Possum Creek

Join me as I explore the southern Cumberland Trail.

The Cumberland Trail is an ambitious hiking trail project currently under development. When completed, the CT will extend more than 300 miles from the Cumberland Gap in Kentucky to Signal Point, just outside of Chattanooga.  Currently over 200 miles are open with the trail slated for completion in late 2019 (Hint, they missed the deadline).  Additionally, the CT is part of the Great Eastern Trail, which is under development and will extend from Alabama to New York when completed.

This section is filled with difficult terrain, waterfalls, gorges, rapids, awesome vistas and cool bridges.

If you are looking for a hike on an iconic trail with tons of cool stuff to see, this is your hike! We will be stopping at all points of interest for picture taking and high hilarity. This is an out and back hike.

We will be starting at Heiss Mountain Road trailhead. Our first waterfall will be visible at the .1 mile mark, the second at the .7 mile mark... so much to see! At about the 1 mile mark we will cross our first bridge, this one over Big Possum Creek. At about the 2 mile point we will take a side trail to Perkins Point for a great view. At about the 2.7 mile mark we will take the yellow blazed side trail to another overlook, this time of the Tennessee River. At the 3.4 mile mark we will encounter our second bridge, a 70 footer crossing Little Possum Creek. There will be several more overlooks as we make our way to "Imodium Falls" at the 5.1 mile mark. We will explore the area around the falls to see if any Kayakers are risking their lives that day.  This will be a great time to stop, eat and enjoy the view. We will retrace our steps, at a somewhat quicker pace, to our cars to complete our out and back adventure.

This is a 10.5 mile hike with 2900 feet of ascent. Some of the terrain is steep and difficult, the hardest ascent of the hike occurs at the 8 mile point. 

You must have recent D5 experience, be comfortable with a pace on the fast side of moderate and be prepared for difficult terrain to participate in this event.

There are no bathrooms at the trail head.

Enter "Heiss Mountain Trailhead" in Google maps for turn by turn directions. The trailhead is just a few miles north of Soddy-Daisy TN.  The Highway 111 Fuel Center is close to the trailhead, and we will stop there for a bio-break.

Click here for trailhead location