[caption id="attachment_193" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="The Little River"]
[/caption] To skip the chatter and go right to the pics of this walk, click the link below:
Little River Trail to Campsite 30 (Opens in new window) 13.2 mile out-and-back with a loop in Elkmont - Little River Trail, Cucumber Gap Trail, and Jakes Creek Trail - March 21, 2009 Well, it seems like a year since my last walk/ice skating adventure up to Mount LeConte along the Alum Cave Trail. Actually, it's been about a month, but that's the longest I've gone without a bonefide Smokies walk since the addiction kicked into full gear last May. Coupled with the warming temperatures, I was definitely ready to go on this Saturday morning, the first full day of Spring. Again I drove up on Friday night so I'd be ready to go from Cherokee base camp as 'early' as possible. For me that means I was hoping to get on the trail sometime before lunch. Farmer Dan I am definitely not... I got out the door and on the road around 8:10, which isn't too bad for me, and proceeded to make my way to the decision point at the end of Big Cove Road. As usual, I had a few places in mind to walk today and I typically make my decision at the stop sign. Go left and it's the Southern side of the Park. Go right and it's either the Central or Northern areas of the Park. Despite researching trails in the Road to Nowhere area on the Smokie's South side, for some reason I chose to go right. Entering the Park I saw the signs warning of this year's road work that was now underway. About 20 minutes later I was picking my jaw off the floor after seeing the morning views along Newfound Gap Road when a Ranger with lights flashing and sirens blaring sped around me. Just a few seconds later I rounded a bend and stopped as about the tenth car in line in the blocked northbound lane. No traffic was going southbound either. Just ahead, an ambulance blocked the southbound lane and I could see a Chevy SUV pointing sideways across the road. We sat for a while but judging by the slow speed with which the paramedics were moving and the looks of the SUV, I assumed the worst. Most of the windows were gone indicating the SUV probably rolled. After a while they moved the ambulance aside and we crept through. A look to my right as I passed the destroyed vehicle was a grim reminder to respect these twisty roads even though I'd traveled them hundreds of times by now. Soon I was passing more jaw-dropping views, but I no longer felt like looking at them. It would be a quiet drive the rest of the way. I stopped at the Sugarlands Visitor Center to renew my Great Smoky Mountains Association membership (see link under Favorites), and there I decided to visit the Elkmont area for the first time. I was half planning to go to Cades Cove for today's walk, but due to the accident delay I decided to stay closer. Today's trail would be the Little River Trail out of Elkmont. Driving into Elkmont along the beautiful Little River I was immediately reminded that walking in Smokies is a gift no matter what the area. After accidentally circling the Elkmont campground and trying to act like a camper just driving through I made my way to the trailhead and got started up the wide gravel road called the Little River Trail. Judging by all the cars beside the trailhead, this was a popular place. [caption id="attachment_192" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Spring is about to spring"]
[/caption] I made my way up the 'trail' and amongst the cottages and cabins of the former Appalachian Club. There a scores of cottages around the area in various stages of disrepair, the remnants of the former vacation club for affluent Knoxville residents in the pre-park days. Several of the cottages are condemned and partially falling down, while others appear in decent shape. Cottages, stonework, and scads of daffodils graced both sides of the trail. A little further up the trail the picturesque Little River appears on the left. Walking further on the trail I noticed the giant house-sized boulders on the right side of the trail. At this point I was having trouble warming up because it was a cold 29 degrees to start the day. I had walked in much colder, but I think the fact that it was a cold start to the first full day of Spring was causing my brain to not cooperate. Then I began to notice the wildflowers and budding trees along the side of the trail and I didn't worry about the cold anymore. During the rest of the day it would warm up nicely and the sun would shine so bright that I made a mental note that I'll need to bring sunscreen on future walks. The trail was wide and gravel most of the way up and although it had many beautiful views of the Little River, it