The Steam Enging Search

Dad and I headed out to find the Orr and Sembower ‘Prospecting’ hoist steam engine and boiler. The Westfeldt Copper prospect mine that opened in 1889, shut down in 1901 over a lawsuit, and reopened again from 1942-1944 used it. The engine hoisted men and ore from the exploratory copper mine that was sunk at a 45-degree angle and went 110 feet underground.

We got the location off some paperwork from 1992 that gave the location, which is on the North side of a branch of the Haw Gap Branch River.

Once again my Dad wanted to prove to me that I was just a flat land hiker. And once again he succeeded. I don't think that Dad has ever read an elevation chart. In his words "You have to get there anyway and it's going to be either up hill or down."

We started the hike at Cades Cove by taking the Anthony Creek trail 3.5 miles and gained 1800 feet elevation. We then took the Bote Mountain trail 2 miles to the AT gaining another 1500 feet. We ate lunch at Spence Field and then took the AT a half mile gaining 300 feet to the Jenkins Valley Ridge trail. This was the last we saw of any hikers.

The Jenkins Ridge trail is a less used trail, which is a little over grown. We took it 5.5 miles with some major ups and downs to Woodward Knob. As you descend down 400 feet to cross Gunna Creek, which is a tributary to Eagle Creek, you can see Fontana Lake in the distance. From the creek you climb back up 300 feet and cross the ridge at Haw Gap which is an over grown Bald. From Haw Gap you descend 700 feet steeply down with no switchbacks followed by a 200-foot steep climb to Cherry Knob. We found a lot of damage along this section by Hogs and some relatively new bear scat. As we rounded Cherry Knob we came eye to eye with a large Hog. Guessing his weight at close to 300 pounds, he carried it very well as he took off across the side of the mountain. As usual, my speed at drawing the camera was insufficient and I didn’t get a picture.

We dropped another 600-foot elevation and climbed 150 to get to the old trail that is unmarked just before Woodward Knob. As I was looking over the cliff knowing that we would never return if we went over the edge, Dad found the trail. It has a lot of trees down over the trail and it drops steeply 700 feet to our destination.

When we got to the bottom we found that Haw Gap Branch River and the tributaries are heavily overgrown with Rhododendron. We started climbing through the Rhododendron growth and decided to stop, go back and set up camp. It was time for dinner anyways. After dinner I crossed the river and climbed the other steep bank. I crossed two more ridges to find Haw Gap River. The entire area was covered with Rhododendron and to skirt it meant going tree to tree hanging on for dear life. I never saw anything in the Rhododendron to give me hope of being an engine. Exhausted, I headed back to camp and we called it a night. After hiking 13 miles up and down and climbing the sides of the mountain, sleep came easy.

The next morning I got up at 6:30 and planned on climbing once again after breakfast in search of the engine. About the time we got camp broke down and breakfast was ready, the rain set in. We finished eating under the tarp and decided to head out. Being a little wore out from the day before; it was a rough climb to Haw Gap. We stopped at Gunna Creek for lunch under a tarp. After lunch we continued our climb back to the AT, down Bote Mountain and Anthony Creek to Cades Cove. I don't know why no one else was hiking in the rain.

The next morning we decided to do a little six-mile hike to stretch out our sore muscles. We headed to Abrams Creek and hiked the Old Cades Cove Road to Cooper Road Trail and back. It helped temporarily until we got back in the van and cramped again. This was a good hike even though we never found what we were looking for. We enjoyed this remote section of the Smokey's and should be able to walk again within a week.

Pictures:

Tremont Hike

Dad and I had us another great overnight hiking trip. We used the Rhododendron in bloom as our excuse for this trip. After lunch we hiked out of Tremont on the Middle Prong Trail up to Lynn Camp Prong Trail and stayed at campsite 28. About six miles and 1600 foot up. We had beautiful weather and I guess Dad had proved whatever he had to because he didn't try to hurt me this time. We passed a few day hikers and one group of overnight hikers that were coming down.

Our hike up was rather peaceful and uneventful. I did find a railroad spike from the old rails that were used up in these parts. We stopped at Indian Flats waterfall where Mom had once tried to fall in and Dad showed me the claw marks on the rock.

