South Rim Trail

Lora and I headed out to the Savage Gulf to do a little hiking. We planned to do the Day Loop trail and swim at the Savage Falls since it was only going to get to 100 degrees today. After we got on the trail we started talking about the only trails that Lora hadn't hiked yet, so with a quick change of plans we hiked the South Rim trail to the Stage Coach campground and then back to the falls for a swim. So instead of a six mile hike we did a 12.2 mile hike.

Just another day of hiking.....life is good!

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Girls

Lora and I had the girls visit this weekend. We had a great time with them and they got to enjoy the pool and playing on the mountain.

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Bandy Creek Camping

Lora and I met my Mom and Dad at Big South Fork and camped at the Bandy Creek campground. Breadon went with us. We enjoyed the pool both days and we got in a hike along the BSF Cumberland River on the John Muir trail. Breadon has moved up to a five mile hike.

I have also attached some pictures of Breadon fishing at home.

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Graduation 2010

Mom, Dad, and I went out to Oregon for my two daughters graduation from College. We had a wonderful trip. I'm proud of both of them. We also got some time in to visit with some more family and time to spoil my grandchildren.

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Breadon's Hike

Lora and I took Breadon to the Smokies to see the synchronous fireflies at Elkmont. We took Breadon swimming at the "Y" in Townsend and then met Mom and Dad for dinner. Then we drove to the Sugarlands Visitor center where you catch the bus to Elkmont.

This is something that you just have to see to appreciate. There are millions of fireflies that all light up at the same time and all go out at the same time. They don't do the usual one flash, they all flash around ten times really fast and then go out. It is a wild light show. Sometimes they do waves, sometimes one side will do the opposite of the other side, and sometimes they all do it at the same time. Really Cool. We went back to the Ponderosa for the night.

The next morning after church we went out and hiked to Lookrock tower on the Foothills Parkway. Then we went to Tremont and hiked to the Spruce Flat falls where Breadon got to swim again. He was tickled at being in a water fall. My little grandson got in three miles of hiking and was a happy boy.

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Walls Of Jericho

Day One….3.4 Miles to camp
Day Two….0.5 Mile to Walls
3 Miles to Alabama trailhead
1.5 Miles to TN Horse trail
0.5 Miles to Hiking trail
3.6 Miles on Mill Creek Loop
.25 Miles to Blow Hole
0.5 Miles to Parking lot
Total Miles…13.25

Lora and I headed to Bear Hollow Mountain WMA after church on Sunday. We stopped for lunch in Sewanee and got on the trail shortly there after. We hiked from the Tennessee trailhead down to what we thought was the Primitive campsite in Alabama.

A quick note to anyone hiking in this area; the map on the computer, the map at the TN trailhead, and the map at the Alabama trailhead are all different. None of them show all the trails.

Lora was excited about the hike. I picked up on this as soon as she jumped because a part of someone’s sunglasses was lying in the middle of the trail. It would have been a small snake. Anyway, right off the get go you hike to an overlook. From there we took the main trail to the campsite. It is all down hill on the way there. It is 2.4 miles to the state line and another mile to the campsite. You drop 818 feet just to the state line.

When we got to the bottom and crossed Mill Creek on the bridge, we came to the horse trail. You cannot ride horses to the Walls of Jericho, so they have a hitching post for the horses there. Well there are also fire rings here in a mowed part of the field. So we figured “campground” and set up camp. Our timing was good as the rain came in as soon as the tent was up, so we climbed in the tent.

After the rain cleared we went for a swim in the creek. Ya, it was COLD! After we thawed out, we went back to camp and cooked dinner. We watched the sun go down and then got to watch the firefly’s do their thing.

In the middle of the night it was bathroom time. I got up as well as Lora and hiked to the woods. As I was standing there, I could see something glowing on the ground between me and the tent. I shined the light on it to see what it was and I couldn’t see it. I figured that I must have dropped something. So I walked over to look at it. It was a glowing grub!!!!!! Now that’s cool! I called Lora over to check it out.

The next morning we got up and made breakfast. Then we hiked toward the Walls. The first thing we came across was the campground, woops. There of course was a sign in the middle of it stating “Campground” incase you couldn’t figure it out on your own. There was also a sign pointing to the South Rim trail. This trail was on neither of the maps we discovered so far. (On the Alabama trailhead map it shows this trail to be .5 miles that over looks the walls) There is no sign showing what way to the Walls. The trail is actually behind the grave yard that is next to the camp. After finding the trail we headed to the walls.

