Date: 12/18/15
Distance: 19.5
Today I covered nearly 20 miles in the Cataloochee section of the park. I started the day at Mt Sterling Gap hitting the trail about 8:30. On the drive up the gravel road, I entered the clouds, so it was very foggy when I started the hike.
The 1st 0.5 miles passed quickly even with a small climb. At the Long Bunk trail, I turned left and headed down the mountain. The Long Bunk Trail follows a creek for much of its way down the mountain. Surprisingly there were a couple of short uphill sections on the way down. Near the bottom, you arrive at the Hannah Cemetery.
After 3.7 miles on Long Bunk, the trail terminates at the Little Cataloochee trail which is a gravel road. I turned left to hike the 1 mile section back over to the road.
The 1 mile drops down to the creek and then back up to the road where the trail ends. I turned around and headed for Pretty Hollow which was 5.2 miles away.
About 0.3 miles past where Long Bunk hits Little Cataloochee, sits the Hannah Cabin. It is pretty small but very picturesque.
About 1 mile from Long Bunk is the Little Cataloochee Baptist Church. I really like this little church, mainly because it has a bell that you can ring.
After ringing the bell, I headed on down the trail.
About 1.6 miles from Long Bunk is the Cook Cabin.
From this point, the trail turns into a single track path and it starts climbing about 1000' in all. There are numerous rock walls in this section.
The trail looses all of the 1000' that was gained before it reaches Pretty Hollow. I turned right on Pretty Hollow and walked 0.8 miles up to the Palmer Creek Intersection where I had some lunch and a bit of a rest. After lunch, I continued on the 4 mile section up to Mt Sterling Ridge Trail. Pretty Hollow is a big climb up the mountain in a very pretty hollow. It follows the creek all of the way up the mountain. The 1st several crossings of the creek had bridges, but eventually the bridges run out and rock hopping is required.
At Mount Sterling Ridge, I found the area was covered with ice frozen on the plants, very beautiful.
I turned right on Mt Sterling Ridge and hiked toward the Tower. This section of the trail mostly hugs the ridge of the mountain. It also had a few more climbs and it was cold. At the Mt Sterling Trail intersection (1.4 miles from Pretty Hollow), I had a decision to make about hiking the 0.5 miles out to the tower. I decided I was so close that I should suck it up and hike the 0.5 miles over to the tower. Unfortunately the clouds had moved back in, so the views weren't great.
About the time that I got off of the tower, I noticed that the spitting snow had picked up. As I headed down Mt Sterling for the final 2.8 miles to the car, it steadily got heavier until the leaves on the ground were covered. I also walked through several areas where the trees were covered with ice crystals.
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