We were the only campers when we made camp so we picked a remote site that was down a twenty foot drop from the main trail. It was right on the river. We heard the Thunder Gods talking so we set up our tarps first and then got water, fire wood and then dinner started. It never did rain so we enjoyed the fire and talked Man stuff. I was quite exhausted from a sleepless night at the fire hall so I apologized to Dad and dove into some serious snoring.

During the night we had a few visitors. Dad heard a deer stomping when it saw our hammocks and a bear was destroying a stump up on the trail looking for grubs. Something, I would assume a coyote, brushed under my hammock and Dad said that it had brushed his. By the time I got my light on I couldn't see anything.

After my second bathroom trip I noticed that my hammock was about six inches off the ground. I checked my knots and everything looked fine so I tightened up the strap on the foot end and climbed back in. Just as I settled in I heard a loud snap and my head hit the ground. I found out why my hammock was so low. The strap had stretched to its breaking point. Luckily it wasn't the foot end. I had tried out some lightweight three quarter inch straps that were good to 350 pounds. They were suppose to be better than the nylon. I found out different. I tied a granny knot in it and slept good the rest of the night. It's weird that you go to all of these ropes and knots classes and the granny comes through every time.

The next morning we got up and had a good breakfast. On the way out we checked out the stump the bear found so exciting. They are powerful critters.

We hiked the Miry Ridge trail and Panther Creek trail back to the Middle Prong Trail about nine miles and up 1300 feet and then down 2900 feet. We did have a beautiful view at Jakes Gap. Dad showed me a trail that used to be there but isn't anymore. We chased some deer down the trail on the way out and we saw some trout fishermen back at the trail head that said it was easy catching with the water down so low.

Since lunch time had us close to the trail head we saved up and went into Townsend for a hamburger and ice cream. After we got in the truck and started heading out the rain started. We put the packs in the back seat and by the time we got to Townsend the bottom dropped out and we could barely see the road. We got back to the ponderosa and visited with Mom until dinner. Had a safe trip home.

Pictures

Gregory's Bauld

Well, my regular hiking buddies let me down. Troy came down with some sort of illness and Greg got scared of the weather forecast and bailed out saying that it was going to be too hot. Good thing that I can count on dear old Dad. He was scheduled to hike with us as we were going to hike Big Ridge State Park which is North of Knoxville.

I called Dad and asked him to pick out a hike in the Smokeys. When I showed up he gave me an option. We could either hike out of Clingmans Dome or out of Cates Cove. I picked the Cove because it was closer. As usual Dad pick a direct route to the top of the mountain to see the Flame Azaleas, the Gregory Ridge trail . Only 5.5 miles which as with any mountain the shortest distance is straight up the side and only a 3000 ft gain. Another .5 miles to camp 13. I'm not sure if he just doesn't like me to hike with him or he really does enjoy punishing himself as well.

Anyway there was a flat spot about twenty feet long that I remember somewhere along the trail. If you want to see a bear all you have to do is ask Dad. Every time I have gone into the cove he schedules me in a sighting. We saw three cubs and we know that Mom was around somewhere. We also got to see some deer all before we even started our hike. He likes to get the wildlife sighting out of the way.

We got to the trail head and headed in the upward direction. The weather was beautiful and we had a nice breeze blowing to help us out. We passed only one group of guys on the way up.

The Park had done a controlled burn sometime earlier and as we came up to a large tree on the side of the trail that had a ribbon to keep people away we stopped to comment on the ignorance of the average person now days. As we stood there a squirrel came rolling down the side of the mountain. I mean doing a somersault all the way down. I have never seen a clumsy squirrel and was wondering how a squirrel could have a McBride trait. When he finally hit the trail just in front of us and laid out on his back, we noticed that there were actually two squirrels and they must have been wrestling. They looked at us and you could tell that they were quite embarrassed to be caught.

Belive it or not we took a couple of breaks on the way up to Gregory's Bauld. When we got there we got to take in the beautiful sight of about six bushes in bloom. Oops, a week or so too early. We did get a beautiful sight of Cates Cove and the surrounding mountains. Dad was a little hesitant to list off the names of all the peaks. I guess just shy.

