Panthertown Valley

Come join us for the weekend and enjoy the fall colors at one of our favorite destinations - Panthertown Valley, a/k/a/ Yosemite of the East. This is a beautiful area with plenty of streams, waterfalls and surrounding mountains with great vistas. The place is more "civilized" now that there are trail markers, but you can still count on some adventures off the beaten paths. The backpacking portion of the trip is relatively easy, about 1.5 miles gently downhill to our campsite near Tuckasegge river just past Sandbar Pool. We'll set up camp and get a quick bite to eat, then head out day hiking for the rest of the day, returning to camp for dinner, beverages, and fellowship around a campfire. Sunday we will do a little day hiking before we break camp and backpack out to our cars for the return home.

Those who have been to Panthertown Valley with me before know that I like to seek out as many waterfalls as possible, often taking "user created trails" that involve some bushwhacking. Because of the fall colors this trip will focus more on the mountain vistas, but I will include some waterfalls. My plan for Saturday's day hike is to hike to the top of Cold Mountain since Ann has not been there before, which is about an about 8 mile round trip with a 1000' elevation gain. We'll stop and enjoy Warden's Falls and perhaps Jawbone Falls on the way to finding the Little Green Creek trail which will take us up the mountain. The trail is hard to find but I have found it before so I don't think we will have any trouble. This is not an official maintained trail, so be sure to wear long pants and expect to do moderate scrambling/bushwhacking. Sunday we will take a short hike to Schoolhouse Falls and up Little Green Mountain before heading back to break camp. Depending on the weather and how the group is feeling we can drop packs part way out for a quick side trip to Granny Burrell Falls, or drop our packs in our cars and take the 2 mile round trip up Blackrock Mountain from the parking area.