Deep Creek odds and ends

Date: 3/19/16
Distance: 19.8

Today my map marking fever took me over to Deep Creek to get a few odds and ends on the Deep Creek Trail.  It would have been much better to find a shuttle partner and hike the entire trail, but that requires planning and organization.  I'm more of a just get up on Saturday morning and go hiking kind of guy.

On map #2, I needed the 4.3 miles from the Loop Trail up to Martins Gap, the short distance from the horse trail to Indian Creek, and the 3.9 miles from 441 to Fork Ridge.  I determined that today was the day to finish up these pieces.

I started the day by driving over to Deep Creek (2:30) and hitting the trail about 9:45.  The low section of Deep Creek is a road, so the hiking is easy.  There is a nice falls about 0.25 miles from the parking lot.

 At one point, a park service vehicle went driving right by me on the trail.  That just didn't feel right.

About 2.25 miles into the hike, the trail has a large loop in it.  I got so distracted by the loop, I missed the trail leaving off to the right.  In the picture below, you can see that that the trail appears to go straight, but the little sign off to the right points in the right direction.  I circled the loop and couldn't figure out where to go for a few minutes, but I finally spotted the sign and took off up the trail.  From this point the trail is more of a typical Smokies single track trail.

 
The trail goes up and over a few hills, but only gains about 600' up to the Martins Gap intersection where I turned around (6 miles in)

 I found a friend on the way back down.  I gave him some space and he eventually moved back off of the trail.

 Deep Creek has lots of water features to keep your eyes entertained.

 I covered the 12 miles in 3:28.  This trail is easy to hike fast.

 I dumped my stuff in the car and took off for the other end of Deep Creek up at 441.  About 1 hour later, I arrived at the other end of Deep Creek.  This end of Deep Creek is very steep.  The  1st mile of the trail is very steep with lots of switchbacks.  The trail is very smooth in this section with hardly any rocks or roots, so I was moving quickly.  It had starting to drizzle a bit, so I left my phone in my pack, so no pictures on this one.

After the 1st mile, the trail drops down into the creek region which is less steep.  This portion of the trail has several sections where the trail and the creek become one.  It was no big deal to hop rock most of it.

I made it to Fork ridge in 1:06, but I had lost nearly 1800'.  The hike back up to the car wasn't going to be near as fast.  I still managed to hike up the hill in 1:27, so I was pretty happy with my total time.  Back on the switchbacks, I saw a very small bear standing in the trail which was a nice way to finish off the trail.