When we got into camp there was one other couple camping there. We picked the sight furthest from them and set up camp. The first thing we did was ask them where they found the spring. They said that there was not much of a spring, but it was down this other trail about 300 foot. Well luckily I saw a little mud through a break in the trees as we passed the "Spring". There was mud and that was about all. The biggest puddle we found was just deep enough to cover our screen on the water filter. Every time you pumped the silt covered the screen and you had to clean it off again. So other than the leg cramps, the back aches, the bugs, the cleaning of the filters, and Poison Ivy it was a wonderful experience.

After we finally got our water we headed back to camp. Dad started the dinner and I gathered the moist wood. After dinner we entertained ourselves with the starting of the fire. After a few hours we sat back and enjoyed our flame.

We had a doe come right up to the camp fire and look across it at us. You could tell that she was not impressed and wondered off. After we hit the sack I was wakened by the Does' fawn. She had quite the interest in my hammock. Four different times I heard the approach and looked up into the face of a deer. I would politely say "Excuse me" and she would run off. Finally she must of got the hint and wondered off. They stayed in camp and were waiting patiently beside my hammock when I got up in the morning. It was a Doe with two fawns. They even posed for a picture. After Dad got up they wondered off into the woods.

We got us a good breakfast and headed off down the mountain. We passed two different pairs of girls and a couple which were friends of Dad. For some reason the trip down was faster than the trip up so we ate lunch back at the ranger station. We celebrated a good hike with a fresh ice cream cone from the visitor center.

Gregory Bauld Hike

I got to join my Dad for another great hike in the Smokey Mountains. After getting off work and driving to Dad's for another great lunch by Mom, we headed out. We dropped the van off at Abrams Creek Campground and headed to Cades Cove. Cades Cove is always a wonderful place to visit. On the backside of the Cove we took Parson Branch Road out to the Gregory Bauld Trailhead. Mom took our picture and headed out, as did we.

We hiked the 4.1 miles to campsite 13, which is a 1900-foot climb. We dropped our packs at the campsite and then hiked the other half mile 200 foot climb to the bald. All of the way up we had passed photographers with very expensive looking cameras heading back down. Everyone was excited about the flaming azaleas at the top. As you can tell by the pictures they were extraordinary this year.

At the top we had a young man approach us and said that they had been hiking for a couple of days now. He said that he was from the Nashville area, a small town named Murfreesboro. I let him know that I too was from that small town. It turned out that he and his buddy were MTSU students and worked at TGI Fridays in town.

After enjoying the views, we retreated back down to the campground and set up camp. There were about five groups camping there. After a short discussion we decided it wasn't worth trying to find firewood. We did pick up a few sticks and leaves to burn the debris left by previous campers and our own. We collected our water and had a good dinner.

A man from St. Louis came over to ask about the sunrise time. He and his girlfriend were going to catch it at the top in the morning. They were both students and had been camping a couple of nights. As it was getting dark a ranger came in with a gun complete with night scope to say that the hogs were bothering campers and he would be doing some shooting tonight. We counted three if he did good shooting.

By the time it got dark enough to light the fire Dad informed me that it was 9:00. Well we didn't need a long fire going to bed at 10. When I woke to use the bathroom, this was the quietest camp that I had ever been in. Nothing was making a noise, and I mean nothing. It was quiet enough that I thought I heard a tick fart. It struck me as very odd and was just as quiet the next time I got up. It was almost embarrassing to snore. I did anyway.

The next morning after breakfast we headed back down to Parson Branch road. When we came to the spring we saw a mother doe cleaning off a fresh young fawn. I couldn't get my camera out in time for the shot, but it was amazing to watch. It took us two hours to hike up and only one and a half to hike down. I think we took a short cut.

