Oregon Jan 2016

Another wonderful trip to Oregon. Lots of fun times with Melanie, Jagon, Avelyn, and Marjorie. Avee has grown so much since the last trip. The giggles and loves were a precious blessing.

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Deep Creek II

Lillian suggested a weekend of hiking. We decided on the Deep Creek area. She and Karen spent Saturday at the Sandhill Crane festival in Birchwood, then joined me in Cherokee in time for dinner.

I had driven to Bryson City earlier in the day, to check out the Thomas Divide trailhead. It was up a dirt road, mostly one lane. Judi and I had come off the trail here before. As I started back down the road I met a Ranger in a truck coming up. One of us had to back up.....me. I am glad Craig has made me practice backing the boat trailer. Backed up, moved over and got a big smile from the guys inside that seemed surprised that I didn't run off the side of the bank using my sideview mirrors :)
Then on the Cherokee and to Smokemont. 

I hiked part of the Tow String Rd trail that joined the Bradley Fork Trail. I spent some time at the Oconaluftee Visitors Center, walking along the River Trail, and exploring the museum. I just missed the concert they had there, but the beautiful sunshiny day I would rather be outside. Later in the afternoon, on a tip from a volunteer at the museum, I found the elk in a field on Big Cove Road. Just after dark Lillian and Karen met me at Pauls Diner for a supper of Buffalo burgers and Indian tacos. We crashed for the night at Great Smokies Inn. 

Sunday we woke up to snow coming down and a warning from the guy at the convenience store about road conditions driving to Deep Creek. Three brave souls drove thru the snow showers to Bryson City and Deep Creek Campground to drop off a car. We drove back a little way to try and find the trailhead for the Cooper Road Trail. On the way we saw a hawk sitting in the road holding onto something dead, he didn't fly away...strange. Anyway, we found "No Parking", and No Trespassing" signs and a locked gate at a trout farm. On to Plan B. 

The snow had stopped.  Thomas Divide Trailhead. We did a loop of Indian Creek Motor Trail, Deeplow Gap, Indian Creek, Stone Pile Gap x 2, and Thomas Divide out to the parking lot for Deep Creek, then hiked the Juney Whank Trail. Est 11.5 miles for the day. 

Fun weekend with the ladies.

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Chattanooga Tennessee Valley Railroad

Lora and I got on the train today! We headed to Chattanooga and visited the Tennessee Valley Railroad. It was a lot of fun and then we headed to the Chattanooga Choo Choo Depot / Hotel for a visit.

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New Years Day Hike 2016

I went to Edgar Evans State Park for the 1st hike of the year, sponsored by Friends of Edgar Evans SP. There were 82 folks there to hike and eat and hike. We met at the pavilion by the marina and spread the food on the table. Crockpots plugged in, gloves and toboggans on, we carpooled to the trailhead for the Millennium Trail. We had a Park Ranger to lead the hike and three other Rangers came along. It's a pretty trail, some old home sites and rock walls, and a couple of places where the lake came up into the trail. All the recent rains have raised the lake levels. 

When we got back to the pavilion, hungry hikers loaded plates, got some hot chocolate or hot apple cider and had a New Year's feast. Lots of ham, black-eyed peas, not a collard to be seen, potato salad, fruit salad, pasta salad, hominy, chips and dips, and LOTS of desserts! Thanks to the Rangers and the park, we had lots of firewood for the fireplace. It got a little warmer when the sun came out for our 2nd hike. A smaller crowd drove to the visitor's center and hiked the loop trail that leads down to the lake and then switchbacks up the ridge to the visitors center. They have a tower there, nice views of Center Hill Dam from the top. 

Got to see some of my backpacking friends, met some nice people and really enjoyed this beautiful day.  

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Ace Gap Trail

I found a willing backpack partner for the weekend, so Smoky Mountains here we come! Ace Gap trailhead is on the park boundary at Rich Mountain Gap. I passed a couple of bicycle riders going up Old Cades Cove Road, and when I met Judy at the trailhead, they rode by and kept going. With all their energy we could have hired them to carry our packs J The trail descriptions talk about Campsite 4 at Kelly Gap (no longer there) and Campsite 7 at Ace Gap (no longer there). The old railroad bed crosses here. Judi says the pink lady slippers put on a show between Kelly Gap and Beard Cane Trail. I will have to come in the spring to see them!

We were heading to Campsite 3 on the Beard Cane Trail (still here). It is a pretty campsite, level under the hemlocks and by the junction of Beard Cane Creek and Hesse Creek. We had to cross two creeks to get to the camp. Not bad today but we could see where the water had been up after the last rain. Glad is was lower! We got to camp early enough to collect plenty of firewood. We had nice log furniture for cooking and sitting by the bonfire. It was a warm day and didn’t get cold enough to get the fire going the next morning so we left plenty of wood behind for the next campers. We were packing up and I took the water bag down to empty it, looked inside and found a critter inspecting the filter. Crawdad. His story follows this one. I carried him back to the creek where I scooped him from the day before, not sure but I think I got a dirty look from him before he disappeared….

We started back toward the car and watched for the big pines described in the brown book, one with a lightning scar and one 30 inches in diameter. We think we found the big one, but never found the one with the lightning scar. Considering the year the book was published, that tree may have fallen.

