Post 900 Hike #26

John Kennerly called me about doing an in/out on Kephart Prong (2 mi.) and Grassy Branch (2.5 mi.—it junctions with Dry Sluice Gap). John had chosen this hike in order to get a first test of how successful his recent arthroscopic knee surgery was. Also going on this hike were Cecil Rowe and BZ Lane; John is doing his 2nd map and Cecil is doing his Geezer Map (75 & over—believe Cecil has completed the 900 2-3 times but wants to add the Geezer distinction). Although BZ and I have both completed the 900, we’re both just hiking for the fun of it. This was to be my first hike with BZ since 4/4/07 when I completed the qualifications for entry into the 900 Mile Club; BZ was so critical in scheduling hikes to help me achieve that goal.

I arrived at Cecil’s house at 8:15; John arrived shortly thereafter and we proceeded in John’s car. We arrived at Sugarlands Visitor Center ~9:30 and picked up BZ; we then set out on U.S. 441 to the Kephart Prong trail head in NC. We began our hike at 10:15.

Although Kephart Prong was easy, Grassy Branch has ~1750 ft. climb in its 2.5 mi. That little bit of up made a very short hike more arduous than some others of similar distance. We did an easy pace and arrived there at 12:25 and ate lunch. At 12:45 we retraced our steps and arrived at John’s car at 14:30.

We stopped at a tourist center in Pigeon Forge to pick up brochures on Wilderness Wildlife Week. Most of these programs are free and this year I plan on attending some of the sessions.

Post 900 Hike #25

(Hike #24 was done in conjunction with our Xmas party and only ~5 mi.; it is not reported.) In and out on Bradley Fork (BF) was today's objective; that's 7.8 mi. plus a bit of walking in Smokemont Campground due to its winter closure. Both Bob Bolinger and Cecil Rowe needed parts of BF (Bob for his 1st map and Cecil for his Geezer map). I picked up Cecil at 7:00 and we were at SVC by 8:00; there we met Bob. Janetta, Richard Ryburn, and Charlie were there also; they were to start at Kephart Prong and Bob would then shuttle their car down to the BF trailhead (where they ended and we started and ended).

As we neared Newfound Gap and were in some ice and snow, I questioned my judgment for we could have gone in Bob’s 4-wheel drive jeep rather than my yet untested Highlander Hybrid. Although I had driven it in the Park previously, this was my first use of it at elevation (with snow and ice added); because Toyota hybrids have reduced engine braking, one must be attentive on “downs”. We started our hike ~9:00 (because of winter parking, we had to walk through a bit of the Smokemont Campground); we finished the 2.2 and 2.3 segments of Bradley Fork at 10:47. As I often do, I went ahead on the 3.3 mi. section to get a good aerobic workout; it’s an “up trail” (2,000+ ft. climb—steepest in last 2 miles). Since I pushed I got my HR up to 154; I arrived at BF’s junction with Hughes Ridge at 12:12. Initially I was disappointed that I needed 1 hr 25 min. to complete it for I put out; then I remembered it wasn’t just 2.3 mi. but rather 3.3 mi. that I had done. I felt better then, for it is a relatively tough trail. After eating and lulling around awhile, I got cold (particularly fingers); I put on a different pair of gloves thinking they were my new Finnish ones (after realizing that they were not, I switched back to my light cc-ski gloves and felt much better). The three of us hooked up again after we all got down from our 3.3 mi. climb.

Did not record times for the 2.3 and 2.2 mi. sections, nor for the road walk to my vehicle; however, I think that we got there ~16:30. Somewhat to our surprise Richard (with Janetta & Charlie) had already picked up his car; we could only surmise that they stayed on Bradley Fork rather than add 1.7 mi. to their hike by doing the Smokemont Loop Trail.

Post 900 hike #23: Lower Mt. Cammerer, AT, & Low Gap

I drove to Cecil Rowe’s home and we left there at 07:25. (In addition to hiking with Cecil many times, he was on both my first hike and on the hike in which I qualified for the 900 Mile club. Although he has hiked quite a bit since completing all of the trails, after reaching age 75 he decided to hike all of the trails once again.) Taking a back route from Sevierville, we arrived at the Cosby Campground at 08:50; no one else was there so the two of us constituted our Wednesday group’s long hikers.

Lower Mt Cammerer has a gradual climb but basically a very easy trail; by noon we had covered 7.4 mi. and reached its junction with the AT. Should mention a short sojourn on Sutton Ridge Overlook Spur Trail; although this spur is not a part of the 900-Miles of trails, we had the time and although Cecil had done it previously, I wanted to do it now. Our first section of the AT is basically up (i.e., 1500 ft. gain in 2.3 mi.) Shortly after starting it at 12:00, I decided to get an aerobic workout and went ahead; I reached the AT’s junction with the Mt. Cammerer Trail at 12:59 (got my HR up to 151—very good workout). At this point I put on my Goretex jacket; the wind was quite strong.

After a bite to eat we traversed the 0.6 mi. to Mt. Cammerer Lookout. On my previous hike here I just walked around its balcony for I assumed the door was locked; on this trip Cecil opened the door and somewhat to my surprise there was even a log book for visitors to sign. To our surprise there was an apparent signature of a Derek Jeter from New York; the context of the note he left led us to believe that there was a remote possibity it could very well be the New York Yankee. We then exited the room and circled the balcony and took a few pictures. At 14:15 we climbed down the rock (upon which the Lookout sits) and then down the trail and arrived at the AT at 14:23.




Except its first part, this 2.1 mi. section of the AT descends. Did not record the time that we came to the AT’s junction with Low Gap Trail; ironically last week I hiked up Low Gap and today I was hiking down its 2.5 mi. length to the Cosby Campground. After ~0.5 mi. walk through the campground, we reached Cecil’s vehicle at 16:45. With the extra hiking I had done ~16 miles today. For our home trip Cecil thought we should take I 40; we found it to be slightly longer mileage and although a different hour of the day, longer timewise too (arrived at his home ~18:10).