Green Camp Gap Manway, Smokies Off-trail, 12-21-02

If I had to pick the trip that launched our passion for off trail hiking the Green Camp Gap manway would likely be my choice. By then Jean and I had finished hiking all the trails in the Smokies. I was working on my biking guide, but we missed the thrill of chasing a big goal, and exploring the Smokies off trail would become a huge one. I had been keeping a boot off the trail, going on a couple of off trail trips every year, mostly with the Smoky Mountains Hiking Club, and was picking up some skills. Early in our off trail days we mostly joined club hikes, or tried to repeat recent club hikes that we might have missed.

Green Camp Gap was one of those missed hikes. The week before we had passed on the hike because of bad weather, but a group had gone out anyway. But we knew the leader and he gave us some good information about the route. We also got some information from Charlie Klabunde, whose route information was always top notch. I was able to enter some waypoints into my old Garmin Etrex that would help to verify our progress. With that knowledge, the fitness we had gained from hiking the 900 milers, and the experience we had gained with the club, we felt ready for the challenge.

I’d worked hard preparing for the trip, doing all the GPS and map work. If we were able to pull this trip off, I felt that a lot of off-trail trips would be within reach for us.

The route started at the Upper Tremont Trailhead. On the far side of the bridge over the Middle Prong, a side trail splits to the right. It was 10 AM. In a few hundred yards is a metal bridge over Thunderhead Prong. Charlie indicated that the metal bridge was relatively new, and had been put in place to support the red wolf introduction program. The experimental reintroduction of red wolves into the park lasted from 1991 to 1998 when the USFW agency cancelled the property due to the low survival rate of pups born in the park.

On the far side of the bridge was the famed Thunderhead Prong RR grade. Our first obstacle was Long Branch (10:19, my notes on times are reassuringly precise). The foot log was in the middle of the creek and covered in ice. On what should have been an easy rock hop of Thunderhead Prong, I dropped one boot in the water. Jean crawled across the log there with no problems. We found the switchback at Sams Creek at one mile easily. We knew another manway extended upstream along Sams from the switchback, but there would be time for that another day. There was a rock hop to cross Shut-In Creek that was harder than Long Branch. We reached it at 10:59. Another switchback at BM 2732’ was obvious. We were clicking off our landmarks at an assuring rate. I was taking GPS waypoints and Jean was taking photos.

We reached the start of the Green Camp Gap manway just past BM 2732’ at the third switchback at 11:17 and at 2.25 miles. The Thunderhead Prong Railroad Grade had been wide and well used to this point. It continued to look good heading further upstream to New World.

We stopped at the junction for lunch, then began to hike east on the manway. It started as a short railroad switchback, then narrowed to trail width. Presumably Green Camp Gap was part of the CCC-era mid-elevation trail system that was abandoned by the park shortly after WWII. The trail was easy to follow to another tough rock hop of upper Shut-in Creek. The trail was briery and more overgrown from Shut-in to a gap at 3154’ which we reached at 12:38. Then it was better walking on the east facing slope to the crossing of Sams Creek, except for a patch of rhodo near the creek. We reached Sams Creek about 1:30 and at about  4.2 miles. The Sams Creek Manway looked well used and was marked by a large rock pile. The crossing was downstream by a well-used trail. We both took our boots off and waded. The crossing was less than knee deep.

Fording Sams Creek 2002.

The east side trail was in much better condition, I described it as “great’. We zipped over Green Camp Gap and reached the Middle Prong Trail near BM 2515’ and the location of an old, abandoned car at about 5.75 miles, all new off trail miles! The Smokies brown book relates a recollection that the car was a Cadillac, owned by a CCC supervisor. When the car broke down, the camp just moved it off the road and out of the way. We had just a short walk back to the Upper Tremont Trailhead to finish at 7.4 miles.

It wasn’t until after our hike that we discovered that the leader’s advice was much less reliable than we had thought. It turns out that his club trip did not complete the manway. They had been unable to ford Sams Creek, and turned back from there to return to Tremont. I don’t know what type of advice would rise to the level of relatable, if news of an impassable creek ford did not. But we learned a valuable lesson, choose reliable sources.

We would hike the Green Camp Gap Manway twice more on 3-7-07 and 2-16-08. By March 2013 Clyde would report that the west side was very overgrown while the east side was still reasonably open. Though we haven’t used the manway much since, the Thunderhead Prong RR Grade remains an important gateway for off trail adventure.

The hike is on the club schedule for 2024, and I hope to be there.

3-4-07, Green Camp with Claudia

This was a last minute substitute as we bailed out of an attempt on the Dry Sluice Gap Manway after seeing how much snow there was in Sevierville.

The Green Camp Gap manway loop.

Cold may have contributed to sparse notes from this trip, and we did not even have a map for the route with us! 

Crossing Thunderhead Prong, 2007

We had a tough first ford over Thunderhead Prong. The were two hog traps before the Green Camp junction.

Testing the hog trap.

The manway was very brushy before reaching Shut-in Branch, but was better beyond. Sams Creek would have been another tough crossing, but luckily Jean found a log that led us across. We found manways up both Sams Ridge and the Green Camp Gap ridge, light snow makes old grades easier to see. We could also spot the manway up Sams Creek, which looked wide enough to be a road.

The Sams Creek crossing.

We also saw tracks on the east side of the manway coming up from the Middle Prong. 

Creel crossing on a log.

We did a lot of clipping on the manway, except in the areas of heaviest overgrowth. We got great pictures around the abandoned car near the Middle Prong Trail junction. Looking at my old map, it appears that I didn’t yet have a complete GPS track for the manway.

Old car near the Middle Prong Trail.

2-16-08, Green Camp with SHMC

My notes for this hike are sparse as well, perhaps because Jean and I were leading a SMHC group of 22. From the photos I can see Keith, Claudia, Dan, Guy Griffin, Bob & BJ Perlack, Carol Anderson, Elizabeth Davis, Ed Fleming, and Andy Zimmerman. 

Hikers along Thunderhead Prong.

I noted that I missed the Sams Creek switchback while absorbed in conversation. Luckily Keith caught my error, its always embarrassing to miss a turn while you are leading. We passed one hog trap on the Thunderhead Prong RR grade. Stream levels must have been down because we had no trouble with either ford of Shut-in Creek.

The west end of the Green Camp Creek manway was flagged. Along the manway we spotted some CCC-built rock walls. The upper Shut-in Creek watershed was briery. Guy Griffin fussed a bit, but the rest of the group took it in stride.

Ed along Sams Creek.

Most of the group were able to ford Sams Creek. On the east side of Sams Creek, the manway was in very good shape. We saw no one off trail, but lots on the trail.

The old car along the Middle Prong.

Smokies, Cataloochee Bike, 12-8-02

Cataloochee was the second of two rides that I decided to write up after Hurricane Helene damaged so much of western North Carolina and extreme eastern Tennessee in September of 2024 (Balsam). Both rides were part of my research for my 2003 guidebook “Backroads Bicycling in the Blue Ridge and Smoky Mountains” (Bike Guide). The nuts and bolts of both rides are included in the book, but some of the experiences I had riding these routes are left out. For the Cataloochee trip, I was also able to add part of the abandoned Hoglen Road, and a short stretch of the well maintained Asbury Trail. 

Elk in Cataloochee Valley

2002 was an incredibly busy year for Jean and I. I was contributing to the second edition of the Knoxville Sierra Club’s “Cherokee National Forest Hiking Guide” and finished up my scouting hikes in the Big Frog and Ocoee areas for that project in May. In June, Jean and I completed our project of hiking all the trails in Great Smoky Mountains National Park together (900 mile finish). We would launch our Smokies off trail hiking adventures with my climb of LeConte via Lowes Creek in June with the Smoky Mountains Hiking Club Lowes Creek), and our solo trip on the Green Camp Gap Manway in December (Green Camp). We managed to still squeeze in some backpacking, including a trip to Cataloochee in October to view the elk bugling, and get some bonus pictures for the book.

Young bear exploring our Cataloochee campsite.

My scouting trips for the bike guide started in July. By December I was still on schedule and nearly done with all the rides. I’d left the Cataloochee ride for near the end, not realizing the danger of having the access roads closed by snow.

The Cataloochee road network is unusual in that Cove Creek Gap Road, the main access to Cataloochee is dirt, but there is an orphaned stretch of paved road in Cataloochee Valley. The paved segment is the remnant of a now abandoned plan to access Cataloochee from I-40 through Hoglen Gap. While the road to Hoglen Gap was paved, the rest of the project was abandoned soon after.

Fog in Cataloochee Valley.

I started my scouting ride at Cove Creek Gap at the park boundary. This minimized my driving, but left a long climb at the end to regain the highpoint of the ride. The book already had several long trips, and I was looking to add a moderate ride in Cataloochee. So, for the book, I moved the start down to the junction at Sal Patch Gap, which made for less climbing, plus eliminated another section of out and back riding. The book ride would follow the gravel road down to Cataloochee Creek, turn south and follow the road all the way to end at the Rough Fork and Big Fork ridge trailheads. Then it would return back past the campground and follow the paved road back to Sal Patch Gap. The 12.7 mile ride would be a loop, with a short side trip. 

The Palmer House.

As with my Balsam Mountain Ride in September I was going old school, using my bike odometer, paper maps, and a notebook. But this time I recorded the loop by GPS. I found the Cataloochee Auto Tour pamphlet to be a handy and informative. It saved me from having to transcribe all the information on the various displays across the valley. Cataloochee was the most settled of the areas that were incorporated into the national park, and much effort was made to preserve the buildings and heritage of those settlements.

From Sal Patch Gap I rode straight across the pavement and down gravel NC 284. The descent was smooth and easy with views of Mt Sterling ahead. After Old NC 284 turned north toward the Tennessee state line at two miles, I kept on the Cataloochee Creek Road which continued to drop toward the creek bottom at a bridge over the creek. That was easy! So far, so good. Next up was the Palmer House, first built in the 1860s and used as a ranger station in the early days of the park. 

Bridge over Cataloochee Creek

Four miles in I reached the paved section of the Cataloochee Creek Road. Here I turned right to continue to start the out and back section on the road along the creek out to its most distant trailheads. The riding was easy and there had been almost no traffic. Next I passed the seasonal Cataloochee Campground, a potential base camp for exploring the valley. I’d pass the “new” ranger station before getting to the end of the pavement at the Palmer Chapel at 6 miles. Just beyond is the Cataloochee Horse Camp and the trailhead for the Pretty Hollow Gap Trail. Pretty Hollow is one of those trial trails for hikers who need to tolerate the heavy horse traffic, and navigate all the droppings left behind by the horses. 

Palmer Barn in Cataloochee.

My comrade Hiram Calwell built the next house on the route in 1906. His is a much more modern building than the cabin style structures usually seen in the park. The gravel road ends at the trailheads for the Big Fork and Rough Creek trails. Unfortunately, it was time to turn around and head back. 

The Hiram Caldwell House in Cataloochee.

The wide meadows along the road back past the Palmer House are now the prime viewing areas for the Cataloochee elk herd. 52 elk were released into Cataloochee Valley in 2000 and 2001. In 2002 as I was writing the book, the release was still considered an experiment to determine the suitability of habitat for the elk. But elk have thrived in the valley and the herd will remain. Viewing the elk, particularly during the fall bugling season, proved so popular that a volunteer group was created to help monitor visitor interactions. Surprisingly, in fall Cataloochee was getting crowded. Relief from the crowds came from an even more surprising event. A few Cataloochee elk proved adventurous enough to explore other park areas. Some settled around the meadows of the Oconaluftee Visitor Center. The lush grasses around the VC proved prime habitat. Despite distracted drivers, the elk have prospered; emerging dutifully at dawn and dusk to graze and be photographed. That October, Jean and I had backpacked the short distance into nearby CS 40 to view photograph the Cataloochee elk.

Cataloochee Elk.

I finished the out and back leg just past the campground at ten miles where I turned off the Cataloochee Creek onto the paved road climbing toward Sal Patch Gap. So far the ride had been all downhill or flat, the surface smooth, and there was almost no traffic. Now was time to pay some dues, I was 900 feet below the Gap.

The climb proved steady and had several good vistas, especially from the overlook near the top. To the west I could see Balsam and Spruce mountains, and to the north was Mount Sterling Ridge. At 12.7 miles I finished the route I would use for the book and was ready for the adventure that I’d planned.

I knew that the paved section of the Cataloochee Road continued past the locked gate to the park boundary at Hoglen Gap. I also knew that the Asbury Trail connected Hoglen Gap to Cove Creek Gap where I had parked my car. Was it possible to ride the road, and then the Asbury Trail back to the car? This would depend on the condition of the Asbury Trail. If the scouts had abandoned their mission to maintain it, it could be impassable even on foot. But if maintenance was good, it might be possible to ride it on a mountain bike. Either way, I’d at least get a look at the paved section to Hoglen Gap. 

Start of Hoglen Gap Road.

The Hoglen Gap Road proved to be in great shape, The wild Smokies had still not reclaimed the unused section of pavement. The road ended just short of a fence at the gap on the park boundary. Here the yellow blazed Asbury Trail came in from the south alongside a collapsed rail fence.

Cataloochee Road junction.

Tentatively, I turned south on the Asbury Trail. To my delight it proved wide, well-marked, and easy to follow. Though it was mostly within the park, it was yellow blazed. There were a number of small blowdowns, but nothing major. Before the trail skirted the park boundary fence I passed a stack of stones that was probably a collapsed chimney. I was a tremendously lucky to be on the trail with it in such good condition. Back in those days finding any ridable single track was a rare treat. Near the end I could see the park road below me, and the trail became a bit rougher. Just shy of Cove Creek Gap was a metal Asbury Trail marker, but there was no Asbury marker at the gap. I assumed that the Asbury Trail continued east on a good dirt road that I learned on a 6-11-06 SMHC trip was on the Hultquist Property. My extra riding only accounted for four more miles. 

Metal marker for teh Asbury Trail.

The Asbury Trail is an historic route across the Appalachians near the Pigeon River. As a hiking trail, it extends along the eastern edge of the Smokies from Mt. Sterling Gap south to Cove Creek Gap. Farther north, the historic route presumably followed current NC 284 to Mt Sterling Village and Waterville. The trail also extends south from the park through the Hultquist property, where Charlie Klabunde had led a SMHC trip in 2006. Though it not an official park trail it is managed via a cooperative agreement between the park and the Pigeon River District, Daniel Boone Council, Boy Scouts of America. The Scouts were responsible for the marking and maintenance of the trail, but I was unable to confirm if that agreement is still in place. The agreement also gives the scouts access to a campsite near the crossing of NC 284 and Cataloochee Creek.

Charlie Klabunde leading SMHC hikers on the Asbury Trail

Jean and I would hike the rest of the Asbury Trail in two segments. On 6-10-06 (the day before our Hultquist trip) we hiked from the crossing at Cataloochee Creek to Cove Creek Gap and back for 5.2 miles roundtrip. That evening we hiked into CS 41 in the Cataloochee valley, then walked back in the valley at dusk to photograph elk. We hiked the northern section of the hiking trail from Cataloochee Creek to Mt Sterling Gap on 7-11-09 with the SMHC as a loop hike with the Long Bunk and Little Cataloochee trails picking up another 3.1 miles of Asbury Trail.

Smoky Mountain Hiking Club in Cataloochee.

The Asbury Trail wasn’t the only “off-trail” bike trip I took in the Smokies. Soon after I moved to Knoxville I was able to ride a section of the abandoned road to the Bunker Hill Fire Tower on the very west end of the park (Bunker Hill). Bunker Hill is now almost too overgrown to hike, but I do not have any current information on the Asbury Trail, or for that matter any of the Cataloochee Valley since Hurricane Helene.