Post 900 Hike #46: Goldmine, Cooper Rd., Beard Cane, Manway, Cane Creek, Cooper Rd., Coldmine Trails

Arrived at Cecil Rowe’s house early (~7:10); John Kennerly and John Hutsenpiller arrived shortly. Although I had planned to drive, Cecil thought that it would be better for him to drive and to leave his van in an out-of-the-GSMNP parking place rather than my SUV because it was less likely to be disturbed. At Food Lion we met a host of other hikers; some doing shorter hikes and eight (see pic for all hikers) planning to do ours. In part because Richard Ryburn had obtained permission for us to use a trail outside of the Park on Cecil’s requested hike, he rode with us in Cecil’s van to our Top of the World starting place.

Cecil as well as the two other drivers parked their vehicles on private property at Top of the World. We then walked ~0.2 mile to the GSMNP and the start of Goldmine Loop trail; next we then proceeded on a 1.8 mi. section of Cooper Rd trail; we then did the 4.2 mi. Beard Cane trail. On this trail Cecil and I separated ourselves from the rest of the group; although there were numerous water crossings, we were able to rock-hop each. The remaining 10 of our group arrived sporadically; some ~50 min. after our arrival. A big reason for this is that a hiker inadvertently placed his hiking stick in a yellow jacket nest; he as well as a few others were stung more than 10 times; I believe everyone in this group of 10 was stung at least once. (The 11 hikers in the picture are: John Kennerly, Richard Ryburn, John Hutsenpiller, BJ Perlack, Ann Richards, Diane's grandson, Ellie Doughty, Diane Scarbrough, Barbara Slover, Martha Norton, and Cecil Rowe.)

We then hiked a manway (i.e., a trail not maintained by the park); most of the first mile is maintained by Blackberry Farms (a very ritzy Inn recognized nationally). However, most of the remainder of this ~3 mi. trail is not maintained and there were many blow-downs that impeded our progress; there were also many stream crossings. I put my water shoes on for only one of these; if I had to do it over I would have hiked most of this trail with my water shoes on beginning with the first major crossing. There were many incidents; one hiker sustained what appeared to be a compound fracture of his ring finger.
Eventually we reached Cane Creek Trail (2.1 mi. trail); we were caught in a heavy rain and thus there were many water crossings here too. We finally reached Cooper Rd. Trail; however, on our return we only were on it for ~0.5 mi. until we reached the 0.8 mi. Gold Mine Trail (the one we came down at our start and now we went up it at our finish). Those of us riding in Cecil’s van (+Ellie) arrived there ~17:00. I arrived home ~18:45 after picking up my supper at Buddies Barbecue.