Rough Fork - Caldwell Fork - Hemphill Bald

Date: 10/30/14
Distance: 13.7
New Map Miles: 12
Total Map Miles: 617.4

Today was a beautiful clear Thursday and bad weather was forecast for the weekend, so I took a day off to get a few new map miles.  I dropped off Nathan at school at 7:00 and headed for Maggie Valley.  After passing through Maggie Valley, I turned on the Blue Ridge Parkway and then turned right on Heintooga Road.  This road closes on 11/2, so this was the last chance for me to go get today's trails without adding 6 miles to the hike.  After entering the park on Heintooga, I parked at the Hemphill Bald Trailhead parking area at 9:15.

It was cold up high on the mountain where the trail starts, so I was wearing gloves, hat, and two fleeces to start the hike.  This was an excellent loop hike.  I opted to hike it clockwise starting on the Rough Fork Trail.  Rough Fork looks to be an old road, so the trail is pretty wide.  It started with a slight slope down hill for about 2 miles and then it dropped off of the mountain.

 3.5 miles into the hike, Caldwell fork meets Rough Fork.  I turned right onto Caldwell and continued on down the mountain for 1.4 miles to campsite 41 that was right next to a creek with a foot bridge.

After crossing the creek, the trail starts climbing.  Just a few tenths after the campsite, Hemphill Bald intersects Caldwell Fork.  I turned on Hemphill.

 There were at least 2 places where the trail became a creek in the 1st couple miles, but the water was low and it was simple to rock hop.  The trail continued to rise at a steady state until reaching the Cataloochee Divide Intersection.

 At this point, Hemphill turns to the right and hugs the park boundary.  Just across the boundary is the Cataloochee Ranch.  The trail continued its climb.

 Up at the top is a gate through the fence and a few benches that I sat on for lunch.  There was a nice view of the ski area down below.

 From this location, the trail continued through a few more dips and climbs before the easy walk to the car.  Total hike time was about 5 hours.