We crossed over Parsons road and took 7.6 miles of the Hannah Mountain Trail. This is not a very popular trail as it was more grown over, but a beautiful hike. It starts at 2800 and with a few hills drops down to 1300 feet. On this trail we passed one backpacker who is from Georgia and a student at Valdena. He caught up with us as I was taking a picture of a very large tree on the side of the trail. We visited with him a couple of times as we passed each other. We also enjoyed some blueberries, as they were ripe for the picking. There were a couple of times that we disturbed some very large animals, but never got to see them. Just heard the loud racket of them running off. Everyone we talked to on this trip said that they had seen bear. We assume that is what we heard.

We took 2.7 miles on the Rabbit Creek Trail back to Abrams Creek. As soon as we got going on this trail we disturbed another large animal. As we got to the top of the mountain there were three rangers that had been doing trail maintenance there. They had heard the animal as well and had a bear approach them earlier in the day. Dad got to throw out a few names and do some ranger talk with the men.

It was another great hike and great time with my Dad.

Pictures

Father/Son Hike 2007

This year's trip was back down to the original three, Dad, Steve, and Myself. Dan opted out early this year and Jim held in until the mention of low water level, I mean something came up. We were operating on plan C as far as trail plans. This year, just for a change we did the drought conditions. The original plan of finishing the Appellation Trail was once again taken out of the picture as all of the springs along the trail went dry. Of course it will be plan A next year again for the fourth consecutive year as we don't give up easily.

With the extreme weather conditions that have occurred over the years, I packed everything I have into the truck and head East. I had a beautiful trip over to Maryville with all the trees putting on a great display of colors. Steve's flight was slightly delayed and with Mom and Granny going to pick him up, I got some quite time on the Ponderosa. Dad, who had to show us that we were still just young pups, decided to get a short eleven mile hike in the day before we headed out on our backpacking trip. Yes, he is the man!

So after the gang made it back to the Ponderosa, we headed out to meet up with Dad at the trail head so we could preposition the van. On the way, Mom had a couple of things to pick up in town. After we gathered up all of her goodies, she suggested we stop and get a drink. As we were walking into the Burger King, a strange but wonderful thing happened. Yes, I received a sign, I would assume from God. The large lit up sign saying those oh but wonderful words "ICE CREAM". As I froze with those wide staring eyes and a small drool starting at the corner of my mouth, Mom asked if we would like some ice cream. I said OK.

When we went in we searched over the many wonderful flavors available. Steve went with a multitude of chocolates and I with Raspberry. The lady at the counter took the ice cream over to a tabletop and asked what I wanted added. What, more? Yes, they could mix in all sorts of goodies with the ice cream. I added chocolate candies and real raspberries. She mixed all of this up and put it in a cone bowl. She then mixed up Steve's. After he got his and I had already tried mine and I was in the middle of proposing to the lady that made this wonderful gift, Mom grabbed me by the ear and led us out. There was some mention of getting Dad something, but I could hardly hear it over the slobbering noises coming from Steve and I.

Well we met Dad at the trailhead and got registered for the hike. Dad threw his daypack into the trunk and we started the wild ride back home. When we pulled into the driveway and Dad pulled the keys out of the keyhole he told Mom that these were her keys and to make sure he took the van keys with him tomorrow on the hike. Well when we walked around to the trunk to get his stuff out, there were his keys just dangling from the trunk lock. A laugh was had by all. That night after a wonderful meal, Granny and I kicked some butt at the card table.

We awoke to a great breakfast and last minute packing. The weather was looking great with no rain in the forecast. Mom dropped us off at the trailhead and after a couple of pictures headed on her way to town. Kathy had ruined her big shopping extravaganza and left her to just do her normal routine.

This year we decided to start out with an uphill climb. That was different. We headed out of the "Y" in Townsend with comfortable t-shirt weather taking the Chestnut Top trail. We did see quite a few folks out on the trail, but this was weekend hikers. We especially planned a weekend in the trip for the convenience of the brother-in-laws.

From Chestnut Top trail we took Schoolhouse Gap trail and since we had only nine miles scheduled we took a side trip to White Oak Sink, a sunken valley once home to up to ten families and some caves. Here we found a very heavy gauge metal cage over the front of the cave and a sign about the bats inside. We also explored a huge waterfall that turned up dry. This is where we ate lunch. A small trickle of water came over the edge into a large hole in the ground where a pool once was.

