Post-900 Hike #165: Parson Branch Rd--~3.3, Hannah Mtn--7.6, Rabbit Creek--5.1

Richard Ryburn did an excellent job in organizing this hike; because of high water at two major stream crossings (Rabbit Creek & Mill Creek), this hike had to be rescheduled ~4-times. Five of us met at Food Lion at 0700; I rode with Joan Tomlinson and Richard rode with Guy and Lori Garufi (had never met the latter) to our 0730 meet-up at the Y in Townsend. At this point we met Becky Gibson, Ramsay Roth, Gracia Slater, Cindy Spangler, Debra Barton, and Frank March. Frank and Richard went with the Garufis to the Abrams Creek parking area, where they would begin on the Rabbit Creek trail after crossing Mill Creek.

The remaining 7 of us also went there in Gracia's SUV to (1) get a perspective of this stream (that is where we would finish) and (2) more importantly to transfer our gear to the Garufi's SUV; Gracia then drove it to the junction of Forge Creek and Parsons Branch roads. Because the latter is closed in the winter to vehicular traffic, we walked ~3.3 mi. on it to the Hannah Mtn trail head. Although I did not reset my GPS until we reached the Hannah Mtn trail head, we moved at a good pace (est. a bit >3 mph).

Frank just sent me pictures of our crew on the Hannah Mtn trail; he took this picture when his CC group met our 7 hikers: (1) Joan, (2) Cindy, (3) Becky & Gracia, (4) Ramsay, me, Debra






Hannah Mtn is a nice trail but I really did not remember it for this was only the first time that I hiked it since 2006. I forget the exact point that we met our CC cohorts (we were doing a clockwise loop). To my surprise they said that the Rabbit Creek stream crossing also required water shoes; I had planned to rock hop it. (Although we call it rock-hopping, that is truly a misnomer for we are often most carefully placing each foot upon what sometimes are very slippery rocks. When we reached the trail's end (7.6 mi.), Ramsay's and my pace had been 3.2 mph.

After we had all eaten lunch, we then set out on the 5.1 mi. section of Rabbit Creek trail. This trail I remembered; it was very rocky to start and not too enjoyable. The 7 of us stayed together as a group until we reached the Rabbit Creek crossing; it did not look bad and all but two or three of us rock hopped (very carefully) across it. After this the trail has 700-800 feet of up in the form of long arduous (not too steep) switch backs. Although I did not meet my Waterloo here, I decided that trying to stay in Ramsay's hip pocket was contraindicated. Moreover, our marathon runner Joanne, and if Debra is not a marathon she could be, both passed me; believe they either caught Ramsay or he waited for them. To my surprise I was relatively close behind them for when I reached Mill Creek all had just started putting on their water shoes.

Mill Creek presented a relatively wide (30-40') and rapid water crossing ~15 inches deep. For such crossings I typically don my Keene water shoes and trudge across. Even though the air was quite warm for the middle of February, our stream crossings typically remain very cold well into March. The evening prior to the hike I contacted Frank for I knew that he had fisherman's waders for such stream crossings.* I decided to use mine; fortunately I did a dry run as Frank suggested for I found that I could not get the wader feet into my Keene water shoes. Therefore, I brought along my Brooks Beast running shoes that were replaced with a new pair on my latest run on UT's track just two days ago. Joanne watched me getting into them and was laughing so much that she could hardly take the picture that she sent me. All I can say is that regardless of how I looked, my feet did not get cold and my Brooks Beasts worked fine.



*Why I had fisherman's waders: In Feb. or Mar. 07 I had purchased a pair in order that I could take my Airedale Terrier Watson swimming in the cove behind our house; he was living with bone cancer in his R-fore leg and my Vet had just ruled out taking further walks because of the stress. In the water I had to hold him because I had learned that he would dog paddle ashore if I did not in our prior aquatic ventures prompted by his arthritis. With the waders my legs and rear did not get cold in "our" 30-min. swims.

