Jean and I had great success exploring the Smokies off trail in 2008. We had been off trailing a lot over the past few years, and built up a base of experience that allowed us to complete a variety of manways and bushwhacks to some of the iconic spots in the park. Barely into our 50s, we had the strength, endurance, and most importantly the drive to make these trips possible.
But
having success in any difficult endeavor means several things need to go right
to make it happen. In our case, the Smoky Mountains Hiking Club was sponsoring lots
of off trail trips that fed right into our agenda. We joined the Club trips we
were interested in, led other trips of our own choosing, and joined our friends
from the club in hiking others as our own small groups. We were lucky to have a
solid core of like-minded friends, Claudia, Ed, and Mark and often including
others such as Clyde, Nan, Mike, Chris, and Jenny.
Jean
and I were also at the balance of having enough experience to tackle tough
routes, but also being relatively new enough that we hadn’t yet tried many of
the Smokies’ classic routes. Besides Starkey-Sugartree, in 2008 our trips would
include Snag Mtn., Rowan Creek (twice), Mt. Winnesoka, Devils Den, Rich Butt, the
Dry Sluice, Kalanu Prong, Green Camp Gap, and the Stone House, along with
ascents of Mt LeConte via Boulevard Prong and Trout Branch for me. With such a
tight group it was easy to get trips ideas and route information for following
up on those ideas.
Starkey
and Sugartree are two branches of Sams Creek in the Tremont area of the
Smokies. Basically, the hike is a semi-loop or “lollipop” hike. The trip starts
at the Upper Tremont Trailhead and follows Sams Creek along an old railroad
grade. At around 3200’ Starkey Creek splits off to lead to Starkey Gap along
the Appalachian Trail. A short hike north and east on the AT then leads to
Sugartree Gap, where you can drop down an unnamed branch of Sams Creek to
eventually reach the main stem of Sams, then descend to the Starkey Creek
junction and finally continue downstream back to the trailhead.
Clyde had led a SMHC hike here recently, but several of us had not be able to go that particular day. But we were able to get a group together that included myself, Jean, Claudia, Ed, Mark, and Nan. We got some information about the hike from Clyde, Mike, and Connie, and felt we had a good feel for the route. I’d placed a number of GPS waypoints along the route to track our progress, but the navigation mostly involved keeping track of elevation and trying to follow the old railroad grades, then follow the creeks as best we could.
On Sams Creek
The
lower part of the route was well known to us. Tremont had been the site of
several of our first independent off trail trips and we had previously used the
lower part of Thunderhead Prong to access routes such as Green Camp Gap, Defeat
Ridge, and the Cross Trail. While straightforward, lower Thunderhead Prong
still involves a rock hop of Long Branch, and generally a wade of Thunderhead
Prong. We were lucky to be able to make a rock hop there this time. After about
a mile, the Sams Creek Manway splits from the more used Thunderhead Prong
Manway. We crossed the creek twice before reaching an intersection with the
Green Camp Gap Manway at ~1.8 miles. Green Camp Manway was hard to recognize at
the crossing, despite our having walked it just the previous year.
However,
the manway ahead remained wide open and easy to follow up to the Starkey-Sams
split at about 3 miles, which we reached in about 1:45.
Old campsite at Starkey-Sams Creek Junction
The
split had a number of old artifacts including old stove parts and looked to
have been a campsite at some point. In “Whistle over the Mountain” Schmidt and
Hooks described this as an old lumber camp based on observations made by Dwight
McCarter. Schmidt and Hooks also described the old railroad grade as continuing
up to the next fork (which they call Turkey Creek) on Starkey Creek.
We
turned right to go up Starkey Creek. We were off the RR grade on a brief
cross-country segment before returning to the final grade at about 3,600’. The
grade continued to be visible to about 3,900’ at the second side branch. Beyond
that point the drainage got steep and narrow. Near the crest, the valley
disappeared, and we went a bit to our left to reach the AT at around 3:15. We saw
no evidence of the trail to the crest shown on the 1931 map.
Lunch stop on the Appalachian Trail
The
forest along the AT over to Sugartree Gap was open, giving us confidence that
our descent down Sugartree would go well. After a lunch break on the trail, we
found upper Sugartree to be easy going, though it steepened below 4,000’ as it
approached Sams Creek. There was evidence of another old railroad grade along
Sams including lots of old cables. 
Grapevine along upper Sams Creek. 
Ed with logging artifact at Starkey-Sams Junction.
The
remainder of the hike back from the Starkey-Sugartree confluence was
uneventful. The hike was approximately 9.5 miles long with about 2,900’ of
climbing, and took us from 8:15 to 4PM. 
Screen shot of our route map.
As
good a year as 2008 was, we weren’t quite able to repeat our successes of that
year in the Smokies. Jean and I typically follow a pattern of visiting an area
hard for some time and then moving onto another place. In this case, by no
means were we abandoning the Smokies, the park has always been central to our
outdoor life. 2008 was the year that the State of Tennessee completed the
Connecting the Cumberlands Project, a giant land acquisition in the Cumberland
Mountains spearheaded by then Governor Bredesen. The project opened a huge
tract of public land in the Cumberlands, much of it just north of Frozen Head
State Park. The next diversion for Jean and I was the exploration of this area,
some of which is described in other posts on this blog.
