Old Dan Walking

I've never been much of a fisherman and don't fish often, but I do remember the feeling of just wanting to try "one last cast" even though I'd been skunked on every previous cast. I caught this little guy on my last cast in the canals of Disney's Fort Wilderness Campground during my quick Easter break trip to Florida.

See, even at Disney you can get away and feel like you're in the great outdoors. The canals running through the drained swampland of the campground were tranquil and in no way felt like the typical hustle-and-bustle Disney experience. I watched an otter play and an Osprey, cranes, and many other birds fish for their breakfast...it was nice.

These canals were just steps from our campsite

There are even walking trails, but I didn't have time to check those out. But there was plenty of walking on the concrete trails, I can promise you that.

Those that have followed my site for any length of time know that I typically steer clear of controversial or politically-charged topics. Sure, I have an opinion like everybody else, but you get plenty from every other blog on the net. This is a site for hiking journals and really nothing more.

So today, on the 150th anniversary of the first shots of the Civil War, I get as close as I'll get to controversy. The topic of the Civil War is polarizing. But ever since I was a young kid for some odd reason I've been fascinated by the brutal conflict that split the country and took 620,000 American soldier's lives, and more than 1 million American lives overall. Such incredible loss and suffering...

Tomorrow's generation will likely not visit the places where this awful drama was played out. Not only is it a period the country seems to be trying to forget, but standing on a former battlefield that is merely a mowed field with some old silent cannon can't compete with a good game of Halo or Ultimate Fighter. But for me, standing on the same ground where so many fell is an unforgetable experience. So just as my parents did with me in my childhood, last August I took my boys to see the battlefield that is considered the turning point of the war in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. I hope they remember this trip as I did mine. 

The First Shot monument, start of the deciding conflict of the Civil War

This is the "High Water Mark of the Confederacy" monument at the Copse of Trees. After 2 years of success on the battlefield, General Lee and the Confederate States would be turned back for good here.

The site where Pickett's Charge was repulsed by General Meade and his Union troops

The Angle, where the rebels briefly broke the Union line.

The views from Little Round Top, a site of key Union defensive position that ensured victory, the end of slavery, and the re-unification of our great country. God Bless America!

To skip the chatter and go right to the pics of this walk, click the link below:

Schoolhouse Gap Loop(Opens in new window)

15.2 mile lollipop walk in the Cades Cove area of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The walk started and ended at the Schoolhouse Gap trailhead and also included Scott Mountain Trail, Crooked Arm Ridge Trail, Rich Mountain Loop Trail, a bit of road walking, Crib Gap Trail, and finally Turkeypen Ridge Trail – April 2, 2011

In May 2008 I officially became a crazed fanatic of walking on the trails in the Great Smoky Mountains after finishing a short but tough 4 mile out-and-back on beautiful Kephart Prong Trail. I’d been on Smokies trails before, but for some reason that walk signaled a transition in me from tourist to Smokies ‘resident’. Since that time. I walked the trails in my beloved Park every chance I got, never going more than a few weeks between visits. Fast forward to today….and it had been 6 months to the day since my last visit, an early-Fall stroll on the Cataloochee Divide Trail. I was long past getting the itch to return.

Woo-hoo, it’s Friday night and I’m FINALLY going back! The first weekend of April’s weather forecast was better for Sunday than Saturday, but I couldn’t let that deter me. I screamed up I-26 and the long drive didn’t even phase me, making it to the brand-spanking-new Oconaluftee Visitor Center past closing time, but still officially on opening day. A couple of pictures to mark the occasion and it was off on the long, dark and winding drive to Townsend, TN for the overnight. In a few hours I’d be back on Smokies ground for the first time in a long time…Praise God!

