Fiery Gizzard Trip Report

“Friday night I arrived at the Grundy Forest trailhead around 4:30 under grey skies and took the short .5 mile stroll to the CCC campsite where we decided to link up because of the late start everyone got on Friday. I met a couple of fellas and two kids at the next campsite who told me no one else had been by that day. After chattin with them for about a half hour, I went ahead & set up camp. This trip I also decided to test drive my friends Hennessey Hammock. Bad Idea. As it turned out, it was a bit cold for that particular experiment & I pitched it too low initially.
Anyhoo, about 6:30 or 7:00 StoveStomper showed up, which was a pleasant surprise considering he didn't think he would be able to make it until the next morning. After chattin for about 30-45 minutes, Bitpusher and his brother, Tommy, moseyed into camp. Introductions were made & conversation ensued. We drank to our good health after the rangers came by for a bedcheck. We chatted around the fire until midnight or so. About 5:00 AM, the low-slung Hennessey was the only thing seperating my ass from the cold cold ground. I got up & adjusted, meaning to rack out immediatly, but realized that I woke up StoveStomper & joined him for breakfast. Bitpusher was up soon after and we talked about the hike for the day. Bit had to wake Tommy around 8:00 or 8:30. I admire his ability to sleep that well on the trail. We hoofed it back to the parking lot where we met Ewker & Fonsie18. Bit, Stove & myself set up a shuttle at the Foster Falls end andreturned to the other 3 in time to hit the trail around 10:30. We had a rather uneventful trip until we hit the rocky stuff going thru the gorge. We called it the Rolling Rock hike from that point on because every other rock was a wobbler, slider, or roller. Invigorated by the word of 4 hikers we crossed pathes with that there was a group of young women camped out at Ravens Point, we pressed on. After about another 1.5 hours we took a short breather before the kick in the pants ascent to the top of Ravens Point. We used the 10 step wheeze hiking method. We were rewarded with cool breezes, warm sun and fantastic views. But no pretty hikers. We pressed on. The next five miles or so were easy but boring except when Fonsie almost s#!t himself when he almost stepped on a 3.5-4 foot black snake in the middle of the trail. We didn't stop again until we got to the bottom of the gorge just before the small wilds campsite. There we waited for the group to consolidate before the damn near vertical hike out of the gorge. We finally made it to the campsite where we huffed, puffed, & drank a gallon of H2O before building a toasty fire & grubbin. Mileage for the day was 10-10.5 miles of rough terrain and two heart busting ascents. Time was 5 hours I think. Conversation was lighter I think cause we were all smoked. We waited & waited for the rangers to come & check our permits but they never did, so we broke out the good stuff & drank to our survival around 8:30. Stovestomper racked out around 9:00. Can't blame him, he hikes like a man possessed. About 9:30 we hid the hooch when we saw a headlamp heading our way. "Where's the Bushmills?" the headlamp asked.It was BBill_Knox. He was hanging out at the #4 campsite & decided to see where the TT crowd was. We chatted with him & swapped whiskey for about 45 minutes until the rack called. I slept like s#!t because of the cold temps & no sleeping pad in the HH. I just couldn't keep my feet warm. Ewker & I were up around 6:30 and got a fire going. 30 minutes later we were sweating. It turned out to be a beautiful,sunny day with temps in the high 60's. It was a short 2 mile hike out to the shuttle vehicles. We had a coke, smile, wash, and a short drive to the other vehicles. On the way we stopped (at Ewkers suggestion) at the Dutch Maid Bakery. What a great idea. I think we spent $100.00 between os on bread, candy, relishes, fruitcake, cookies, & other goodies. Our last group stop was the Pizza Hut in Monteagle where we managed to eat the buffet without offending anyone. A good time was had by all and lessons were learned:
Stovestomper has the coolest stove and is a big fan of Widespread Panic.
Bitpusher knows his trivia. About everything. Really.
Tommy can sleep anywhere anytime without chemical influence.
Ewker can wake the dead with his bionic belch.
Fonsie18 can hike forever without food or water. I started calling him dromedary.
BBill_Knox is my kinda bourbon man.
Currahee likes TT hikers and hopes to meet more soon.
Cheers.”

