So we didn't get to do the entire trail this trip since we didn't cover enough ground on the first day thanks to my smart self leaving the propane regulator at the house. I probably could have gotten by cooking over the fire, but someone else needed to get better thermals so we ended up running to the Russellville Walmart first thing Friday morning. We didn't get very far before we noticed the 4runner had a flat tire. After patching up the nail hole, we hit the road and ran our errands.
We made it back to the trail a couple hours later and headed to Brock Creek Lake. Took a couple photos and headed down the trail some more before turning around and heading to the White Oak Mountain camp on the map. We lucked up and some previous campers left a TON of firewood behind, just needed to be split. A local came and visited with us and told us the wood was free for us to use, which was great because we were all nervous to use it. He also told us that we turned around just a bit too soon at the lake and missed out on a small waterfall on an offshoot trail.
The trail that the White Oak Mountain Camp is on goes back for quite a long way with some great wheeling. It has probably an 800' elevation drop along it and eventually opens up to a football field sized clearing. The way back up is pretty fun with loose rock, rock steps, and off camber turns near shear drops. We were racing against the sun so I unfortunately didn't get any photos of the trail there.
There was a small river crossing that wasn't any more than knee deep at the time, but the rocks were super slick. No drama, no hidden holes, but we strapped the snatch strap to the back of the 4runner just in case.
The third day we covered quite a bit more ground and we able to stop and check out a little foot trail just outside of Long Pool Falls. The trail entrance is on the west side of the road and looks like just a little parking area for a scenic overlook. We skipped some stones in the river while stretching our legs and hit the road shortly after.
We drove a bit north and ended up finding a campsite on Indian Creek Road (1808) just north of 93691I and called it a night. Mainly because it was night when we got there. Now THAT was a rough night of camping. Got down to the mid 20s with super high humidity. Spent more time shivering that taking photos at camp.
The weather took a turn and heavy fog set in on us with a forecast of thunderstorms that night. We decided to take the trail to highway 7 after stopping on McMinn Knob and taking some eerie crew photos.
We called the trip finished a day early and aired up to highway pressure. A good thing too, since a series of really bad thunderstorms hit the next day for what looked to be the entire route home.
