Coal Creek Falls

Today The Erwin Evergreen Hiking Club went on a beautiful hike. Although we missed Jim and Vickie who are on vacation, other hikers Jeannie, Gail, Mike, Sue and I were present. We started off from the Redtown Trailhead at 8:40 am and traversed up the beautiful tree-lined and canopied Military Road Trail with our destination Coal Creek Falls. As we enjoyed the walk down Cave Hole Trail we were suddenly stopped at the entrance to Coal Creek Falls Trail by a rope and sign across the entrance that signaled the closure of the trail due to a fallen tree on the bridge below. As hike leader, I dutifully suggested an alternative route but was loudly opposed by Gail, Jeannie, and Jim who insisted on disregarding the warning and continuing on the path. I finally relented when convinced we could turn around when the obstruction was reached. As it turned out we were successfully able to cross the dry creek avoiding the fallen broken bridge and easily reached the other side. It was a lovely hike back. The hike was 3 1/2 miles and took approximately 2 hours.