GPS data: 13.0 mi. on the two trails, 3.0 MA speed for both trails, 1,796' total ascent, 3,005 max elevation attained. (The ~3.3 mi. walk on Parson Branch Road is not reflected in the GPS data.)

Post 900 Hike #164, Deep Creek Area

I had planned to do one of our Wed. hikes but learned that Sandy Martin, a 900 Miler aspirant, was planning to do this hike and that no one had planned to hike with her, in part because her schedule precludes hiking on Wednesdays and that this hike was on Thursday. Rather than just do a hike for hiking's sake on Wed., my preference is always to help an individual who is working on their initial 900; Sandy's hike was Cooper Creek--0.5, Deeplow Gap to Thomas Divide--1.5, Thomas Divide--3.5, Sunkota Ridge--4.9, Martins Gap--1.5, Indian Creek--3.7, and Deep Creek--0.7 (16.3 mi.)

Two additional hikes were also scheduled in this area; thus in three cars we left SVC at 0800 for the starting point of Sandy's hike. The first picture was taken by Frank March (who coordinated these three hikes); from left to right we have yours truly, Sandy, and Bill Morrow. (I had never met the latter until today; the site of the picture is on private property owned by a fish hatchery ~0.6 mi. from our Cooper Creek trail head in the GSMNP.) Sandy, Bill, and I then took off ~0930 and an individual who was with Frank moved Sandy's SUV to the Deep Creek parking lot where Sandy, Bill, and I would finish our hike and where the others would start their two hikes.



Shortly after arriving at the Cooper Creek trail head we realized that our avoidance of a creek put us in an environment that I had never seen previously (i.e., I had done this trail at least twice). In part because my GPS suggested it, we retraced our steps; it appeared that the creek had overtaken the trail and in essence hid it. The second picture is the falls on Deeplow Gap with my cohorts in the foreground; it is one of the nicer falls in the GSMNP but takes a bit of time to get to it.



In the first 3-miles of the Thomas Divide trail we climbed ~2,300' (my GPS indicated that we reached 5,028') but we then went down hill close to 2,100' on Martins Gap. Indian Creek and Deep Creek sections were kind of boring for they just followed an old road bed. We had a little entertainment when a mixed breed dog (perhaps some Collie) who had followed two horseback riders into the Park chose to follow us; however, when the latter passed us he joined them again, and hopefully got back to his home outside of the Park.

When we reached Sandy's SUV my GPS indicated that our hike was 16.6 miles. Although we had a bit of climb, we had a lot of downhill and a lot of what were in essence level trails; nevertheless, I was still a little surprised to see that moving average speed was 3.0 miles per hour. However, my pedometer indicated that our hike was only 15.84 mi.; because stride length is the input data for the latter, it would appear that longer strides than are usually taken on a hike was responsible for the relatively high speed. Bear in mind that the time stopped (e.g., taking pictures, eating) does not affect moving average speed.

I enjoyed hiking with Sandy and Bill; both are strong hikers. In longer hikes such as this one there is often more dialogue. Bill used to be an avid runner but an orthopedic problem necessitated that he substitute hiking for it. Although I now only run one day each week with former faculty colleague Craig Wrisberg(on the track at UT), I started running with him in 1978 (before my retirement it was 3 days/wk). In the course of the discussion that Bill and I had, my running buddy is his very good friend (i.e., they attend the same church). It's a small world.

Post 900 Hike 163: Madron Bald 1.2, Old Settlers ~6.5, Noisy Creek Manway ~1.0

Met Bob Bolinger at our usual rendezvous in Sevierville ~0800; we proceeded to Sugarlands Visitor Center to meet BZ Lane; although there were a host of individuals unknown to us from another group, only one other showed up for our hike (an equipment problem necessitated that he drop out on Madron Bald). We dropped two vehicles off on U.S. 321 close to the Noisy Creek trail head (a manway not on maps but often used by Old Settlers Trail hikers) and proceeded to the vicinity of the Madron Bald trail head; we decided that our safest bet was to pay the proprietor of a small closed campground $5.00 for parking there. In less than 0.25 mi. we were on Madron Bald (~10:00).

