Post 900 Hike #64: Parts of Middle Prong & Panther Creek

Today was the day for our hiking club’s annual chili luncheon; although it used to be held at Debbie and Richard Way’s home, for the past two years it has been held in their cantilever barn in Townsend. A short hike is always scheduled for this day; I did not hear of anyone taking it at our lunch because of rain. However, I did a short hike with Charlie Woodward and Bob Bolinger.

On March 3rd I reported on a somewhat demanding X-C ski venture to Clingmans Dome; after returning home I e-mailed Charlie and Bob and advised them that I would not be hiking with them on the 4th because of the X-C ski workout and because I thought that they had four hikers. As it turned out only Charlie and Tom did the hike; however, they got lost and required a rescue. Today’s hike was for Charlie to pick up that part of Panther Creek that he had missed on March 4th.

Both Charlie and I arrived at Food Lion ~07:40; no one else was there (our hiking group was also to meet there and the scheduled hike was Chestnut Top in and out). It was raining and we decided to go on; we met Bob at the U.S. 321 stoplight in Townsend and then he moved his SUV to the Y. We proceeded in Charlie’s SUV to Tremont, and then up the gravel road to the Middle Prong trailhead; prior to starting our hike both Charlie and Bob donned their gators (back on the 4th one of Charlie’s and Tom's rescuers had told Bob that with knee length gators and water proof boots, one can cross most any stream provided that one does not tarry).

We started on Middle Prong at 0850 and covered its 2.3 mi. section at 0940; my pedometer was quite exact but I neglected to record other data. I had not really paid much attention to what we were hiking (e.g., look at map or Brown Book as I usually do); however, I knew we had to cross Panther Creek (a relatively formidable stream). Bob crossed with little problem; Charlie’s technique and (possibly shorter legs) precluded similar success. I was the only one to wear water shoes; although I had no problem, the close to knee-level water was cold.

After crossing the stream I dried my feet, put on my socks and boots; we then had a couple of rock-hopping type crossings that were not a challenge. At ~0.5 mi. we came to a switchback that Charlie recognized as the one that he and Tom had missed on March 4, in part because of the snow covering Panther Creek Trail (then they were doing Panther Creek in the opposite direction). Charlie had now completed the section of the trail he missed; had I done my homework I would have known that we would be crossing Panther Creek a second time and I could have left my water shoes on).

Panther Creek this time was not as exciting. Bob and I crossed it the way we did the first time but Charlie did a real gutsy thing and crossed it bare-footed (i.e., he did not care for Bob's technique any more and he did not have his water shoes). At 11:40 we arrived at Charlie’s SUV (my pedometer registered very close to 5 mi., only 9,280 aerobic steps versus ~500 more that must have been dainty, e.g., I do not stride out crossing deep streams.)

Arrived at Debbie and Richard Way’s barn at ~12:05 and had a very nice lunch with our hiking group (must have been ~100 there--should mention that some of the attendees are spouses of the hikers and not hikers per se). I do not believe that anyone besides Charlie, Bob and I hiked today.

Post 900 Hike #63: Baxter Creek, Mt Sterling, Long Bunk, Little Catalooche, Pretty Hollow

Hike 3-18-09

Cecil Rowe and I left his house at 0645; at the Cracker Barrel on Strawberry Plains there were ~15, including the six that would hike with us (John Hutsenpiller, Vicki Watkins, Richard Ryburn, Bill Broome Jr., Jay Dickerson, & Kip Miller—the last 3 are relatively young, not retired, & rarely if ever hike with our group). Others at the Cracker Barrel included Bill Broome Sr., Bill Woodrick, Bob Hutchens, T.J. Solnas, Manfred Grote, and Joel Morris; besides doing a shorter hike, they moved Cecil’s and Bill’s vehicles to our hike terminus in Big Creek.

Our group of 8 started on Baxter Creek Trail at 0853; it was soon evident that the three younger hikers and I wished to do a faster pace on this 6.1 mi. trail. This trail has a 3,500 ft. gain and one is in essence always going up the mountain (see pic #1). When I stopped to remove a light jacket, Jay and Bill passed me; they were maintaining a slightly better pace than was I (this was only the second hike that I have ever taken in which I was not the fastest hiker). I passed them when they took a break but they were slightly ahead of me when we reached Mt. Sterling Lookout Tower at 1130 (~0.2 mi. after we were on Mt. Sterling Trail). We climbed the tower to the observation deck, took pictures (see pic #2--facing North), and ate our lunch (Kip arrived while we were eating). In an auto accident ~20 yrs ago Kip had shattered one calcaneus and had broken the other; since this bone provides the insertion for the plantar flexors (i.e., the strong calf muscles that are necessary to push-off in striding or jumping), he is at a definite disadvantage on steep ups such as the Baxter Creek trail presents. After we had been there one hour and the five others in our group had not yet arrived; we became a little concerned. Because it was cold due to wind at this top of the mountain site, and after trying to contemplate all scenarios (although my phone worked I could not reach Cecil), I decided, and my cohorts concurred, that the best plan would be for me to continue with them until our hike’s terminus (where both Cecil’s and Bill’s vehicles would be). We told a young couple whom we had passed going up and who had just arrived at the tower, to tell the rest in our group (either there or on their way down) what we had done.

