Hornet Hunt

The goal of today's maintenance hike was to destroy a nest of hornets along Cumberland Trail which had reportedly attacked and stung a hiker 15 times. The hike began at the new trail head recently constructed by Southeastern Climbers Coalition on Old Hotwater Road. This new access dramatically reduces the distance required to reach Cumberland Trail in the Deep Creek area where rock climbers practice their sport.

Highlight of the day came when we encountered a copperhead on the trail just after crossing Deep Creek. All previous venomous snakes I have encountered on the trail have been very cooperative and allowed me to photograph them but this little snake just wanted to go hide so I had to snap these pictures on the run.

After reaching the area above Big Soddy Creek where the hornets nest was supposed to be, we performed a thorough search but found nothing. We even extended the search area all the way down to Big Soddy Creek and still came up empty handed. On our return hike we did find a yellow jacket's nest in the ground along the trail near Deep Creek and destroyed it. We couldn't help but wonder if the reported hornets above Big Soddy Creek were actually yellow jackets above Deep Creek. One thing we didn't wonder about was the temperature...it's still too hot to do much hiking.

Slide show of Don's photos

Group photo on Big Soddy Creek