The trail to the walls is very narrow and very slick after a rain. There is a rope to help you up and down on one hill. After you get to the end of the trail you cross the creek and go past a large pool with a waterfall. There is a small trail that leads you up on top of the falls where the walls are.

You can continue to climb further up two more levels to a large cave like opening that drops down and the creek runs through it. The creek runs underground around to the left and then comes out through the rocks like a large spring. There were pools all around that were full of tad poles and we found a large crawfish in one. There were lots of wild flowers all along the walls.

We hiked back to the campground where Lora showed me another snake dance as there was a copperhead in the middle of the trail. After her nerves calmed down, we ate a snack on the park bench at the campground.

After lunch we hiked the trail up to the Alabama trail head. For some reason it was all uphill. When we got to the trailhead, we stood under the kiosk looking at the maps while it rained. This is where we noticed all the differences in the maps. It stopped raining so we hiked to the campsite by the trailhead and ate lunch under a large tree while it rained again. When it was done raining we got up and hiked the horse trail to the TN Horse trail parking area.

The horse trail is an old roadbed and we came across a puddle that covered the entire road. Right in the middle was the top of a shell. We poked it with the hiking stick and verified that yes, it is a snapping turtle. He will be so embarrassed when he finds out that this is not a pond.

From the TN horse trail we hiked back to the hiking trail, headed back down to the bottom of the Mill Creek Loop trail. While we were hiking the horse trail, we came across a batch of wild raspberries that were ready for the picking. And picking we did. They were good. I heard an awful scream and away Lora went again. She had just about stood on a large rat snake in the berry patch. I had to hand her the rest of the berries as she would not come off the trail.

The Mill Creek Loop trail has a side trail that leads off to the “Blow Hole”. This is where the creek comes out of a cave and flows into Mill Creek. It is very beautiful to look at, but another muddy goat trail to get there.

From the Blow Hole, we hiked back up to the TN trailhead for the completion of another wonderful hike. Yes, Lora did jump again when we passed the parts of someone’s sunglasses on the trail again.

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Chimney Top

Chimney Tops Trail…4 Miles
Road Prong Trail…4.8 Miles
Total Miles….8.8 Miles

Lora and I went over to the ponderosa for the night. We got up the next morning and headed out with Dad for a hike to the Chimney Tops.

The Chimney Tops trail is considered a strenuous trail due to the elevation change. You gain 1300 feet over two miles. At the top you do some rock climbing for a spectacular view. There is some competition as this is one of the most popular trails in the park. Get there early. There were five cars there when we started and a line of them when we got done.

We hiked up to the Chimney Tops, but did not climb the rocks all the way to the top because they were wet and slippery. From there we hiked back down to the Road Prong Trail and hiked it to the Appalachian Trail and Clingmans Dome Road.

The Road Prong Trail used to be an old toll road in the 1920’s. It runs from the Chimney Top Trail to Clingmans Dome Road, A gain of 1500 feet over 2.4 miles. There are a couple of areas that you can still see the road bed, but for the most part it is a single path trail along Road Prong. There are some areas that you actually hike in Road Prong so you would not want to hike this in high water.

We did see some bear sign; A fresh pile of scat that would make any bear proud and some trees and stumps tore up.

Both of these trails are beautiful hiking trails and full of wildflowers in the spring.

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Mt. LeConte Hike

Day One:
Alum Cave….5 Miles
Rainbow Falls…..0.1
Day Two:
Boulevard…5.4
Myrtle Point…0.4
Jump Off…..1
AT……………7.7
Hughes Ridge….0.4
Day Three:
Hughes Ridge…..0.4
AT…………….9
Snake Den………0.7
Maddron Bald…1.5
Day Four:Maddron Bald…..4.5
Old Settlers…..9.2
Day Five:
Old Settlers….6.6
Total Miles..51.9

DAY ONE:
After getting off shift I headed home to pick up Lora. We headed to my folks house in Maryville and had a wonderful lunch at the ponderosa. After lunch we headed out to drop off our car at the Old Settlers trailhead in Greenbrier. After that we headed to the Newfound Gap Road to start our hike at the Alum Cave trailhead. We didn’t get on the trail until 4pm.

The Alum Cave trail is a beautiful trail with many wonderful sights, not to mention all the wild flowers this time of year. You hike along the Alum branch of the Little Pigeon River.

