Baxter Creek 6.1n, 6.1pd

Left home at 7:15 and arrived at Exit 440 on I 40 at 8:18; this was considerably earlier than our 9:00 planned meeting time. This Sunnoco truck stop is not the neatest; I had no desire to order anything from their eatery. The temperature was 16 degrees F.

BZ Lane and Bob Bolinger arrived ~8:45; Bob wanted to drive so I put my gear in his vehicle. We started on the Baxter Creek Trail at 9:20; I was comfortable with my two wicking long sleeve T’s (plus summer long sleeve shirt with pockets—the pockets are the reason that I wore it), vest, and duck hunting cap (with ear flaps down). However, my cc-ski mittens failed to warm all my finger tips until we were well into our hike (next winter hike I’ll also bring a pair of my thin running gloves as a first layer). This trail has more than a 4,000’ gain in its 6.1 miles; however, the gain was typically gradual and not as bad as some had said it would be. We stopped for lunch (pic) and I put on my Crampons for the snow depth had increased (my new ones are really slick—LL Bean with a Vibram sole—I wore them the rest of the trail up and all the way back to the car). We pursued on our trek and arrived at the junction of Mt. Sterling trail at 12:55 (see pic).

On the return I climbed the fire tower and shot a few pictures (one attached); the tower itself had glass windows so I shot the pics from the landing below it. On the return trip we paid more attention to the giant hemlocks; that is BZ and Bob by one of them. We met two backpackers; those poor guys would have to walk in the dark for perhaps their last mile if they wanted to reach Campsite #38. One of the good things going for them is that they could follow our tracks in the snow; that should be helpful since the trail was not always distinct.

We got back to the Big Creek Campsite at 4:00; Bob then took me back to my vehicle (today I had an ice wrap rather than my typical "Ice Up" and could drive and ice my knee at the same time). I arrived home ~5:40.

Cataloochee Divide 4.6n & 4.6pd

I picked up John Kennerly at 8:00 at Tyson Park; in ~45 min. we arrived at Shoneys in Newport and picked up Dennis McAdams. We then got back on I 40 and got off at Exit 20 in NC. We took Cove Creek Rd.; the latter is for the most part a paved road that has two 5 mph switchbacks. The latter portion of this road that we covered is gravel and it brought us to Cove Creek Gap; this is the Northern end of the 4.6 mi. of Cataloochee Divide trail that I needed; I had done the Southern 1.8 miles on two previous hikes.

We started on Cataloochee Divide at 9:55 with a temperature of ~22 F; John and I had done ~0.5 mi. of this 4.6 mi. section previously (see 12-23-06 hike). We decided to take the Manway to Appalachian Highlands Science Learning Center (AHSLC) and arrived there at 11:45 (see pic). Besides wandering the grounds and taking pictures, we ate lunch; by this time it had warmed up considerably.

We departed the AHSLC at 12:15. Unfortunately we took the wrong Manway and ended up a bit further South on the Cataloochee Divide Trail than we had planned (i.e., South of the McKee Branch trailhead). Two good points can be raised relative to this, namely (1) I was not leading this time and (2) since I now have done the entire Cataloochee Divide Trail twice, this is an additional trail that I can add to my second map should I choose to repeat all 900 miles of trails a second time. We left McKee Branch at 12:30 and arrived at my vehicle (a distance of 4.6 mi.) at 2:00.

Long Bunk 3.6n, Little Cataloochee 4.1n, 4.1pd, 1.0n

At 7:00 I picked up John Kennerly at Tyson Park; we proceeded on I 40 East to Exit 451. We entered NC and proceeded several miles on a dirt road to Mt. Sterling Gap; BZ Lane and Bob Bolinger were waiting for us. We then took BZ’s Jeep and my CRV 3+ miles to the terminus of Little Cataloochee Trail; at this point Bob and BZ got in my vehicle and we went back to Mt. Sterling Gap.

At 9:15 we embarked on a smidgeon of Mt. Sterling trail. At 9:30 we began on Long Bunk Trail. After passing the relatively large Hannah Cemetary (see pic), at 10:54 we completed this 3.6 mi. trail. We then proceeded SW on Little Cataloochee (this section was 4.1 miles); after taking a 20 min. lunch break we arrived at its terminus at 1:00 (see pic of BZ, Bob, & John). We then retraced our steps on this 4.1 mi. segment; the pictures are of Dan Cook's cabin and Bob in the foreground of Little Catalooche Church (this pic as we were going North turned out better than the one that I took as we went South on this trail). We then did the last 1.0 mi. section which took us to BZ’s Jeep.

This was really a good day--8.7 new miles on my 900 mile quest.

Abrams Falls 4.2pd, Hatcher Mtn 2.6pd, Cooper Rd 5.5 section pd, Wet Bottoms 1.0pd

Today’s hike were trails that Dennis McAdams needed (I had previously done them all); next week the two of us will hit a trail (or trails) that I need in Cataloochee (trails that he has completed).

I met Dennis at the Townsend “Y” at 8:30; at 9:20 we had our boots on and left the Abrams Falls parking lot. We completed this 4.2 mi. trail in 1 hr 20 min. We then completed the 2.6 mi. Hatcher Rd trail in 1 hr; at this point we had lunch. The 5.5 mi. section of Cooper Rd took us 1 hr. 48 min. At this point Dennis wondered if I wanted to walk back to the car via the Cades Cove Loop; I declined because I wanted to redo the Wet Bottoms trail (the latter 1.0 mile trail really gave me a problem because of its indistinctiveness--a factor that I found that many of our pros had previously deduced). (Another reason that I wanted to redo Wet Bottoms is to help others; I think that I did 1.5-2 miles in completing this 1.0 mi. trail for I got off on a few manways.)

