4 days in the Smokies- pic heavy

chiefjason

Vendor and Leather Hack
2A Bourbon Hound 2024
2A Bourbon Hound OG
Vendor
Joined
Dec 18, 2016
Messages
10,690
Location
Longview, NC
Rating - 100%
12   0   0
So I've been planning this trip for @bspitt and a buddy for a while. Started off as helping them plan, then got invited, then basically became head gear guru and guide. lol Ended up with 4 of us heading out for 3 nights/4 days. I choose an area of the park I have always wanted to check out, Big Creek. So I planned a route that would take us completely around the watershed. We parked at Big Creek campground and hiked up to Walnut Bottoms, site 37.

I'll let bspitt post any pics of him or his crew if he wants too


3g5ggI8.jpg


Big Creek

ggvjGJn.jpg


Midnight Hole

9LtMOz4.jpg


Mouse Creek Falls

3TFuxPs.jpg


LsPNPci.jpg



46B8wSv.jpg


Campsite for the night. We got some decent rain Thursday night and everyone came out dry.

t3S0mYk.jpg


Shrimp and Grits for dinner.

EfNXexR.jpg


This is the Avenza map app with the Smokies maps purchased. This app rocks.

gDFZNmx.jpg
 
Day 2 was a beast. We hiked up Low Gap Trail to the Appalachian Trail. Then hiked south to Tri Corner Knob Shelter. Now I know what the AT can be like, but I didn't quite expect it to be nearly all uphill for 9 of the almost 12 miles. I screwed up and stopped my GPS tracking trying to fix something and broke the tracking into two parts. Then there was the rain to start off with up Low Gap. Then the rain and wind on the AT. Then the rain, sleet, snow, thunder, and 50+ MPH winds that developed as we hiked all day. Bspitt wanted an adventure, but I don't think this was what he expected. It was a tough day by anyones standards. Even the thru hikers we encountered were miserable and they had been at it a month already.

Rain on Low Gap Trail.

LnU5Dqm.jpg


Low Gap getting close to the AT.

9bboq4l.jpg


Made it to the AT.

kGwKGKu.jpg


bbNe1uf.jpg


k0JOpk9.jpg


A slight break in the weather.

gPvfkAU.jpg


aAYzTdd.jpg


u2j7VCm.jpg


The top of that mountain will be home on night 3, Mt Sterling.

KL2nQdE.jpg


Weather is back.

QwEIR3x.jpg


Or not.

WJfn6Zu.jpg



FSWZYr1.jpg


Looking into TN.

DWp7JJ9.jpg


Sunset north of Tri Corner Knob shelter.

QEsbtK3.jpg


GPS track of day 2.

T3GVCD1.jpg
 
Last edited:
Day 3 was Tri Corner Knob Shelter to Mt Sterling via Balsam Mtn Trail and Sterling Ridge Trail. A bit longer hike than Day 2 but much less elevation change. Trail is pretty rolling until the decent into Pretty Hollow Gap and the climb up to Mt Sterling. Less time on top of the ridge on these trails. We got some good views but not like the day before.


C8RThew.jpg



AK28rZS.jpg


KqtO56k.jpg


cbsaNjF.jpg


4WmcX3z.jpg


Carolina Spring Beauties were everywhere.

QC9Gg3y.jpg



Getting a little closer to Mt Sterling with every step.

oxOYmxa.jpg


Mt Sterling fire tower.

lhoBgCo.jpg


KJdqh2P.jpg



Looking down on the kitchen.

Zv3RbuS.jpg


Views from the tower.

9WhNzSU.jpg


This is the ridge we hiked in on.

JwsLwKk.jpg


Sunset.

OywWxTs.jpg


Sunrise was a bit too cloudy but worth the climb up.

hlHw78H.jpg


rwXzznk.jpg


nmpuoYA.jpg
 
Last edited:
Day 4 was Mt Sterling to Big Creek via Baxter Creek Trail. 6.1 miles, 4000 foot elevation loss, nearly no uphill. It was rough on the knees. The hiking poles earned their keep on this one.

Got up to catch the sunrise from the tower. A lot of clouds and some rain to the east.

hlHw78H.jpg


rwXzznk.jpg


Hard to convey this in pics, but everything was covered in moss. The top of the ridge just felt ancient.

