Post 900 hike #42: Rough Fork, Caldwell Fork, Hemphill Bald

Arrived at Cecil’s at 06:45; shortly thereafter John Hutsenpiller and John Kennerly arrived. We then debarked in John K’s car to Pols Gap via US 441 through the GSMNP, the Blue Ridge Parkway SE of the Oconaluftee Visitor Center, and then Heintooga Ridge Road. Prior to reaching the Park, we were somewhat surprised to see 3 elk just off the road and then 2 additional elk (one off the road & a younger one on the road); the 5 elk are probably part of the 8-10 who have chosen to live in the Oconaluftee area. (I learned about the latter group by attending an Elk Bugle Corps training session near the Cataloochee Campground on 5/17/08; most of course are further North in the Cataloochee area.)

At 09:30 we embarked on Rough Fork Trail (at Polls Gap); we completed this 3.5 mi. trail at 10:40. We then set out on Caldwell Fork Trail at 10:43 but took a sojourn to Campsite 41 Campground at 11:04; the picture shows my 3 cohorts in front of a giant poplar there. At 11:24 we began a 3.0 mi. section of Hemphill Bald; this trail has a bit of up and I decided to get a cardio workout and on one section got my HR to 152 and on another section just prior to its terminus it reached 151. In this section I ran into Glen Howard; he was part of our club contingent that was doing an overnighter in a motel to get many of the Cataloochee trails completed. I finished this section at 12:35 and ate my lunch. I talked to a hunter (unarmed) looking for his “bear” dogs; he showed me how he could spot the general location of each of his four dogs, which of course were wearing transmitter collars. At 13:05 we took an 0.8 mi. sojourn to Gooseberry Knob on Cataloochee Valley Trail; this is a section that Cecil needed for his Geezer Map. Here we met another part of Glen’s group doing other Cataloochee area trails; they included Bob Bolinger, Diane Scarborough, Richard Ryburn, Janetta Baker, Charles Wilder, Vicki Stewart and Becky.

At 14:15 we proceeded to Hemphill Bald; John K. and I arrived there at 14:35. John took this picture of me; in the background you can see the outline of the Maggie Valley Ski area (snow pictures of this can be seen in prior blogs). The next is a picture of my three cohorts identifying different peaks that are pictured on a panorama display on the rock. At 14:52 we again set out on Hemphill Bald Trail; this trail is directly adjacent to private fenced-in property (one can touch the fence at times while on the trail) that included a number of steers (black angus?). I noted one outside of the fence directly on the trail ahead of me; he proceeded West directly ahead of me on the trail. Eventually he took off, again in a Westerly direction. He then came back robustly in an Easterly direction until he saw me; I moved off the trail and I tried to talk to him in a pleasant tone. He gingerly walked by me and then ran; I yelled to my cohorts to get off the trail. We can assume he is close to his cohorts but on the wrong side of the fence and without water.

At 16:55 I arrived at Polls Gap; Glen Howard was waiting there because he expected that we would have arrived before he did. However, he did not know that we were making an 0.8 mi. in and 0.8 mi. out to Gooseberry Knob. Shortly thereafter the two Johns, Cecil, and I left for home; we arrived at Cecil’s house at 19:00.

Post 900 Hike #41:Twenty Mile Ranger Station to Cades Cove (19.6 mi)

I was contacted by Janetta Baker (who has taken charge of scheduling hikes for 8-12 individuals about to qualify for the 900-Mile Club) to see if I would help her group in this endeavor. Since the majority wanted to hike what was perhaps an easier route from Cades Cove to the Twenty Mile Ranger Station (Southern direction), she needed at least two key swappers to drive vehicles to the latter and hike North. Ellie Doughty and I, and then a bit later Richard Ryburn, volunteered for this duty. We drove three cars of the Southern route hikers to the Twenty Mile Ranger Station and started hiking North there; they drove two of our cars to the Anthony Creek Trail Head in Cades Cove where they started and we ended. We met at Food Lion at 07:00 and proceeded to the start of Foothills Parkway; there we met Bob Bolinger from Sevierville. I drove his Jeep, Ellie drove Janetta’s SUV, and Richard drove ???’s car.

At 0835 Ellie, Richard, and I started out on the 5-mile Twenty-Mile Trail that has a 2,500 ft. gain. At the end I pushed and got my HR up to 150; that's about 100 beats over what it is at complete rest. At 10:20 Ellie and I proceeded on the Appalachian Trail North; the first segment was to Doe Knob (3.1 mi.); it has ~1,500 ft. gain and we arrived there at 11:48. In this stretch we saw what appeared to be a mother bear (because of its size) very close to the trail; she just watched us and then moved at ~ a 30 degree angle from the trail to our left. I took a picture when the bear paused abreast of me. Although I attempted to zoom in on her (possibly a little nervous), the only picture that came out was this one (if you supersize it you'll see it--about 2/3's down and slightly to the left). We thought that she might have had a cub or two nearby since she did not run far from us as bears usually do. Shortly thereafter we met a Ridge Runner; these individuals backpack on the AT for 2-3 days at a time and report on pertinent events. (Ellie thought that I might like to do that; I might but this summer I am leaning towards volunteering for the Elk Bugle Corps in Cataloochee.)

Shortly thereafter we met the group of 8 for whom we had shuttled cars; surprisingly all were quite close together. We moved on and then Ellie and I ate at the Mollies Ridge shelter; there were four backpackers there (one was a through hiker & 3 were doing segments—slowly). After a 30-35 min. lunch, we set out again and reached Russell Field Trail at 14:50 (6.4 mi. segment in 2 hrs 25 min.). In the latter segment we saw a most unique tree trunk; the red that you see is Ellie standing inside of it. Ellie endeavored to educate me about flowers; although I think that I have a couple of nice pictures of them, I’ll be darned if I know what they are.

We arrived at the Anthony Creek trail at 16:21 and finished this 1.6 mi. segment at 16:58. Ellie is a very strong hiker. Earlier when we rock-hopped a small stream I had told her that we would finish by 17:00; she then decided not to purify any water. Ellie’s van was within 50 ft. of the trail; she went to get a drink of water (in summer I freeze my pack bladder--it was still good). I sat on a big rock and began icing my knee and continued doing so in her van for ~10 min. She dropped me off at Food Lion; I was home at 18:10.