The Rocky Fork Trail Crew, aka “trail gorillas,” have been working for about ten months now building a new Whitehouse Cliffs Trail to replace the old “trail,” which is plagued with numerous problems. The regular crew is made up of volunteers and Friends group members along with the park ranger, and we have also have received help from Carolina Mountain Club and Tennessee Eastman Hiking & Canoeing Club.

So far, more than one mile of new trail is complete, climbing over 800 feet in elevation from the starting point. The Whitehouse Cliffs, which the trail passes near, are visible from I-26 near the rocky summit of the mountain. The trail building has been challenging due to the steep slope of the mountain requiring a lot of digging to create a shelf wide enough for the trail, as well as the numerous areas with no soil to dig in, only rocks, which must be moved and fitted together into a trail.

Here are a few photos by Van Hovey from this week’s adventures.