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.