Post 900 Hike #7--Lowell's Final Hike

Today was Lowell Reid’s last hike in his quest for completing 900 Miles. Jim Harb picked me up at 7:30; we proceeded to Food Lion and there added John Kennerly and Richard Ryburn. We then proceeded to Mynatt Park in Gatlinburg; Bill Broome had laid out a hike that included a few ancillary trails, and ended up by doing Twin Creeks (Lowell’s last trail). We did a manway or two, then part of Old Sugarlands Trail, a little bit of Cherokee Orchard Rd, then another manway or two, and ended up doing Twin Creeks Trail (latter 2 miles, all manways plus walking back into Gatlinburg was ~4 miles for a total of ~6 miles).

Buddy’s Barbecue, plus some delicious deserts, awaited us. I did not count the Wednesday Hikers that took part in this, but I believe that more than 40 were there; it was really a nice event. Lowell highlighted his quest which he had done over the past 10 years. During this quest he had a couple of major medical issues; although the latter delayed him, it did not stop him. Lowell displayed a lot of guts and perseverance; I am glad that I had the opportunity to hike with him a number of times

Lowell and/or his wife Janet prepared an excellent notebook that depicts his hiking history. I peaked at it when someone else was looking at it; the first picture I saw looked very familiar. Sure enough, it was one that I had taken; Lowell advised me that he found a few pictures on my blog that were most appropriate for inclusion. Although I knew that a few peopled looked at my blog, I did not realize that Lowell was amongst them.

Post 900 Hike #6--Ace Gap & Beard Cane +

May 2, 2007
Met Dennis McAdams at the entrance to Foothills Parkway in Walland ~8:00; in both of our cars we proceeded to Happy Valley and left his car at the end of Gold Mine Trail. We then proceeded in my car on Rich Mountain Road to the Ace Gap Trail Head; we were quite surprised at the number of vehicles there even though we knew it was my Wed. group which was doing an in-and-out on Ace Gap.

After about 1-2 hours we caught up with a few stragglers of this group; then we started bumping into more, most on their return trip. Many from the group (>30) planned to eat their lunches in Martha Sundquist’s yard; those that did not did a slightly longer hike.

After Dennis and I finished Ace Gap (5.6 mi.), we went Southwest on Beard Cane (4.2 mi.). Then we went on Cooper Rd 1.8 miles and ~0.5 mi. further until we reached its junction with Goldmine Trail (0.5 mi.). We then went in Dennis’s car back to my CRV at the Ace Gap Trail head.

Post 900 Hike #5: Lead Cove, Bote Mtn, Jenkins Ridge, Hazel Creek

Our Wed. group was doing Bone Valley Trail; this necessitated their driving over to Fontana Marina, taking a boat to Campsite 86, and then hiking up Hazel Creek trail 5.3 miles to its junction with Bone Valley. Both Jim Harb and Dennis McAdams needed Jenkins Ridge trail; I agreed to go with them as a 3rd hiker. The day prior to the hike BZ Lane, John Kennerly, and Richard Ryburn indicated that they too wanted to take this hike. The 6 of us would end at Campsite 86 and take the boat back to the Fontana Marina with the Bone Valley hikers.

John and I met Jim at Central Park at 6:10; we proceeded in Jim’s car and picked up Dennis on Foothills Parkway and then BZ at the Townsend Y (it would have been to Dennis’s advantage to meet us there too). We then proceeded to the Lead Cove Trailhead; Richard had gotten an early start. We started on Lead Cove’s 1.8 mi. length at 7:00; it as well as the next two sections of Bote Mtn (1.2 & 1.7) have a bit of up to them; I pushed myself particularly on the latter and made pretty good time and reached the AT ~8:50. The last time I had done this was when I was backpacking and hence I was carrying much more weight then. The picture is one that I took on the ~0.5 mi. of the AT between Bote Mtn and Jenkins Ridge trails. On Jenkins Ridge I took it easy until the last “up” section; although it may sound somewhat incongruous, on “up trails” to get my preferred rhythm I need to go a little faster than most.

