Post 900 Hike #61: Noland Divide & Kanati Fork, Toe String, Bradley Fork & Smokemont Loop

John Hutenspiler picked me up at Lakeside Market at 06:40; Cecil Rowe was with him. At Food Lion we met Charlie Woodward (organizer of this hike) and Richard Ryburn. (Jane Calfee & Vicki Watkins were there too; at the Park Cecil would move their vehicle to Smokemont.) John drove to SVC; Charlie picked up Frank March and Bob Bolinger. At Thomas Divide trailhead John and I had planned to move the two vehicles to Kanati Fork trailhead and do an in-and-out on the latter trail (from US 441) in addition to meeting our cohorts. Fortuitously, Jane, Emma & Vicki arrived; they would move our two vehicles to Kanati Fork allowing the 7 of us to do the same hike (i.e., Thomas Divide (1.8 mi.) and Kanati Fork (2.8 mi.) and move their vehicle to the Smokemont Campground.

It was fairly cold when we started; from L to R my cohorts are Frank, John, Bob, Charlie, Cecil, and Richard. I was surprised at the amount of snow; it made me regret not trying to X-C ski this past Sunday or Monday. The second picture is of Charlie after we finished the 1.8 mi. segment of Thomas Divide. Somewhat to our surprise there was only Jane’s vehicle when we reached US 441; a few went in it and the rest of us walked 0.3 mi. on US 441 to the next parking area where the other two vehicles were. We then proceeded to the Smokemont Campground where we deposited Jane’s vehicle at one trailhead and John’s vehicle where we planned to finish; the 7 of us then crammed into SUV to get close to the Tow String trailhead. After we finished its 2.2 mi., we continued on Bradley Fork; we ate lunch close to the point where Dick Ledyard and I had seen a large boar a few weeks ago.

After we reached the Chasteen Creek trailhead (0.2 mi. from the 3.9 mi. Smokemont Loop Trail), I put it into a little higher gear and caught up with Charlie and John. I decided to get an aerobic workout on the remaining up (total of ~1300 ft of climb in 1-mile after in its 1st ~0.5 mi.). My HR reached 150 b.p.m. in this endeavor (that's ~3X my resting pulse). Then I sort of coasted down and reached John’s vehicle by the bridge at 14:48 and iced my knee.

The bridge was built in 1920 (14 yrs prior to the birth of the G.S.M.N.P.). Although now closed to vehicular traffic, back in its heyday its road may have led to the vicinity of Newfound Gap. (I need to get more data on this.)

Believe our crew of 7 left the Smokemont Campground ~15:30; I arrived home at 17:45. The data from my Omron pedometer included: 27,910 steps with 24,673 of these being aerobic; 1,009 kcal were burned and 13 mi. were hiked. (The technology of his pedometer is not dependent upon a pendulum; moreover, I can download data to my computer.)