Since
our first trip to Defeat Ridge served as a scouting trip for our traverse over
the “Cross Trail”, I am combining these two trips into a single report. Brief
notes on a 11-25-06 repeat trip up Defeat Ridge, and a 11-3-13 hike to New
World are also included.
2-27-05
We’d
had our eye on the Defeat Ridge manway and the Cross Trail since we had heard
about them from some 900 milers (Chris H?) who had hiked the manways on the
group’s then annual hike. How could one resist names like Thunderhead Prong, New
World, and Defeat Ridge? Access for this area is via the Thunderhead Prong RR
grade, an abandoned route that extends from the upper Tremont Trailhead to New
World alongside the Thunderhead Prong of the Middle Prong of the Pigeon River. I’ll
use the term “Defeat Ridge manway” for the old CCC trail that extends three
miles down the ridge from the top of Thunderhead Mountain, then drops another
mile down the old Thunderhead Prong RR grade. I’ll use “Cross Trail” for the
old CCC trail that connects the Bote Mountain Trail with the Defeat Ridge
manway by contouring at around 3750’, even though that route is long past being
considered a trail.
Fall on the Middle Prong 2013.
Previously,
we had scouted the west end of the Cross Trail near the Anthony Creek/Bote
Mountain junction, and found it to be in good shape. We thought we’d take a
trip up the east side approach and see what the other end of the manway looked
like.
Middle Prong Trail Bridge 2013.
From
the Upper Tremont Trailhead, we found easy going along the old railroad grade
to the first crossing of Thunderhead Prong. The foot log was gone, but we had
an easy wade. We continued to follow the RR grade to the junction with the
Green Camp Gap manway which we had hiked in 2002. Beyond the junction was new
to us. The wide RR grade continued alongside Thunderhead Prong. We saw many
artifacts and several boar traps in the lower part of the valley, which looked like
a prime location for spring wildflowers.
Pam and Ed at a boar trap 2013.
The
manway got harder to follow as it approached the second crossing of Thunderhead
Prong at New World. There was a split where the main grade appeared to go left,
then a second split. We went left at the second split and found thick blowdowns
and an indistinct grade. This was likely the site of a CCC or railroad camp. I
was using my GPS, but couldn’t find a way through the rhodo to get back to the
creek. It turns out if we had stayed right at the 2nd indistinct
turn we would have saved 30-45 minutes of rhodo bashing. We were not the first
to make that mistake though. In the greenery we found an index card and
topozone printout from 2-15-05.
When
we did get back on the trail, we found the surprise of the trip, a huge log spanning
the entire creek. It was the remains of an old bridge, still studded with heavy
nails, and probably at one time had a handrail. We butt scooted across, happy
to be keeping our feet dry. On the far side was the start of the famed Defeat
Ridge manway, which would lead to a junction with the Cross Trail, and then up
to the summit of Thunderhead Mountain. This trail was CCC built, likely
abandoned not long after WWII as the NPS lacked the people power to maintain
all the CCC-built trails.
Crossing the old bridge over Thunderhead Prong.
The
foot path was still easy to follow as it climbed steadily to the crest of
Defeat Ridge. We then followed the manway about ¾ of a mile south around
Chimney Rocks. Here there was a distinct three way junction with the Defeat
Ridge manway heading south about two miles to the top of Thunderhead Mountain,
and the Cross Trail continuing west for a burly five miles to the Bote Mountain
Trail. By then we were out of time, and knew rain was in the forecast, so we
headed back. On the return leg we took the shortcut around the switchback at
Sams Creek for the first time. The shortcut is much more apparent from above
than below.
The top of the shortcut around the Sams Creek Switchback 2013.
We
saw one group of 4-5 people at the bridge at the second crossing on the way
back, two hikers at the lower ford, and one at the trailhead. It is extremely
rare to see other hikers off trail in the Smokies, and seeing at least two
other parties might be unique outside of Thunderhead Prong.
Overall,
this was a good 11 mile day. We had surprises, and had some lessons learned
about following old trails in rhodo. It was a great learning experience for the
full Cross Trail/Defeat Ridge hike that we had in mind.
3-24-05
Our
route for this epic would be the Lead Cove Trail to Bote Mountain Trail, then
the Cross “Trail” to Defeat Ridge, up the Defeat Ridge manway to Thunderhead Mountain,
and finally back down via the Bote Mountain and Lead Cove trails. I guessed a
total length of 16 miles. Jean, Mark, and I were all eager to try this route
and as soon as we found a suitable day, off we went. Mark and I were both
entered in the Barkley Marathons, which were just a week and a half away. Underestimating
this hike left us sore and exhausted with barely enough time to recover for the
race.
