Rich Mtn - Indian Grave Gap

Date: 4/25/15
Distance: 8.4
Bears: 1

Today the forecast was poor, so I wasn't expecting to hike.  However, when I got up the big rain looked to be moving out with more coming in the afternoon, so I raced over to Rich Mtn Road to get a few miles.

The Rich Mtn trail starts about 50 yards beyond the one way sign on the road.  It begins with a climb up the mountain that warmed me up quickly.  There were also a good number of wildflowers on this section and really throughout the trail.

There were also a few nice views.

 After 2.3 miles, the trail hits Indian Grave Gap.  At this intersection, I turned right and followed Indian Grave Gap Trail.  It is an old road that runs along the ridge, loosing a fair amount of elevation as it goes.

 About 0.8 miles down the trail, the Rich Mtn Loop trail leaves off to the left.  I stayed on Indian Grave Gap.  This is where I saw a bear.  He was about 50 yards away and was in a hurry crossing the trail.

Along this section, there is an area where many trees were down.  I presume they were knocked over by the tornadoes a few years ago, but I don't really know.  The sun beat down and heated me up.

 It did open things up so that Cades Cove was visible.

 The trail ended at the Rich Mountain Road.

 I turned around and backtracked to the car.

 I did take a few more flower pictures along the way.

The climb up to Indian Grave was about 1500'.  About 1000' are lost on the way to the road, so it was a pretty good workout with a 2500' total climb.

West Prong - Bote Mountain

Date: 4/22/15
Distance: 8.4

One of the nice things about finishing the map is that there are so many hikes that I can go do now that I would have avoided previously as they wouldn't give me new miles.  Now that I'm need everything on the 2nd map, I have many options.  Today, I left work and drove straight to Tremont for a few miles.  I parked at the West Prong Trailhead and took off up the trail.

I passed several groups of kids that were probably staying at Tremont this week during the first 1/2 mile, but after that I was alone except for one group of horsemen.  West Prong leaves Tremont and climbs up and over a ridge before dropping back down to a creek at campsite 18.

The first mile or so had many wild iris flowers.

 As I made my way up to the ridge, the Yellow Trillium made an appearance.

 At 2.7 miles, the West Prong Trail comes to an end and there is a nice view waiting.

I headed up Bote Mountain to Finley Cane (0.3 mi) where I turned around and hiked back to West Prong.  At West Prong, I continued on Bote Mountain to the Laurel Creek Rd (1.2mi).  At the road, I backtracked once again taking Bote Mountain and the West Prong back to the car.

Bote Mountain is an old road and has a poor reputation, but this section of the trail is in good shape and is pretty pleasant as it follows a creek up the mountain.

Really nice way to spend an evening.

Whiteoak Sinks

Date: 4/17/2015
Distance: ~11 miles

Today I hiked with the GSHAG group on a wildflower hike to Whiteoak Sinks.  This was my 1st visit to the sinks.  JD was an awesome leader.  We left cars at the Townsend Wye and shuttled up to Schoolhouse Gap trail to start the hike.

Schoolhouse was a pleasant walk in the woods up to the Turkeypen trail where the flowers started making their appearance.  The 1st star was the yellow lady slipper which is apparently very rare.

 The more seasoned wildflower hunters went ballistic over it.

Just beyond the Turkeypen trail we turned into Whiteoak Sinks and fortunately ran across Bill Jacks who was very knowledgeable about the Sinks area and helped us to find a few beauties.  Much of the Sinks was off limits to protect the bat population, so we couldn't go to the waterfall, but there were still many wildflowers to see.

I believe this one is the brown jug.  You can see the small jug near the bottom of the plant.   

 I gave up trying to remember most of the flowers, so pictures will have to do.

 These are Trillium and Bishops Caps.

 I believe this is phlox.

 Yellow Trillium

Blue Bells I think

We backtracked out of the Sinks and then turned left on Schoolhouse Gap.  I hiked it to the end (at the cabin) and then turned back 0.2 miles to Chestnut Ridge Trail.  We took it to the car.  It had lots of flowers on it as well.

 Pink Lady Slipper

 Back at the car, I walked across the street for a few photos of the creek.

Quite a nice day in the woods.