Meigs Mountain & Lumber Ridge Trails

Trail Miles Completed: 10.1
Trail Miles Hiked: 11.0
16 March 2011

First off - I have passed the 25% mark!  I've now completed over 200 miles of trails in the Smokies.  My map has lots of blue lines covering the trails I've finished (most of them in the northwest corner of the park) and I'm excited about the upcoming months and getting a bunch more trails checked off.

Now - today's hike was actually supposed to be an overnight backpack trip, but the weather intervened with rain most of Tuesday, so I decided just to take a long day hike today.  The Meigs Mountain and Lumber Ridge trails connect Elkmont with Tremont.  While the distance is a little over 10 miles it was a pretty easy day.  There's not much elevation change, just some nice meandering up and down.

I cashed in one of my birthday coupons and had Sarah help me shuttle my car to Tremont and then drop me off at Elkmont.  She and Duncan then hiked with me up the Jakes Creek trail to see the Avent Cabin.

Duncan liked my new trekking poles and decided he wants a pair himself.  With all the rain we've had recently the creeks were all running high which made for some gorgeous little waterfalls all over the place.

Duncan took this picture of Sarah & me in front of the waterfall.

I got out my map and showed Duncan exactly where we were, and where I was planning to hike.

The hike from the Elkmont parking lot up Jakes Creek trail to the Avent Cabin is only about 0.8 miles.  It's a beautiful little cabin I visited for the first time last month and I was excited to share it with Sarah & Duncan.

After looking over the cabin we hiked back down Jakes Creek trail to the Meigs Mountain trailhead where they left me and I started out my hike at about 11:45.

Meigs Mountain trail runs about 6 miles due west from Elkmont towards Tremont.  Right off the bat it crosses over Jakes Creek (which was FULL of water) on a log bridge.

It then winds through an area that was fairly heavily settled before the park came into existence and you can still see the evidence of old rock walls, pieces and parts of machinery, and of course the daffodils (seems like everyone who ever built a house in the Smokies planted daffodils).

A little less than 2 miles from Elkmont the trail comes to backcountry campsite #20.  This campsite is one of the "reservation required" sites, and sits at the confluence of several little creeks.  It's pretty flat and open and has several good tent sites and fire rings, along with a few old pieces of machinery lying around.  I stopped here for a snack and a drink.  This would be a good site to come back to with a big group - not too far from the trailhead and a nice big open site.

From here the trail continues to meander up and down, mostly along ridge sides of the mountains it traverses.  There are several creek crossings (easy rock hops, even with the high water) and it's a good trail.  Lots of pretty cascades and the sound of rushing water to accompany you.  This part of the trail is mostly on the north-facing side of the slope so it's cool and wet - lots of rhododendron and hemlock.

After about 4 miles you come to the junction of the Meigs Mountain trail with the Curry Mountain trail that comes up from Little River Road.  Jesse and I did the Curry Mountain trail in Dec. of 2009 and it was neat to come back here and remember our hike together.  When we were here before there was a blanket of snow everywhere!

From this juncture it's a short trip to couple of other points of interest.  Just 0.2 miles past this intersection there is an old mountain cemetery just off the trail.  It's very small, but still looks to be maintained.  Almost all the headstones are simple flat pieces of rock that either never had names on them, or the names have faded away.  There was only one "normal" headstone, for a woman, Polly Huskey, who lived from 1866-1909.

Just another 0.2 miles beyond the cemetery you come to backcountry campsite #19.  This is apparently an old homesite, although where one would put the house, barn and smokehouse that were supposed to be here is beyond me!  It's a fairly small campsite and situated on a pretty steep bank, but would make a really nice spot for a small group or solo camp (this is where I had intended to stay if the weather hadn't been rainy).  There was a guy camping here and I also met the Adopt-a-Trail volunteer who covers this trail as well as campsites #19 & #20.

This is also where I stopped for lunch and a break at about 2 pm.  Hot & Spicy ramen noodles - yum!

