Route: Up Jeep Road and descent on Spicewood, Run 11 miles, 3 hours, Solo
Like
so many others I had first heard of Frozen Head SP via reading about the
Barkley Marathons. Even when I lived in South Dakota, I enjoyed the annual Barkley
race report in Ultrarunning, describing the misadventures of this unique event.
When I moved to Knoxville in 1993, it still took me a good five months to make
it out to Frozen Head. After the move, I had first splurged on the regional
state highpoints, then branched out to the Smokies and Joyce Kilmer Wilderness.
By midsummer of that year, I was well into my training cycle, preparing for the
50 mile Mountain Masochist Ultra, and for a weeklong backpacking trip in the
Wind Rivers where we hoped to climb Gannett Peak.
Most of my long training runs were in the Smokies, and I favored the east side of the park near Cosby as it as closest to my new apartment near Mascot. The long weekend runs were extra important for Mtn. Masochist, since I wasn’t adapting well to the constant 90+, high humidity weather that plagued Knoxville that summer. I’m not sure what caused me to finally give Frozen Head a try, but here is just a lightly edited version of my original notes.
The
drive to Frozen Head from Mascot via I-40 and TN 62 took about 75 minutes, not
much longer than the drive to Cosby in the Smokies. I ran the entire Lookout Tower
Road (except for the section from Tub Springs down to TN 62). Until the second
junction with Trail 12 (Bird Mtn.) at 40 minutes it is a steady climb, beyond
that point the trail rolls along the ridge. I saw one party near the summit.
There were great views from the summit over the eastern escarpment of the
Cumberland Plateau, I can't yet bring myself to call them the Cumberland
Mountains, although Frozen Head is a respectable 3,324'. The tower catches a nice cool breeze, so I
stayed for a while to cool and dry myself off.
Trail
8 (Chimney Top) to the junction with Trail 7 (Spicewood) is an old road heavily
grassed over, but easy running. Beyond the Spicewood junction it is very
overgrown with an abundance of nettles and thorn bushes. I went about one half mile down it, then
turned around because I couldn't take the pain anymore. The thorns were rough, but the nettles itched
so badly that I could hardly think straight. I wonder when was the last time
that I had abandoned a trail? After the
aborted start I headed down Trail 7, which wasn't much better. Lower down the
trail was in good shape, but the upper part was thickly nettled, and washed
away in a few spots. It didn't look like
it has been maintained for a while, and was becoming steeply side hilled. A few short sections were in good shape, but
I couldn't run until I reached the valley along Judge Branch.
I stopped by the VC and told the volunteer about the trail conditions. Apparently, the two person staff doesn't do trail work, but does have access to a state parks trail crew. This is an area that appears to need an adopt a trail program badly (I’ve since done a couple of trail work trips a year in the park since their volunteer crew started). Apparently the North and South Old Mac trails are the most commonly used (Yes!) and should provide nettle free hiking. The tower access road is open to mountain bikes, and would be a good ride with a killer climb and low technical difficulty (I’ve since mountain biked the tower road twice).
I
assume on this first hike I was what is now using my oldest and most mangled
copy of the USGS topo-based map of the FHSP trails. The map in those days had
red lines for park trails in many places that have them no longer such as the
Beech Fork and Kelly Mountain. The North
Boundary Trail was also on the map then, but as Barkley legend had it,
with no maintenance since the 1960s. At this time, I was aware of the names of
some of Barkley’s signature features, but had no way to know where these places
were. I had an interest in, but no plan, for the race, and I would be several
years before I’d seriously start leaning about the race.
My
description of this first run in the park doesn’t bode well for a lot of repeat
visits. But I would continue to return to the park, including twice when I was
still using the TN Notes file to record my hike and run notes digitally. Since
those notes are easy to transfer to MS Word, I’ve appended those notes to this
file also.
For my next visit to FHSP I got smart and waited until winter. Again, this was a training run, but this time with no major event ahead on my calendar. I always like to try new trail, so I’d expect my next few visits to use different routes. My second trip would use the two trails destined to become my favorites in the park, North Old Mac for its gentle backpackable grade on the climbs, and the smooth cushy downhill running surface, and Bird Mountain for its raw physicality as the most important hill climbing trainer in the park. Again, here’s a lightly edited version of my TN Notes record.
1994,
1-29, Frozen Head SP 2, Bird Mountain & North Old Mac Loop
~12 miles, 2:56:20, Solo
I
ran the trail 12-1-4 loop (Bird-Jeep-North Old Mac). I ran almost all the way up Trail 12 but quit
with only two switchbacks to go because it got very steep (this is where there
is now a signpost at the spot where the north boundary trail now continues
north to the Cumberland Trail junction. This steep section was added when TN
State Parks received the property from Morgan Forest and decided not to
maintain the North Boundary Trail). The
trail 13 and third trail 12 junctions were unmarked, so I couldn't run anything
longer (I assume this means that I couldn’t have found my way out on the North
Boundary Trail, even if I’d wanted to run it). I went to the Lookout Tower and
also did the side trail #15 to Panther Gap Rock House. I ran all but about a
mile of the route, the footing was good throughout. I saw one group and one solo hiker.
A great day to run temperatures about freezing, but it was too overcast to get any views. Most of the trees on the ridgetops were coated with rime ice, it was like running through a fairy land. Quite different than the heat I had on my last trip here.
Bird Mountain Trail would become one of my most important training routes for the Barkley. Later that spring I’d meet Jean and by that summer we were hiking together. She had also made several prior trips to Frozen Head before we took our first trip there together. Here is a lightly edited version of that trip’s notes.
11-13-94,
Frozen Head SP, with Jean
North
and South Old Mac Trails Loop, about 8 miles
We started up trail 5 (South Old Mac) from the Visitor Center so that I could get at least one new trail. From the VC you start with an annoying little climb over a ridge (on a section of Chimney Tops Trail that has now been abandoned) before reaching the feeder trail. The rest of the hike is an unremarkable grind to the summit ridge. We ended up turning right onto CTT at the 5-8 junction as the map shows, when really there is a very short left turn to reach the junction with Trail 1 (at Tub Springs). We headed down the ridge till we knew we were going the wrong way, and ended up with a steep bushwhack (this was back when it was OK to hike off trail in the park) up to the tower road. We hung out in the tower taking photos of Jean, the tower, and some of the strip mining just beyond the park boundary. Jean had never been to the tower before on a clear day, so she really enjoyed it. We headed back on Trail 4 (North Old Mac) since we had gotten a late start. Jean walked like hell, and we did trail 4 at over 3 mph. Frozen Head seemed popular, we saw about 10 other parties on the hike including at least two groups of backpackers. This could be a place for an easy backpack trip.
Jean at Frozen Head Tower November 1994.
