Section of popular trail on Cumberland Plateau to close
TRACY CITY, Tenn. (AP) – A privately owned section of a popular hiking route along the Cumberland Plateau is closing, leaving officials to change the course of the 13-mile Fiery Gizzard Trail.
The Chattanooga Times Free Press (http://bit.ly/1LvUaAl) reports the closure in December gives park officials and volunteers with the Friends of the South Cumberland State Park just months to reconnect the path between the Grundy Forest trailhead and Foster Falls in neighboring Marion County.
One landowner says he wants to sell his property, but the price is higher than the Friends organization can afford. The other property owner decided it was a good time to move the section of trail off his land.
The newspaper reports that up to 4,000 people visit Fiery Gizzard Trail each month. Interim park manager George Shinn says the new segment will be more difficult to traverse.
