Nan
and I had volunteered to lead the 2007 SMHC trip up Mt Cammerer. The club
usually does a fall colors trip to Cammerer, and the mountain’s overlooks are a
good match for the impressive scenery. But, the club had not done this route
since 1966, and that should have been our first clue about the conditions we
might face. Even Charlie Klabunde, who had suggested the hike, did not have
much information about it. Claudia offered to join us on the scouting trip. I took
a GPS track, but have only one picture of Nan’s.
With Claudia approaching Rocky Face.
Our
plan was to start at Cosby Campground and follow the Lower Mt Cammerer Trail
until it crossed Toms Creek. Next we would follow Toms Creek up past its
confluence with Panther Branch, and look for a route that would lead us to the
4645’ highpoint on the main ridge. Then it would be a short trip along the main
ridge east on the Appalachian Trail.
We
took the LMC Trail to a foot log at the second crossing. There was an old road
here that we turned up and were able to follow for about 35 minutes. We then
crossed back over Toms Creek just below its confluence with Panther Branch.
Here we found a pink ribbon marking small old road, and then another better
defined road above it. That road became choked with rhodo as it approached the
cliffs that guard the lower flanks of Rocky Face. We climbed above the rhodo,
and then decided to try the ridge toward the top since we’d already climbed so
far above the creek.
There
was a bit of an old game trail on the crest of the ridge, and the going was
fairly open. We hit one cliff band at around 4000’ that had chute that was easy
to scramble up. The hike was proving technically challenging, but so far was
doable for the club. It took us about 2:45 minutes, including our lunch stop,
to get to the tip of Rocky Face at 4645’. From the tip we could hear nearby
hikers on the AT.
There
may once have been a trail out to the tip from the AT, but we found the ridge
crest completely overgrown. The high peaks of the Smokies are home to some of
the thickest heath imaginable, and Rocky Face had some of the densest we’d ever
seen. No movement forward went uncontested by the heath, Each footstep was a
struggle to find solid ground. Every branch grabbed and held, or poked and
scratched. Occasionally we saw faint footway, but had to crawl along it pushing
our packs out ahead in a surface imitation of the rigors of cave crawling. By
the end we were no longer off trail hiking, we were simply struggling to reach
the sanity of the trail. I suspected neither Nan nor Claudia would ever be
hiking with me again. The last quarter mile to the AT took 65 minutes, all within
sight or hearing of the trail. The total length of the entire off trail segment
was only 1.6 miles.
Once
on the AT, all three of us vowed never to go back. And as tough as the end of
the hike was, it was all for nothing, we would have to return to the area to
scout a suitable route for the club.
We
were now too tired to think about going out to the Mt. Cammerer Lookout to
enjoy the view. But we did continue north on the AT to scout the head of Toms
Creek. Approaching Sunup Knob, we could see that the upper slopes were very
steep, but had less rhodo, at least as far down as we could see. It seemed our
best bet for a club-worthy route would be to hike the main stem of Toms Creek
to its head, and then hope the route reached the AT without encountering
another heath patch.
We returned to the Cosby CG Trailhead via the AT and Low Gap Trail.
11-5-06, Mt Cammerer via Toms Creek, Scout
For
round 2 of our Toms Creek scouting Nan and I recruited Mark to join us. Again,
I took a GPS track, but I have just a few digital pictures from Nan.
After
our struggles on Rocky Face, we decided to try staying with Toms Creek as long
as possible, hoping it would lead us on a relatively open route directly to the
AT. We started along the same route as our previous hike from the Cosby CG to
the junction of Toms Creek and Panther Branch. But this time, instead of
crossing the main creek just below the confluence we kept to the left (north)
bank, which only had moderate rhodo. 
Along Toms Creek.
We
crossed Panther Branch and stayed on the left bank of Toms to about 3200’,
where we tried to climb a ridge to the north. We were beaten back by thick
rhodo, and retreated down to the creek again. There was a nice waterfall at
around 3600’. We ended up keeping along Toms Creek with only moderate rhodo,
until the creek dried up at around 4000’. 
Falls along Toms Creek.
Luckily
it was easy to spot all the side creeks, and to tell which was the main fork.
Above
4000’ the woods opened up and the terrain became extremely steep with several
huge Buckeye trees. We reached the AT on the north side of Sunup Knob, without
encountering any of the godawful heath we’d seen on the top of Rocky Face. We
took the AT and spur trail, out to the Cammerer tower. For the return hike we
descended the upper part of the Groundhog Ridge manway to the Lower Mt Cammerer
Trail, then took LMC back to Cosby Campground arriving with only 15 minutes of
daylight to spare. 
Preparing to descend Groundhog Ridge with Mark.
Here's
my detailed timeline for the scouting trip:
9:35,
Start at Cosby Campground
10:05,
Leave Lower Mt Cammerer Trail at Toms Creek
10:25,
Cross Panther Branch just above the confluence
11:00,
Left Toms Creek to attempt ridge and retreated
11:30,
Returned to open creek
12:45,
Reached last branch to the left on topo map
1:35,
Reached AT
3:00,
Left tower on Groundhog Ridge
3:30,
Intersected LMC Trail
5:45, Returned to Cosby CG TH
11-21-07,
Mt Cammerer via Toms Creek, SMHC
12.0
miles, w/ Jean, including Nan, Claudia, Jenny Bennett, Cindy Spangler, Ed, and Mark
Nan
and I finally got to lead our SMHC hike after putting in so much work to scout
the trip. We were lucky to get a strong, experienced crew, but part of that was
some screening we did before the hikers could register. I even remember being a
little leery about including Jenny Bennett, until she mentioned that she’d led
the route for the club before. Through her popular blog, Jenny would go on to
become one of the best known off trail hikers in the Smokies.
The SMHC crew on Toms Creek.
As
is common with the SMHC hikes that I’ve led, my notes on this trip are
relatively brief. My lack of notes is due partly to the responsibility of
keeping everyone together while trying to follow an often uncertain off trail
route. But I did take a GPS track, and this time Jean was along to take
pictures. 
Route finding on Toms Creek.
There
were nine hikers on the trip, and all sped through the LMC Trail and the lower
part of Toms Creek to Panther Branch. From the junction we kept to the left
bank of Toms Creek. There was a rhodo section, then we went up the main creek.
This time we found the main creek very steep, and moved over to the next creek
on the right. We then followed that branch all the way to the AT. There was
some evidence of prior travel up the prong. 
Fall colors from Mt Cammerer.
I’m not sure why I didn’t follow
the scouted route, but none of the hikers seemed to mind the change. The off
trail hiking took roughly three hours.
Ed at the summit of Mt Cammerer.
Once
back on trail, we had an easy hike to the tower for lunch. The views were clear
and the fall colors vibrant. This trip we returned via the AT Low Gap Trail. We
had such a good time I didn’t even mind the rocky footing descending Low Gap. 
Our Toms Creek and Rocky face routes.