Like Baxter Creek was basically up, the 1.8 mi. Mt. Sterling trail is basically down. It was then the 3.6 mi. (mostly down) Long Bunk Trail. The 4.0 section of Little Cataloochee trail that we took has a bit of up as well as down; the up can be formidable as one nears the end of day. (The Little Cataloochee Church and the Dan Cook cabin are the next pictures; the cabin was built between 1856 & 1860. In 1975 it was damaged by vandals and in 1999 it was reconstructed by the National Park Service.) For the first part of the trail Bill and Jay led with Kip and me following; for the last part and for the completion of our hike on the 0.8 mi. section of Pretty Hollow Trail, Jay and I led. Jay and I had a close encounter with a deer at the end of the trail and ~0.3 mi. from the paved road and our vehicles.

It was 1715 when Jay and I arrived at Bill's and Cecil's vehicles. To my surprise Amy Howe and Pam ?? were there; I had not known that they were to have been given a ride by Cecil back to their vehicle. As I was icing my knee, Bill and Kip arrived; they left shortly and also took Amy and Pam to their vehicle. I had a 2-hr. wait; I read and dozed in Cecil’s van.

On our way out as expected we saw elk in their usual spotting place; however, I had never seen so many. On a pull-out on this Park Rd. Richard spotted Mt. Sterling Lookout Tower; Vicki remarked that it was no wonder she was tired because from that vantage point our hike became all the more impressive. It was a long trip back; I arrived home at 2155 hours.

Post 900 Hike #62: AT, Dry Sluice Gap, Bradley Fork

Was not sure what my hike was going to be today initially; because I am not striving to complete the 900 a second time, BZ Lane “scheduled” me to do Hike #1 or shuttle others for Hikes 2 or 3 if needed. Because additional drivers were not needed, I ended up doing the hike outlined in the title.

At ~0800 John Hutsenpeller and I arrived in Cecil Rowe’s van at SVC; Ellie Doughty joined us and we headed for Newfound Gap. Also heading for Newfound Gap in other vehicles were Tom Siler, Leslie Toney, Lloyd Luketin, Dick Ledyard, and three new to our group: Rita Haynes, Carl Muse, and Charlie Bean. (Our entourage initially also included Martha Frink, Jane Calfee, & Vicki Watkins; however, they did a loop ending at Newfound Gap.)

At 0837 we embarked on the AT in a NE direction; Carl stayed with me and we were followed closely by Leslie and Lloyd; we reached the Sweat Heiffer Trail junction (1.7 mi.)at 0920. In large groups such as this we usually wait at each trailhead for at least the next contingent if not for all in our group. At ~1+ mi. later, just after passing Icewater Springs shelter on the AT, things got quite interesting. At this point I was alone and came upon a sheet of thick ice on the trail; the ice so covered the trail that there was not room on either side to get traction (on the R-side there was a drop-off). I took a serious detour, hanging on to windfalls, branches, etc.; never have I found a section of a trail to be so daunting. Although I did not get a picture of those immediately following me, Dick Ledyard got a picture of Ellie circumventing the 30-40 foot of ice trail; only a short section of gray ice appears in the foreground in Dick's picture. (Richard Ryburn subsequently advised me that the icy trail section was ~10 times as long as I had estimated; he and his group had done it in the reverse direction. I can now assuredly say I did not exaggerate its length.)

At 10:40 I reached the Dry Sluice Gap trailhead; with the waits and because of the extent conditions, that 2.7 mi. trail section took 80 min. Because most of the remaining hike would be going down, getting a good aerobic workout would be impossible; therefore I decided that recording any further trail times was not worthwhile.

The 2nd picture (also compliments of Dick) is the Dry Sluice-Grassy Branch junction; from L-R are W, John, Lloyd, Cecil, Leslie, & Rita (you'll note rain ponchos on a few--it was never really bad). Although we usually stop at ~1200 for lunch, one recommended that we try to reach Cabin Flats trailhead. Initially I took off but soon realized that there was a lot of "down" to cover prior to reaching Cabin Flats; all 12 of us stopped for lunch ~1220. From L-R are Dick, Lloyd, Leslie, Ellie, Cecil, BZ, Charlie, Rita, Tom, & Carl.