The
trail hiking went quickly enough. Jean and I had walked the first part of the
Cross Trail and had found the manway clear. It turned out that the manway might
have been getting some extra attention from a USGS field crew that had a work
camp set up nearby. The easy stuff continued for a mile east to the crossing of
the West Prong. But beyond West Prong, the east facing slopes became very
overgrown. The manway would wind around a west facing slope in good order, cross
the nose of a ridge, and descend into chaos. The trail was covered in small
unclipped rhodo with dog hobble and blowdowns. The rhodo tended to grow on the
old trail bed, forcing us to sidehill scramble along the steep slope just below
the old tread, which was much more work than merely walking on a trail. The
Cross Trail was not hard to see, but was slow, difficult going.
It
took about 1:30 (manway time) to get to the west branch of Bee Cove about 2.5
miles in, where we took a break before hitting the roughest going yet. All
three of us were tiring fast from the crawling, crouching, and clinging to the
slopes. At least the last half hour to Defeat Ridge at around 4.9 miles, didn’t
seem quite so bad. It seemed the middle half of the manway was the worst. We
wondered what had happened to make the trail so much harder that we had heard about
from the 900 miler group.
Happiness on Thunderhead.
We
ate again at the Defeat Ridge junction after about 1:40, anticipating easier
terrain ahead. But our optimism was misplaced, the two mile section took another
two hours. We ran low on water but filled up at a great spring at the head of Deerhobble
Branch. We battled through nasty rhodo crawls and tough east facing slopes as
the manway only followed the ridge crest at each end. Finally, we emerged at
the west side of Thunderhead Mountain in an area where previous hikers had made
bathroom breaks. Welcome to civilization.
We
took photos at Rocky Top and made good time down the trail, barely getting in
before dark. Despite all my Barkley training, this 16 mile day was my toughest
workout of the year. My right foot was sore at the ball, I’d worn sneakers and
the constant side hilling had overstressed my feet and ankles. I tend to lead
with my right when bushwhacking, so my right arm was sliced up from pushing and
prying limbs from the path. Mark lost a favorite hat and also got sliced up.
Jean ripped her pants.
Famished,
we stopped at the Subway in Townsend for dinner. Jean, who usually eats less
than a 6” sub, devoured a whole foot long. I went after my dinner like a wolf
on a fresh kill.
11-25-06
Mark
and I tried the full 14 mile Defeat Ridge manway from Tremont to Thunderhead
Mountain and back. Surely it couldn’t have been that bad? This trip would also serve
as Barkley training. The old log over Thunderhead Prong at New World had
collapsed. We took 3 hours to reach it. The upper manway section was heavily
overgrown once it left the ridge. We took 70 minutes to reach the gap before Deerhobble
Ridge. We got to the top of Thunderhead in 5 hours, following bear tracks above
the ridge. Our return was a bit faster, about 45 minutes for each side of Deerhobble
Gap. We considered going directly down the ridge crest to avoid the overgrowth,
but decided against that once we got a close up view of the ridge. At the lower
crossing of Thunderhead Prong, I fell in cutting my left hand trying to rock
hop, while Mark was smart and waded. Roundtrip was 10 hours, including removing
some ribbons near New World. The upper section was too overgrown to try again.
I have not heard of anyone attempting it lately.
11-3-13
It
was several years before Jean, Claudia, Ed, Pam, and I got out for another
dedicated Thunderhead Prong trip. This time we planned an out and back hike to
New World at the end of the railroad grade to explore for artifacts. We had no
issues at the first crossing of Thunderhead Prong. The grade was in great shape
to the crossing of Shut-in Creek, and then had some briery sections. The spur
down to the old bridge over Thunderhead Prong at the start of the foot trail
was also overgrown, but we clipped it on our way out.
After
lunch we tried to follow the main RR grade south at New World to its crossing
of the main prong. Surprisingly, we ran into another hiker who had hiked to the
crossing, but found no evidence of the RR grade beyond the crossing. He’d also
explored in the woods and had located a few artifacts. The woods on the left
side of the creek still looked open, and we speculated about an open route all
the way to the AT.
On
our return we saw a park service person setting one of the hog traps, again
making this a two other parties off trail special! This was doubly surprising
since I hadn’t thought that the hog traps got used. Again, on the return we
took the shortcut by Sams Creek to save a half mile. The top of the short cut
was marked by an arrow carved in a tree. The short cut was through open forest.
4-30-17
Jean and I would hike the Cross Trail again with Claudia and Ed in 2017, this time shuttling over to Tremont to come out on the Thunderhead RR Grade. We again aimed for a narrow window when other hikers reported that the manways were relatively clear. Once again we didn’t find conditions as good as we expected, but we made our way through. 2017 Defeat Ridge
