Date: 11/9/13
Distance: 19.7 mi
This hike as a very long difficult hike. It is the longest hike I've been on and had a total of >5000ft of climbing to go along with it.
The morning started early with the group meeting at Clingmans Dome at 7:30. We started hiking about 7:50. The sun had not been up long, and it was very clear so the views from the parking lot were spectacular. The hike started by heading up the paved trail toward the tower. At the top of the hill, we turned left on the AT and headed toward Double Spring Gap. The trail followed the ridge and had many nice views off both sides.
After 3.8 miles, we turned left on Welch Ridge. Welch Ridge starts the downhill portion of the hike in earnest. After 2.4 miles, we turned left on Jonas Creek.
Jonas Creek had a number of creek crossings that we hop rocked (but just barely). I was tempted to put on my water shoes on a couple of them.
We had lunch at Campsite 70. It was a very wide open site with a picnic table and several logs to sit on.
Once Lunch was over, we started on the Forney Creek Trail. There were about 7 more creek crossings that were even more dangerous than Jonas Creek, but I managed to hop rock all of them with only a couple of scares.
The 1st 5 miles of Forney Creek had a steady rise that wasn't too difficult to climb. Once you reach Campsite 68, the climb is much more severe. We climbed about 1500' in only 2 miles.
At the termination of Forney Creek, we took a left on Forney Ridge trail for the final 1.1 miles to the parking lot. This section of the trail had lots of steps and while the view was nice, the hiking wasn't great. Of course, I had already hiked 18 miles, so maybe it doesn't get a fair shake for that reason.
It was a very long day as we got back to the cars about 5:20. It was a very challenging hike and rewarding to complete.
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