About 1.5 miles beyond campsite #19 the Meigs Mountain trail ends at Buckhorn Gap where it meets the Meigs Creek trail (coming up from Little River Road at the Sinks) and the Lumber Ridge trail (coming up from Tremont).  I did the Meigs Creek trail last fall, so this was another deja vu moment for me.  There is also an unmaintained trail ("manway") that leads from here down to Spruce Flat Falls near Tremont.  I just read someone's description of that the other day and I look forward to giving it a try myself someday (sounds like a good summer trip with lots of water crossings).

From here I jumped on to the Lumber Ridge trail to take me the last 4.1 miles down to Tremont and my car.  The trail immediately veers onto a south-facing slope and you can immediately tell the difference in the vegetation.  South-facing slopes tend to get more sun and are thus drier, so you get a lot more pines and mountain laurels and fewer hemlocks and rhododendrons.  At several places along the Lumber Ridge trail you can see the recent devastation wreaked by the pine bark beetle.  Lots of areas of standing dead and downed pines.

Heading in this direction the Lumber Ridge trail stays fairly level for about the first mile and then starts to ascend Lumber Ridge.  This was the only tough part of today's hike - an elevation gain of about 500 feet over the course of 0.5 miles.

The trail peaks near the top of Lumber Ridge at a place called "the saddle" which is exactly what it looks like.  I stopped here for another snack and drink.

From here the trail descends about 1300 feet over about 2.5 miles to Tremont.  The trail weaves back and forth between north-facing & south-facing slopes, and the drop-off the side of the trail gets much steeper.  There are a number of great vantage points along here where you can look out and see the mountains close by.  I took a picture, but a photograph can never capture the true subtle beauty of the smokies...

By now it was getting late in the day - around 4 or 4:30 - and it had been pretty grey all day.  It was a good temperature for hiking, but I missed having some sunshine.  Then all of a sudden the clouds parted and the sun came out! I was so happy I took a picture just because the light looked so nice slanting through the trees!

The trail switchbacks down the mountain toward Tremont and in places you can hear the roar of water below and catch glimpses of the road.  At one point, maybe a mile above Tremont I came across this post in front of a side trail that looked like it was leading down toward Spruce Flats.  Anybody know where this trail leads or why it's marked with an "M"?

I finally strolled into Tremont right at 5 pm, so it took me about 5 hours 15 minutes to cover the 10.1 miles and that included several stops for lunch, snacks, drinks, etc.

I highly recommend this hike either for an easy overnight backpack trip or a long day hike.  The terrain is pleasant and not terribly challenging.  There's lots of cultural history to be seen, and it seems to be pretty good for wildflowers as well although it's still quite early in the season.

It was a great day to be out in the smokies, and thanks to Sarah and Duncan for helping me shuttle and hiking up to the Avent Cabin with me!

til next time, happy hiking!

Jakes Creek Trail

Trail Miles Completed: 3.0
Trail Miles Hiked: 7.2
Elevation Gain: 1600 feet
20 Feb. 2011

Phew!  It's been over 2 months since my last hike, and I can't tell you how much I've been itching to get out.  I had planned to take a couple of day trips over the Christmas holidays, but the weather got in the way.  We had a lot of snow here in December and January - and it's not that that snow scares me away from the trails - it's that the roads in and around the park close when there's snow.

In contrast to all the snow of December & January, the last couple of weeks have been positively spring-like.  Temps in the 60s and beautiful sunshine.  So today I FINALLY decided I just had to get out. I took off this afternoon and arrived at the Jakes Creek trailhead around 2:30 to head up the Jakes Creek Trail.

I'm very familiar with this general area having previously hiked the Little River and Cucumber Gap trails, and having camped at Elkmont with my family on several occasions (it definitely ranks as my favorite Smokies campground, especially the sites right along the river).  The park has recently renovated the parking areas here, and it was a much-needed improvement.  There are now plenty of designated parking areas, so folks don't have to park on the side of the road (and muddy up the banks), and it looks much better!  You might say "they paved paradise and put up a parking lot" but in this case it's a good thing!

