Metro to Mountain Journal

My wife, Amy, is off work this week for spring break. We have a long list of things to do, and on that list is to stay three days at Fall Creek Falls walking their trails. In the meantime, we wanted to get out of the house and do a hike over the weekend, so we walked the Warner Woods Trail from Deep Wells Trailhead in Percy Warner Park, Nashville.

For us, hiking Warner Woods was like visiting an old friend. Before we started hiking a different trail each week, Warner Woods was part of our regular routine. We knew the trail, each rock and tree. As we hiked, we re-acquainted ourselves with the trail. Did that tree die? Is that bridge new? Did they put gravel there? What improvements had been made and what areas were deteriorating?

A few trail notes...

• The trail is ususally started from Deep Wells Trailhead or at the end of Belle Meade Blvd.
• From Belle Meade, park at the entrance and climb the steps up the hill. Cross the road at the top of the stairs and use the short connector path to access the trail.
• Lock your vehicle and do not leave valuables in the car. It is sort of like feeding the bears, if you feed the bears, they keep coming back for more. If you feed the thiefs, they will keep coming back too!
• It has been wet in Nashville and the trail was wet.
• The Buggy Bottoms area should maybe be called Soggy Bottoms instead!
• Sadly, many folks do not want to get their feet muddy, so they have started new trails to the side of the main trail. If you do not want to get your feet muddy, don’t hike in wet conditions. If you come to an unexpected wet trail and can’t cross it, you can always turn around!
• If you do not like the condition of the trails, you can always donate your time and money to the Park for trail restoration.
• We only saw four hikers on the trail. Many more folks were using the roads.
• There was no litter.
• The hike is rated as moderate. It takes about an hour to walk and has a couple of fun hills.

Overall, our friend, Warner Woods Trail, was doing fine. It was a pleasure to visit the trail for the afternoon. We left saying, we hope to visit again soon.