Am I on Big Frog Mountain or in a JRR Tolkien Novel?!

I don’t know if anyone else has this problem when choosing a trail in which to go backpacking on, but a lot of research goes into the areas before making a final decision. It isn’t necessarily to mark where potable water is or what the elevations changes are; it’s more or less to see which one I will actually end up enjoying more. That’s why I was anxiously awaiting my most previous backpacking trip, which took me into the Big Frog Wilderness of southeast Tennessee on one of the most memorable hikes I’ve ever done….

After a tumultuous winter season “down south” this year (and the rest of the country for that matter), the spring season finally decided to arrive in the north Georgia and eastern Tennessee mountains, and I was more than excited to finally head back into the wild. This time I was going with two new additions to my “backpacking group;” Matt, a former co-worker and currently serving in the Marine Reserves, and Kevin, a person I’ve known since kindergarten and have recently befriended due to our wives being best friends and who is currently a recruiter for the US Army. The trail we chose was that beloved Benton MacKaye Trail (or BMT), in which we hiked from Thunder Rock Campground on the banks of the Ocoee River to the summit of Big Frog Mountain, roughly 10.5 miles away. We would hike back the same way on the second day.

Although the first day was a challenging one (the elevation change was over 3,000 feet for the 10 or so miles), it never got the best of us. What kept us motivated was knowing that 95% of the trail going back would be a steady descent the entire way. The trail meandered south to Big Frog Mountain, in which we intersected and joined several trails that traversed the Big Frog Wilderness. We stuck to the white diamonds of the BMT all the way until we reached the campsite, just north of the summit of Big Frog Mountain.

At certain times on this section of the BMT, the “feel” was very different than other trail sections I’ve been on. Several features of the trail made it feel as if I was on some epic journey amidst the characters of Lord of the Rings. First, there was the several river crossings, where there wasn’t necessarily an “easy way” to cross and eventually led to wet feet. Second was the amazing overlook we happened upon between Chimneytop Mountain and Big Frog Mountain before making the final climb to the summit. The view into the Tennessee Valley and the neighboring mountains of the Cohutta Wilderness was well worth the climb.

I wasnt sure if this was a time warp to another world or just part of the trail...

But the highlight of the trail for me was something you only see in fairytales or even in your own imagination when you’re flipping through pages of the latest fantasy novel. On one side of Big Frog Mountain laid a small forest of mountain laurel, a popular mountainside plant in this neck of the woods. Approaching the mountain laurel was amazing in itself as it seemed to come out of nowhere. The truly amazing part was the tunnel-like trail that the plants seemed to create. The mountain laurelperfectly encircled the trail and made you feel like you were entering another world.

I had been wanting to revisit this section of the BMT ever since the last time I was on the trail, which was in February of 2010 (Making Judgment Calls in Georgia’s Cohutta Wilderness) and I am glad that I did. It further reinforced my newfound love for the outdoors and giving me a way to see God’s creations in some of their truest forms. The picture of Kevin walking through the tunnel of mountain laurel will forever be burned into my memory, and it is something I hope to never let go of…

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~ by parkerherrin on April 19, 2011.