The first land formation that you come across is the Arch Rock which there are stairs going through. After that you get to inspiration point where there is a beautiful overlook of the mountains all around you. There was lots of Sand Myrtle growing in this area. As we were enjoying the view, Chong and his girlfriend came hiking up the trail. The guy looked like Chong of Cheech and Chong. He had the long hair and the white wide bandana thing going. They were wearing flip-flops carrying a bottle of water and their car keys. They hiked right behind us up to Alum Cave Bluffs where they dumped the water out and headed back down the trail. While we were standing at the bluffs a Falcon flew up to a nest over the bluffs.

After enjoying the view at the Bluffs we hiked on up to Mount LeConte lodge and on to the shelter where there were six others already gathered. It was 7:20pm so we claimed our bunks ,ate a snack, and headed to the Cliff tops to watch the sunset. There were a lot of people from the lodge there and more were gathering. After a while it got so noisy that we hiked back to another lookout to get some peace. The skies were overcast and the sunset into the clouds instead of over the mountains.

We hiked back to the shelter and started dinner. The others had already eaten and were settling into their bunks for the night. After dinner we were ready for bed. I woke up in the night for a bathroom break and the stars were shining so bright that I didn’t need a light. It looked like they were on the tree tops and you could see billions of them. It was so cool.

DAY TWO:
We got up the next morning and got everyone else in the shelter going. You can’t really sneak out of a shelter. We ate our breakfast and hiked to the lodge to fill up our water bladders. First thing in the morning everyone that stayed at the lodge was hiking to Myrtle Point to watch the sunrise.

We packed up and head out on the Boulevard Trail. We took the side trail to Myrtle Point because it was there. You get some wonderful views from the point. The Boulevard and AT are fun trails to hike in this area because you can look back and see where you have hiked. It’s like a large bowl that you hike around and has the most rugged sections in the Smokey Mountains. We stopped on the side of the trail for a snack on the ridge and took in the sights.

After lunch we encountered the bird. The bird came down from the high side of the trail and walked in front of us. I brought it to Lora’s attention and we watched it walk until it left the trail. We went through the list of birds in the mountains and all we could come up with is “Chicken”. It looked like a chicken, it walked like a chicken, and it didn’t match any bird that we knew were in the Smokies. Not very impressive to tell people about, but that is what we saw.

The next side trail that we added on was to the Jump Off. This is a tough trail, but worth the hike for the views. The Jump Off is a rock that drops straight off the mountain. You can see the Appalachian Trail, Charlies Bunion, Sawteeth and Mt. Guyot from here.

We hiked on to the Appalachian Trail and made a stop at Icewater Shelter. Hiking along Mt. Kephart you get some good views of Charlies Bunion before you get to it. Once there we did the photo shoots and took turns taking pictures of others that were there. We climbed on the Bunion and ate lunch with the spectacular view. While we were eating a large rock fell from the knob above the Bunion and just missed a young couple that was eating lunch below. I almost had to go to work.

Parts of the trail over Sawteeth according to the bible are only ten yards wide. The measurement that Lora and I got was about ten foot wide. We also saw a grass hopper that was about five inches long. From here we hiked on to the shelter at Pecks Corner. This was our stopping place for the night and we were greeted by our four new friends that were already there. Two of these guys were from England and two from Indiana. They had a fire going in the fire place for some unknown reason. It was 80 degrees.

Once at the shelter, we headed down to the spring for a bath and then some drinking water. We visited while we made and ate dinner. The English guys had hiked for 8 hours without eating. Why? They arrived famished and worn out. Surprise! Lora was asking them if they saw all the wild flowers. What flowers? She told them about the Spring Beauties, the Bead Lilies, the Trilliums both white and painted, and the Violets. She told them about our hike from LeConte and they said that it took them two days to hike that.

At dark everyone settled in for the night. The stars were shinning that night and the owls were talking. The only noise we heard that night were when I kicked the shoes off the top bunk and they hit the bottom bunk.

DAY THREE:
The next morning we got everyone up and ate breakfast. We were the first to head out. We stopped for a snack before climbing Mt. Sequoyah. The two English men caught up to us and stopped to eat as we got up and left. They caught up to us at Tricorner Knob shelter where we stopped for lunch. There was a bear warning sign up there. We talked about the privy there that faced the shelter like being on a stage. We filled our water bladders and continued on.

After climbing Mt. Guyot we had completed our top three highest mountains out of the four highest in the Smokies. Clingmans Dome was not on this hike. The second highest is Mt. Guyot followed by Mt. LeConte, and Mt. Chapman.

