Cherokee Hiking Club
1295 Crown Street NW, Cleveland, TN 37312
WELCOME
Welcome to the website for the Cherokee Hiking
Club. Our club sponsors frequent hikes and occasional backpacking trips into the
areas of southeast Tennessee, northern Georgia, and southwestern North Carolina
--
the former homeland of the Cherokee Indian Nation. If you are an avid hiker and
live in this area, consider joining us on our hikes. You may join for $15 by
filling out the application and mailing it to the address above. You may want to
attend a hike or two before deciding to join, but once you start coming, you
almost certainly will continue and will want to join. Below is a list of
upcoming hikes. We ask that you contact the person in charge of the hike by email
or phone a few days in advance to allow us to appropriately plan shuttles and to
give you the most up-to-date plans for the hike. When deciding on a hike to take, please
refer to our trail difficulty rating system.
Direct Link to Cherokee
Hiking Club events for this year
Printable Hike Schedule for 2026
JANUARY 2026 NOTE FROM THE PRESIDENT
"Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt." John Muir
Thank you, Jennifer Schroll, for a very merry Christmas Party. The food was both abundant and delicious. The Dirty Santa was dirty, but fun. The time spent together could not have been better. Even the induction ceremony for our Executive Committee, where I learned I was the Ace of Hearts, was creative and meaningful. I look forward to another year of working with Otis Pannell - Vice President, Jennifer Schroll - Treasurer, Phyllis Anderson - Publicist, Rick Harris - Webmaster, and Margaret Callahan - Hostess. Collectively, we will work together seeking to ensure the club will continue to provide opportunities to enjoy as many walks, hikes, backpacking, canoeing, and bicycling experiences as possible in the year to come.
As we begin a new year, I am reminded of an allegory that goes something like this: Imagine that you receive a call on Thursday, January 1, 2026 that you have won a one dollar lottery ticket that will pay you one penny every second for the years to come. The only stipulation with your winnings is that you are required to spend every penny given to you by the close of each 24-hour day. Keep spending the pennies, and more pennies will be given. You hang up the phone and run to your calculator. Just how many seconds are in a day, anyway? Sixty seconds for one minute times sixty minutes in one hour equal 3,600 seconds. Let's see, 3,600 times 24 hours in a day . . . wow, that's 86,400 seconds every day. That means 86,400 pennies every 24 hours. That's $864 a day or $6,048 a week or $314,496 a year. What a win! So much for pretend. Far better than the lottery is the reality of what will take place on the morning of January 1, 2026. On that morning you will be given the gift of time which equals 86,400 seconds per day, which, of course, equals twenty-four hours each day. The reality is that the same restrictions apply as if you were given pennies per second because the amount of time given each day can only be used on that day. From today's dawn until tomorrow's dawn, you have a precisely determined amount of time. As someone has put it, "Life is like a coin. You can spend it any way you want to, but you can spend it only once."
How you will spend this gift of time in the year to come is your choice. Hopefully you will spend part of the gift of time with our Cherokee Hiking Club. During the month of December we finalized a 20-page calendar chock full of adventures for 2026. As you decide how to spend your seconds in the year to come, consider spending several with us. It's well worth your investment.
Dues for 2026 are now due. If you haven't done so, please mail a $15 check (or 1,500 pennies) to Jennifer Schroll, 1295 Crown Street NW, Cleveland, TN 37312. This will cover one family household. Please make out the check to Cherokee Hiking Club.
See you at our next scheduled club meeting at the Etowah Senior Center on Thursday, February12, 2026. Our presentation will be The Five Utah National Parks Adventure presented by Jennifer Schroll.
Rob Coombs, Club President
This trail from Waucheesi Bald to Old Furnace Road, was build by Boy Scouts from Knoxville back in the 60s. The trail was popular for hikes and backpacks in the couple of decades afterwards as Scouts hiked and backpacked the trail and earned patches. Then wild fires destroyed much of the route of the trail and the trail fell into disuse. The trail was rehabed and reopened about 8 years ago, in part by members of our club, and now the Scouts are interested in reopening the trail to Scout Troops for hiking and backpacking. We are supporting the Scouts in this endeavor. Soon Scout Troops will be able to again hike and backback this trail and earn a patch while learning the extensive history of the region. The Scout Troops will register for their adventures through our help. We will be working with Scout Troops in repairing the tread in some areas along the trail and possibly building some much needed reroutes in the future years. Follow the link and read the history of the trail as written by Jim Wright, one of the original organizers of the trail back in the 60s. He is now in his 70s and still helping in this endeavor.
For more information on the Warriors Passage Trail or to sign up your Scout Unit or other Youth Organization to hike or backpack the trail, or to order patches, go to www.warriorspassage.org
Cherokee Hiking Club Continuous Loop Presentation
Warning -- huge 18 MB PowerPoint file
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