Pot Point Nature Trail

Pot Point Nature Trail is a self guided moderately strenuous, 3.5 mile hike that takes you from the Tennessee River’s edge up some steep climbs to over 1000 feet in altitude around Azalea Point. Along the trail you will find examples of most of the habitats found in the Tennessee River Gorge and examples of native flora and fauna if you are here at the right time of year.  The trail has several marked points of interest which points out different species of wildlife and plant life.  At point 7 you will see a different kind of wildlife, the remains of an old moonshine still.  Along the trail and the edge of the road that runs through it you will also find a dozen geocaches at the time of this post.

Steep climbs on Pot Point Nature Trail

Geocaching the Pot Point Loop

I have to admit, I did not realize how strenuous “moderately strenuous” was until yesterday.  I found myself apologizing to Laura before we had even traversed a full mile of the trail. For someone who is an avid hiker, this would probably be considered an easy trail, but for a family that spends most of its time indoors in front of computers and mostly doing “urban” caching, it was a bit much. I am very proud of my crew, which saved all whining and griping until the last mile of our outing.

Right below the parking area we found our first cache of the day, GC3XFEC – Tennessee River Gorge: Horse Drawn Carriages Here, which is part of the River Rocks Challenge.  There are two more River Rocks caches, GC3XFF4 – Tennessee River Gorge: Like a Glove and GC3XFFE – Tennessee River Gorge: Redneck Monoliths, that are easy grabs from the road.  Laura and I had already gotten these two on another day so we headed up the Pot Point Nature Trail instead.

Before reaching the first cache along the trail, I was already having to apologize to the crew for taking them on this trail.  About a quarter of a mile into the hike, came to an area with a few fallen trees and a small sink hole.  The coordinates seemed to be off a bit, but using our geosenses, we were able to find GC188NN – Pot Point Nature Trail- Loop the Loop #1 on the right side of the path.  After taking a closer look at the sink hole and discussing what had caused it, we moved on to the next stop on our geo-hunt!

GC18AQ4 – Pot Point Nature Trail – loop the loop #2 was in a large pile of rocks that had to be moved around to finally spot the ammo can, a common geocache container.  Laura somehow found this one while the rest of the crew were looking several feet away!

Burned out Geocache on Pot Point Nature Trail

Our next destination was about a mile into our trip. I was starting to notice that many of the trees had been burned and many had fallen.  I wondered if it had been a controlled burn or lightning strikes that had caused all of the damage.We increased our altitude considerably by the time we found GC18B9Q – Pot Point Nature Trail – loop the loop #3 a rusted, open ammo can within a burned out hollow tree stump several feet off of the trail.  It’s contents were completely gone.  I added a few sheets of paper to be used as a log then attempted to close the damaged container.  The latch was badly mutilated. I suspect that it may have gotten too hot in a fire and exploded.  I wish I had carried along some replacement containers, but I didn’t!.  If only that had been the end of our upward climb it would have been okay!  We took a short break and then headed on up the trail.

Taking a Break on Pot Point Nature Trail

I spotted GC1AV71 – Pot Point Nature Trail- Loop the Loop #7 several yard off the trail.  Thankfully, Dave was willing to go retrieve it for us. Finally, we turned and started heading down the hill!! 

I became concerned when the upward climb started again, and we were heading away from the next cache.  Eventually, we turned and started heading down the hill again. This portion of the Pot Point Nature Trail weaved back and forth working its way down the side of the hill. GC1AZ0V – Loop the Loop #8 was about halfway down the hill about 50 yards down what appeared to be a four-wheeler path.

Search for a Geocache on Pot Point Nature Trail

The last stretch of the downward slope was very difficult to travel because the recent rains had washed it out and it was still very muddy.  We all let out a sigh of relief as we reached the paved road below.  Here the path crossed the road and continued down hill to river level.  As we approached ground zero for the GC1B3JC – Pot Point Loop Nature Trail – loop the loop #9, we spotted it easily from the path, but I noticed that it must have been a replacement container because only two signatures were on the log.  I glanced around for a moment, moved a rock and found the original geocache.  I removed the new one and signed the correct one.  (Apparently, someone didn’t follow my suggestion for geocaching etiquette.)

The path continued down hill for a while longer, before turning back in the direction of the truck.  When it did turn we quickly ran into a very wet swampy area of the trail. We spent a few minutes trying to work along the path without getting too muddy, but finally had to turn back to walk along the road.

Small Waterfall on Pot Point Nature Trail

Our final geocache of the day was GC2BYER – TWISTED, which was along the edge of the road.  We will have to come back for the two other caches along the lower portion of the Pot Point Nature Trail,  GC1ATQB – Pot Point Nature Trail-Loop the Loop #6 and GC1AF57 – Pot Point Nature Trail- Loop the Loop #5, after the weather has been a bit dryer.

All in all, we had a very nice day spending time in nature and together.  This was the hardest trail that we have attempted so far, but we did it.  I am very proud of my Crew!!  We decided to skip going to Hobby Lobby and Joanne’s on the way home(This hike saved me money!!)  We headed straight home, got something to eat and headed off to bed. I think it was the best night of sleep any of us have had in a long time!!