There were just three of us when we reached Old Settlers (OS); it was trying to sprinkle. The Eastern portion of OS has 10 stream crossings according to the Brown Book. (The latter indicates that the Western portion has 11; they were not too difficult but one still had to be careful.) Several crossed today were very difficult; if one wore hiking shoes instead of boots one's feet would have gotten wet. If the three of us had not each had two trekking poles, the chances of getting more wet would have increased markedly. Yes, we could have donned our water shoes and easily crossed the streams; although the ambient temperature was relatively high, the water temperature was not. Moreover, changing from boots to water shoes to boots to water shoes (not quite ad infinitum) would have spoiled the hike.

It began to rain as we reached some of the longer stone walls; two are presented here and according to the Brown Book the second one exceeds 100 yards in length. Although some other trails also have stone walls, they are a major characteristic of Old Settlers Trail.




As indicated previously I did not plan for this hike carefully (e.g., look at profile in the Brown Book, determine mileage) as I usually like to do. Had I done so my GPS reading (with a less exact back up from my pedometer) would have told me when we would reach the Noisy Creek Manway; from there we would have ~0.5 mi. to US 321 and Bob's SUV. Thus when BZ and Bob thought we were very close to latter and did not reach it as expected, the data that I had at my finger tips could not refute these expectations. Thus when we finally reached this manway I was relieved.

Noisy Creek is a most appropriate name for this stream; although not wide it makes a lot of noise. Moreover, the stream has "absorbed" portions of the trail making the latter relatively difficult. The last picture presented shows Bob (red) and BZ (yellow) on the easier part of this Manway very close to US 321.





GPS Data:
8.79 mi. hiked (includes non-trail distances too)
2.4 mph moving average speed
1,777' total ascent

Post-900 Hike #162: Noisy Creek 0.4 mi., Old Settlers ~8.5 mi

I picked up Cecil Rowe at 0700 and we proceeded to Sevierville where we met Bob Bolinger at 0745 and proceeded in his SUV to the 0830 meet-up on U.S. 321 East of Gatlinburg with those who for the most part do their hikes with the Tom Wainer-Bill Broome Sub-Group of our Margaret Stevenson Wednesday Hiking group. (I last hiked with this group on 11/9/11 when we did Curry Mtn, Meigs Mtn,& Meigs Creek.) Rather than doing a key-swap, vehicles were shuttled to the ending point in Greenbrier and all 12 of us started the hike at Noisy Creek at 0915 ~0.4 mi. of our starting point on Old Settlers Trail (latter was ~8 mi. West of this trail's Eastern trail head at its Madron Bald junction).

The Noisy Creek manway has deteriorated since I last did it for the creek has overtaken part of its route; if I were to do this hike again, I would go to the ridge on the right which would lead would also lead to the Old Settlers Trail. Shortly after we started we in essence were split into two groups, for some of us wished to move at a slightly faster pace. Although we had ~7 stream crossings, none required water shoes.

At 11:45 we stopped for lunch; it was at this point that I realized that my GPS batteries died out 3.5-4 mi. into the hike. After we ate we waited for the rest of our group and I then took the first picture.



Those of us who had finished our lunch went on and our subgroup finished the hike at 1400. My Omron pedometer registered ~9 mi. (19,919 steps with 16,817 being aerobic, 715 kcal burned); the post-lunch GPS data indicated that we traveled 4.27 mi., with a moving average speed of 3.0 mph (we could move on the post-lunch part because it was basically down with only one stream crossing).