Because I had forewarned Dennis, he took this challenge seriously by making a Xerox copy of the trail description from the Brown Book. We also went from N to S (toward the Abrams Falls parking lot); I had previously done it from S to N. Although we still encountered the muddy trail sections that horses had trod, we really did not get our boots that muddy. Although there is a major water crossing toward the trail’s end relatively close to the parking lot, we chose to follow the option presented in the Brown Book about following the creek down ~0.25 mi. (I think it was longer) and then taking the bridge that we has crossed earlier in the a.m. to get back to the parking lot. We finished ~2:20. (Although I would still have some trepidation in redoing this trail in the direction that I had done alone last summer, I would have no problem in leading others in the direction that we did today.

Chestnut Branch 2.1n, AT to Lower Mt Cammerer in/out 1.0n & 1.0pd, AT to NC in/out 1.9n & 1.9pd, Chestnut Branch 2.1pd

Scheduled to meet BZ Lane and Bob Bolinger at SVC at 9:00. I left quite early in case I would have to go via Pigeon Forge if Little River Rd. had ice. Road was fine and I arrived at SVC at 8:15. Since I have a 50% discount at the SVC Bookstore for a contribution that I made, I spent a little time looking to see what I might buy.

At 8:45 I noted that both BZ and Bob had arrived. At 9:50 we reached the trailhead of Chestnut Branch. At 10:46 we had completed the 2.1 miles of Chestnut Branch and reached the AT. We decided to go West first; this 1.0 mile section of the AT to Lower Mount Cammerer took us 29 min. (1st pic--a little more snow than at this point on our loop last week). We stopped for a moment or two and got back to Chestnut Branch at 11:53. We decided to wait until we got to the NC line on the AT for lunch; we covered this 1.9 mile section in 45 min. (see 2nd pic--across the road you can see the beginning of the AT in NC). We ate lunch here and then headed back to Chestnut Branch; uphill it took us ~48 min. The return trip to my vehicle took us ~58 min. for the 2.1 mi. The last picture was taken from the Foothills Parkway on the way home (BZ was driving my vehicle to allow me to ice my knee). He said that he always stopped there when he led tour groups.

Lower Mount Cammerer 7.4n, AT (Lower Mt. Cam. to Low Gap) 4.4n, Mt Cam. 0.6n, 0.6pd, Low Gap 2.5pd (15.5+ miniscule amts getting to/from trails)

Met Bob Bolinger and BZ Lane at the Cosby Campground at ~8:35. We finished the 7.4 mi. of LMC (that's Bob & BZ on this trail) in 3 hr.; it is a beautiful and relatively easy trail and for the most part an easy gain to altitude. We ate lunch at its junction with the AT. Because neither Bob nor BZ needed to do Mt. Cam., I ate quickly and then attacked the section of the AT to the Mt. Cam. Trailhead because I did not want to keep them waiting too long. (At lunch I also put on my new "Stablicers" from LL Bean.) This section of the hike was not so terribly easy since in its 2.3 mi. the altitude gain was slightly over 1500’; I made it in one hour (left a note in the snow for BZ & Bob that I arrived at 1:00 so that they would know ~how long before I got back to the AT). The 0.6 trek to Mt. Cammerer took me 15 min. (see pics); after walking around the observation deck and taking a few pictures I arrived at the AT at 1:45. (In this downward trek I met a couple of men who left the Cosby Campground about the same time that we did but were doing the loop CC. Bob, BZ and I were concerned that they might be finishing in the dark.)

We finished the remainder section of the AT, then Low Gap (where I took off my Stabilicers, plus a 0.5 mi. section, and then about the same distance to get back to our vehicles. We arrived there at 3:40.

This was a very good day; 11.8 mi. new and only ~3 previously done. To celebrate I stopped at Carvers Apple Orchard to have dinner but the restaurant was closed. I did buy a few things plus coffee and their specialty (a piece of fried apple pie).

Gabes Mountain Trail 6.6n (& out) 13.2 miles + 0.3 for F Falls

Went to Food Lion at 7:45; Amy Howe arrived shortly thereafter and then a new hiker (Kate) joined us. (Latter is a senior at Earlham College majoring in World Religions; a serious mountain climber and a very interesting young lady.) Amy drove and we arrived at SVC ~8:50; we then got in Bob Bolinger’s vehicle and arrived at Cosby Campground ~9:35. Liz Etnier, Diane Scarbrough, Cecil Rowe, Bill Woodrick and John Kennerly were waiting for us.

We got on the trail at 9:45. After 2.1 mi. we took a brief excursion to Hen Wallow Falls (this is not a requirement for completing all trails--in and out was supposed to be only 0.2 mi. but my pedometer registered 0.3); in my pic of the falls Amy and Katy are in the foreground. At ~11:00 we passed Barb Slover, Martha Frink, Jim Talent and his wife as they were eating lunch; they had done a car shuttle and had a car waiting form them at Maddron Bald. At ~6 mi. Cecil brought to our attention a very large rotting chestnut stump with hemlock growing in the center; he is standing by it in the second pic. We finished the ~6.9 miles at 12:25.

On our return Bob led us out; after 2-3 mi. Bill, John, Katy and I had separated ourselves from the rest of the group. About this time I fell in behind Bob for I wanted to see how close my stride compared with his (he' 6' 4" & I have shrunk to slightly less than 6'). I was not surprised to find that our stride length was very close to being identical, for when we go at a good pace I take longer steps (this in part may be due to my weight training program). Katy had no problem keeping up with us; however, at close to 5' 2" she was probably taking at least 1.5 times as many steps. John mentioned that we were keeping a very good pace so we may have pushed on harder. When we reached the trailhead we had covered the 6.6 mi. return (which includes modest ups and downs) in 2 hr. 12 min; that is 3 mph (a very good time).