Sunday, January 18, 2015

Panther Creek State Park: Lost Road Trail

This is the type of state park that the Grunwald family normally avoids since it contains a large, man-made reservoir. However, with surprisingly nice weather today we just had to get out and take advantage and so we headed over to Morristown and Panther Creek State Park. We opted to hike the 3.5 mile long Lost Road Trail.

The trail was nothing special, but it was nice to just get out into nature and enjoy the pleasant weather.
We started with an ascent up a bunch of tightly spaced switchbacks and hiked past at least one old homesite with a sunken foundation and the remains of a chimney.
Eventually we reached a ridge and shortly after starting a descent we met a hiking partner, a dog whose tag claimed she lived just outside the park and knew to come home at night.

We soon began a descent down to the Cherokee Reservoir. The water level was very low,
presumably because the reservoir is drawn down for the winter and spring rains.
From the reservoir we ascended again, passing through limestone, karst landscape with some sinkholes.
Then we were back to the car for a short drive over to the playground so that Sierra could play for a bit before the drive home.

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