When we finished (road to Ramsay Cascades trail) I took the picture of Peter Lloyd to show his unique trekking poles; 8-days ago I had given a presentation at Wilderness Wildlife Week and one segment of my presentation was on Trekking Poles. I was only able to show a poor picture of this design which is unique in that it has two handgrips; this permits, for example, using the upper grip for downs and lower grip for level trails without having to adjust pole length.



On our return trip to the other vehicles, Tom Wainner and I volunteered to ride in in the bed of a 5-passenger pick-up over a few miles of rough park roads to the other vehicles. Because we have sons that went to high school and church together, we were able to "shorten" the trip by relating issues of their respective lives.

Post 900 Hike 161: AT, Charlies Bunion, & return to Newfound Gap

For today I had planned to do a quasi loop that included Hannah Mtn & Rabbit Creek; however, the stream crossing were deemed to be too high (i.e., they would also be very cold). BZ Lane and Bob Bolinger (the three of us have had some great winter hikes over the past few years) came up with a hike that has previously appeared on this blog, namely Charlies Bunion. I picked up Cecil Rowe; we met Bob at his and my usual meet-up in Sevierville, and we proceeded to to SVC where BZ and Amy Howe joined us; Bob then took us to Newfound Gap. The temperature was in the low 20's when we arrived there; I usually do not wear a coat in hiking but did initially. Because I use my arms quite a bit with trekking poles, a vest is usually suffices for a coat; possibly the fact that I am full-blooded Norwegian helps too.

In the first pic we have the AT (basically in a NE direction for our hike) and the second is my attempt to capture scenery on the right; hoar frost brightens both of them up. (Although we often had ice on the trail, hardly any snow.)





None of us wore crampons initially even though things were a little dicey at times. Prior to putting them on we cautiously tried to step around the ice; after putting them on we in essence aimed for the ice for we were most comfortable is so doing. We stopped momentarily 2.7 mi. out at the Icewater Spring shelter. It was then on to the Charlies Bunion trail (~1.7 mi. on AT & then ~0.1 mi. to the Bunion). Cecil, BZ, & I left first and Cecil asked if we had been to Ober Bunion; BZ and I were not aware of this manway and followed Cecil to a point overlooking Charlies Bunion; even though my picture does not do it justice, going there and the view were one of the hi-lights of the day.

In the next picture Amy is looking back with part of Charlies Bunion on her right; Cecil(tan coat) is talking to Bob & BZ (bluff on R is Ober Bunion); next picture is BZ on top of Ober Bunion waving to Amy.





The last picture is my attempt to capture nature shortly after we left the Bunion.



The return was somewhat inconsequential; since BZ's and my preferred pace are essentially the same, we hiked together on the return and kept our crampons on until we arrived at Bob's SUV at Newfound Gap; then BZ started the engine and we warmed up. It was truly a great hike.

GPS data: 8.2 mi., 1,918' gain (6,159' max).
OMRON: 8.33 mi., 18,272 steps, 686 kcal.

NOTE: Pictures by Amy & Bob will be included and/or replace existing ones when I remember how I've transferred such pictures in the past.

Post-900 Hike 160: Bullhead & Rainbow Falls

It rained Wed. and most if not all of the Margaret Stevenson Wednesday Hiker group's hikes were cancelled. After my presentation WWW this past Tues. Bob Bolinger, BZ Lane, and I briefly talked about doing a hike; Bob called on Thurs. eve about hiking out of the Gatlinburg area because weather had already closed US 441. I met Bob at our usual meet-up site in Sevierville; Bob then drove to BZ's home in Gatlinburg which is very close to several trail heads. We decided to do the Bull Head--Rainbow Falls Loop (without the trip to LeConte).

We left from the Rainbow Falls parking lot ~0920. First we did the 0.4 mi. on Old Sugarlands Trail that took us the Bull Head trail head; it was cold. Although there was not much more than a trace of snow as we left, of course with altitude gain snow increased proportionately.

