Post 900 Hike #53: Gregory Ridge & Bald (in/out) 14+ mi.

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Today I elected to go on an Alternate Hike that Charlie Woodward needed for his 900 Mile Certification; it was Gregory Ridge (5) and Gregory Bald (2 on map, 2.3 in Brown Book) to Doe Knob, and return. John Hutenspeler picked me up at the Lakeside Market on U.S. 129 at 06:35; we proceeded to Food Lion. Shortly thereafter Theresa Yu and Charlie arrived. We then went via Charlie’s SUV; at the Y Bob Bolinger joined us and we proceeded to Caves Cove and arrived at our Forge Creek parking point at ~08:30. In Cades Cove we saw countless deer; fortunately there were not many cars stopping on the roadway at this time.

The first leg of this hike had ~2600 ft. gain in its 5 mi.; a couple of us completed this in 2 hrs (i.e., at 10:30) Towards the end of Gregory Ridge the trail was covered with snow; although we might not really have needed them, the 4 of us who had grabicers put them on. Not sure exactly when we started the Gregory Bald section (going East); it had less than a 100 ft. gain but there were several ups and downs in this 2 (as per map) or 2.3 mi. trek (as per Brown Book). It is not a particular easy trail. Because I will be making a presentation at Wilderness Wildlife Week in Pigeon Forge on XC-Skiing and Winter Hiking in the GSMNP in January, today I began to embellish my picture stock of hiking in the snow, I made numerous stops and quit recording trail times. Unfortunately because of a battery problem and/or failure to reset my camera for the reflective conditions of snow my pictures were not too good. The first picture is of Charlie, Theresa, and Bob approaching Doe Knob; in the second picture Theresa, Bob, John, and Charlie are eating lunch at Doe Knob. In retrospect I should not have tried to get the trail sign in addition to my fellow hikers.

As we retraced our steps Bob and I made numerous stops for pictures; we had a good view of Thunderhead, Rocky Top, and what we believe was Clingmans Dome. My pictures did not do these views justice; Bob is very good photographer and his pictures of Thunderhead and we think Clingmans Dome (if you enlarge each picture, you'll see a patch of snow near the top on each). Think Bob and I got back to Charlie’s SUV ~15:30; Charlie, Theresa, and John were waiting for us. The trip out of Cades Cove took a little longer since many tourists stopped to look at deer; there were many and evidently seeing a deer in the wild was a new thing to many tourists.

I arrived home at ~16;50.