Great Smoky Mountains National Park: Lumber Ridge, Meigs Mountain, Jakes Creek, Panther Creek, Middle Prong Loop

Today's hike was my most ambitious in quite some time. I awoke at 5 am, got dressed, grabbed my pre-packed day pack and hit the road. I stopped for a quick fast food breakfast and entered the boundary of Great Smoky Mountains National Park to discover that the road to my intended destination for the day, the Little River Road, was closed between the Metcalf Bottoms Picnic Area and the Townsend Wye. This just meant I would have to take a short detour out of and back into the park to get to Tremont, where I would start my hike.

My timing was pretty good today. I pulled into the lot at Tremont just as the sun was rising. It was about 7:45 when I took my first step on the Lumber Ridge Trail.

There was a lot of fog on the drive and it was just starting to burn off as I started my 20 mile walk.

The trail started off with a decent climb

with scattered views of the surrounding mountains through the trees.

I saw some mushroom-like fungi on the trail,

something I haven't seen in some time. Yes, spring is in the air! I soon arrived at the Meigs Mountain Trail

and continued on my way towards Elkmont.

This portion of trail passed through some areas that had obviously been lived in at some point. There was an interesting cemetery with lots of headstones.

Only two of the headstones had legible writing on them. One of the two belonged to Polly Huskey.

There were also some crumbling rock walls and chimney remains,

along with the detritus associated with abandoned areas.

At one of the creek crossings I found some rusted metal of some former industrial use.

There were also flowers blooming! Of course there were the requisite daffodils near the former home sites,

but there also a few wildflowers, like hepatica, in bloom.

Because of the copious rain East Tennessee has been seeing lately, the creeks were pretty high.

There was also lots of mud on the trail. The mud made for messy hiking, but it was good for preserving animal tracks.

Soon I found myself at Jakes Creek Trail.

The trail here is actually a gravel road which made for easy hiking.

I found a well-maintained, but unmarked side trail leading off of the right side of Jakes Creek Trail and followed it across Jakes Creek

to Avent Cabin.

I relaxed

and explored Avent Cabin for a while.

The cabin was the studio of Tennessee artist Mayna Avent. From the cabin I made my way back to Jakes Creek Trail for the rest of my ascent up to Jakes Gap.

The gravel road continued on for a short distance past the cabin. The hiking got a little bit more rugged after that, but it was never too bad. I saw an old railroad track on the trail

and before I knew it I was at Jakes Gap.

There is supposedly a "manway" that leads to Blanket Mountains that starts at Jakes Gap, but there was a college group stopped for lunch there and I decided not to bother them by looking for the unofficial trail. Jakes Gap was the highpoint of the hike. From that point on I would be traveling downhill. There were a few crossings of Panther Creek

on the Panther Creek Trail, but nothing too bad. That is, until I reached Lynn Camp Prong.

Lynn Camp Prong was deep, cold, and running fast. I could not find a way to cross where I could guarantee my feet would stay dry, so I took off my socks and shoes and waded across.

My feet were numb by the time I was half way across, but I made it without incident. From this point on all my hiking would be on roads.

The hike on the Middle Prong Trail was fast and easy.

The most time consuming part was the constant stopping to take photographs. First, there was a side trail to an interesting old, rusting car.

Then there were all the cascades on the river.

The Lynn Camp Cascades have to be some of the more impressive waterfalls in the Smokies.

My hike ended with a 3 mile road walk on the Upper Tremont Road

back to the Great Smoky Mountains Institute where I had parked my car. It was a good day hiking on relatively easy trails. however, even with the ease of hiking it was a long day. I'm glad to have been able to do it though!

Beaver Lake Bird Sanctuary

We went to Asheville on a beautiful late winter day today. We ate lunch at Wicked Weed and checked out the Riverside Cemetery (will have to go back again) before heading over to the Beaver Lake Bird Sanctuary on our way home. Unfortunately, we didn't see many birds, but it was a great day to just get out and enjoy nature.

We parked in the parking lot where we found an interesting sign marking the entrance.

We then walked the trail which features sections of boardwalk.

Among the highlights were a massive tree of unknown species

and some really nice views of a partially frozen Beaver Lake.

I think we will have to return to Beaver Lake Bird Sanctuary at some point. Maybe when the migrants are flying through.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park: Huskey Gap, Rough Creek, Sugarland Mountain Loop

It was a tough day of slogging around in the snow, but somebody's got to do it. I made the drive over to the Smokies this morning and drove a short distance up the Newfound Gap Road to the Huskey Gap Trailhead.

I hit the trail a little bit after 8 and made my way through the fairly deep, but powdery snow.

The first 2 miles of the hike were uphill. Every now and then a view opened up out to the surrounding, snowy mountains.

I stopped for a short time to admire a barred owl in a tree

and then continued on my ascent up through frosty rhododendrons

to Huskey Gap. From the gap it was a descent down to the Little River which I had hiked along a few weeks ago. It was starting to warm up a bit and the formerly powdery snow was starting to get wet and stick to my microspikes. I opted to take them off at the junction with the Little River Trail.

I followed the Little River for about 1.7 miles. The river was beautiful as it was lined with snow and snow covered rocks.

At the junction with the Rough Creek Trail

I made a left and started a pretty steep ascent. The trail crosses Rough Creek 3 times.

Unfortunately, during one of the crossings I lost my footing and plunged a leg into the icy cold waters. Luckily I was wearing gaiters, which kept my legs and feet reasonably dry. As I approached the top of the Rough Creek Trail I was getting tired. It's hard work trudging through the snow. I enjoyed the break whenever I reached a short section of trail that the snow did not stick to.

Today's snow was deep enough to be a pain to walk in, but not deep enough for snowshoes. When I finally reached the junction with Sugarland Mountain Trail, I knew the worst of the ascent was over.

Near the junction of the Sugarland Mountain and Rough Creek Trail is a nice view of the Chimneys.

I admired the view for a bit and then made my way back towards the Huskey Gap Trail. There were some limited views through the trees

and a few rocky landmarks

to make the hiking interesting, but by this point I was pretty tired and so I just kept hiking away.

When I finally reached Huskey Gap, it was a quick descent back to the car. It felt so good to walk on a nice firm surface and take off my snow boots which were digging into my heels. Altogether, it was a 14.8 mile hike in snow that was often about 5 inches deep.