We returned to School House trail to Laurel Creek road and took Bote Mountain trail to the West Prong Trail to campsite 18. This was a large campsite area with numerous separate camps. We found one that was off by itself and set up camp.

We didn't have to find firewood because no fires were allowed. We had four younger guys come in later and took the site next to ours. We didn't hear very much from them. We relaxed awhile and ate a dinner of Spaghetti. There was a river with water running in it next to camp so we soaked the old pigs and got refreshed. It ended up being an early night, after we sat in the dark and told lies until the eyes got tired.

We didn't even set up the tarps. It cooled down quite a bit that night and we had to climb in the sleeping bags, but it was beautiful out. I got up once for a bathroom break when Steve came jumping up in his hammock going straight to the attack position. I quickly let him know that it was just me to calm him down. He said that he was in a deep sleep having quite a dream when he heard me. We laughed a while at that one and everyone took a bathroom break.

The next morning even after we had gone to bed early, we slept in and didn't get on the trail until close to ten. On the way out of camp we noticed that there was four other campsites that were taken. We decided to go uphill this morning and continue on to Tremont.

When we got to Tremont Steve decided to use a real restroom at the office. It was out of order so he went to the dorm where a worker there had quite an attitude and threatened us with trespassing on private property. You know that one scared us.

We took Lumber Ridge trail to Meigs Mountain trail. This was quite the uphill climb. We stopped and I had Dad pull out the old bandanna to keep the sweat out of the eyes. This is when we found Bug. Connie had put a plastic bug in my pack, which I found out was before my last hike, but was never discovered. Bug would join our pictures from here on out.

When we got to the saddle we were ready to stop for lunch. When we got to Meigs Mountain trail dear old Dad quickly decided to go uphill. It was an honest mistake; because when ever we come to a split we always go uphill. This time after a short discussion we actually got a chance to go downhill. Meigs Mountain trail had many water, or rock, crossings. Not much water at any of them. If there was water it took the form of mud.

When we passed campsite 19 there was no water at all. We stopped at an old cemetary by the trail and checked it out. Not much action there since 1920. Most of the markers were just flat rocks. When we got to campsite 20 we were all ready to stop. The river here showed very little action. Not much bathing to be done but we gave it our all. We had a very large campsite with of course the Bear warning sign attached. After getting our hammocks hung, which of course takes about three tries before being right, we had chicken stew for dinner. Another night of lies in the dark and an early out. It was warmer than the night before but the wind was blowing and every leaf in the woods ended up on top of us.

We got up the next morning and headed out. We took Meigs Mountain trail to Jakes Creek trail to Cucumber Gap trail. On Meigs Mountain trail we passed the volunteer rangers that take care of campsite 20. They said that the bear warning sign had been up for a few months.

When we got to Cucumber Gap trail we came upon a group of folks whose leader said that this was their first solo hike and was sending each of them out by themselves about fifty yards apart. Steve thought that this was one of those self-esteem classes. There were alot of them and some of them had already joined up further down the trail. Not much esteem there. Anyway when we got to Little River trail we stopped for lunch.

There was water in the Little River, but not much. From here we hiked to the van and headed out for our ice cream reward. When we got home Rick and Linda joined us for our celebration pizza and beer. We got a few hands of cards played, laundry done, and looked at our pictures. After a little discussion we decided to take in a hike in the morning before I headed back to Murfreesboro.

We got up Tuesday morning and Dad decided on a six-mile hike to get me back in time to leave. The weather was very muggy and a little warmer than what we have been hiking in. We ended up taking Little Bottoms trail past campsite 17 to Abrams Creek. It was one of those trails that you were glad that you didn't have a pack with. Most of it was just straight up and down, but some of it was like a goat trail. It was a very beautiful hike and around eight miles long. We ate lunch at Abrams Creek crossing, took a little rest and then headed on back. I had no problem working up a good lather and the gnats were very glad to hike with me. When we got back I ran through the shower and headed out. It rained from Maryville to Murfreesboro. Everything went as scheduled and we had another great trip.