Bus Hike #3

Date: 9/19/15
Distance: 20.8
Bears: 3!

Today brought the 2nd bus hike in as many weekends, so I was up early again and headed for Clingmans Dome Road by 5:45.  We parked at the Noland Divide trail head and hit the trail by 8:00.  The day was very clear and it was just beautiful all day long.  It was a little warmer than last week.

Noland Divide was in great shape as it dropped off the side of the mountain.  Much of the Noland Divide trail was on a ridge after the initial drop. The 3.7 miles passed quickly as we lost about 1800'.

I did spot a medium sized bear jumping out of a tree and quickly running up and over the ridge, so that was exciting.

 The drop in elevation continued as we turned onto Noland Creek.  We covered the 5.1 miles on Noland Creek by 11:00 and took a seat at the picnic tables at Campsite 64.  It had several nice stone picnic tables and was close to the creek.  The elevation had dropped 3500' over the 8.8 miles.

There was a very nice and very new footbridge close to the campsite.

 After a small lunch, we started the climb on Springhouse.  JD, Annie and I all needed Springhouse up to Forney Ridge, so it was a good chance to get it by hiking in and out.  The trail was only 2.8 miles, but climbed 1500'.  There was lots of sweating and some complaining before we reached the Forney Ridge Trail.  We took a short break and headed back the way we came.

On the way down, we saw 2 bear cubs up in the tree.  We watched them and they watched us for about 10 minutes.  We were wishing that we had better cameras.

 Back at Noland Creek, we had a 2nd small lunch at the picnic tables before moving out down the trail.  From here out, the trail is a very gradual gravel road.

 It was 5.1 miles to the lake where we turned around and walked the 1 mile back to the parking lot.

 We made it out about 3:40 and the bus picked up right on time at 4:00.  We got back to the car about 6:00 and I was home by 8:00 with a nice Chinese to-go dinner.