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.