Jakes Creek trail starts at the upper edge of the Elkmont cabin community and basically follows Jakes Creek up-valley to Jakes Gap (between Blanket Mtn & Dripping Spring Mtn) where it meets up with the Miry Ridge and Panther Creek trails.  The operative word here is "up"...  The trail gains about 1600 feet in elevation over its 3.6 miles (or 3.7 if you believe the sign instead of the map).  That might not sound like much, but it was a steady up - no flat spots, just up, up, up...  And I haven't been out hiking for 2 months so I'm probably out of of shape.

Regardless, it was a beautiful day to be out and there was a feeling of expectation in the air.  While it's still winter and most everything is brown and bare there was a hint of spring.  Jakes Creek was full of melted snow and was rushing along quite happily.

The trail follows an old gravel railroad bed for about the first third.  This area was logged prior to the establishment of the park, and the railroad was used to extract the logs.  It makes for easy hiking - the trail is wide and level so one can look around rather than constantly having to watch the trail for rocks or roots waiting to snare the unwary.  At the end of the gravel the trail crosses over a creek (Newt Prong) that drains into Jakes Creek.

I love these log bridges - the just seem so perfect.  And they usually offer outstanding views up and downstream of the beautiful mountain streams they cross.  From here the trail becomes more typical - narrower and full of rocks and tree roots so you have to watch your step.  The up, up, up continues through beautiful rhododendron and hemlock forest, and there are a lot of Magnolias along the trail as well - the trail was littered with last year's fruits.  It must be gorgeous in the April and May when they're all in flower.

Near the top of the trail is backcountry campsite #27.  Jakes Creek trail is both a horse and hiking trail, and campsite 27 is apparently pretty heavily used.  There are several tent spots and a few fire rings in addition to the designated one.  As you come into the site from the trail there's a huge rock right near the entrance, and the designated fire ring is right in front of it.

I stopped here for a rest, snack and a drink and surveyed the campsite.  Like many backcountry campsites, this one shows the signs of abuse.  There was a lot of trash, both in and around the fire rings and the fire ring was full of ash.  The water source is presumably Jakes Creek, but that's a bit of a hike downhill to get to the water.  Overall I'd give this campsite just a moderate rating.

I've finally figured out how to use the timer on the camera, so I can get some shots of myself when I go out for solo hikes.  Here's me sitting in front of the fire ring at campsite 27.

While I was here I took a photo of two new backpacking toys I got for Christmas/birthday: a Kelty Redwing 3100 pack and a pair of Leki Makalu trekking poles.

The pack was a birthday present I bought for myself :-)  My old day pack is probably 10 years old and was purchased at Wal-Mart...  It served me well, but as I started to carry more stuff even on day hikes (lots of water, food, extra clothes, rain gear, the "10 essentials", etc) I was getting sore shoulders because it didn't have a belt.  So I bought myself the Redwing to serve as a large daypack and I love it!  It's very comfortable - I got the 3100 (instead of the smaller 2650 cubic inch version) because I'm tall and have a long torso so i needed the extra height.  The trekking poles I got as a birthday gift from my brother, sister-in-law, my mom and her husband.  We were in Charlotte, NC and they gave me some cash to spend at the local REI store!  I've been wanting trekking poles for a while and was happy to be able to give them a try.  Overall I'm quite happy with them - they're comfortable and were really useful on both the uphills and downhills of Jakes Creek trail and over the several rock-hops over creeks.  One of them needs some adjustment (the bottom section kept slipping), but I'm sure it will be easy to take care of and I'm happy to have the extra support and balance they offer.

