Grandma's Chit Chat: Senior Hiking #353

70° Sunny
by Betsy

May 17, 2010…TR #64…back to lake again…
hike #353

With widely scattered thunderstorms predicted for the day, we decided we still had not had enough of the lake. With just about two weeks left with low water pool, we headed back. Besides, I needed to get a few more pictures and we wanted to investigate the pier again, and possibly get around the huge rock outcropping to walk up the beach even further to Maiden Rock. It was quite warm today with no wind so we wore shorts for the first time.

This is such a nice trail and being able to see the lake for the whole way down the

2½ miles is a treat. No white caps today and no sailboats! No wind. We got down a lot faster today. Our feet just ‘know the way.’ We stopped for a snack when we hit the beach and then headed down the shore toward the pier. When we got around to the other side of the pier, I finally got a better view of that old weather beaten sign I saw last week, which I forgot to take a picture of; it was hard to read but it looked like it said….No swimming! HA! Was I wrong. Today I sat down and got out the binoculars, and then I could make out some of what it really says. What I could make out was…

WARNING

US Navy Property

Authorized Persons Only

Plus about ten more unreadable lines

The only way I would be able to read the next ten lines of worn off weathered letters would be to walk on the pier itself and down the steps. I would NOT be doing that! Between being hidden by falling pier beams and stripped letters, the sign was not easy to decipher. So it appears that we are right…it does have something to with Farragut Naval Submarine Station down the lake a bit. They must be using it still for something. I am still pursuing it.

As we approached the outcropping and climbed over the gnarly rocks, we knew almost right away that we were not going to be able to go any further. It would involve climbing over more gnarly rocks and then it looked like more rock outcroppings to stop us in our tracks. And the water has been rising as well.

While we were standing on the rocks and taking pictures, we saw a boat coming down toward us, close to shore. I thought for sure someone was coming to bust us. Perhaps there were surveillance cameras on…we did see one but it was not plugged in. Last week we saw another high up on the hill near the buildings. The motor boat came closer and closer and as he moved on past us, we greeted each other with a big wave hello. Whew! That was funny.

On the way back to the trailhead, we looked again for the old log cabin. Why would they have removed it? Again we searched the only flat area where it might have been to no avail. The hike back up to the top went faster than usual but it was HOT uphill at 70°!