When we got to the Deer Gap Creek Helipad we met the trail runner, Scott. He asked about our hike and told us about his job, which included hiking back and fourth along the AT helping people out and reporting trail conditions. He felt like he was a glorified trash collector. He told us that a large male black bear had taken a hikers backpack at Tricorner Knob a month ago and that is why it is still posted. He also told us the correct pronunciation of Guyot that neither Lora nor I can remember.

From there, we hiked on to Snake Den Ridge trail. We took a break at the trailhead and the guys caught up with us again. We talked for a little while and then headed out. As we hiked down Maddron Bald trail, we had a little blue bird jump up next to us. As we looked down where it had flown up from we found a nest with four little eggs in it. This happened another time as well. As we neared campsite #29 we came across Lady Slippers, Foam Flower, and Toothwart.

We were the only people at campsite #29. That didn’t last long. As we set up our tent a couple of guys hiked in and picked the far campsite. Shortly thereafter, a group of four girls and a guy came hiking in. We had the creek there to clean up and fetch some water. After dinner it started to rain lightly. We got in the tent and it quit shortly after. We got out and did the bathroom break thing. It was dark by then and we called it a night. Then the rain came. It poured down so hard that it was splashing back up high enough to mist in the tent under the rain fly. It didn’t last very long and later that night the stars were shining.

DAY FOUR:
The next morning one of the girls, Mandy, came over and wanted a picture of us. They were beginning hikers and she was pregnant. They were from Cincinnati and the guy was the only experienced hiker. She wanted the picture for her scrap book.
We ate breakfast, packed up, and headed up the trail. We saw Rhododendron, Mountain Loral, and Magnolia blooming.

When we got to the Old Settlers Trail, a couple of guys told us that they had seen a bear when they came in that morning. This was the last people we saw on our hike. The Old Settlers Trail has a lot of history on it as we came across many rock walls and chimneys. We took a lunch break by the creek where we came across the first rock wall. The humidity was extremely high and we really appreciated it every time the wind blew.

After lunch we had a Baird Owl fly through the woods and landed on a branch in a tree next to the trail. We walked up slowly with the camera in hand to catch it on film. It was expecting us to be walking a little faster as it crapped on the trail in front of us, then flew off before we got the picture. We also got to see a humming bird, a small dark blue bird with a yellow spot on it, and a salamander.

According to the trail description, after you walked through a rock wall and saw signs of a settlement on the other side of the river, there was suppose to be a side trail to a barn that was still standing. We crossed over the river and searched the area over. Then we backtracked on the trail and read the description about four different times. Finally we just hiked on. Down the trial was a big trail sign that said “BARN” and had an arrow pointing down the trail. OK, we found it. It was a cool old barn that they had kept in good shape.

After that we started coming across a lot of bear sign. There was scat, turned over rocks, trees tore to pieces, and tracks at the creek crossings. The trail is overgrown in some areas and we started to get some light rain. We covered our packs, but the humidity was too much to put the ponchos on. Even though we heard a lot of thunder, it never did rain hard.

We finally crossed the creek into campsite #33. One site actually has an old rock chimney in the campsite. There are three sites there, but only one had bear bag holders. With all the sign we saw that day, we wanted to use them for sure. We listened to the woodpeckers and laughing bird until it got late enough to watch the fireflies. We got a good nights sleep that night with peace in the woods and no other campers.

DAY FIVE:
The next morning we got up and headed down the trail. There were a lot more rock walls and chimneys to see that day. At one point Lora started talking in a foreign tong and backed up four feet into me. I grabbed the hiking stick and was ready for what ever was coming down the trail. It turned out to be a copperhead snake laying in the trail. It was not interested in us or anything else. After trying to get it to move, we decided that we would just hike around it.

Another fifty yards and Lora started with the “bla….bla…..bla….” I looked around her and saw a five foot black snake on the trail. I helped her out with pronunciation of “Black Snake”.

So now that Lora was studying the trail that we were hiking, she didn’t see anything else on the trail including the extremely large black bear that jumped over the rock wall in front of us and ran across the trail down to the creek. I got her attention and tried to get the camera ready. The bear started up the mountain on the other side of the creek. He stopped and looked back at us then head up the mountain.

We stopped back by the Ponderosa and had dinner with Mom and Dad and some family friends from Ohio that had stopped by.

Another great hike!