The snow on the trees was beautiful; although I forgot my camera, Bob forwarded me some pictures. Since he is in essence a professional photographer, it's a benefit to the viewer. The first picture is about 2 mi. into Bull Head; the second one is of "The Pulpit" with BZ presiding (~2.4 mi. up).





The next two pictures were also taken on Bull Head; the trail really offers some great views and Bob (the photographer for this blog) really knows how to capture them. In the first of these two pictures BZ is on the left and I'm on the right; in the second one I am on the left in the foreground and BZ is on the right up a bit.





Bull Head (almost 6 mi. in length) became quite a slog in its last two mi. (3,500' gain overall and all basically "up"); we lunched 0.5-1.0 mi. prior to its junction with the 6.7 Rainbow Falls trail. It was here that Bob and I donned our Stabilicer Ice Cleats. Not sure what happened, but when we finished Bull Head my GPS registered ~2 mi. more than it should have; thus I deleted its data in hopes that I would get a correct reading for Rainbow Falls. Although the latter trail basically descended (i.e., 2,880'), it has many rocks in it and is not very much fun. Of course snow waned as we descended; however, there were still slick spots and despite this, ice cleats were contraindicated for the lower half. Although we did not see anyone on Bull Head, on Rainbow falls there were 2-3 groups going to the LeConte shelter and one said he was going to the Lodge (it's closed in Winter?). Below the falls we met a few tourists; they did not seem sure where they were going.

When we arrived at the Parking lot my GPS trip odometer registered 5.5 mi. (the map indicates 6.0 mi.) with a moving average of 2.4 m.p.h.

Post 900 Hike #159: Middle Prong, Indian Falls

In September my son Kirk drove up from Johns Creek GA to hike with me; we did Mt. Cammerer. Prior to Kirk bringing his wife Catherine and two daughters to celebrate Christmas with us; he advised me that he and Catherine would like to hike with me; assuming my wife Meredith would keep his daughters (4.5 & 7.5 yrs.), and their dog under control. My original plan was for us to hike the Rich Mtn Loop; I even gave them a copy of my last blog on these trails. However, during the night I decided to take them on a hike on the Middle Prong Trail to the Indian Falls Manway; I thought that a slightly shorter hike was desirable (not for my half-marathon runner daughter in-law but rather for my wife who would be responsible for their two daughters and dog, plus our Airedale Terrier Winston. Kirk and Catherine trusted my decision even though I could not give them specifics since that material resided in the room of their sleeping daughters.

We were on Middle Prong by 1000; I was somewhat surprised to note that Kirk was taking many pictures of the Middle Prong waterway adjacent to the trail; having done the 2.3 mi. segment eight times, the trail had not seemed that neat to me when in reality it is a very lovely trail.




When we got to the Panther Creek water crossing I told them a few hiking stories. Since I had not hiked the Indian Falls Manway for a couple of years and was not able to review my blogs relating to same (it is not on trail maps or in the Brown Book), I just knew that the manway was adjacent to a sharp switchback). Unfortunately it was a little further than I told them it would be. Nevertheless, when we arrived at the Falls they thought the trip was truly worth it; they took many pictures and we had a snack.



Retracing our steps was slightly easier for all the minimal slopes were now in essence "downhill".



My SUV was the only vehicle in the parking area at the Middle Prong trail head when we started at 0900; when we got back to it the number of vehicles numbered in the high teens.

Omron data: 7.3 mi. hiked, 15,952 steps (11,648 deemed aerobic--only steps counted were in bouts of 10 min. or longer), 571 kcal burned.

GPS data: 8.03 mi. hiked, 3.4 mph moving average speed, 930 ft. total assent (our max elevation on this hike was 3,193 ft). (NOTE: Omron-GPS disparity in part due to my failure to turn off my GPS prior to my driving 1-2 min from our parking space; thus the GPS distance hiked and the mph are slightly inflated.)

On the way home I selected the Back Porch as being a good place for them to try the Townsend cuisine. One had a barbecue and one a steak burger sandwich; I had a very delicious Reuben.