wasn't exactly Daniel Boone stuff. It was a pleasant riverside stroll with very modest elevation rise and good footing, and would be a very good trail for those just catching the hiking bug. In a way I was relieved that it wasn't a killer climber, because my lungs wouldn't have cooperated thanks to this crud I've been fighting. So I enjoyed the walk as I passed the intersections with Huskey Gap Trail, Goshen Prong Trail, and the Rough Creek Trail. Just after the Rough Creek intersection I came to a reasonable tricky creek crossing and then the peaceful site of backcountry campsite #24. This campsite is typically heavily used but nobody was here yet on this day. No bears either...yet. Up the trail I went and now it began to look more like a real trail instead of road. My destination today was the end of the Little River Trail at backcountry campsite #30, another 1.8 miles up the trail. After the intersection with Rough Creek Trail I began to feel the elevation change just a bit, mostly thanks to my lungs seemingly working about at about 25% due to the crud. Soon I reached the first of three very interesting creek crossings. After surveying the first one for several minutes, I found a spot to cross that only sacrificed my right foot to the chilly stream. The second crossing was easy, but the third one was a doozy. I went upstream a ways to look for a better spot to cross, and crossed without too much trouble. Campsite #30 was supposed to be just past this spot. But where was the campsite? In fact, where was the trail? Hmm... For the first time since I'd been walking the Smokies, I actually felt a little lost. I sat on a dry island in the middle of the creek and got out the NatGeo map I just bought at the Visitor Center earlier today. Seems there were a couple of creeks that converged in this area, and I had gone upstream on one of the branches, not the creek I was supposed to cross to get to campsite #30. After a while I started back the way I thought I had come, and after getting turned around several times and having to use my extreme Survivorman skills, I noticed what looked like a flat spot across the creek. I believed that was it, but how was I going to get there. The creek looked impossible to cross here. Finally I went upstream, but only a little bit this time, and decided getting soaked was inevitable. I was not wrong, as I slipped half way across and ate creek. Maybe trekking poles aren't such as bad idea after all? I sat in nice warm sun at campsite #30, proud to have made it across but with pride damaged by the creek eating incident. I wrung out my socks and poured what seemed like half the creek out of my shoes. Fortunately it was warm today..so I took my pants off for the first time this winter. (Relax...just the bottom part of course, my hiking pants converted into shorts) [caption id="attachment_194" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="So much for trying to stay dry"]
[/caption] The good news about getting soaked on the outbound portion of your walk? You don't worry about getting soaked on the inbound portion. Across the creeks I chugged, figuring what the heck...I was already soaked. Again, I was thankful for the warming and cloudless day. Perfection, Smokies style. On the way back I took a left off of the Little River Trail and grabbed 2.3 more unique miles on the Cucumber Gap Trail. This was a beautiful mini climb and a 'real' trail through big trees, cool 100 foot high grapevines, and lots of Spring Beauty wildflowers. What a treat. There were even nice views of ridges to the Northwest. I finished up with a small walk along Jakes Creek Trail (0.3 miles) and then a 0.5 mile walk along a road beside the Elkmont cottages back to the car. By now the parking area was busting at the seams. In total I had walked 13.2 miles, a new personal high but nowhere close to as difficult as some of my shorter walks. The walk was also a mini-milestone for me as I passed 100 miles of unique Smokies trails. (in approx. 220 total miles) I headed to nearby Gatlinburg for my favorite dinner at Bennett's Barbeque and a couple of gallons of tea. Low elevation of today's walk was 2200' at the Little River trailhead and the high elevation was around 3400' at campsite #30. On Sunday's drive home I was happy to see that the Blue Ridge Parkway was now open, so I drove it from Cherokee to Soco Gap and saw some beautiful morning sights. It was a fitting end to a gorgeous first weekend of Spring in the Smokies. [caption id="attachment_191" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="One last awesome view of the Smokies on my drive home"]
[/caption] To view the pics of this walk, click the link below:
Little River Trail to Campsite 30 (Opens in new window)
Dan DeSetto
