Date: 4/25/14 - 4/27/14
Distance: 35mi
On this weekend, I hiked with the GSHAG group for 35 miles on the Lakeshore Trail. This was the 1st backpack trip that I had been on since my youth, so I was excited to see how I'd do. On the 1st day, we drove to Fontana Dam and left a car at the Lakeshore Trailhead. We then took a shuttle to the tunnel to nowhere. The drive seemed to never end, but finally we were on the trail after 3 hours of driving.
The 1st day was about 10 miles to campsite 98. The hike wasn't overly difficult, but the heavy pack took some time to get used to. The campsite was awesome. It was situated right next to a mountain stream which provided background music to the camp. It was just a short walk down to the lake with breath taking views and lots of driftwood for a nice campfire.
I had the Mountain house Chicken and Rice for dinner. It was pretty good on a tortilla. It was more than I could eat. Sleep didn't work out so well. I just couldn't get to sleep.
The next day was tough. I got up with a pretty bad headache that left me feeling queasy. I had a hard time eating any breakfast, but did drink a fair amount of Gatorade. Once on the trail, I started feeling better. I think the hiking helped the most, but I also took a few Advil throughout the day.
We hiked from campsite 98 to 86. This was a nearly 16 mile day. The day was very hot and some of the hikers had problems with overheating and blisters. This slowed the pace and we didn't pull into camp until nearly 6:30. We also got Ollie Cove when we went by. This little bit of trail was cruel as it was straight down to the lake and then straight back up. The tough part of the hike was Welch Ridge which was a big climb late in the day. By then I was feeling much better, so the climb didn't seem too bad to me. There were a few nice flaming azalea bushes along the trail and some nice views of the lake.
At the campsite, I had the Mountain House Spaghetti for dinner and I enjoyed it. I couldn't finish it either. After a quick cold bath in the creek, several of us walked down to the end of the trail where the Boat Ferries pick up. This 0.5 miles is on the map, so we picked it up. It was pitch black and the trail seemed to be covered with frogs. After a nice time by the campfire, I slept a bit better the 2nd night. Still not great, but better than Friday night.
I awoke on Sunday feeling good having a breakfast of instant oatmeal. The hike on this day was about 10 miles with a couple of climbs. It was another hot day, but knowing the end was near, we all moved at a good pace. We started about 9:00 and everyone was out before 1:30 with a 20 minute stop for lunch.
Very enjoyable weekend.
Sunday, April 27, 2014
Hyatt Ridge - Enloe Creek - Hughes Ridge - Chasteen Creek - Bradley Fork
Date: 4/18/14
Distance: 11.1
Today Gabe and I did a shuttle hike from Straight Fork Rd and Smokemont campground. Gabe needed Enloe Creek and the entire trail was new miles for me. The drive over was brutal as it was nearly 3 hours from the front door to the trail. The hike started with a 1500' climb up Hyatt Ridge. After loosing 900' the uphill climb continued to a final height of 4500 feet. After a rest at the top, we lost 2700 feet going down to the campground. Chasteen Creek Trail was very rock on the trip down, so it was a chore. The trails had plenty of wildflowers on this day.
Distance: 11.1
Today Gabe and I did a shuttle hike from Straight Fork Rd and Smokemont campground. Gabe needed Enloe Creek and the entire trail was new miles for me. The drive over was brutal as it was nearly 3 hours from the front door to the trail. The hike started with a 1500' climb up Hyatt Ridge. After loosing 900' the uphill climb continued to a final height of 4500 feet. After a rest at the top, we lost 2700 feet going down to the campground. Chasteen Creek Trail was very rock on the trip down, so it was a chore. The trails had plenty of wildflowers on this day.
Monday, April 14, 2014
Low Gap - Camel Gap - AT Loop
Date: 4/14/14
Distance: approx 16
Today Gabe and I hiked a loop hike out of the Cosby Campground. We started the day by hiking up Low Gap to the AT. This was 2.5 mile trudge up the mountain with an elevation gain of about 2000'. The trail was rocky in places, and very pleasant in others. I was puffing before I got to the top.
Once we reached the AT, we continued on Low Gap down the other side of the mountain. At the bottom we hit the Big Creek trail for about 0.5 miles before it turned into Camel Gap. Camel Gap was a tough climb up the mountain with a gain of 2000'. I learned a valuable lesson about drinking electrolytes earlier in the hike on hot sunny days. By the time I reached the AT, my calves were trying to cramp up. Luckily I had a Gatorade in my bag. I limped along on the AT climbing another few hundred feet and then back down to Low Gap. Fortunately the electrolytes kicked in before I started down Low Gap to get back to Cosby.