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Big South Fork Scenic Railway

Blue Heron Loop 6.6 miles
Yahoo Arch, Negro Creek, and Sheltowee Trace 10.9

Tornado, large hail, and server thunderstorm watch. Yep, that’s what they are calling for so its time to go hiking. We had already gotten tickets to ride the Big South Fork Scenic Railway and you can’t cancel them. We headed to Stearns, Kentucky for a train ride and hike. I took off an hour early from work to make the 11am train.

It’s an hour train ride to Blue Heron from Stearns. They slow down for some scenic areas and you go through a tunnel and through the historic town of Barthell. They had some short hikes and programs planned, but we decided to hike the Blue Heron Loop as a wild flower hike instead.

We ate at the snack bar and then hiked the loop. The Ranger wanted us to know that the hike was 6.6 miles and we had to catch the last train which left at 4:30. He made it sound like it might be hard to do. Anyway, we headed off. We hiked up through the Crack -in-The- Rock’s which is a rock formation that you actually hike through. Then we took the side trail to the Blue Haron Overlook. From there you hike to the Devils Jump Overlook. Somewhere in this area we got the thunder storm noise, but only a light rain for about 15 to 20 minutes.

Talk about a wildflower hike. We saw at least 15 different varieties including the lady’s slipper and all of them in abundance. We even had a turtle pose for a picture. When we got back we still had a half hour so we hiked over the coal tipple bridge and also caught the ranger talk which was pretty cool. She pulled out a guitar and went to singing an old folk lure about the Devils Jump. As it turns out, they were mining salt when they hit oil. Not knowing what is was, they decided to sell it for medical purposes because it tasted bad. They put it in a barrel and tried to raft it down the Cumberland River. At Devils Jump, which is a rapid, the raft crashed and the Cumberland got its first oil spill. This ordeal actually puts this as the first oil well in the America’s.

We enjoyed the train ride back in the rain. Our plans were to camp at Alum Ford. Because of the rain, we stopped at the restaurant in the train depot, Suzanne’s . Well, the owner took us for a tour of the dinner buffet and explained to us that everything was homemade by her. She was so proud of her food; we just had to eat there. It was well worth it as everything on the buffet was wonderful. We highly recommend this restaurant if you are in the area.

Well as we were sitting at the table, we recognized a lady there that had led one of the hikes. We asked her about how her hike went and after talking a bit she introduced herself to me and I recognized the name. She was one of my contacts for hiking the Sheltowee Trace and I have been sending her the trail condition reports as we have been going along. You never know where you might meet folks.

After dinner we drove up to Alum Ford. The rain had stopped and we put up the tent. More rain was supposed to come in, so we just walked down to the river to enjoy the evening. We got a wonderful show as the sun went down with all the different clouds and colors. We also got to watch as an otter swam playfully down the river in front of us. After dark we went back to the tent where we got to listen to three different owls talk for a long time. Sometime in the middle of the night, they decided to talk again and we woke to hear them.

The next morning we got up and enjoyed breakfast. As we were taking camp down, two fishermen stopped to talk to us as they were hiking up the trail a little ways to do some fishing.

We got on the Sheltowee and headed south along the Cumberland. The woods were full of wildflowers. We had a wild turkey fly up in front of us. We hiked down to Negro Creek and took Negro Creek trail back up to Yahoo Arch. We took the .5 mile spur trail to Markers Arch which is worth it. From Yahoo Arch we hiked the upper trail at Yahoo Falls, then went to the bottom and ate lunch. It was a beautiful day and the Yahoo Falls area had a lot of people on the trail.

After lunch we hiked down to the Sheltowee and took it back to Alum Ford. We would highly recommend these trails to anyone that is interested in wildflowers.

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Newton Bald Hike

Kanati Fork Trail 2.9
Thomas Divide Trail 3.1
Newton Bald Trail 5.3
Total 11.3 Miles

I drove over to Maryville for a hike with Dad’s Hiking Club, the Retired Citizens of the Smokies. We all met up at the Sugarlands Visitor Center. There were fifteen hikers in all. We drove to the Kanati Fork trailhead then the drivers dropped off two vehicles at the Newton Bald Trailhead.

They rated the hike as strenuous and it was a good workout. The Kanati Fork climbs 2150 feet in 2.9 miles. The Thomas Divide trail takes you up another two hundred feet then you drop five hundred feet so you can climb back up. You climb another hundred feet on the Newton Bald trail and then drop 3000 feet in 4.5 miles.

The weather was wonderful as well as the company. We had a great time and after we got out of altitude on the Newton Bald trail, we saw lots of wildflowers of various types.

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