Sat, Aug 10 2013 - Walls of Jericho (An AOC First!) (View Original Event Details)
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The Walls of Jericho is a beautiful place to see for sure. It literally is a natural amphitheater and has a great swimming hole. We hiked on a muddy, wet day which really made the hike more difficult. A lot of people slipped and fell along the way. It was a muggy, soggy day to hike, but we still had great weather on this exploratory hike and everyone had a blast. Anyone doing this should bring along poles or a hiking stick to be safe.
Normally, this is a solid D3 7.5 mile hike that has 2 trailheads (one in Tennessee and one in Alabama). We elected to setup a shuttle and started off in Tennessee. After moving some cars around we began our hike down into the canyon.
The group "agreed" to take an alternate route and we explored some bonus trails...taking the opportunity to check out the Mill Creek blow hole, adding on 3 miles to the day, making it a little over a 10.5 mile hike, hence this hike is rated a D4.
There are primitive camp sites all around and plenty of water sources available (filter and purifier is absolutely needed). We ate lunch at the Walls of Jericho, then went back up to the Alabama trailhead. We took a car back to the TN trailhead to pick up our 1 last car and then rounded up everyone and headed home.
If I were to do this again, I'd come back on a hot, dry day where there is no mud or water on the trail to make the swimming hole appealing. Or I would come back on a cool Fall Day to see foliage or even a winter day to see more exposed rocks and canyon. Much of the view of the canyon walls was obstructed by leaves and foliage. I would also say that the AL portion of the hike is a little prettier than the TN hike. I would consider skipping the shuttle and just doing an out-and-back next time as well.
This is definitely a must-see if you ever want to see something new.
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