On May 23rd, five hikers from Nashville met six hikers from the East TN chapter for a joint hike on Black Mountain, near Crossville TN. The Black Mountain Trail is part of the Cumberland Trail. We began our hike at the the top of the mountain, hiking the loop trail clockwise and stopping at the south overlook for photos and fantastic views of Grassy Cove.
Continuing on the southern side of the loop we arrived at the junction with the Cumberland Trail where we began descending between huge boulders and passing a small cave. As we descended we noticed some late spring wildflowers such as spiderwort, yellow trillium, blackberry, and indian pink. There were two mystery flowers; one that looked like a fire pink but that we later learned was "round leaved catch-fly", and the other turned out to be milkweed.
We hiked to where the trail meets the the highway (SR68), about 4 miles, and made an about face back up the mountain, stopping for lunch at Windless Cave. Continuing back up the mountain and through the boulders, we finished the clockwise loop, stopping this time at the northern overlook for a luxurious rest and then back to the parking lot. It was a great day for a hike!
Our group
Cave
Lunch break
Milkweed
Round-leaved Catchfly
