Jean and I had one of our busiest years for off trail hiking in the Smokies in 2007. Just six weeks into the year, this would be our fourth off trail hike, and our third new route of the year. I’m not sure who picked Cobb Ridge for this weekend, but it probably was Clyde. Clyde was then one of the most active off trail hikers in the Smokies, with a knack for finding great routes, and a nose for the sharp edge between fun and adventure. Michael was part of Clyde’s informal gang of hikers who called themselves the “Rhodo Rooters,” for their unintended habit of pioneering passages through the dense Smokies understory.
Our goal was to follow a long manway along Cobb Ridge on the south side of Cades Cove that is shown on the 1931 park topo map. The manway extends from Russell Field at the Stateline crest, west along Cobb Ridge, and then along Mill Creek to meet the Forge Creek Road near the Henry Whitehead Cabin.
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| Cobb Ridge on the 1931 Smokies map. |
The one way trip required some logistics. We had to wait for the Cades Cove Loop Road to open, then dropped one vehicle at the Cable Mill, near the junction of the Cades Cove and Forge Creek Roads. Next we continued around the Loop Road to leave our other car and start the hike at the Cades Cove Picnic Area. It was 9:30 before we started up the Anthony Creek, then Russell Field trails. Four and a half miles and 2300’ of climbing later, we reached the start of the off trail section.
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| Michael and Clyde climbing the Russell Field Trail. |
We started off trail in an inch of snow. Older snow is little trouble off trail. Once fallen the snow no longer seeks to soak your clothing with slush, and a skiff of snow can bring out the faint trace of a long loss manway. On the start to Pole Knob Ridge we stayed on the north side of the ridge to avoid the thicker rhodo. Once we were past the entry rhodo, we regained the crest and could follow a faint manway. Here the woods were open with big trees. Clyde reported seeing prolific wildflowers here on a previous trip.
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| Clyde navigating (note antenna placement). |
At the west end of the ridge, we made a navigation error. The manway turned north toward Cobb Butt, while Clyde convinced us to continue west. Michael and I both wanted to turn right and head north, but Clyde was the only one who had been on the route before, so we followed him. This turned out to be one of the few off-trail navigation mistakes I ever saw Clyde make, but luckily we didn’t suffer from it.
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| Route map for Cobb Ridge. |
The new route took us down the divide between Sugar Cove and Mill Creek. The ridge was open down to about the 4000’ elevation, where we realized the mistake and turned north down an extremely steep slope to head into Mill Creek. Clyde showed off his butt sliding skills on the descent.
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| Butt sliding. |
We joined Sugar Cove and our planned route at about 3400’ at the junction with another small branch. This area was very pretty, both branches had huge frozen pools of water. We regained the manway on the north side of the creek. The manway was very faint at first, and then became more apparent, though it was choked with laurel. Unfortunately, my e-trex GPS was not reading well in depths of the canyon.
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| Ice pools. |
As the manway moved upslope we began a tedious battle with downed pines, killed by the recent pine beetle infestation. We spied some recent saw marks on the downed trees, but not nearly enough to open the trail. We next passed the Mill Creek Manway on a hillside by a 3-4’ rock.
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| Ice Pools |
The going got easier after the junction with Mill Creek, presumably enough hikers used the route to reach Mill Creek Falls. By now we were tired, and running out of that precious February daylight. There were at least two questionable turns in the creek bottom on the way out, but by now both Clyde and Michael were familiar with the route, and they guided us flawlessly.
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| Crossing Mill Creek. |
We reached the Forge Creek Road just a little north of the Whitehead Cabin, and were back at the car at Cabe Mill at dusk at 6 PM for a total of around ten miles. We paused for more pictures to celebrate the accomplishment of hiking another remote Smokies manway.
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| With Clyde and Michael on the Forge Creek Road |
For
a 2015 report of a similar trip see: https://gosmokies.knoxnews.com/profiles/blogs/rough-as-a-cobb
And for a 2003 adventure on Cobb Ridge see:Geocaching Forum