Schoolhouse Gap Trail

Schoolhouse Gap Trail starts at a small parking area directly beside Laurel Creek Road, 3.7 miles west of the Townsend “Y”. I was biting off a pretty big chunk today by walking 15.2 miles after so little walking during the Fall and Winter, but Schoolhouse Gap Trail’s gentle grade and wide, flat road-like surface would be much appreciated later in the day when I returned to the car worn out. The trail is part of a roadway system that was originally planned to give Townsend an over-the-Smokies-crest hookup with Hazel Creek in North Carolina in the 1840s, but the project was abandoned when the NC side was not completed. The roads that were completed on the Tennessee side are now trails, but none are very trail-like, including this one.

Laurel Creek comes in on the right side of the trail, flowing under a picturesque bridge. Wildflowers are immediately seen popping on the left and right trail edges, with trillium being the most dominant. Most of the trillium have not yet open. As great as the flower show was on this entire walk today, I think it will be even more spectacular in a week or two. The trail climbs slowly beside tiny Spence Branch, a tributary of Laurel Creek. Climbing is easy right now, but not so later on today.

I reach the Turkeypen Ridge Trail intersection at Dorsey Gap in 1.1 miles.  Here I talk with a nice couple from Walland that are on their way to unofficial spur trail to Whiteoak Sink, a lowland area of caves and a ‘blowhole’ that is just west of the trail. The spur trail is just beyond the intersection and marked with a “No Horses” sign. Beyond there the climbing is a bit tougher, up into a nice white pine forest, with western views of Scott Mountain beginning to appear and stiff, cool breezes whipping through the trees. Ah…I’m back in the Smokies again.

The Chestnut Gap Trail intersection appears on the right, just 0.2 miles from Schoolhouse Gap and the end of my first segment. There is no schoolhouse here but there is a private residence just feet from the Park boundary. The name of this gap apparently came from children following this route to school in Townsend.

Scott Mountain Trail

I really enjoyed the 3.6 miles of Scott Mountain Trail. It is a big contrast from Schoolhouse Gap Trail. This is a real, albeit very narrow, trail that follows the Park’s northern boundary westward towards Cades Cove. The mountain itself drops off dramatically on the north side and there are views in both directions, at least during this time of the year. I’ll get almost half of my total elevation gain for today on this one trail.

There were a few blowdowns to navigate, but other than that it is nice ridge climbing. After a brief pass through a pine forest boulders begin to appear. The middle section has lots of boulders strewn about. In one saddle the breeze was whipping over the crest, and there was an abundance of wildflowers. I stop every two seconds for pictures of yet another awesome view to the south of Pinkroot Ridge and occasionally to the north into Tuckaleechee Valley.

The trail turns to the south and it is here that the real wildflower display begins. A shaded hardwood cove at about 3100’ in elevation is lush and exploding with dutchmens britches, bloodroot, trillium, violets, spring beauties, and other flowers that are no match for my meager identification skills. A small creek has a nice cascade and contributes to the cool splendor of this area. I briefly stop for a chat with three friendly young backpackers from Chicago who had overnighted at nearby campsite #6.

I continue on, swinging to the southwest again and into drier forest. I come across a cool limestone mini-cave a bit further up the trail, then finish the climb to today’s high point with a walk through rhodo-tunnels. Campsite #6 is on the right just before the Crooked Arm Ridge Trail intersection. It is a small camp with water provided by Green Branch, tiny up at this elevation.

Crooked Arm Ridge and Rich Mountain Loop Trails

My next two trails are repeats of an October 2009 walk, but this time I’m traveling downhill. Going this direction Crooked Arm Ridge Trail is much more pleasant, dropping 1300 feet to the floor of Cades Cove in 2.2 miles. At the top it plummets through pine and oak with views to the west of the bright green fields of Cades Cove. Further down it comes upon Crooked Arm Branch, flowing much stronger than my previous visit. Crooked Arm Falls puts on a nice display near the bottom.

At Rich Mountain Loop Trail I turn left for the easy 0.5 mile walk beside a manicured field. Two wild turkeys graze on the other side of the field and give me a chance to try out my 26x zoom lens. I reach Cades Cove Loop Road and the western end of my walk for today. Now back east to the car some 4.5 miles away as the crow flies. Unfortunately I’m not a crow, so it will require more than 7 miles of walking for us mere humans.  

