Backyard Fun in the Snow!

We got about 6 inches of snow last night.

It's the most snow we've seen in Greeneville and Noelle and I decided we needed to get Sierra dressed and outside to enjoy it.

Sierra seemed a bit tired and overwhelmed, but I think she did enjoy walking in and looking at the snow.

I got the ol' sand sledding disc out as well.

We used it for a few short runs that started amongst the trees in the back of the yard.

Then Noelle built a snowman. Sierra thought he looked funny and laughed at him.

He probably won't be here after tomorrow though, as temperatures are supposed to warm up. Next week they are predicting highs in the mid-60s! This snow will be just a distant memory!

Great Smoky Mountains National Park: Mount LeConte via the Boulevard Trail

It's hard to believe that we've been in eastern Tennessee for over 10 months now, and still have not visited Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Today I put an end to our absence at America's most popular national park. Sierra woke up at 4:40 this morning and I could not get back to sleep. Instead I grabbed the pack I had packed last night and got in the car for the drive north on US 321 to Gatlinburg and into the Smokies.

Once I entered the park, the drive up to Newfound Gap was beautiful. The lower elevations offering views of cascading streams and winter's bare trees. The upper elevations offered long reaching mountain views and frost encrusted trees. I parked at Newfound Gap, used the restroom and then hit the Applachian Trail headed north,

my first time on this section of the AT in nearly 14 years.

While the sky was mostly overcast, the cloud deck on the Tennessee side was high. On the North Carolina side, however, I was above a the clouds which made for some interesting views.

The sun even came out for a short time illuminating the frosty trail.

Luckily I had brought my microspikes for the hike. I would certainly need them. I hiked nearly a mile without them, but decided to put them on when I reached a really icy section of trail.

I would be leaving them on for most of the rest of the hike. I continued to follow the icy Appalachian Trail for about 2.7 miles and the intersection with the Boulevard Trail.

Here I made a left turn and soon a right to follow the trail that leads up to the Jumpoff and, more importantly, the summit of Mount Kephart. Mount Kephart is one of the South Beyond 6,000 peaks and so a major destination for peak baggers like me. I bypassed the summit of Kephart at first and headed over to the Jumpoff to check out the view. It was a stunning one.

The trees were frost covered

while clouds clung to one side of the peaks, seemingly held in place by an invisible wall. After enjoying the view for a short time I headed back towards the summit of Kephart for the obligatory summit photo.

Then it back to the Boulevard Trail for the traverse over to Mount LeConte.

I was a bit worried about the Boulevard Trail as I had read that there was lot of ups and downs. This turned out to be untrue. It was a pretty good descent from Kephart,

but then it was pretty much a long gentle ascent to Mount LeConte. The trail offered a few good overlooks of the surrounding mountain scenery,

but as I ascended higher and higher as I approached the summit, I was enveloped by clouds. Still, it was enjoyable walking amongst the healthy stands of spruces and firs.

Before I knew it I was at the summit cairn for Mount LeConte. It seemed smaller than I had remembered it from my last time there. I took a photo at the cairn

and then continued on to the Mount LeConte Shelter to eat lunch.

It was a cold, foggy, windy lunch spot. I ate quickly, but still got quite chilled.

I had to get moving again. The descent went well, though going downhill on the ice,

I had to be more cautious than on the ascent. There was an interesting section of trail which looked like the scene of a landslide. There was little vegetation and lots of exposed rock. A cable had been set into the rock to use as a handhold. With the ice, I took advantage of the cable.

I made it back to the Applachian Trail with no problem. The going on the AT was mostly downhill and went pretty quick. I did see something I had missed on the way up. It was an animal trap of some type.

I wonder if it is used to trap the feral hogs that have become such a problem in the southern Appalachians? After inspecting the animal trap, I started moving again back to Newfound Gap. The microspikes were starting to hurt the bottoms of my feet a bit, and so I took them off. Taking them off was a mistake though, as there were still a few very icy sections left to traverse. Eventually I ended up putting them back on until I only about about .5 mile left. The last half-mile was ice-free, but muddy and I made it back to the car in no time at all. I was tired and sore, but it felt good to get another peak under my belt. It was about a 16 mile hike and one of the more interesting hikes I've done since we've been in Tennessee.

Cherokee National Forest: Iron Furnace Trail

I had originally wanted to hike the trail up to the Pinnacle Fire Tower on Buffalo Mountain today, but drizzle and a forecast of snow showers led me to believe I wouldn't get any views from the tower and I decided to leave that hike for a clearer day. Instead I made the drive over to Clark's Creek for a hike on the Iron Furnace Trail. I started my hike at the wide gravel parking area near the first road crossing of Clark's Creek.

I crossed the creek on the bridge and found the old Clarksville Iron Furnace.

There used to be a historic marker on TN-107 that explained the history of the furnace. It's either been stolen or was removed for refurbishing. Here is a link to an image of it.  I explored the furnace a bit and then made my way over to the Iron Furnace Trail.

Immediately I found a sign declaring that the trail was closed.

The sign went on to read that foot traffic is acceptable. That makes the trail "not closed" doesn't it? Perhaps it should have read "Closed to Horse Traffic". Anyway as I made my way up the trail I immediately found conditions very icy.

