Walls of Jericho hike

[whiskey]

For the past 5 years or so my mom has been talking about hiking to the Walls of Jericho in the mountains along the Alabama and Tennessee line. Last Thursday was her 56th birthday, so I called her Wednesday afternoon and asked her if she was up for the hike. The hike is 7.5 miles round-trip with 1200 feet of elevation change. Not exactly a cake walk for a 56 year old with a bad back and two bad knees. But this was on her bucket list, so we decided to test ourselves.

I had to get up at 3:30am Thursday to drop my wife and daughter at the airport in Nashville, then travel on south to my mom's house in Tullahoma, TN. I got to her place around 7am and she was waiting on me. We got dressed and packed our bags and got to the top of the mountain at 9:30am. We wanted to get an early start so we had some time to spend at the Walls. The signs at the trailhead said that this was an extremely strenuous trial and to allow 6 hours round trip. We had 7.5 hours of daylight, so we felt good that we could be back to the truck before dark. We ended up back at the truck at 3:30pm and that included a good hour eating lunch and exploring the Walls.

The trail starts at the top of the mountain, makes switchbacks down the steep side to the valley bottom. There are two nice creeks that converge in the valley, an overnight primitive camping area and beautiful mountain scenery. You are at the mouth of the canyon when you reach the valley and have to hike another 1.5 miles or so to the head of the gouge. The Walls tower over you during the last part of the hike, upwards of 1000 to 1200 feet. The head of the canyon is a natural amphitheater like formation carved by the creeks waterfalls. We were able to climb up 3 steps of the formation, close to the top of the rim. It was well worth the walk in. Now the walk back up the mountain was a different story... We will be going again. BTW, Beanie had a blast too.

[hipower]

Great thing you did for her and yourself. A memory to cherish. Great pics as well.

[Caster]

No kidding!!! That's awesome. You'll be a crusty old man some day and you'll think of this and smile. No one can take that away from you either. Awesome man, awesome.

[-boatman-]

Been there twice. Once in the winter and the other in summer to take my wife. You went at the right time. You can see so much more when you get back into the canyon when there are no leaves on the trees. There was ice everywhere when we went in the winter. That is a amazing place to see. Did you make the upper loop to see it from the top?

[whiskey]

Been there twice. Once in the winter and the other in summer to take my wife. You went at the right time. You can see so much more when you get back into the canyon when there are no leaves on the trees. There was ice everywhere when we went in the winter. That is a amazing place to see. Did you make the upper loop to see it from the top?

We didn't do the rim loop, but we plan to when we go for the overnight trip. We spoke with a couple guys that had camped and done the rim loop and they said it was pretty to see it from the top. It was a beautiful day and about 50 degrees. Perfect hiking weather.

[daddyo]

Are you sure that's not your sister? She doesn't look old enough to have a 37 year old kid.

Good for the both of you. I used to love hiking but haven't done much since my days in scouting.

[Guest Patty]

Thats a great trip and report. I used to live on the creek that flows into the walls for several years. Lots of pretty sights to visit down and up in the valley, besides just the Walls. I am heading up there in a few minutes to do some final deer hunting today.

[-boatman-]

This is the Walls of Jericho with ice everywhere. The temps were in the teens all day on this trip.

[whiskey]

Very Cool boatman!

Patty, I used to hunt the mountain when I was a kid, before it was a WMA. Definitely some good sight seeing up there. We hunted over in the mountains in Grundy Co too. There are some neat caves and bluff shelters over there too. We used to camp and hunt by a great bluff shelter and a natural stone bridge. I enjoy the mountains.

[sigbear]

Whiskey, great pics. You mother will never forget that special day with her son. My wife & I, and of course the dog are new to Cheatham County TN and we will be making the trip on a hopefully nice 50 degree Sat/Sun soon, anyone interested in hooking up for a day hike?

Sigbear

[BBill_TN]

Great Pictures. Thanks for posting.

[oldmustangjunkie]

Can you still come in from the horse trails along the bottoms for a less strenuous hike? We used to ride atvs most of the way in from the AL side.

[-boatman-]

Yes there are horse trails. I seem to remember they intersected the hiking trail somewhere along the way and parking for horses was just down the road from the hiking parking lot.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[BBill_TN]

Can you still come in from the horse trails along the bottoms for a less strenuous hike? We used to ride atvs most of the way in from the AL side.

Backpacker magazine shuttled cars and did a one way trip from the TN side to the AL trailhead. Keeps the elevation gain to a minimum. Should still be on their website if anyone wants to refer to it.

[Transplanted Hoosier]

Wow! Great pics. That really looks like alot of fun. I think I'm going to give it a shot this spring. Thanks.

[Guest Curley78]

Great post Whiskey. And a good son I might add. Wish my mom was stil here. That was one of the greatest trips of your life. Cheers

[BigJim]

Thanks for posting!

[JDM175]

Great hike. I did it back in October.