Talk:Holston Mountain Trail

Holston Mn Trail Hike May 27-28,2011

We set off on the AT from Hwy. 91 to Double Springs Shelter at 5:00PM after work and hiked the 3 miles to the Shelter, we got there about an hour before dark. There were a couple of hikers at the shelter who showed us where the blue blaze trail was that is the end of the Holston Mn. Trail. It's at the top of the hill on the left going SOBO from the shelter. After we got water at the shelter we hiked in about 1/4 mile on the HMT and found a really nice area to camp.

Two good rain storms had rolled through earlier that day but waiting until late afternoon to start our hike turned out to be lucky. We saw no more rain but a very nice cool and refreshing breeze and fog later that night. It was quiet and pleasant with a soft breeze.

The trail is very wild and unmaintained on that end. Briers, blackberry bushes and tall grass on the trail. Wearing Gators or long pants is recommended. The blue blazes were our only assurance we were still on the trail. We lost it twice though because of downfall and areas of nothing but wilderness. Some of the blazes were missing in one area too. But we kept to the top of the ridge and found it with some diligence. We had occasional views of the lake through the trees on the way.

It was slow going because of so many downfalls. The recent storms have really done a number on one particular area near the Josiah Trail. Fresh trees snapped off and twisted. I think the tornado from Thursday night before did that because it went right over the Mn and towards the lake exactly in that area! This area really need maintenance.

Needless to say we made it to Flint Mill Gap as planned but later than we expected because of so many reroutes. So we debated to just hike down Flint Mill and have our shuttle person pick us up there. I have Verison and had a signal almost all the way so that made it possible to contact our shuttle person!

We got to stop at the overlook on Flint Mill Trail and am always overwhelmed by this view! It's just breathtaking.

The hike down on Flint Mill was tedious & though and I fell on my back side once. The rains have washed a lot of that access trail out and pushed over more trees so it took us a long time to get to the bottom. It's a hard trail anyway because it is rocky, craggy and very steep, but it was grueling that day. We were hot, tired and out of water by the time we reached the bottom. There is water at the top on Flint Mill Trail but we didn't take the time because we knew there was water at the bottom on Flatwoods trail.