From campsite #27 it's not far to the top of the trail at the junction of Jakes Creek, Miry Ridge and Panther Creek trails.  (and here's another self-portrait)

One of the things I love about hiking all the trails in the Smokies is coming back to places I've been before, and this was one of those times.  I loop-hiked the Middle Prong-Lynn Camp Prong-Miry Ridge-Panther Creek trails a couple of years ago and so passed by this trail junction before.  I remember the morning well.  I met a group of hikers here, and one of them was wearing a Philmont hat.  Our Boy Scout troop was planning a Philmont expedition so I talked with him quite a while about his experiences at Philmont and Boy Scouts in general.  I remember thinking at the time that someday I might be back to see what was down that other trail...  And there I was today!

One last surprise for the day: while I was taking my snack break at the campsite I got out the map to see how far it was to the top of the trail and I noticed something on the map I hadn't seen before.  Not too far up the Jakes Creek trail was supposedly a footbridge across Jakes Creek to the Avent Cabin.  I hadn't noticed anything on the way up, but decided to keep my eyes open on the way down.  Sure enough, not far down from the log bridge on Jakes Creek trail I spied a footbridge.  I should point out that Jakes Creek trail is on a ridge well above Jakes Creek for most of the way, and you only get occasional glimpses of the creek from high above, so it's really NOT obvious.  I bushwhacked downhill for a ways toward to bridge and then came upon a trail leading to it.  I followed the trail to the bridge which led across an absolutely gorgeous section of the creek.

Across the creek and up the bank there was the Avent Cabin - an absolutely phenomenally beautiful little log cabin.  Set right above the creek with lots of big windows - just one room on the bottom floor (with a fireplace), a loft, and a great front porch.

Although I first didn't recognize the name, once I actually saw the cabin I realized that I HAD heard of it before.  In fact, less than 2 weeks ago William Britten's photo blog that I follow had a blog about it!  I recognized it as the same cabin as soon as I saw it.  Definitely someplace I want to take the family back to see.  The funny thing is, it's not easy to find unless you know it's there.  The trail to it is not marked, nor is it obvious from the main trail (there are some makeshift steps leading down the first little bit that you might notice if you're looking for them).  The Little Brown Book doesn't mention it (at least not the 2001 edition I have).  But now that I know it's there and how to get to it I'll definitely be going back.

So overall it was a great trip.  I'm worn out from the hike - need to get out more and get back into shape! But it was a great day with beautiful weather and a good trail.  Can't ask for much more than that.  All told it took me about 3.5 hours to make the 7.2 miles roundtrip.

til next time, happy hiking!

birthday present :-)

what do you get for a hiker who has most of the gear he needs?  just ask my wife - she found the perfect birthday present.

I got five of the coupons pictured below for my birthday today.  now all I need is some free time and I'll be off to the mountains!

yes - she IS the best wife ever.  thanks darlin!

1 Year Anniversary

It was almost a year ago that I made the decision to try to hike all 800 miles of trails in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  I've always been an avid hiker and backpacker, and have long dreamed of through-hiking the Appalachian Trail, but living just 20 minutes from the Smokies it made sense to set my sights on something a little more local and doable within my current time constraints...

Since last December I have:

• spent 19 days on the trails in the Smokies
• taken 3 overnight backpacking trips in the Smokies
• completed 80.8 miles of new trails
• hiked a total of 137.6 miles of trails

Making the decision to do this has changed the way I think about hiking, mostly for the good I think.

For example, I'm less likely to spend a Saturday or Sunday afternoon slugging on the couch or mindlessly playing games on Facebook, and I'm much more likely to get my butt out of the house and out on to the trails.  I'm also much more likely to go someplace new.  In the past I've often gone back to the same trails over and over again because they're easy to get to, or have a neat waterfall or view.  But now I'll look at my map and try to find someplace I've never been and it's made me explore parts of the park that I probably wouldn't have gone otherwise.

The downside is that I'm starting to exhaust the trails that are relatively close to my house.  With the exception of a few trails in the Cades Cove area I've done most of the trails in the northwestern part of the park.  This means I'm going to have to be more deliberate about planning and will have to range further from home to complete new areas.

