Meeting Time: 10 AM (Central)
Meeting Place: Fiery Gizzard Trail Head
Estimated Drive Time One Way: 1 hour
Hike Distance: 4-5 miles
Estimated Hike Time: 3 hours + time for swimming
Difficulty: moderate
Kids welcome, leashed dogs welcome

Join us for a special fundraising hike series to benefit The Fiery Gizzard Project! We will be hiking the Fiery Gizzard once a month for six months, to raise funds and awareness for this worthwhile project.

The Fiery Gizzard trail is a perennial favorite of the Nashville Hiking Meetup (and now the Chattanooga Hiking Meetup). This beautiful trail contains the best features of Tennessee hiking: a rocky gorge, rapids and waterfalls, and some of the most spectacular views in the state. The scenery cannot be beat on this one, and it always earns rave reviews from hikers. The Land Trust for Tennessee now has a special opportunity to purchase 6,200 acres of this area, which would otherwise be in danger of logging or commercial development, destroying the views that make this trail such a treat.

Cost to hike is a minimum $10 donation and 100% of proceeds will benefit The Fiery Gizzard Project. Visit their site if you wish to donate more, or donate even though you can't make the hike. Our guest naturalist for the August hike will be Forrest Evans. Cost is only for adults - your kids hike for free!

For August, we will do a moderate 5 mile hike, including the Grundy Forest Day Loop and an in-and-out on the Fiery Gizzard Trail, taking in numerous swimming holes, Sycamore Falls and unique rock formations like Chimney Rock and the Fruit Bowl. There will be ample opportunities to swim and wade, and we'll move slow, stop frequently, and enoy the day. Kids are welcome and are free - RSVP for yourself and all adults, and indicate in your comments how many kids you'll be bringing. These spots are only open to kids hiking with their parents.

Please be prepared with plenty of water, snacks and lunch. With the drive, swimming, and optional dinner after at Crust Pizza, plan for this hike to take most of a day (up to 9 hours from departure to return to Nashville).

Directions to the Grundy Forest Trailhead:
Take Exit 134 off I-24
Turn right through Monteagle
Turn left onto Hwy 41 (make sure you have gone 1/2 mile past the interstate before turning - the "Hwy 41" turn just past the interstate goes in the wrong direction)
Pass the park's Visitor Station on your left
About a mile or two farther you'll see a sign for the trailhead entrance on your right; it's just before the Electric Office Building
The road winds to the right past a school.

Trail map
We will start at the north parking lot of Grundy Forest Natural Area and hike the Grundy Forest Day Loop counter-clockwise, with an in-and-out on the Fiery Gizzard Trail as far as the Fruit Bowl.