Tennessee State Parks joined the REI #OptOutside campaign by conducting ranger-led hikes on Black Friday 2015. Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving Day and the unofficial start to the Christmas shopping season. With extended hours and special sales, it is routinely the busiest shopping day of the year in the US. Instead of joining the crowds at the malls and outlet centers, I chose to join the hike at Big Ridge State Park in Union County on Norris Lake.
Ranger Sarah led six hikers, one small child riding on her mother's back, and a dog along the Lake Trail, the eastern portion of the Ghost House Loop Trail, the southern end of the Big Valley Trail and the Chestnut Ridge Trail before walking down the road past the cabins and picnic area back to the park office. The total distance was about 4.7 miles of moderate hiking at elevations between 1050 and 1300 feet.
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| Trail route |
Lake Trail
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| View downstream of the dam that creates Big Ridge Lake |
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| Big Ridge Lake from the dam |
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| Reflections |
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| Looking back at the moss along the trail |
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| Log in the water at the bottom of a beaver slide |
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| Bald eagle |
Snodderly Cemetery near Lake Trail
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| Sarah Hutcheson, about 1800-1893 |
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| John Hutcheson, 1805-1889 |
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| Henry Snodderly 1833-1862 |
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| Daniel Snodely, 1810-1892 |
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| Nancy Snoderly, 1840-1916 |
Back on the Lake Trail
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| Beaver pond |
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| Trail relocated across new bridge |
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| Looking upstream at the old bridge |
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| Looking downstream at the unnamed branch |
Ghost House Trail
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| Norton Cemetery |
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| Homestead foundation |
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| Filled-in cistern |
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| Typical trail conditions |
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| Side-hill cut |
Big Valley Trail
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| Big Valley trail north |
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| Big Valley Trail south |
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| Trail crosses another unnamed branch |
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| Lots of green ground cover near the branch |
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| A sturdy bridge spans a small streambed |
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| Stream flows under a tree |
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| Heavily eroded hillside |
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| Looking back as the trail widens out to a wagon road |
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| Saplings were planted by Boy Scouts nearly 10 years ago |
Chestnut Ridge Trail
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| Trail crosses a grassy field before... |
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| ...crossing a bridge over Lyon's Spring Branch |
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| Lyon's Spring Branch |
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| Mill dam and raceway for Norton's Mill |
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| Another view of Lyon's Spring |
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| Abandoned water towers |
There is no fee to enter Big Ridge State Park.
The park website is http://tnstateparks.com/parks/about/big-ridge.
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