N0xutIe.jpg


lCoWS4L.jpg


kyWFBd2.jpg


The lower sections were really greening up with tons of flowers blooming.

ZdXaFVw.jpg



The bridge to the car.

EGLuKMN.jpg


rIRbohi.jpg
 
Last edited:
Oh boy the flowers. I'm a wildflower nut. And they were out by the thousands.

Creeping Phlox

ed1seiz.jpg


xOwMoI5.jpg


Trout Lillies

UHbREk7.jpg


Hr6EtOm.jpg


Showy Orchis

xhHMzHg.jpg


Toad Trillium

OhqNLnf.jpg


Jeweled Wake Robin Trillium

lcANdE6.jpg


Cut leaf Toothwort

giBWjB9.jpg


Woodland Stonecrop

VtS06WT.jpg


Wild Geranium

EUpv3ei.jpg


Painted Trillium

rGg5ogV.jpg


Wake Robin Trillium

2Ql8HyJ.jpg


Canadian White Violet

8hbu9uJ.jpg


Mountain Watercress

uuuCjh3.jpg


Star Chickweed

4Nin12J.jpg


Clinton's Lily

Q6PYfRB.jpg
 
Last edited:
Looks like a helluva trip. Thanks for sharing!
 
Awesome pics! Especially the fire tower shots and I liked the moss the next day

Curious how the app worked on airplane mode. Did you have to turn data on to update position? Just wondering how that part of it worked
 
Awesome pics! Especially the fire tower shots and I liked the moss the next day

Curious how the app worked on airplane mode. Did you have to turn data on to update position? Just wondering how that part of it worked

I only ran it in airplane mode believe it or not. It works great. Day 2 B asked me how close we were to the shelter. I told him any closer and we would be in it. About 100 yards laters you could see the roof down the hill. I rarely had signal even on the ridges, ATT. But I expected that. I've used it in Lost Cove and had it loose track of me for a bit though. So it's not fool proof. But it worked great on this trip other than operator error. I reset the track on day 2 to try and get a better read on our speed, so I didn't get a clean track of our distance. Then day 4 I think I hit GPS tracking but didn't hit Start Tracking. I didn't notice till about a mile or more in.

If you don't want to use the tracking feature it will show your position on the map as a blue dot. The Dot is always on your position, it might take a minute for the GPS track to connect to you from the last position opened though.

The biggest issue isn't the app. It's that the GPS distance, App map distance, paper map distance, and signage distance are almost all different. My GPS read over a mile more than any other distance on day 3. And it always seemed to be more than the map distance, not less. No, it could never be less. lol
 
Last edited:
Thanks SO much..Beautiful! I especially like the views from the Tower and the Flower pictures. RS is up around Boone this whole week. It won't be as pretty as where you were. Thanks again. Billy
 
wow....those were some big days! I'll bet y'all slept great. I truly miss backpacking, neither of my boys are into it (yet).
 
wow....those were some big days! I'll bet y'all slept great. I truly miss backpacking, neither of my boys are into it (yet).

I've done bigger solo. 18 miles or so on the Art Loeb from the Bathtubs on Little East Fork Trail to Picklesheimer Fields. And I was 17 years younger then. But those are the 2 biggest days I've done with any kind of group. We left camp about 9 am and rolled into camp about 6 pm both days. Wore slap out.

Back to the boots thread, 3 of us were in shoes. And every thru hiker we ran into was in shoes. B wore boots because he has ankle issues.

It's looking like I'm getting back into it. My oldest daughter wanted to go but the miles, cold, and rain were a no go. Probably going to plan something smaller for my July vacation and take her on her first trip.
 
Last edited:
Those pics finally showed me why I bought the huge ipad. They are awesome. It is also good to know we can have @chiefjason plan a hike and guide us too. Quite a service.
@chiefjason did an amazing job... planning, booking permits, helping with gear list, guiding... his work was invaluable! I cannot thank him enough!

He does need some refresher on map elevation reading though...13 miles with 4600 elevation gain was hard on this old fat guy!
 
@chiefjason did an amazing job... planning, booking permits, helping with gear list, guiding... his work was invaluable! I cannot thank him enough!