On this day we saw 4 snakes. 3 of them were right in the middle of the trail. Who knows how many we didn't see.
Distance: approx 16
Today Gabe and I hiked a loop hike out of the Cosby Campground. We started the day by hiking up Low Gap to the AT. This was 2.5 mile trudge up the mountain with an elevation gain of about 2000'. The trail was rocky in places, and very pleasant in others. I was puffing before I got to the top.
Once we reached the AT, we continued on Low Gap down the other side of the mountain. At the bottom we hit the Big Creek trail for about 0.5 miles before it turned into Camel Gap. Camel Gap was a tough climb up the mountain with a gain of 2000'. I learned a valuable lesson about drinking electrolytes earlier in the hike on hot sunny days. By the time I reached the AT, my calves were trying to cramp up. Luckily I had a Gatorade in my bag. I limped along on the AT climbing another few hundred feet and then back down to Low Gap. Fortunately the electrolytes kicked in before I started down Low Gap to get back to Cosby.
On this day we saw 4 snakes. 3 of them were right in the middle of the trail. Who knows how many we didn't see.
Saturday, April 5, 2014
Ace Gap - Beard Cane - Hatcher Mountain - Little Bottoms
Date: 3/31/14
Distance: approx 16
Having just returned from 2 weeks of business travel, I was ready to get out in the woods, so I elected to not work on this beautiful Monday and go hiking instead. Fortunately my hiking friend Roger elected to do the same, so we hiked from Rich Mountain to Abrams Creek Campground as a shuttle hike.
The hike began on the Ace Gap Trail which I hiked about 1.5 years ago with the meetup group. Roger tried to find a place to park a car up on the edge of the park to avoid this section but was unsuccessful, so the 1st 5.6 miles was on a trail that we'd already covered. Ace Gap is a pretty easy trail to hike and the weather was perfect, so it made for a nice morning.
After stopping for a snack at the Beard Cane sign, we headed down the mountain on Beard Cane.
Beard Cane has multiple creek crossings. We lost count at 15. The 1st 2 required removal of the boots and wading. It was less the knee deep, but there wasn't a good place to rock hop it.
There were even a couple spots where the trail was a creek. This only lasted about 30 yards.
At the Little Bottoms trail, I dropped the pack and jogged down to the Abrams Falls Trail to get the very short section between Little Bottoms and Abrams. It was only a couple of tenths, but the elevation dropped a couple hundred feet. The jog back up wasn't much fun.
Little Bottoms was mostly on the side of a mountain which had been wiped out by the tornado. After 15 miles of hiking, it had more elevation gain than we expected, so it was a struggle.
Distance: approx 16
Having just returned from 2 weeks of business travel, I was ready to get out in the woods, so I elected to not work on this beautiful Monday and go hiking instead. Fortunately my hiking friend Roger elected to do the same, so we hiked from Rich Mountain to Abrams Creek Campground as a shuttle hike.
The hike began on the Ace Gap Trail which I hiked about 1.5 years ago with the meetup group. Roger tried to find a place to park a car up on the edge of the park to avoid this section but was unsuccessful, so the 1st 5.6 miles was on a trail that we'd already covered. Ace Gap is a pretty easy trail to hike and the weather was perfect, so it made for a nice morning.
After stopping for a snack at the Beard Cane sign, we headed down the mountain on Beard Cane.
About 2/3rds of the way down Beard Cane, we entered the area that had been damaged by tornadoes a few years ago. The damage was awesome and widespread.
The 4.2 miles of Beard Cane felt longer than that and the GPS was indicating more like 5 miles. This was probably just due to all of the wondering around at the stream crossings, but it was far enough over that we thought we had missed the sign for the Hatcher Mountain Trail.
Hatcher Mountain was more of the same with lots of tornado damage. This meant very little shade and the day was hot. I was anxious to get back in the forest, yet it didn't happen till we were most of the way down Little Bottoms.
Little Bottoms was mostly on the side of a mountain which had been wiped out by the tornado. After 15 miles of hiking, it had more elevation gain than we expected, so it was a struggle.
Finally it dropped down to the edge of the creek for a nice walk back to the campground.
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