Crawdad’s story:

I was hiking up the creek about to go over the cool waterfall. It must have been at least 10 inches high! When all of a sudden I saw a big blue UFO come out of the sky an hover over the creek, it opened a door and landed in the creek, then it started coming toward me and the next thing I knew it swallowed me up! The door closed and I knew we were flying away from the waterfall and no telling where the UFO would take me. I knew we landed and then slowly the water started seeping out. The tall white thing was drinking all my water!!!! Then the UFO took off again, the door opened and down we swooped! I could hear the creek and thought I could escape, but the water gathering was so quick it washed me back to the bottom of the UFO. When it landed again, night was falling and water started seeping out again, but the tall white thing must not have been as thirsty so I still had enough to survive. Daylight came and again we were flying, the door opened and splash, I WAS BACK IN MY CREEK! I ran under the closest rock in case they tried to catch me again. The big blue UFO flew away

Signed,

The very nervous Crawdad

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Dayton Christmas Parade

Lora went to the Dayton Christmas Parade on her way back from the hike.

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TTA Piney River

Met up with the Soddy Daisy TTA  at Piney River for a Saturday hike. George brought 3 hikers that I hadn't hiked with before. This was their first hike at Piney. We dropped a car at the Newby Branch Trailhead and drove back to start at the Shut in Gap parking area. We met 2 other hikers that were exploring the area and told them about the CT and to go online for good maps and descriptions of the trails. 

It's always cool to hike a trail with people who are seeing it for the first time and see it thru their eyes.

The recent rains added to the creek levels and made for an exciting crossing of McDonald Creek. The 5 of us used 3 different routes to get across without any mishaps. Whew! Tree hugging and rock scrambling. Then we had two trees we had to climb thru. George had a saw and took care of a few limbs, the rest need some chainsaw action.

The sky was so blue and the weather was perfect, the only critters we saw were a woodpecker, a snail and a large bird that flew down the creek so fast we couldn't tell what it was. 

Good hike!

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Ohio 2015

Lora and I were blessed to spend a few days in Ohio with Valerie and Braedon. We also got time in with Gordon, Janice, and Olivia. Braedon took me swimming at the hotel pool alot!

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Yellow Stand Lead - Big Frog Wilderness

Day One: 4.1
Yellow Stand Lead 2.3
Big Frog 0.9
Rough Creek 0.9

Day Two: 8.4
Rough Creek 0.6
Fork Ridge 1.8
Big Frog 1.9
Grassy Gap 1.7
Big Creek 2.4

Lora and I headed over to the Big Frog Wilderness for an overnight backpack. We started at the Yellow Stand Lead trailhead. This trail has lots of mountain views this time of year. There was still lots of colors on the trees which surprised us. We took it up to Low Gap where we turned on the Big Frog trail going down to the Rough Creek trail. Rough Creek drops down to the West Fork where after we crossed the creek we hiked to where we found a place to set up camp.

Our campsite was not level and it was very rocky which of course was a challenge to walk around. We gathered firewood and enjoyed a night around a nice fire. Just as we were talking about calling it a day, it started sprinkling. We got camp cleaned up, bear bag hung, and under our tarps before the real rain started coming down. It rained a few times, but not hard through the night.

The next morning we headed out and climbed to the Fork Ridge trail and took it to where we thought was Chimneytop, but no. The trees were all frozen from the night before. We talked to some guys that thought that they were at Chimneytop as well and came to the conclusion that there is nothing special about the place. We headed down trail #64 which is Big Frog and figured this out when we came back into Low Gap once again. So we turned and took Grassy Gap trail to Big Creek instead.

Grassy Gap is a very beautiful trail as long as scenery is concerned. Creeks, mountain views, and a variety of ecosystems. We even got a good view of the frozen Big Frog through a gap. At Big Creek we headed back down to the car. There are lots of camping spots along this trail. There is also one creek crossing of the Peter Camp Branch.

It was another beautiful hike.

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TTA Annual Meeting 2015

TTA Annual Meeting 2015.
Hosted by the East TN chapter.

 I got to the meeting Friday evening just in time for supper. The meeeting was The food was good and the company was great. Getting to see hiking friends from across the state is so fun. We had a guest speaker Backpcountry Mgm Specialist Christine Hoyer who presented a great slideshow about the GSMNP. Then some cool music. Then off to the Lazy Daze Campground to set up camp. Sara and I camped along with Gary and Steve. I got to use my hammock since no one was in the spot beside us. It got pretty chilly. 32 the next morning.

 After breakfast, Sara and I hiked with Bruce Whitehead on the Jakes Creek trail. We first met up with the hikers going on the Cucumber Gap, Little River hike, to listen to and walk with a Ranger around the Elkmont historic area. Bruce, Sara and I had a great hike, climbing up to Jakes Gap and back. We got back to Townsend in time to clean up for the evening and shop the white elephant sale and bid on the silent auction items. The dinner was great, catered by Ruby Tuesdays. 

Awards for this year were Joan Hartvigsen for the Bill Stutz Award, and Jim Poteet for the Bob Brown Award. The live auction was lively and hopefully raised a lot of money for the CT spring Breakaway. 

Sunday I hiked with some Soddy Daisy hikers at the East Lakeshore Trail led by Tom Kressler. It was a pretty hike along the Tellico lake area, and thru the surrounding farmland. 

Fun times with the Tennessee TTA hikers. It was good to see everyone again. 

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