A spring is located just off to the side of the trail and flows onto the trail. With the recent cold temperatures the water froze into some thick, solid ice. Luckily I had brought my microspikes and I took them out of my pack and put them on for the first time since my hike into the Grand Canyon about a year ago.

While this was the only section of trail where the microspikes were absolutely necessary, I decided to keep them on to make traversing the mud and slippery leaves easier. The trail followed the creek bed for a short distance and then became a well-defined old road. This road was apparently the route used by the furnace operators to transport resources to the furnace from nearby Bumpas Cove. While the road was well-defined, it was a bit difficult to traverse due to the many trees that had fallen over the trail.

The tree mortality in the area is likely due to a forest fire that happened here back in 2007.

The trail climbed to a ridge and followed it for a bit, offering nice views of the snow covered peaks in the higher elevations.

Soon after reaching the ridge the trail came to a gap on Embreeville Mountain where there is an old bearing tree.

The old road continued down the mountain into Bumpas Cove, but according to my map the land on the other side was private (and also a highly contaminated superfund site). I opted to turn around at this point, but first I checked another road heading up the ridge at the gap. It led to the top of a small peak and there were lots of shallow pits dug into the mountain here. I'm guessing these pits were used in charcoal production for the furnace, but I may be wrong.

Soon I was headed back down the trail to the car. The downhill hike was fast, and before I knew it I was back to the car and on my way home.

Skiing Roan Mountain

This year's birthday present from Noelle was a day of Nordic skiing up on Roan Mountain. Up until this week, I was afraid I would never get favorable conditions for skiing up there, but the little bit of snow we got in Greeneville the other day added up (supposedly) to 8 inches of snow up on Roan Mountain. This morning I packed up my boots, skis, and winter clothing and made the drive through Erwin and the Town of Roan Mountain up to Carver's Gap where I would start my ski journey.

I was able to clip into my broken bindings relatively quickly and soon started an ascent on the road that climbs up to the Rhododendron Gardens. Conditions were worrisome at first. A strong wind had blown the snow off of the road in spots and in other areas the snow was really more ice than snow.

Still, I had driven for about an hour and half. I would make things work. Luckily as I climbed, the bare spots got less frequent. Also, the occasional view opened up looking east into the Fraser Fir Christmas Tree farms of North Carolina.

After a good climb, I passed the fee collection booth and decided to get off the road and try skiing the Cloudland Trail for a bit.

Conditions on the trail were okay. Because there was thick vegetation lining the trail, the wind did not blow the snow off the trail, but there were a few rocks sticking up out of the snow here and there. After a short time on the trail I opted to get back on the road for a bit. By this time I was thirsty and hungry. It was quite windy and so I skied into a nice sheltered area for a snack break. The snow in the sheltered area hung on the branches of the spruces and firs creating a real winter wonderland.

For just a second I could imagine I was in Colorado or Minnesota, and not in the southeast.

After my snack, I decided it was time to head back to the car. A flurry had turned into near blizzard conditions by this time and besides, having not skied in about 2 years, I just really don't have my ski legs anymore.

It was an easy downhill back to the car. On my way down I saw some other skiers out enjoying the fine winter weather. I arrived back at Carver's Gap

and from there it was treacherous drive to Elizabethon, through Johnson City and over to Greeneville. We had enough snow at home that my car wouldn't make it up the incline of our driveway! A good day though.

Appomattox Court House National Historical Park: History Trail

When Noelle, Sierra and I visited this park back in July we realized that there is a lot more to this park that we wanted to explore. Since I would be headed back to Greeneville and since it was only Parker and myself I decided to stop by again to hike around a bit and break up our drive. When we arrived I headed to the visitor center, but it was closed due to the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday so we headed back to the trailhead for the History Trail where we began our walk.

The trail started off with a short walk in the woods with a stop at the headquarters of Robert E. Lee.
There is nothing there other than a plaque to mark the spot where the Confederates camped.

From the headquarters site I headed over to the Sweeney Prizery which is a tobacco packing house.

From the prizery it was a descent down to the Appomattox River which the trail then followed for a short distance.

By the river there were quite a few birds flitting around, including some brilliant red male cardinals.

After paralleling the river for a short distance, the trail ascended quite steeply. This ascent was not an issue for me, but I could tell that Parker was not enjoying it. After we crested the hill the trail flattened out and then descended. We headed down to a road crossing and on the other side of the road was a sign marking the spot where George Armstrong Custer received the flag of truce.

At this point, because Parker had been having a difficult time on the hill, I decided to return to the car via the road.

The road walk turned out to be quite interesting. We passed a small picnic area with an interesting cannon.

We then took a short side trail to a small cemetery where we found the grave of Joel Sweeney.

Joel Sweeney is not someone I had ever heard of before, but he is apparently the person who popularized the banjo. From the cemetery we passed the site where Lee rested under an apple tree while waiting for the return of the flag of truce.

After that it was a short walk along the road back to the car. We did pass an interesting house,

but there was no sign indicating who owned it or if it played any role in ending of the Civil War.