Anthony Creek and Crib Gap Trails

The wind is blowing strong through the Cove, carrying with it the sweet aroma of the horse camp. But just a 0.5 mile east and I’ll be dealing with a different, albeit much more pleasant aroma. I have to walk to the far end of the Cades Cove picnic area to reach the trailhead for Anthony Creek Trail. The smell of burgers and steak grilling after 10 miles of walking with nothing but a Nature Valley granola bar to eat is tough to take. J We hikers are a tough lot, so I press on.

Anthony Creek is another road that is called a trail, at least for the 0.3 miles of it I saw before reaching the Crib Gap intersection. Anthony Creek flows beside it and I leave the sweet smell of glorious charbroiled protein behind. Crib Gap is described in the book as a “short and simple 1.6 mile” trail. If it wasn’t for those other 10 miles I might have agreed with the book. But this little horse trail climbs a bit toward Crib and Incline Gaps beside Laurel Creek Road before finally intersecting it. I was over the climbing for today and my dogs were barking. The trail intersects the road at a diagonal, so you have to cross the road and then walk a few yards up before rejoining on the north side.

On the north side the trail descends through former homesteads, but the only visible remains are piles of rock common where foundations once stood. Bears are supposed to be frequent visitors here, but they are still sleeping this early in April. I’m ok with that. I stop and empty my bag looking for ‘vitamin I’, but to no avail. I must’ve taken it out of my pack to use at home..rats! I’ll have to suck it up. (we hikers are a tough lot, so I press on J) A bit later I reach a 4-way intersection. To the right in 0.2 miles is Laurel Creek Road, officially part of Turkeypen Ridge Trail. Straight ahead is the Finley Cane Trail in 0.1, officially part of Crib Gap Trail. As is often the case for me, I’ll have to come back and hit those tiny segments if I ever want to officially be a 900-mile club member. Doubtful. I head left for 3.4 miles on Turkeypen Ridge Trail.

Turkeypen Ridge Trail

All the literature I’d read about Turkeypen Ridge Trail had glowing remarks about what a pleasant walk it is. Again, if it wasn’t for those other pesky 10 miles I'd already walked I might have agreed with them. Although never exceeding 2105’ in elevation for its whole length, Turkeypen adds another 1000’ of climbing to my tired extremities in a series of ups and downs. But it certainly is pleasant, climbing and descending through pine forest with ridge views on either side. There is a small crossing soon after the intersection that might get your boots a tiny bit wet as it did mine. Another crossing of Pinkroot Branch about half way is easier to stay dry. After the crossing I decide to slow down and quit worrying about the 4.5 hour drive home, and low and behold all my pain vanishes and I feel like $100 climbing the ridges again. I’m relieved to see the backward sign for Schoolhouse Gap Trail at Dorsey Gap, where I was several hours earlier. I skip easily down the trail to complete a fantastic and challenging day, at long last back in God’s Country. The 4.5 hour drive is a piece of cake.

Low elevation on my 15.2 miles of lollipop walking was around 1630’ on Schoolhouse Gap Trail and high elevation was about 3300’ near the Crooked Arm Ridge Trail/Scott Mountain Trail intersection. The long day included more than 4000' in total climbing, a good way to knock off some winter rust. It was great to be back in the high Smokies life again, and I’ll try not to wait 5 months to get back.  

For pics of this walk, click the link below:

Schoolhouse Gap Loop(Opens in new window)

  

 

Update 4/3/2011 - It was dark, the building was closed, and the festivities were long over, but I got this picture as proof that I was at the Oconaluftee Visitor Center on opening day. :) (Picture taken Friday, 4/1/2011 @ 8:25 PM)

I also FINALLY got back on a Smoky Mountain trail after a 5 month absence! Check back later in the week for the update on my gorgeous Spring walk.