Noland Divide

Date: 12/29/14
Distance: 15.6
New Map Miles: 7.8
Total Map Miles: 730.8

Today I once again made the long drive to Deep Creek to mark off the lower 7.8 miles of the Noland Divide Trail.  The weather was foggy and drizzly in Tennessee, but just after crossing Newfound Gap, the weather cleared a bit.  By the time I was ready to hike, it was warm enough that I only wore a long sleeve hiking shirt and long hiking pants.  Not bad for the end of December.

The trail was in great shape as it made its way up the mountain.  The parking lot is at a bit under 2000'. Over the 1st 5 miles the trail climbs up to over 4500'.

 There were several places in the 1st 3 miles that you could see off of the trail into the surrounding valleys.  The fog started moving in though.

 At 3.5 miles, you reach the Lonesome Pine Overlook, when I got there it was very foggy, so I didn't take the short side trail.  Instead I  headed on up the mountain hoping for better weather on the way down.

The trail rises for about 5 miles and then dips down about 500' before a short climb up to the Pole Gap Intersection.  At this point, I turned around and headed back down the mountain.

Fortunately the clouds had lifted by the time I got back to the overlook, and the views were great.

The climb was substantial but the trail was great and the views were wonderful.  The drive home was awful, but fortunately, I'm now finished with the Deep Creek Trails, so I don't have to make that drive again!

Caldwell Fork - McKee Branch - Boogerman

Date: 12/26/14
Distance: 14 mi
New Map Miles: 9.6
Total Map Miles: 723

Today I drove over to Cataloochee to mark off Caldwell Fork, McKee Branch and Boogerman.  I had read that bridges were out on the Caldwell Fork Trail, so I arrived with some trepidation and was delighted to see a bridge at the 1st crossing which was visible from the parking lot.

Unfortunately, the 2nd crossing which is just before the Boogerman Intersection did not have a bridge.  It was quite refreshing as the outdoor temperature was just below freezing.

 
I hustled across and left the Chacos on until I reached the 3rd crossing.  When I saw a bridge, I immediately dried my feet and put my boots on.  The bridges kept coming until the 7th crossing which did not have a bridge.  Just up the creek to the left was a large tree across the creek, so I used it as a foot bridge.

 Caldwell Fork was is decent shape for a horse trail, but there were spots that were very rocky and looked like a horse trail.

There were a total of 11 significant creek crossings, but only 2 and 7 didn't have a bridge.  3.2 miles into the hike, the McKee branch trail turns off to the left.  McKee Branch wasn't in great shape. There is lots of erosion, so you spend lots of time dodging rocks and hiking in a ditch.  It also has a rather steep climb rising more than 1700' in 2.3 miles.  McKee terminates at Cataloochee Divide.  A trail continues across Cataloochee Divide that looks like an extension of McKee.  After a bit of lunch, I continued on down the trail until it arrived at a small cabin.

 The cabin is the John Ferguson Cabin. It was very small.

 The cabin is approximately 0.4 miles from Cataloochee Divide.  I turned around and went back up the hill for the return leg of the hike.  After going down McKee, I turned right on Caldwell until I arrived at the Boogerman Trail.

Boogerman starts out beside a creek on the right side with multiple homesites on the left side.  There were many rock walls that must have taken thousands of man hours to construct.

The most outstanding thing about Boogerman is that there are some very old large trees along the trail.  Boogerman apparently refused to  allow the lumber companies to log his land back before the park was formed, so we now have this trail with some great specimens.

 I finished off the day by crossing the creek on Caldwell Fork again and hiking another 0.8 miles to the car.  Didn't feel great today and had to take a couple of breaks on the way up the mountain, but it was nice to mark off another good piece of the map.
 

On the way out of Cataloochee, this Elk was grazing beside the road.

Chimney Tops - Manway - Sugarland Mountan - AT - Road Prong - Chimney Tops

Date: 12/23/14
Distance: 12
New Map Miles: 0

Today was one of only 3 hiking days up to this point that I've hiked in the Smokies without getting any new map miles.  JD planned a hike that included the manway between the Chimney Tops and Sugarland Mountain Trail.  I had often wondered where the manway was located, so I signed up for this excellent adventure with the GSHAG group.  Along with JD, Jenn, Greg, Lisa and Anoria provided awesome company on the trail.

The Chimney Tops Trail is now finished with its renovation, so it was in great shape.  Today was fairly warm for December, so we were stripping out our jackets pretty quick as this trail quickly rose up to the summit.  It had rained overnight, but there was just a bit of very light drizzle, probably just from the trees on the way up.

 I only climbed up about 1/2 way at the Chimney Tops because the rocks were wet and a bit slick.  The views were still nice even from only 1/2 way up.

After leaving the summit, we backtracked just about 0.1 miles before JD turned off into the woods on the manway.  The manway was well marked, but there were many muddy steep areas along the path.  In addition, the rhododendron and scrub trees added to the effort required to hike up the hill.

After 0.4 miles, we exited on the Sugarland Mountain trail about 2.5 miles from the AT.

We turned left and climbed the Sugarland Mtn trail up to the Mt Collins Shelter where we ate lunch.

Leaving the shelter we were all pretty cold, so it was good to get moving.  The AT had a few more climbs to warm us up.  The final elevation was about 6000'.  The parking lot was at about 3000'.

Shortly the trail started down before reaching Road Prong which is right next to the Clingmans Dome Road.  Road Prong was steep and rocky and turned into a creek for a while.  At this point, it started raining steadily, so we hustled on down after the creek crossings.

Nice day in the woods with a little adventure.  Good company made it all the better.