Hike #564; Wyanokies
6/19/11 Jungle Habitat to Otter Hole with Joe Blevins,Corrin Dylnicki, Stevie ?, "DJ Ray" Cordts, Eric Pace, Neeleema ?, Krithika Raman, Jack Lowry, "Action Adam" Stevens, Samantha Rose Hernandez, and Izabel Hernandez.
A rest stop at Overlook Rock in the Wyanokies
My next hike would be another point to point in the Wyanokies. There were still several trail connections I had yet to explore, and so I devised a route that would give me mostly new experiences.
We met in the morning at Otter Hole on Glenwild Avenue near Bloomingdale like I had done so many times, and we shuttled as few cars as possible to the north, to Jungle Habitat. We somehow managed to fit eleven people into Joe's truck! We spotted DJ Ray's car along the way and then headed north to the beginning.
Old road in Jungle Habitat
We started out by walking the old roadway through the gates and up hill. I was slightly concerned going there because I knew a lot of these parks were shut down due to work on the Tennessee Gas Pipeline, but Jungle Habitat would have only been effected on the northernmost side.
Old parking lot road in Jungle Habitat
We continued along the road until we got to the giant main parking area, and then we turned left into the tunnels to the wooded sections. We followed along the edges of the roads to the right. We ended up following a different route than we'd taken previous times and saw some things we didn't see before like cages.
Cage in Jungle Habitat
We ended up getting off trail though, and had to bushwhack up hill steeply along the edge of a fence, then out to a woods road.
We then followed one of the roads for a ways until we got to the spot known as "Rape Hill". We bushwhacked up along the big blue fence to the top, with all of the pictures of the sex positions everywhere. We took a break at the top, and then we found a way through the fences to get to the view point to the east. Everyone else walked around and soon found their way to me.
After a short while, we walked along the fence line down hill, and when we reached the bottom I turned left, bushwhacking to hit the Hewitt-Butler Trail's blue blazes. I called everyone to join me and we continued.
Rock outcropping on Hewitt Butler Trail
View from Hewitt Butler Trail
View from Hewitt Butler Trail
Nice view
We went up and down along Hewitt Butler, and then came to a great rock outcropping with a view to the east. It was quite nice. We followed Hewitt Butler Trail for a while, and Eric fell pretty far behind. The trail was a bit more difficult than even I thought it would be. We came close to a power line, which used to be the trail route until a couple years earlier, and then we turned left onto a white blazed trail I think it was, the Overlook Rock Trail. I called Eric and told him where to go, and we followed this one across the power line and down hill on an old woods road. I missed the turn and ended up having to backtrack to hit the trail. Someone had pulled the turn blazes off the tree, and all I had to go by was cairns.
Nice view
View from Overlook Rock
View from Overlook Rock toward Lake Sonoma
After the trail turned away from the woods road, it became more difficult. We continued on over rock outcroppings, and came to where an orange trail joined from the left. I figured that was Lake Sonoma Trail, but I wasn't sure. These trails were not yet shown on my map. We continued to the right on the co-aligned trails and soon reached another split. The orange blazes took is in about fifty feet to Overlook Rock where we had another rest break. I could see some of Lake Sonoma below us.
I was also in phone contact with Jack, who was trying to find where to meet up with us, although we were still far from cars.
We continued on the white blazes south. I was looking at my GPS and realized it took us much further south of the lake than I wanted to go. The trail reconnected with Hewitt Butler Trail next to another view point to the south.
View from Hewitt Butler Trail near the end of the Overlook Rock trail.
We had to follow Hewitt Butler to the left out to the next junction. We continued until an orange blazed trail took us to the left. DJ Ray, Krithika, and Neelima cut out here, and they'd wait for Eric.
Nice pond along Hewitt Butler Trail
Steep spot on Hewitt Butler Trail
Joe on the new Lake Sonoma Trail
Nice view
The rest of us continued on along the orange trail, then left at a fork to reach Lake Sonoma where we'd swam on the trip the previous year. This time, we used a spot to access off of the rock outcroppings that Action Adam had found.
We both swam out to the cliff jump spot on the east side. I jumped several times with no problem, as the cliff can't be more than fifteen feet at the most.
When Adam went, he somehow managed to hit a rock with his shin. I didn't realize how bad it was, and hit my hand on it. As it turned out, to the left of where we usually landed, there was a giant vertically standing rock in the water that water was only hip deep on!
Adam was hurt pretty bad. It was a great swim for everybody for a while, but we had to get moving. Jack was waiting for us down at the trail head at Burnt Meadow Road. We headed to the orange trail and Adam followed it back to Hewitt Butler, and made his own quicker route back to the cars, another six miles for him. He might have had a hairline fracture.
Jack playing guitar along the Stonetown Circular Trail
I ran ahead, while Joe was behind feeding military talk to Corrin and Stevie. Jack was waiting for me at the trailhead for Lake Sonoma Trail on the abandoned messy section of Burnt Meadow Road. He brought us lots more fun drinks, and once we were all caught up we continued onto the Stonetown Circular Trail. This took us down hill
View from Tory Rocks along Stonetown Circular Trail
View from Stonetown Circular Trail. Signal Rock maybe?