After Jenkins Creek we did 4.5 miles of Hazel Creek; an exceedingly boring trail. We then had 0.5 mi. to the boat pick up. I believe we got there ~3:00; we should not have started so early for we had ~1.5 hour wait before the Bone Valley hikers started arriving (~20 of them). (It then became clear that the boat pickup was not until 5:00-5:30; we did not have to get started as early as we did.) Fortunately the boat came at 5:00 and we had a pleasant boat ride to Fontana Marina. Unfortunately the latter was not a harbinger of things to come. I am not sure how many cars transported hikers over there; however, two of these cars plus one other were forcibly entered. Ellie Doughty was so kind to drive over to Fontana to pick up the six of us doing Jenkins Ridge; her front passenger window was shattered. Although nothing was missing from her van, a new hiker lost her billfold (with credit cards) and her cell. Not sure how long we were there but it was quite awhile for the police report, etc. We had previously decided to pay Ellie for getting us; after this happened everyone added at bit but we had to force Ellie to accept it.

Post 900 Hike #4: Balsam Mtn In/Out, 10.1 & 10.1

This is a hike that Lowell Reid, Jim Harb, Bob Bolinger, and Dennis McAdams needed for their 900; Cecil Rowe needed it for his 2nd map. This was Lowell Reid’s hike and it is a second way to do Balsam Mtn. When I did Balsam Mtn. last fall we started out at Smokemont, worked our way up to the AT via Bradley Fork and Hughes Ridge; we then did Balsam Mtn and ended up with Beechgap I for a total of 25.6 miles. In Lowell’s scheme the hike is just a little over 20 miles; however, the driving at least in our case was longer.

I was at Jim Harb’s house ~5:30; we then proceeded to Cecil Rowe’s house. Cecil thought that he should drive for he could take 7 passengers and most of our vehicles hold only 5. We proceeded to Cracker Barrel on I 40 and picked up Lowell; we then proceeded on I 40 and picked up Bob Bolinger and Dennis McAdams at the Cracker Barrel in Newport. From there we went into NC and went through Maggie Valley and proceeded North from Soco Gap and hit Heintooga Ridge Rd which led us to Balsam Mtn Rd.

We started hiking at 8:30 on Balsam Mtn trail and went its 10.1 mile distance until its junction with the AT. By this time our group was kind of spread out; Dennis and I went to Tricorner Nob (on the AT) so we could eat our lunch in a shelter for rain was imminent. The rest of our group ate on Balsam Mtn trail. We then retraced our steps; a bit of our time was in the rain. Prior to the hike I had agreed to move Cecil’s van to the end of Beach Gap I; since Dennis did not need that trail he went with me. At 2.3 miles from our start the rest of our group proceeded on Beech Gap I; I decided that I wanted to get it over and went ahead of Dennis. I reached Cecil’s car at 5:30 and iced my knee; when Dennis arrived we drove down the circuitous Balsam Mtn Rd ~3-4 mi. met the rest of our crew.

Since Balsam Mtn Rd. is only one way in a SW’ly direction at this point, we went on through Cherokee, and then through the park on US 441. Because Dennis and Bob had left their cars at Newport, we had a few miles to go in the opposite direction of home. Jim and I estimated that Cecil drove ~250 miles that day; I arrived home at 10:30, 18 hours after I had left it.

Post 900 Hike #3: Ace Gap, Beard Cane plus

Helping Dennis McAdams get all of his trails. Met Dennis at the entrance to Foothills Parkway in Walland ~8:00; in both of our cars we proceeded to Happy Valley and left his car at the end of Gold Mine Trail. We then proceeded in my car on Rich Mountain Road to the Ace Gap Trail Head; we were quite surprised at the number of vehicles there even though we knew it was my Wed. group which was doing an in-and-out on Ace Gap.

After about 1-2 hours we caught up with a few stragglers of this group; then we started bumping into more, most on their return trip. Many from the group (>30) planned to eat their lunches in Martha Sundquist’s yard; those that did not did a slightly longer hike.

After Dennis and I finished Ace Gap (5.6 mi.), we went Southwest on Beard Cane (4.2 mi.). Then we went on Cooper Rd 1.8 miles and ~0.5 mi. further until we reached its junction with Goldmine Trail (0.5 mi.). We then went in Dennis’s car back to my CRV at the Ace Gap Trail head.