He does need some refresher on map elevation reading though...13 miles with 4600 elevation gain was hard on this old fat guy!

Well you are probably an old less fat gut now so it is all good.
 
There are more plant species in the Great Smokey Mountains than all of Europe combined.

I love the Blue Ridge Mountains. If God doesn't live here, he visits often.

Thanks for the pics and vids guys. Good stuff.
 
There are more plant species in the Great Smokey Mountains than all of Europe combined.

I love the Blue Ridge Mountains. If God doesn't live here, he visits often.

Thanks for the pics and vids guys. Good stuff.

I've hiked a lot in the Smokies. But I have never seen wildflowers like this. I'm sure all the rain has helped. Trout lillies, trilliums, and spring beauties by the tens of thousands. There were lots of more common flowers to me I didn't take pics of. We hit this almost perfect.

And yeah, God's country for sure.
 
What? No bears? Them shrimp and grits cooking shoulda brung 'em to ya.

Right in my back yard.
You forget you are surrounded with beauty such as this when you live here.
A short wilderness camping excursion usually brings it back in focus. I am overdue for one, but I can fix that pretty easily.
But I take a fly rod with me when I go in order to supplement meals.
Glad you guys had a good time.
 
What? No bears? Them shrimp and grits cooking shoulda brung 'em to ya.

Right in my back yard.
You forget you are surrounded with beauty such as this when you live here.
A short wilderness camping excursion usually brings it back in focus. I am overdue for one, but I can fix that pretty easily.
But I take a fly rod with me when I go in order to supplement meals.
Glad you guys had a good time.


The lack of critters was disappointing. Particularly the larger ones. We cut 2 separate fresh bear tracks the first morning. Cut what looked like and elk track and either a coyote or dog on trails. Saw some boomers, red squirrels, at the shelter. Lot so of hog sign between Laurel Gap Shelter and Pretty Hollow Gap.

I figured with the bears waking up and getting more mobile we might see some. I'm sure they were around. Probably too high for a lot of deer or elk, not much to eat up there yet.

I wanted to take the fly rod but didn't want to carry it for 2 days on the ridge. Man that stream looked good up around 37.
 
The lack of critters was disappointing. Particularly the larger ones. We cut 2 separate fresh bear tracks the first morning. Cut what looked like and elk track and either a coyote or dog on trails. Saw some boomers, red squirrels, at the shelter. Lot so of hog sign between Laurel Gap Shelter and Pretty Hollow Gap.

I figured with the bears waking up and getting more mobile we might see some. I'm sure they were around. Probably too high for a lot of deer or elk, not much to eat up there yet.

I wanted to take the fly rod but didn't want to carry it for 2 days on the ridge. Man that stream looked good up around 37.
That is a good stream.
Get yourself one of those three piece jobs to carry on the trail. You won't even realize you are humping it.
I'll have the bears awake next time you come, just let me know so I can have them ready.
 
That is a good stream.
Get yourself one of those three piece jobs to carry on the trail. You won't even realize you are humping it.
I'll have the bears awake next time you come, just let me know so I can have them ready.

I have a 4 pc 8" 4wt and a 3 piece 6'6" 2 wt. I've got the rods. But was pushing 45lbs fully loaded and was not going to hump any extra weight onto and off that ridge.
 
I have a 4 pc 8" 4wt and a 3 piece 6'6" 2 wt. I've got the rods. But was pushing 45lbs fully loaded and was not going to hump any extra weight onto and off that ridge.
Throw out the Twinkies and take the 2wt.
 
Throw out the Twinkies and take the 2wt.

And the reel, and the case, and the flies, and, and. Don't get me wrong, I love backcountry fishing. But it's been so long since I've backpacked I wasn't carrying anything I didn't need almost every day. It would be well worth a couple days in 37 to explore though.

As it stands I carried an extra shirt and underwear, extra pack of gatorade, didn't use 2 scoops of protein powder, and some safety gear that I would not leave behind anyway. Used about everything else.
 
Man, oh man. Making me want to get back up there now. It has been about four years and 50 pounds since I last did the Smokies. I need to rectify both situations.
 
Back
Top Bottom