Maudes Crack TTA Hike

I went to Big South Fork Saturday to hike with the Upper Cumberland Chapter of TTA. Talking to Craig along the way and he was asking the usual questions of “did you remember your….” and I thought I did remember…Only when I was almost to the park I started looking for my wallet……no wallet. I called Mom to go to my house to see if I dropped it somewhere between the house and the car or the mailbox. She found it in the garage and offered to bring it to me. (two hour drive) I declined the offer and watched my speed from that point.

I started down the Divide Road and was almost to the trailhead when I saw a ditch in the road. I stopped and thought “what would Craig do?” and drove thru it slowly only dragging the hitch coming out of it. Then found 4 more ditches dug into the road. I got to the trailhead and no one was there. I waited a while and started wondering if the others might not be able to get thru the ditches. I drove back to look for them, met up with a couple of hunters with their dogs. I asked about the ditches in the road and they explained about water bars. They must be expecting floods. I found the other hikers, warned them about the ditches and turned around to follow them back to the trailhead. We managed to get thru without losing a muffler or oil pan.

There were 7 hikers ready to get on the trail with Kathleen leading the way. We hiked the Longfield Branch Trail to No Business Creek and crossed in our sandals. Pete showing us a better way, used plastic bags over his boots. We hiked the JMT up to the JMT overlook then back to the No Business Trail. We reminded Kathleen that our lunches were calling to us so we stopped along the creek to eat. We saw old homesites and one had daffodils budding and one blooming in early February!

Then on to Maude’s Crack where we followed Pete up and thru, then a view from the top. We followed Maude’s Crack Trail back to the cars. We found firewood in the parking lot and Lillian the engineer came up with the idea to use the firewood to put in the ditches to try to keep our vehicles from dragging so much. They put this plan into action with Lillian and Richard placing the wood, letting us drive across and then taking the wood to the next ditch. In and out of the van till we got thru all 5 ditches. I told Lillian she should get a job with TDOT.

The others headed on to another adventure at the Twin Arches and I headed home, without my license, driving responsibly and not stopping for ice cream, boo hoo. My fellow hikers did offer to give me money if I needed some, I knew I had enough water, a snack and enough gas to get home. Wasn’t thinking about ice cream until I passed the Sonic in Crossville. Lesson learned.

Pictures:

Maudes Crack

Old Parch Corn Road 2.5
John Muir to overlook 6.6
John Muir back to No Business 1.3
No Business 0.1
Longfield Branch 0.7
Terry Cemetery Road 1.1
Total Miles: 12.3

Lora and I started out our hike on the Old Parch Corn Road. This is an unmarked unkept trail, which trail head is 0.6 miles from Watson Cemetery Road. As soon as you cross the downed trees look for the old road bed going off to the left. If you miss it like we did, then you will follow the other road until you loose it. Turn around and try again. Most of this old road bed is somewhat clear. You do have to leave the trail in a few spots to find your way around dead falls and briers. On this trail you will see many rock formations and rock shelters. The last part follows the Parch Corn Creek down to the Big South Fork Cumberland River. The John Litton Cabin remains are seen at the end of the trail.

We followed the John Muir trail along the Cumberland River until you go up Big Branch and made camp along the creek. It was a clear night with lots of stars. We enjoyed the peace next to the campfire.

The next morning we followed the John Muir up to Maudes Crack. It is not marked at the bottom, but if you follow the trails to the rock formation just before the trail leaves it you will find Maudes Crack. This crack was used by "Maude" as a short cut into the gorge. We climbed up the crack and took in the views from the overlook. We then climbed back down the crack and took the John Muir trail down to No Business Creek. We checked out the old remains of the community and a wild turkey. From there we took the trail to the John Muir overlook.

The John Muir overlook is a rock outcropping that looks down on the No Business Creek Gorge. On the way back down from the overlook we ate our lunch by the staircase. We did our second Old fashion foot washing crossing the No Business Creek to follow the Longfield Branch trail. The Longfield Branch trail is now a gravel upkept road that will take you back up to Terry's cemetery. Then we walked the Terry Cemetery Road back to our car.

Pictures: