Smokies, Cane Creek-Beard Cane Old Boundary Trail, 2-9-02

In 2002 Jean and I were fully consumed with our quest to complete all the trails in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (aka the 900 miles). The previous weekend with  Steven we had hiked the Ace Gap Trail from Rich Mountain Gap out to its western end at the junction with the Beard Cane Trail for a 12.4 mile out and back hike. Anticipating the need to hike the Beard Cane Trail next, we also hiked down Beard Cane to Campsite 3, in order to shorten that trip. But once we were home and looking at our map, the dead end of the adjacent Cane Creek Trail stuck out like a sore thumb.

It seemed likely the Cane Creek Trail could not simply end at the park boundary as shown, and that there should be a way to connect that “dead end” to the Beard Cane Trail along the park boundary. After all there was a hiking trail along the park boundary all the way from Beard Cane east to Sugarlands. Luckily, we knew experienced off trail hikers through the SMHC and asked them about the boundary.

Mike H responded with detailed and accurate info on the boundary. It seemed that we would be able to make a loop hike by dropping down the Gold Mine Trail, heading up Beard Cane Trail to the Ace Gap junction, and then taking the old trail to Cane Creek to complete the loop. We had already hiked Cane Creek Trail for our map so this would not save us any miles in that effort, but it would be a much more fun way to complete the Beard Cane Trail. I took field notes on the hike, but we have no scanned pictures from the trip.

Though Mike’s trail directions were good, we’d forgotten to ask about the trailhead. We were using the brown book to find the unofficial Gold Mine Trailhead in the Top of the World community for the first time. We parked where the book recommended, then walked past the trailhead, and had to backtrack to find it. Not an auspicious start!

But once on the trail it was an easy walk down Gold Mine Trail to Cooper Road Trail and onto Beard Cane. 

2002 Boundary Manway.

Beard Cane was a fine trail north to Campsite 11. Much of this trail was later destroyed by a straight-line windstorm called a derecho on July 5, 2012. The storm had winds up to 70 mph and killed two people in the park. The impenetrable wall of blowdowns still has the campsite closed as of 2023. It was a nice, small campsite by a small stream. North of the campsite the trail makes 20-odd crossings of Beard Cane in the manner of those old trails built for railroad engines that crossed on long rotted out bridges. Eventually Jean and I both had wet feet, but that was no problem as we both had wool socks and sneakers, anticipating a wet trip. Sections of the old railroad grade were visible as we approached Campsite 3. Jean found the campsite scrubby and uninviting, and it still remains wet and unappealing today (2024).

Campsite 3 marked our completion of all the park trails in Tennessee! Though we didn’t know it at the time, the Tennessee finish would propel us into the off trail world, just as our completion of all the 900 miles of trail in the park would fully ignite our off trail hiking obsession in the Smokies. From CS 3 we climbed up to the Ace Gap junction, but failed to find an M&M pack that we had mistakenly left there the weekend before. We met a group of five hikers. One was familiar with both Top of the World and Millers Cove. That hiker was skeptical that we could hike to Top of the World, but he had the old CCC trail to the west mixed up with a horse trail leading north.

Now it was time to test our route following skills and Mike’s directions. Luckily for us, the old manway was readily apparent. Much of this area north of the park is now owned by Blackberry Farms. I don’t know if they owned the property in 2002, but someone had been keeping the trail open. In ten minutes, we reached a sign for a horse trail heading north. Horses were using the trail to this point. In 40 minutes, there was a “Y” to the right and orange marker with hiker on it where the Boundary Trail split to the north. These trails are consistent with a 2014-era map of the Blackberry Farm hiking trails, which also shows two other trails leading north from the Beard Cane-Ace Gap junction, and a section of Boundary Trail leading north at the horse trail junction. Interestingly, the map shows our route to this point as being in the park.

Through the fog of time things get confusing past this junction. My notes state we turned left and indicate a junction within earshot of the creek, and an ankle deep ford of Hesse Creek. (I may at first have had a section of the park boundary mis-mapped as the Boundary Trail). We went straight across the creek (Maybe an unnamed branch, not Hesse Creek) and then encountered NPS property markers. Next we crossed a mid-calf deep creek, probably Hesse, and came to a wooden swinging bridge labelled “Labert Millenium”. The bridge had a sign stating, “Boundary Trail 0.3, Beard Cane 3.5, Cane Creek Buchanan Cemetery 1.7”. The wooden bridge had been recently rebuilt. Mike had mentioned it in his notes, but only as an option to avoid the ford of Hesse Creek.

From the bridge it was an easy left turn to walk south alongside Cane Creek which we got to in 1:40. There was a crossing of Cane Creek using a rope hand line. We saw two other hikers here. We soon passed an old, abandoned truck, and then came to the park boundary. From that point it was all on familiar trail on Cane Creek, Cooper Road, and the Goldmine Trail back to the car to finish the 15.6 mile hike. My Topo! software shows a total of about 3.5 miles of manway to make the connection.