“Sounds like another great TT trip!

where's the pics???”

“Isn't that last climb after crossing the creek a real buttkicker? Sounds like a good hike. I'm glad you guys had such a good weekend.”

“Sounds like a good trip. I should've come. I'll get there sometime, I guess.

You know, I had the same experience w/ the Hennessey on the Red trip - my feet felt like they were freezing off. I thought I was odd but maybe that is a normal cold reaction in a hammock.”

“pics hopefully later in the week. I haven't done any webshots yet. Stovestomper, Bitpusher or Ewker should have some posted soon.
The last hike out of the gorge is tough but mercifully short. I thought Ravens Point was worse, cause it kept going up and up andupandupandup.”

“I can't really add anything to Currahee's reports, other than to say it was great to meet new TT'ers, and hike with old buddies.

I will say that the second hike up out of the gorge was much easier than I thought it would given, the buildup of my expectations. It was hard, but I was picturing something much worse. I must be in better shape though, because I had less trouble with either of those ascents than with many others before. However, now that I have "done" Fiery Gizzard, I will also say that Once Is Definitely Enough. Dog Hole Trail for me next time.

It'll be awhile for my pics, I have to get them developed and scanned.

It was a great time. We'll have to do another one soon.”

“Wish I could have made it. I probably would have showed up and suprised yall at Small Wilds but My friend Bill (who had been waiting on a lung transplant) got the call for his new lungs. I was at the hospital with his family and other friends.

So the snakes are out now? COOL!!

FG isn't really as tough as people make it out to be. I consider it moderate.
You can'y really go padless with a H.Hammock untill it's about at least 70. The butt and feet still tend to get cool.

Glad yall had a good time!”

“I'm back home.
CMB has nothing on me for driving.
Made the 470 miles in time to watch 6 Feet Under. ;)
Just updated my "Who have you met" post. Super group of people.”

“Just wanted to say I had a great time, and Im looking forward to doing it again. Definitly had a reat time hiking with the TT'ers and cant wait to meet some more.”

“currahee, nice trip report. Nothing I can think of to add to your report except your comment about a bionic belch? What are you talking about??

It was nice meeting four new people and two (currahee and BBill knox) are from the "other side"...lol. The third was bitpushers brother Tommy and the fourth was fonsie18.

Bitpusher and Stevestomper :) good seeing you guys again.

I should have my pics up tomorrow evening.”

“Sorry, I couldn't make this one. Glad you guys had a great time. Catch up with you next time.”

“Oh come on, Ewker...that last one is probably still echoing off the canyon walls of Fiery Gizzard!”

“well I have heard that tarabull is the TOP DOG of all belchers so I am in training for TC3 where there will be a belch off...lol”

“I would say you are nearly in competition form, then!”

“I turned in early Saturday night and was awakened by those belchs.
All I could think was "I'm sure glad it came out of THAT end rather than the other". ;)”

“That's what set those coyotes off.”

“I can say that I have completed the Fiery Gizzard by going through the gorge part of it. The first time I climbed out at the Dogs Hole Trail and went that way to Ravens Point. The distance from the Dog Hole trail to Ravens Point is 2.9 miles while the Fiery Gizzard is 3.1 miles but it is a slow, long and hard .2 mile.
If you haven't done the Fiery Gizzard before it is a must hike.

I had a great time on this trip. The weather and company was outstanding.”

“I WAS going into load some pictures into Webshots during lunch using my fast work connection.
Dang work computer will not read the CD I burned at home with the pixs on it. :(”

“That stinks. Have you tried another computer at work, or is that verboten?”

“Yes, first thing I tried was another computer. I burned the CD quickly this morning and I probably screwed it up somehow.
I'll try again tonight.
Got some good pixs.
A couple of VERY good ones, you with the bad hat hair Sunday morning, you passed out on Raven's Point, ect... ;)
All your female fans will love them. Ha Ha.”