My goal for the upcoming year is to complete at least 100 miles of trails.  The biggest change I'll have to make to accomplish this is to do at least a couple of long-distance backpacking trips.  The majority of my hikes over the last year have been day hikes that checked off less than 10 miles of trails.  I can get a lot more bang for the buck by doing some multi-day backpacking trips that cover 20 or 30 miles of trail.  This makes sense anyway because I'll be doing more trails that are farther away from my home.  If I'm going to take the time to drive over to the eastern or southern part of the park I might as well stay for a couple of days and do some major mileage.

Til next time, happy hiking and happy winter solstice!

Porter's Creek Trail

Trail Miles Completed: 3.7
Total Miles Hiked: 7.4
10-11 Dec. 2010

Our Boy Scout troop has a tradition of taking an early December winter backpacking trip.  This year we chose the Porter's Creek trail up to campsite #31.  This hike is in the Greenbrier section of the Smokies.  I haven't spent much time in this section of the park, but it strikes me as not nearly as developed or visited as the Cades Cove and Elkmont areas that I'm more familiar with.  Porter's Creek trail is famous for its spring wildflower display, but it was really gorgeous in the snow too!

We got to the trailhead around 3 pm and set off.  The first part of the trail winds through an area that was heavily settled before the park.  You can still see evidence of human habitation like rock walls and stairs, and there's the Ownby cemetary that's still maintained by the family.

The trail crosses the creek several places, but the last log bridge across the creek presented us with an obstacle. The narrow log was still in place, but part of the rails had gotten pushed over (high water?  falling tree?), and the bridge was a good 10 feet or so above a deep and quick part of the creek with no obvious places to ford in sight.

So we carefully inched our way across the bridge on our butts - it took a while, but we all made it safely across!

From here the trail winds its way up the valley until it dead-ends at Campsite #31.  Since we were going up hill and it was starting to get dark it SEEMED like we'd hiked more than 3.7 miles, and some of the boys were starting to worry that we'd hiked too far and that maybe we'd missed the campsite in the dark.  But we finally arrived, and set up tents and cooked dinner by head lamp.  Most of the available wood was crusted with snow, so our campfire was small and pretty pathetic, but at least it added a little light and warmth to the evening.  It was pretty chilly out so we were all cozy in our sleeping bags by about 9 pm.

The morning was clear and sunny and we all finally climbed out of our warm bags and set about making breakfast.  Oatmeal, fried spam and Starbucks instant coffee for me :-)  (in the picture below that's our scoutmaster, Shane on the ground cooking, and one of our scouts enjoying his oatmeal)

The morning was spent eating breakfast, filtering water from the creek to refill our water bottles, and packing up camp.  There is a water source that's close to the campsite entrance, but it's a shallow muddy little spring, so we opted to hike down a steep bank to Porter's Creek.  It was absolutely gorgeous in the snow!

Before we got completely packed up a snow-ball fight broke out, so there was much running to and fro and dodging of icy projectiles.  Eventually we got the tents taken down and packed up and ready to head back down to the trail head.

In the light and (relative) warmth of the morning (not to mention going down hill) the 3.7 miles didn't seem nearly as bad as they had coming up, so the boys were all in good spirits.  We passed Fern Branch Falls - a nice tall cascade down a flat rock face just uphill of the trail.  While you can't see it in the picture below, there were rows of icicles hanging from the rock faces that flank the falls.

We stopped for lunch at the broken bridge and then made quick work of getting back over it.

The rest of the trip down passed uneventfully, and we were back home by late afternoon.  It was a great backpack, and I was really proud of our scouts!  Not only did they deal well with the cold and the snow, but also the unexpected challenge of the bridge.  It's a great group of guys and I always enjoy backpacking and hiking with them (and especially with our scoutmaster Shane).  I look forward to going back to this trail again in the spring when the wildflowers are out.  But I'm learning more and more how much I love winter hiking and backpacking!  Since Christmas break is coming up soon I'm looking forward to some more hiking soon.

Til next time, happy hiking!