Cherokee National Forest: Bullen Hollow, Reynolds Ridge Loop

Another day for a hike close to home. My car is not in the best of shape right now and I cannot afford to have it in the shop and so I made the short drive out to the Cherokee National Forest and the trailhead for Margarette Falls. This day would not see me on the Margarette Falls Trail though. Instead I was headed up the Bullen Hollow Trail. I had done some research about this trail and found a loop hike on the Greeneville Hiking Club website

that follows an unofficial trail along Reynolds Ridge, along with Bullen Hollow.

I arrived to an empty parking lot and hit the trail in short sleeves on this incredibly warm December 27th. It was a quick walk on the gravel access road to the the Bullen Hollow Trail where I started my ascent. I huffed and puffed and sweated my way up the trail before it finally leveled off in some open oak woods.

At an interesting little shallow pond

I found a road and turned right. Soon I found myself at the signed forest road 358A

and turned right yet again. After a short walk I was at the junction with the Greene Mountain Trail which I had hiked just a few weeks ago. At a four-way intersection I went straight before quickly veering to the right and descending to the infamous Kennedy Cabin. I had looked for it during my hike of the Greene Mountain Trail, but had no luck in finding it. There's not much left of it, just a few pieces of metal roofing.

There is, however, a piped spring that spills into a set of two barrel halves.

I rested on a rock at the cabin site, ate a snack and found an old Budweiser can.

After my short break I started moving again. After a short but steep ascent, I turned left onto an old woods road and descended through a rhododendron tunnel.

Soon I left the tunnel and followed Reynolds Ridge for a good deal of the rest of the hike. There were a few views out onto the lowlands of Greene County.

There were also some teaberry or wintergreen

growing here and there on the dry ridge. After a steep descent I was back on the Bullen Hollow Trail for the short walk back to the car. Upon returning I found lots of cars parked in the lot. Obviously there are a lot of folks out enjoying this wonderful summer-like weather.