October 4th, 2008 -  I had original plans of hiking up Temple Hill near Erwin, TN via the Granny Lewis Trail, but I had trouble finding the trailhead.  So instead I drove up to nearby Devil's Fork Gap to do a short, southbound hike on the A.T.

I hadn't been on this section of the A.T. before, and my thoughts were to hike to the Civil War historical Shelton Gravesite, but I wasn't prepared and didn't know exactly how far I had to hike to get to that point...  so I turned around at the Flint Mountain Shelter.  Come to find out, I had 2.4 miles to go to get to the gravesite, so I wish I would have kept going.  Oh well, I'll return soon to check that out.  

This was a nice walk in the woods.  There were really no views, but the trail was in good shape with little elevation gain.  I enjoyed the Aster blooming along the trail, and found some Yellow Jewelweed (TouchMeNots) to photograph.  The leaves were also beginning to change at these higher elevations.           

Yellow Jewelweed

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Total Miles Hiked:  5.6 

Getting There:  

Driving - From Johnson City, take I-26 toward Erwin.  Go on past Erwin to exit #43  (Temple Hill).  Turn left at the stop sign at the bottom of the exit (your only option).  At the next stop sign turn right onto 19W (19/23).  Then merge right onto Highway 352.  I forgot to do the mileage, but stay on 352 until you get to the TN/NC state line (I think it's about 6 or 7 miles from I-26).  At the state line there's a pull-off area on your left where you can park.  

Trails - To go south on the A.T. you'll need to cross the road after you park.  Flint Mountain Shelter is 2.8 miles from the road.