We continued south along the trail, and took a break at the first view point which I think was the Tory Rocks. It was this area that used to be a hideout during the American Revolution. We passed another group of hikers on this stretch who offered us some pizza, which for some reason we turned down initially. After some ups and downs, we passed them again, and Joe offered to trade him his trail mix for the pizza. The pizza was awesome, some sort of broccoli or and cheese type of alfredo sauce thing that was not what I had expected. Very tasty.
We continued over Signal Rock and followed the Stonetown Circular Trail down to the road sections, and the blazes led us through quiet residential neighborhoods.
Along Stonetown Road
Rather than follow the circuitous route around Roomy Mine and to Wyanokie High Point, we instead followed West Brook Road from the intersection to Snake Den Road up to the Weis Ecology Center, and followed the Otter Hole Trail from the Highlands Pool up along it's route along an abandoned road.
We stopped briefly to check out the former house site along the way. Joe and Stevie went up hill where the trail was rerouted away from a wet area off the woods road, but the rest of us followed it, and they were rather annoyed.
Long abandoned car along Otter Hole Trail
Along Otter Hole Trail
We passed an abandoned old truck and ascended gradually on Otter Hole Trail to crest the higher areas and begin heading back down to Otter Hole. Along the way we passed by a viewpoint to the right which looked down into cleft in the terrain where we could see to the south a bit.
View along Otter Hole Trail
View from Otter Hole Trail
We continued from here gradually descending until we reached the Otter Hole Falls. This was a great spot to end the trip, because we could take a dip in the falls, which acted like a whirlpool bath.
Otter Hole Falls
Otter Hole
Finishing the hike at Otter Hole
Jack was first in with me, followed by Joe. Corrin soon joined. Stevie was terribly tired, and just sat down seemingly in a daze. I told everyone that Otter Hole Falls was literally a couple hundred feet from the cars, but I don't think any of them actually believed me until we walked out of the woods to see my car parked there. Hopefully I earned some more trust when I proved I was correct!
We finished later than expected because we had made some wrong turns, but overall a pretty good hike!
A rest stop at Overlook Rock in the Wyanokies
Old road in Jungle Habitat
Old parking lot road in Jungle Habitat
Cage in Jungle Habitat
Rock outcropping on Hewitt Butler Trail
View from Hewitt Butler Trail
View from Hewitt Butler Trail
Nice view
Nice view
View from Overlook Rock
View from Overlook Rock toward Lake Sonoma
View from Hewitt Butler Trail near the end of the Overlook Rock trail.
Nice pond along Hewitt Butler Trail
Steep spot on Hewitt Butler Trail
Joe on the new Lake Sonoma Trail
Nice view
Jack playing guitar along the Stonetown Circular Trail
View from Tory Rocks along Stonetown Circular Trail
View from Stonetown Circular Trail. Signal Rock maybe?
Along Stonetown Road
Long abandoned car along Otter Hole Trail
Along Otter Hole Trail
View along Otter Hole Trail
View from Otter Hole Trail
Otter Hole Falls
Otter Hole
Finishing the hike at Otter Hole
A rest stop at Overlook Rock in the Wyanokies
Old road in Jungle Habitat
Old parking lot road in Jungle Habitat
Cage in Jungle Habitat
Rock outcropping on Hewitt Butler Trail
View from Hewitt Butler Trail
View from Hewitt Butler Trail
Nice view
Nice view
View from Overlook Rock
View from Overlook Rock toward Lake Sonoma
View from Hewitt Butler Trail near the end of the Overlook Rock trail.
Nice pond along Hewitt Butler Trail
Steep spot on Hewitt Butler Trail
Joe on the new Lake Sonoma Trail
Nice view
Jack playing guitar along the Stonetown Circular Trail
View from Tory Rocks along Stonetown Circular Trail
View from Stonetown Circular Trail. Signal Rock maybe?
Along Stonetown Road
Long abandoned car along Otter Hole Trail
Along Otter Hole Trail
View along Otter Hole Trail
View from Otter Hole Trail
Otter Hole Falls
Otter Hole
Finishing the hike at Otter Hole
A rest stop at Overlook Rock in the Wyanokies
Old road in Jungle Habitat
Old parking lot road in Jungle Habitat
Cage in Jungle Habitat
Rock outcropping on Hewitt Butler Trail
View from Hewitt Butler Trail
View from Hewitt Butler Trail
Nice view
Nice view
View from Overlook Rock
View from Overlook Rock toward Lake Sonoma
View from Hewitt Butler Trail near the end of the Overlook Rock trail.
Nice pond along Hewitt Butler Trail
Steep spot on Hewitt Butler Trail
Joe on the new Lake Sonoma Trail
Nice view
Jack playing guitar along the Stonetown Circular Trail
View from Tory Rocks along Stonetown Circular Trail
View from Stonetown Circular Trail. Signal Rock maybe?
Along Stonetown Road
Long abandoned car along Otter Hole Trail
Along Otter Hole Trail
View along Otter Hole Trail
View from Otter Hole Trail
Otter Hole Falls
Otter Hole
Finishing the hike at Otter Hole
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