“I know that my legions of adoring female fans will be delighted. Perhaps I will bring even more women under my spell.

Ah, the magic of being me...lol...”

“Sounds like you guys had a great time.Wish I could have joined you on my most favorite Tennessee trail.I'm glad to know you really did ( DO ) the Gizzard. :~ )”

“Dang trekkngirl, why didn't you join us? That's your backyard. We could have used some nice lady company. Ewker would have behaved better.”

“I was already committed to Tenn.River Gorge 3 day hike.But I can't wait to hear Ewker's belch. :~ )”

“I'm surprised you didn't hear it anyway...”

“I wasn't too far from you, maybe I did.Just didn't know from whence it came.”

“Remember that peal of thunder accompanied by a minor ground tremor about 9:30 Sat PM?
Yup, Ewker.”

“Now I remember.I was already asleep with ear plugs in and it woke me up.YEAH,that was it...:~ )”

“dang guys, yall have totally destroyed this thread. No wonder it only has a few hits,who wants to read about belching...geesh

Well hopefully I can turn this thread around and get it back on track. I got my pics upload to webshots so I hope you will enjoy them and enough about the other :)

Fiery Gizzard March 2003”

“Enjoyed your pictures of my favorite Tenn. trail.”

“Sounds like a great hike I wish I could have gone with.

By the way thats good driveing StoveStomper!!!!

8)”

“Great Pictures Ewker!!”

“My trip report is in picture form at my webshots Fiery Gizzard trip.
Hope ya'll enjoy them.”

“Cooool!”

“Definatly a great first time TT BP experience. I'm a 90% go for the Lost (Ghost) Cove trip. What can I say? I'm hooked.”

“Great pictures guys! I had a great time with everyone on this trip and would jump at the chance to go with any of y'all again. Also wanted to say well done to Currahee and everyone else who put it together.”

“I used my HH over the weekend at Savage Gulf and slept really well. I used my full length thermarest, a 35 degree bag and a bagliner. Acutally woke up sweating both nights. I hang mine with the feet higher than the head so I won't slide down all night. I love my HH!”

“Ewker...I'd a rather been there with you all, than stuck in the freakin Hotel in Denver...all the trails were closed...couldn't even get inside the parks...shhesh..freakin snow!!!.

Am gonna try to do a hike down that way, before it gets too hot.”

“Yeah was great to meet you guys...I will have to make it a bit earlier next time. The stars were so nice that I slept under them til the sun came up...then decided to climb into my tent...Glad to hear that everyone made it home ok...stay in touch.”

“Great pics you guys! Mine will be awhile as I am still stuck in the 19th century, photography-wise anyway.

Now I can recruit new legions of female fans with those lovely pics of me in natural surroundings.”

“...and they were lovely pics. Love the bed head!”

“i still can't get over how normal you guys look...especially bitpusher! LOL! (btw, could you mail me your sweaty handkerchief? thanks.) those are really good pictures!! i love it when i can actually see the people in them.
:-)”

“For your new legions of female fans.......
href="http://community.webshots.com/photo/67477689/67483418zZCkgN">Is bitpusher dead?

Bad Hair Day?

Snicker, snort.........”

“If my wife hasn't washed it yet, sure! lol....

Yes I am disgustingly normal-looking...”

“If he was dead, the only good news is his corpse was close enough to roll off Ravens Point, thereby not obstructing the view.”

“lyra - Normal looking? Are we supposed to have horns or something?

What did you think we looked like?
I'm about as ordinary looking as they come, short, middle-aged, dude.

Good thing I take pictures instead of being in them, Ha.”

“I took the advice of a couple of folks that I wouldn't need a sleeping pad. Bad mistake. I was toasty enough for the most part. I just couldn't keep my feet warm for nuthin. Thats the killer. The Hammock slept well, but I am lookin forward to my Shires Tarptent.”

“Great pictures!

Hope you don't mind Stomper, but your #11 is my wallpaper - nice pic! It replaced the pic of my grandkids playing in the river of mud that once was my driveway this past weekend. :)”