creek. The lower section was muddy, but soon the trail climbed above its unnamed side creek, and wandered it along giving us nice views down to the creek. We had two short shallow wet stream crossings. It was still early spring with the trees not yet leafed out and the early wildflowers, mostly phlox, still in bloom. But eventually the easy creekside trail gave way to a full on climb. Near the top the trail was cut but a deep steep sided ditch. The ditch was likely deep and steep enough to stymie ATV riders. Trail 77 was marked as “Foot Travel Only” on our maps, but we had found the trails in the WMA get ATV traffic no matter their designation. In this case the ditch had made any ATV traffic impractical.
Crossing the big ditch.
Next up we reached another unmarked junction with Trail 56, which did get substantial vehicle traffic. We headed east on 56, and reached the unmarked junction with the “Four Lane” (aka Trail 1, also aka the Brimstone Haul Road) in another half mile. We turned north on the Four Lane enjoying a nicely groomed surface and good views. The Four Lane follows some of the upper coal seams of the Cumberlands, and we saw neat rock formations in the sandstones that often cap the coal seams.
Rock overhang along the Four Lane.
The start of our descent was hard to find where Trail 54 turned off the Four lane in a small meadow with no signs or obvious track at the start. The top of the trail is super steep, likely keeping most ATVs away. Partway down the we saw our first trail sign of the day, a reassuring #54 laying on the ground. But once the trail dropped into the head of Little Creek we again had great streamside views and many wild flowers to entertain us. Dwarf iris was plentiful and sported a darker purple than we were used to seeing. But in the jumble of headwaters and coal cuts we did not see the connector to Trail 56 that we were expecting.
On Trail 54.
Continuing down the head of Little Creek we next saw an old sign for Trail 76. At the junction with Sparkman Hollow Trail 55 came in from the right, but the trail we followed ahead was confusingly marked as both 76 and 22. Regardless, we continued downstream almost to the edge of the farm near Lone Mountain Church. From here we climbed exceptionally steeply up the south side ridge.
Our
map showed a junction with the top of the trail cutting down to the farm, but
we did not see any junction. Instead, the trail kept climbing until finally
reaching some gentler terrain at a well site. We saw signs for both numbers 56
and 22. The graveled road to the well site led us back to our first junction of
trails 56 and 77, closing our loop. From here we retraced our inbound route
down Trail 77, across the ditch to the Mill Creek Trail, across the ford, and
back to the church.
Cloud effects.
Dwarf iris.
For
the day we had 12.4 miles and 2600’ of climbing in 5:17. We had spotted one ATV
group before leaving the Four Lane, but otherwise had seen no one else all day.
But driving back on the Brimstone Road we would several ATVs, and even
encountered a food truck(!) parked at the trailhead for Brimstone #95 by the
Huntsville Branch Bridge. Hot burgers and cold drinks were too good to pass up.
