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.