Caldwell Fork - Boogerman - McKee Branch

Date: 10/31/15
Distance: 13.2 miles
Bears: 1

Couldn't think of a better day to go hike Boogerman Trail than on Halloween, so I left the house bright and early (6:25) for Cataloochee for a nice day of hiking.  I last did this hike on December 14, 2014, at that time two bridges were out and I had to wade, so I was curious as to how much wading I would do today.

I hit the trail about 8:30 and thankfully the 1st bridge was there.  The first 0.8 miles on Caldwell Fork passed quickly as the trail was smooth.  Unfortunately, the 2nd bridge was missing as before, so I shed the boots and waded in the very cold water.

Just on the other side, the Boogerman Trail leaves off to the left.  Today, I took the turn and did Boogerman before the rest of Caldwell Fork.  Boogerman was in great shape for most of its 4 miles.  It does climb a bit (about 1000') and at the very peak, it is very steep for a few tenths of a mile.

There were still a few colorful trees, but not near as many as last weekend.

 Boogerman is famous for its large trees.

 The last 1/2 mile on Boogerman is a little rocky and steep as it loses most of the elevation that it gained earlier.  There are several nice rock walls near the end of the trail.

Boogerman ends once again on Caldwell Fork.  I turned left and walked the 0.5 miles over to McKee Branch Trail where I once again turned left to hike up the mountain.

McKee is steep!  It gains 1800' in only 2.3 miles.  Both times I've hiked it, it has kicked my butt.  It starts as a ditch, so the trail is full of rocks for the first 1/2.  Eventually, it improves, but is steep the whole way.  After 2.3 miles of struggle, I arrived at the Cataloochee Divide trail at an elevation of 4800'

I then backtracked down McKee back to Caldwell Fork. I turned right to head back toward the car.  This time I bypassed the Boogerman Trail and remained on Caldwell Fork for the 3.2 miles (from McKee) back to the car.

The most interesting feature of Caldwell is the large number of footbridges, many of which are a little suspect.  This is the 1st one which was just past the Boogerman Trail.

Bridge 2 was OK.

 Bridge 3 was a little scary, but it was low.

 Bridge 4 was equally decrepit.

Bridge 5 was just a log.

 Bridge 6 was gone, so I debooted for the 2nd time and did some wading.

Bridge 7 was a lovely large wide bridge.

 Bridge 8 was gone, but I was able to walk across the dead tree across the creek.

Bridge 9 was very high and long.

 Bridge 10 was nice.

Bridge 11 was gone, so more wading.

 Bridge 12 was a little skinny and wobbly.

Bridge 13 was a little busted.

 Bridge 14 was gone.  It was the 1st one past Boogerman, so it was the same one that I waded earlier in the day.

Bridge 15 was the final bridge and I was back at the car.

 I drove down to the Elk fields and spotted a big Elk sitting with his harem before leaving.

 The GPS didn't lock very well today.  I got no lock until I hit Boogerman and then lost it about the time I started up McKee.  It locked again at Cataloochee Divide.  The very steep drop was down McKee.  I was moving pretty fast.

Nice Halloween in the woods and I was home in time to trick or treat!

Low Gap - AT - Mt Cammerer - Lower Mt Cammerer

Date: 10/24/15
Distance 15.9

Today's hike was just spectacular.  The colors in the mountain were better than I can ever remember.  I went with the GSHAG group to Mt. Cammerer on this glorious fall day.  We had a group of 16 (eventually) that shared the beautiful day.

We left the parking area at Cosby Campground on the Low Gap Trail.  Low Gap is a tough climb up the mountain gaining 2000' in only 2.5 miles.  The trail is in good shape but it is steep.  The group spread out a bit on the way up, so we waited for most of the crowd at low gap to get ourselves reorganized.  From Low Gap, we took a left on the AT toward Mt Cammerer.  The AT climbs another 700', but not as steeply as Low Gap.  The hike on the AT gave us hints as to what was coming at the fire tower.  We started getting views of some of the beautiful trees in the valley below.

 After 2.1 miles on the AT and then another 0.6 on the Mt Cammerer Trail, we reached the tower.  The tower views were just great.

 This gorgeous mountain was towards I-40.  It had the most variety of colors.

 The view towards North Carolina had more yellows.  The pic doesn't do it justice.

 After spending about 1 hour at the tower, the group split in half.  Some of the group returned the way we came up while the rest of us (JD, Ahmad, Heather, Sarah, Laura)  headed back to the AT and continued on it toward Lower Mount Cammerer (towards Davenport Gap).  This section of the AT loses lots of elevation very quickly.  It has a large number of steps built into the trail and is steep in places.  It was 2.3 miles to the Lower Mt Cammerer trail intersection.  At that intersection we regrouped and turned left once again onto Lower Mt Cammerer trail.

It turned out that the Lower Mt Cammerer made its way through the very colorful mountain that we observed from Cammerer, so there were many cool trees and even more views along the trail.

 It seemed that every few minutes, we would round a turn in the trail to see another beautiful scene.

 Laura and I went up to the overlook that was 6 miles or so down the trail for a few more photos.

 Lower Mt Cammerer loses the rest of the elevation, but very gradually.  It is 7.4 miles long, but only drops about 1000' over that interval.  The trail is super well maintained.  It seemed that there was hardly a rock or root in the path for most of the hike.  Today was a day to remember in the woods.