Post 900 Hike #104: Grapeyard Ridge--7.6, Baskins Creek--2.7

Arrived at Food Lion ~07:50 and proceeded with Richard Ryburn to SVC; 9 of us were going to do this key swap hike. At SVC it was decided that Ellie Doughty, Amy Howe, Doug Jerger and I were to proceed from East to West starting at Greenbrier Cove (~1300 & 500 feet of gain for the two trails); those who elected to proceed from West to East would have more downhill for their hike.

I forget exactly when we started out of Grennbrier; Ellie led and we had a nice pace. This is a relatively scenic trail; we could visualize where homesteads might have existed at the turn of the 20th Century. We took one sojourn to Campsite 32 on the way; it is scenic too. We met the West to East hikers ~12:30, this was slightly later than we had expected. All 9 of us had lunch at this point.

After we were on Baskins Creek Trail, we took ~0.5 mi. sojourn to Baskins Creek Falls; since this is not on the required trails for membership in The 900 Miler Association, I think that this was a first for all of us. Seeing the falls was truly worth the extra time spent (~0.3-0.5 mi. trip to it).



Somewhat to our surprise snow can still be seen on Mt. LeConte. This could be that remaining from the more than three foot of snow that fell earlier this year, or it could have possibly snowed last evening since temperatures at this elevation woul have been below freezing.



The next picture that I took of my 3-cohorts was a bit better than the one that I had taken near the start of our hike; from left to right they are Amie, Ellie, & Doug.



After we completed our hike (~12 mi.), Ellie shot this picture of Doug and me in Amy's van, enjoying our trip back to the Food Lion and our vehicles in Maryville; Doug and I were a little disappointed that Amy had not provided us with champagne. Nevertheless, it was a very nice hike with good company, and perhaps the most relaxing post-hike return trip that I have ever experienced.



P.S. Readers of this blog might be interested in viewing two blogs of fellow hiker Liz Etnier, namely (1) Wildflower Blog at www.myopera.com/smokieshiker and (2) info on an excellent GSMNP hiking manual at www.smokymountainshiking.com