Kephart - Sweat Heifer - AT - Dry Sluice Gap - Grassy Branch

Date: 1/25/14
Distance: 14.7mi

Today's hike was a very challenging winter hike with deep snow on the trail and snow failing for much of the day.  We started at the Kephart Prong trail which is about 7 miles past Newfound Gap on the NC side of the park.  Kephart is 2 miles long with an elevation change of about 800'.  The Kephart shelter sits at the end of this trail.  Kephart looks to be an old road bed with artifacts along the way (chimney, rail track, etc.)  It has several log bridges on the way.  The bridges were a little exciting as the were frozen over.

After a short break and donning the Micro-Spikes, we head up Sweat Heifer trail.  This trail was a trudge with an elevation gain of 2400' and snow several inches deep.  It also started snowing on this leg of the route.  The streams were frozen over in many places.  At one point, a cascade on the side of the trail was completely frozen on top, yet water was still flowing underneath the ice.

When we reached the AT, the wind was howling and it got cold very quickly.  We turned right and hurried to the ice water springs shelter.  In the shelter, we ate lunch and warmed up a bit with some hot chocolate.  At this point, I put all of my clothes on and put the hiking poles in my pack as I wanted to keep my hands balled up in my gloves to get them warm.  

We left the shelter and went by Charlies Bunyon.  Is was very foggy at this point, so we didn't venture out onto the Bunion.  We were anxious to get out of the wind, so we kept moving.  At Dry Sluice Gap, we turned right and after a short climb, the downhill portion of the hike began.  We also got less of the wind and thus the hiking got more enjoyable.  The snow was very deep at places as no one had been on the trail before us.

At Grassy Branch Trail, we took another right and continued our down hill slide to the Kephart Shelter.

The final 2 miles on Kephart was a fast hike to the car as we were becoming very concerned about getting back over the mountain with the snow that had fallen.

Back at the car, we found the road frozen over with no one on the road.  We turned the car around and I drove back up and over the mountain.  We didn't see a single car in any parking lot on the way back and we only saw 1 car on the road.  It was a park ranger headed up the mountain in a 4 wheel drive vehicle.  It was quite strange and eerie to be completely alone in the park.  Back at the gate, they had left the exit side open, so we could get out at Sugarlands.  The snow on the road lasted to well past the Chimney tops parking lot.

Today was a BIG adventure with challenging hiking, tough conditions and a high stress drive over the mountain. 

Waiting for the Road to open - The Stone house - Little River - Cucumber Gap

Date:  1/18/14
Distance: ~10 miles

Today we had plans to hike Kephart, Sweat Heifer, Dry Sluice Gap, Grassy Branch but the weather conspired against us and 441 was closed when we arrived at Sugarlands.  Eventually we decided to hike out to the stone house.  I had done this hike previously about 1 year ago.

We got back to SVC about 12:00 to find that the road was still closed.  After lunch, we hiked the Little River Trail in Elkmont.  When we reached Cucumber gap, we headed back towards Elkmont.  Nice walk in the woods, but a hike that I had done previously.

Huskey Gap Trail

Date: 1/11/14
Distance: 8.2 mi

Today was rainy, so I had given up on getting any new miles under my belt and instead visited my favorite gear shop (River Sports) to look at backpacks.  When I walked out, the rain had stopped and it looked to be clearing up.  I quickly drove home and packed up to head to the mountains.  I got to the Huskey Gap Trail on the Newfound Gap road about 1:00 and took off down the trail.

The trail climbs steadily for 2 miles up to Huskey Gap.  The 1st few tenths of a mile are close to the road, but it quickly turns away and becomes a peaceful walk in the woods.  Since there are no leaves on the trees, there were several nice views through the trees of the surrounding mountains.

 At the Gap, the Old Sugarlands trail crosses Huskey Gap.  The sign indicates that the Little River Trail is 2.1 miles away.  The Gap is about 1200' above the trailhead.

 There are more nice views on this portion of the trail as well as a few small stream crossings.   However with the hard rain overnight and earlier in the day, a few were slightly troubling.  The trail is mostly downhill to the Little River losing about 500' of elevation.

 Huskey Gap meets the Little River Trail near the bridge.  The water was flowing crazy big today.

After a few minutes of admiring the river, I returned the same way that I came.

 The trail skirts the river for 0.5 miles or so.  I scrambled down to the edge of the river at one big rapid.

In at least one spot, the trail had turned into a creek.  Not to hard to traverse, but did slow me down a bit.

Gabe's Mountain

Date: 1/4/2014
Distance: ~7.8 mi

Today I was expecting to hike Snake Den Ridge, Maddron Bald and Gabes mountain, but the weather conspired against us.  The snow on the road into the Cosby Campground caused 2 fellow hikers to get stuck and cost us lots of time.  In the end we decided to leave a car at Cosby and drive over to the Maddron Bald trailhead.  This road was also icy, so we parked at the nearby campground and walked to the trail.  Once we reached the Maddron Bald Trail, we hiked it up to Gabes Mountain trail and then followed it back to the Cosby Campground.

There was a nice cabin not far up the Maddron bald trail.

There were 3-4" of snow on the trail and the trees and bushes were covered giving very scenic views.

A very large tree was growing out of a very large rock at one point.

 About 2 miles from Cosby, a short trail goes down to Hen Wallow Falls.  It was partially frozen.  Something about the cold caused the picture to look very blue.  It wasn't really this blue.

Gregory Bald (Wolf Ridge - Long Hungry Ridge - Twentymile)

Date:  1/1/14
Distance: 15.7 miles

Today I kicked of the new year by hiking some trails that I haven't been on before.  The hike started at the Twentymile ranger station.  This was also the 1st time that I had driven the Dragon (hwy 129).  It lived up to much of the hype that I had heard about it.  It took about 1:45 to drive from home to the trail.

We started up Twentymile for 0.5 miles and then turned up Wolf Ridge.  This trail was a major climb over 7 miles.  The total climb to Gregory Bald was 3500'.  There were very few respites from the climbing, just constant up.

Just before Gregory Bald, you pass through Parsons Bald.  It isn't maintained as a bald, so it has started to return to the forest.

 Gregory bald is still maintained as a bald, so you can really get a good view of the valley below.  Cades Cove is visible in the photos below.

Today the Kingston plant was visible off to the west.





It was windy on the bald with temperatures in the low 30's, so we didn't spend much time relaxing in the grass.  We hiked back down the Long Hungry Ridge trail.  It was steep and a little rocky.  Down near the bottom there were 3 or 4 creek crossings that provided some challenge.

This is a very strenuous hike, but the views are inspiring.

We started at 8:00 and were back at the car shortly after 3:00.