Fireflies at Elkmont - Day 2 (Metcalf Bottoms – Little Brier Gap – Little Greenbrier – Roundtop)

Date: 6/6/15
Distance: 11.6

Day 2 started with "odds and ends" breakfast out of my trail food box.  I packed up Stephanie and sent her on her way towards Pigeon Forge, and I met up with the Meetup group for a hike.

We started by driving to the Wye and leaving a few cars before shuttling back to Metcalf bottoms.  The hike started on the Metcalf Bottoms trail which covers 0.7 miles before terminating at the old school house and cemetery.

 We continued the hike on the Little Brier Gap trail which is just a gravel road.  About 1 mile down this trail is the side trail to the Walker Sisters Cabin.  The story of the Walker Sisters is well described on Wikipedia.  The basic idea is that 5 spinster sisters lived off the land well after the park was formed.  The last sister died in the 60's and she was still living off the land at the cabin.

 After backtracking the 0.1 miles to the trail, we continued up the mountain on Little Brier Gap.  There were some rare wildflowers along the way.

Little Brier Gap terminates at Little Greenbrier after covering 1.5 miles.  We took a left on Little Greenbrier and followed it for 1.9 miles until it reached the road that connects Wears Valley to Metcalf Bottoms.  At the road, we turned left and walked 100 yards down the road to the Roundtop Trailhead.  Roundtop is a neat trail as it spends lots of time up on the ridge, so there are some nice views of the valley below.

 I believe this wildflower is pipsissewa.

 This one is spreading pagonia.

 I believe this one is Dolls Eyes.

At the end of the hike, we waded the river at the Wye to get back to the cars for the ride home.  It felt like we climbed more than we actually did.

For dinner, I attended the GSHAG potluck.  There was some really good cowboy stew and grilled corn that made dinner great after a long day on the trail.

For the 2nd night of fireflies, I wandered up to the cemetary up above the K loop of the campground.  The bugs once again did a great job.

Once again I slept sparingly.

Fireflies at Elkmont - Day 1 (Meigs Mountain - Lumber Ridge)

Date: 6/5/15
Distance: 10.8 miles

This weekend was the annual Fireflies at Elkmont camping event for the GSHAG Meetup group.  This was my 1st time to attend.  I arrived about noon on Friday to do a little hiking before my night in the woods.  On this day I hiked solo from Elkmont to Tremont along the Meigs Mountain and Lumber Ridge trails.

I started from the Jakes Creek parking lot about noon on a very sunny and pretty warm day.  Jakes Creek is an old road with a bit of a climb, but at 0.7 miles, Meigs Mountain leaves off to the right.  Meigs Mountain is a classic single track trail.  It was pretty easy hiking with some nice surprises along the way.  The 1st was a very scenic creek crossing.

 A few Flame Azaleas made appearances a bit further.

 A small trail off to the side leads to a cemetery.

Once up on the mountain, there were also a few views.

 I believe this flower is called Goats Rue.

 Meigs Mountain is 6 miles in length.  At that point, I took Lumber Ridge for another 4 miles into Tremont.

Not much climbing was required for this hike, so it was a nice way to spend a Friday Afternoon.  It is getting to be summer and all of the plants are starting to encroach on the trail.

 My awesome wife picked me up at Tremont and we went to Trailhead Restaurant for a nice Trout (me) and Steak (her) dinner.

After Dinner, we headed to Elkmont and retrieved my car and setup camp.  I tried out the Hammock for the 1st time and Stephanie was a trooper spending the night in my tiny backpacking tent.   We hiked up to the Little River Trail to watch the fireflies.  They started doing their thing about 9:30.  It was very cool.  I had imagined that synchronous fireflies meant that they all lit up at the same time.  What actually happens is they all went dark for a long interval, maybe 15 seconds, then they all start blinking like mad for about 30 seconds.

I slept a little in my Hammock.  Probably about the same as in the tent, so maybe it will work.  I don't think I was quite as stiff as when I sleep on the ground.

Finley Cane - Bote Mtn - Lead Cove

Date: 5/30/15
Distance: 7.3 miles
Bears: 1
Year to Date Bears: 2

Today I woke early and took off for Cades Cove about 7:30.  I started the day with a bike ride around the cove before heading down to the Lead Cove Trail parking area to begin my hike about 9:40.

I decided to hike in the clockwise direction, so I started on Finley Cane Trail.  I did take the short 0.1 detour on the spur that goes under the road over to the Crib Gap trail.  I immediately backtracked to Finley Cane for the rest of the hike.

Finley Cane is a really nice nearly flat trail. The 2.8 miles went very quickly.

 The trail terminates at Bote Mountain which immediately turned steeply up the mountain with 750' climb in about 1 mile.  I heard some rustling off to the side of the trail and spotted a black bear running away, so that was exciting.  Bote Mountain is an old road and was pretty rocky for the 1st mile.  After the 1st mile, the trail leveled out nicely.  There were a few flowers and some views as the trail meandered along the ridge.

 The trail went up another 250' before reaching the Lead Cove trail.  I hiked a total of 2.5 miles on Bote Mountain.

Lead Cove gives up the elevation gain over 1.8 miles.  I moved pretty fast on this section as I had a goal of getting back home by 1:00.

Total hiking time was 2:05.