We only got a little lost in the woods while hiking on the Perimeter Trail in Sewanee, Tennessee.
This post is about two flatlanders fumbling around in partial morning light on a portion of the Perimeter Trail in Sewanee, Tennessee. The photos are in no particular order and may not all be from the Green's View portion of the Perimeter Trail, or even from the same day. The take-away for you, dear reader, is that Sewanee mountain is gorgeous and to always pre-download trail maps before you're on trail.
The trailhead at Green's View is a lovely, iconic view of the Cumberland Plateau. It's a great place to stop for a few photos before heading down the trail for a hike.
The entire time we were on the Green's View trail, we felt like our sense of direction would have easily led us back to the university as the crow flies, but our goal was to get in a good hike on a short loop at sunrise. Technically, we weren't lost. We just had no idea where we were going.
We had a map, but we came to several forks and weren't sure that we were on the one that would lead us back to our car.
It was early fall and the morning started out cool and crisp. We were enjoying the leaves crunching under foot and the smell of dewy forest. There were many beautiful bluffs with shear drop-offs. I mean falling from a four to six story building kind of plummet. Definitely not a trail I'd want to wander in the dark, but absolutely a trail I was fascinated to explore at dawn.
We had heard that the actual perimeter of the entire loop trail runs about 19 miles. Our goal was to only hike a max of four that morning. We were a little worried we had missed our turn and were headed for the full perimeter hike.
Yes, we could have just turned around at that point, but what's the fun in that? We were determined to find the loop back.
As we hiked though, our concern grew. We had to be back at the university by noon for a lunch date with our son, the reason we were visiting Sewanee mountain in the first place.
I had cell service and I began following my dot on Google Maps, but I wasn't getting any real information from that little blue dot. That's when I decided to bite the bullet and just go ahead and pay for AllTrails, an expense I had been willfully avoiding for quite some time.
After downloading the map, having that digital real-time guide in my hands was a game changer. We could see exactly where we were and where we needed to be. We could then relax and enjoy the rest of the hike. I've been an AllTrails fan ever since. No, it's not always accurate with exact mileage, but if I pre-download a map, I feel more confident that I'm not going to get lost in the woods and I can estimate approximately when I'll be exiting the trail.
We ended up hiking about five miles that day, which, according to AllTrails, is the length of the trail. I guess we were never actually lost. It just felt that way! We enjoyed the trail very much and have hiked other parts of the perimeter since. It's peaceful and lovely with beautiful views of the Cumberland Plateau below.
Here's the Green's View trailhead location.
Here's the AllTrails map of the Green's View Trailhead.
Happy trails, my friend! Don't forget to pre-download your driving and hiking maps!
Carpe Diem,
Melissa Anne
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