Shortly after lunch we reached the Cabin Flats trailhead (in & out, 0.6 mi.); the next pic (again compliments of Dick) includes Leslie, Cecil, Carl, Ellie, BZ, & W. It was then on to Bradley Fork. Other than a few neat Beaver “chop-downs” of trees, our 4.5 miles on Bradley Fork (an old road) were not interesting. At 1530 BZ, Lloyd, and I reached Cecil’s and BZ’s vans after also walking through ~0.5 mi. of that part of the Smokemont campground inaccessible to vehicles in the winter. (The vans had been conveniently moved from the Newfound Gap parking lot by Bill Broome, Bob Hutchins, & Bill Woodrick; our group is so fortunate to have friends like this to help with logistics.)

My Omron pedometer registered 14.57 mi., 30,773 steps of which 24,254 were aerobic, with 1,125 calories burned. (On the way back to the SVC, Leslie, being ~5'2", thought that she would have had quite a few more steps; I estimated that she took 30,318 aerobic ones.)

X-C Ski Interlude 3-03-2009

Last evening I learned that U.S. 441 was open and drove there this a.m. The temperature when I left my vehicle on skis at 1010 hours was 17F. Although the snow was not deep, it was virgin snow (i.e., usually there have been at least backpacker tracks, only the sun and wind on the switchbacks--see pic #1, and a few animal tracks were the only markings). It was then and there that I decided that I would ski the 7 miles to the top. (I did not tell my wife that I might do so; she does not think that 74-yr. old should go to the top alone).

Some of my hiking friends know that I really pound my sticks on ups; I wished I had used my hiking sticks rather than ski poles today since the latter have no cushioning (my shoulders & arms really felt it when I had to ski on the road with only a few inches of cover). I shed my Gortex and stocking cap within the first hour; that left a heavy long sleeve T, vest, plus a ball cap.

Although when I last made it to the top 3/03/05 I paid no attention to hiking trailheads, now I do (e.g., Road Prong, Fork Ridge & Sugarland Mtn, and Noland Creek). About a half mile past Fork Ridge there is ~1 mi. of down on the way up; it's nice on way up but really comes back to bite you on the way down. It was shortly after the down part that my waxless-skis were really picking up a lot a snow; however, I pushed and reached the far end of Clingmans Dome parking lot at 1310 (i.e., 3 hours from my car). Usually there is an eerie feeling when one reaches the parking lot because I have always been alone; however, today two AT backpackers were on the their way down on the opposite side (no snow there--see pic #4 & planned to walk road to Newfound Gap). The last time I soloed to the top was 3/03/05 (prior to my ever starting hiking); snow conditions were beautiful then (I never saw Clingmans Dome so barren with respect to snow). (For the 2005 trip I recorded that it took me 4-hours; I really thought that I had to work harder today because of the amount of snow sticking to my skis--possibly I erred on my hour count in 2005--could I be in better condition now than I was at age 70?)

I noted that the signage has been changed since 2005 (see pics # 2 & 3--I do not pay much attention to this in hiking); my screen saver on my office computer has always been either the former Dome sign in front of the big rock or the 7-mile down sign (pic #5). My only prior recorded pictures at the top were taken in the 2003-2005 era after acquisition of a digital camera. Besides eating and trying to get more pictures (not too successful re quality), I left the parking lot at ~1340 with my Gortex coat on again--my sweating and the wind encouraged it) and pic #5 was my first on way down. The "icicle wall" was the only other pic taken on way down; although kind of neat, it pales with the one that I took in 2005.

Although going down started out being easier, immediately I was picking up snow and ice on my skis; quite a disappointment for except for the one mile previously mentioned, going down has not been very laborious. I removed my skis at least three times to rid them of snow and ice; going down was much harder work than was experienced on my previous trips to the top (my first skiing in Park was in 1979--do not recall number of times that I made it too the top but it was always alone). Shortly after I went by Indian Gap, my right boot lost its sole. I tried to jury rig it but to no avail; I ended up walking the last 1-2 miles. Besides a wet foot, the walking at least added 30 min. and I did not reach my Highlander until 1630. After drying off one foot and putting on a dry sock and other shoes, I chipped ice off my skis. I arrived home ~1800.

Although my best ski pictures ever were taken ironically exactly four years ago (3-03-05--my first blog entry); when I started hiking in June 2005, hikes became the predominant entries. Prior to next year and the acquisition of new equipment, I hope to recruit more skiers. I believe Margaret Stevenson made her last hike to LeConte when she was at least 80; I would like to sort of match her by getting to the Dome on X-C skis after reaching 80 (~6 yrs. from now).