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The City of Norris watershed is
a wooded karstic area laced with walking and mountain biking
trails. Access to this cache is from the east side of Norris along
Upper Clear Creek Road. A small pullout at the trailhead can be
used for parking just north of the rifle range road.
Follow the Eli Nine
Sinkholes Trail for about 0.3 miles to the cache location (foot
traffic only). The hidden cache is a black 4" plastic pipe. Be sure
to seal the ziploc bags, since the cache is not exactly water
proof. A small deep sinkhole sits across the trail from the cache.
Just a little further up the trail is a really big sinkhole (looks
like a valley, but it's a sinkhole). In addition to sinkholes, the
0.7 mile trail passes by a number of large oaks as it climbs 220'
to join the High Point trail. You can make a loop by coming back
along either the Red Hill Cemetery trail or Mockingbird trail. The
Mockingbird trail (0.6 miles) returns to the pullout. See
watershed
trail maps for trails and jeep roads (no ATVs). Other hiking
trails are the White Pine Trail and the Clear Creek
trail.
The watershed is closed for
various periods each fall for hunting. For 2005, the
watershed is closed for hunting Sep 24-Oct 2, Nov
19-27. You may hear gunfire from the rifle range across the
road. The placement of this cache was approved by the Norris
Watershed Board.
While in the area, drive
through the scenic
city of Norris,
constructed during the 1930's to house the "dam" workers. Visit
Norris
Dam State Park, and if you're really into geocaching, visit the
Haw Ridge
geocache park. Downloadable GPS coordinates for other
interesting geologicial features (arches, waterfalls, etc.) can be
found at
Tennessee
landforms.
