The Other Half

Well the other half began from the Townsend 'Y', parking area and the Chestnut Top Trailhead. This trail has an intimidating beginning which deterred me some in the past and made the excuse that "it's not gonna be any fun, it's too close to the road and probably has lots of noise", more believable. Yea, yea, yea! This behavior of mine was described by Herbert Spencer as "contempt prior to investigation".
This trail has a steep incline from the start and after a 1/2 mile begins to level some. At times. For the two miles or so walked I'd say I was going up most of it until I began to overlap the route walked on Sunday. Some really cool rock formations on the climb up, though as noted in the "lil brown book", you'll wanna watch your step through here because off the trail to the right it is damn near vertical. The trail becomes quiet w/ the elevation gain, and like the other half will have some wonderful views this fall and winter. Once I began to recognize the trail and views from the walk on Sunday I gave thanks, again, and turned around. W/ the almost continuous decline in elevation from the turnaround I made great time coming out. This trail has no permanent water source though I saw some fresh water in a wet spring about a mile plus into the walk, that had I my MSR filter I would have had no problem drinking this water.

Beginning from this side the Chestnut Top Trail is difficult, yet doable even for the smoker or novice w/ frequent rest. Oh, yippee! and there was no litter on this section of trail that I noticed, minus a big band-aid that someone left. The noise was at times noticeable from Hwy #321, but not lasting and surely not enough to prevent my return. Should the spirits permit it. Peace