2009, 11-14 Upchuck 50K Race

In 2009 I decided to run the Upchuck 50K race on the Cumberland Trail near Chattanooga. This would be the second edition of the race, which derived its name from an unfortunate incident involving the race directors and a visit that went bad to an on course convenience store. The course was reputed to be hilly, but very pretty, and the need to bus the runners from the finish to the starting trailhead would keep the field small. The course would go through the Rock Creek, Possum Gorge, and Soddy Daisy sections of the CT and I was eager to see these three, relatively new at the time, trail sections.
My training for the race had gone well. I did a lot of running on the northern end of the Cumberland Trail, including course scouting, marking, and aid station work for Susan Donnelly’s Cumberland Trail 50K race which had debuted a month previously. I’d also done several long trail runs in the Smokies, with the 20 mile out and back course from Tremont to Elkmont being my longest run. My training group at Haw Ridge was very active then, and I had a large, diverse group to train with.
I went down to the race with my friend Bruce. Even though the drive to Chattanooga only takes two hours, we decided to go down the night before to have fresher legs for the race. We stayed in a downtown Super 8, and ate at the Mellow Mushroom. In the morning we checked in at the Recreation Center in Soddy Daisey, and then hopped on the bus to Lower Leggett Trailhead for the start.

On the bus to the race start.

The start was a bit crowded until the runners were able to sort ourselves out. I started further back and worked to move up after we hit the Leggett Loop. The starting temperature was about 40F. I began with gloves and a Smartwool top, but soon warmed up and tied the top around my waist. The next section through Rock Creek Gorge was beautiful, featuring lots of cliffs and waterfalls. The first significant climb was out of the gorge to Aid Station #1. I was feeling good, and enjoying the easy running on the ridgetops compared to the technical running in Rock Creek Gorge.

Early in the race.

Next up was a shallow ford of Little Possum Creek. By then the runners were well spread out. I saw a few campers near Immodium Falls, but the trail didn’t offer a good view of the falls themselves. Beyond the falls there was a long stretch along some coal ponds. Leaving Little Possum Creek was the race’s toughest climb up, then over, Perkins Point. I was able to pass several people on the climb. By coincidence, the Smoky Mountains Hiking Club was having a hike that day along the Possum Creek Section and I encountered the group led by Tim Bigelow there. I stopped to chat for a bit, but kept track of the runners passing by until I got to 11, and realized that I needed to stop talking and get back in the race! Luckily, I was able to recatch most of the runners on the long climb out of Big Possum Creek to Aid #2.
After Aid #2 there’s a long section parallel to TN 111, that thankfully stayed mostly in the trees. It was becoming hot and steamy, and would reach 70F by the finish, but I was still feeling strong heading into Soddy Gorge. The Cumberland Trail SP rangers had set up ropes at the ford of Big Soddy Creek at the 26 mile point, and at the shallower one ford of Deep Creek just beyond. These ropes, and the bridges recently installed at other spots further back on the course, made the 2009 edition of the race overall much faster than the 2008 edition. Though we all still lost a little time waiting for our chance to cross, we all appreciated the effort it took to make sure the crossings would be safe for us. The Cumberland Trails Conference has since constructed bridges at both fords.

The ford of Big Soddy Creek.

After the fords we had another long climb that eventually would lead to Posey Point. My earlier strength and enthusiasm were fading, and I tucked in behind a couple from Chattanooga for the remainder of the race. I did more walking than should have been necessary on the long traverse around Posey Point. We lost the trail briefly on a steep climb up to a coal bench, but overall, the course was well marked, and it was easy to stay on course. A few of the rocky sections had been tough, mainly because most of the leaves had already fallen.
Once we hit Hotwater Road it was an easy downhill run, though I was passed twice by runners with stronger legs. I was lucky to not have any knee issues at all during the race, and was still able to run this section, though slowly. I finished in 6:52, good for #23 out of 65 finishers, and right behind the #2 female. Bruce came in not too long after and after some recovery time we were able to drive back to Knoxville that afternoon.

2009 Upchuck course map.

My spits were roughly 1:39 at Aid 1, 3:50 at Aid 2, 5:30 at the ford of Soddy Creek, and 6:38 at Hotwater Road. At the time, my 6:52 at Upchuck was my slowest 50K. The course was a bit tougher/hillier than the other 50K’s I tried (Holiday Lake, Oak Mtn., and Mountain Mist), but I was in the middle of spell where I was not having IT band or tendonitis issues in my knees, and hoped to be a little more competitive. Ironically, it was a couple of years before I ran another 50K, and I haven’t broken 7 hours since Upchuck. 

Cumberland Trail, New River to Bowling Branch 11-11-09

 I had Veteran’s Day off, and almost no one else did, so this would be a solo hike for me. I also had a 50K race coming up on the weekend, and decided to try a hike that was more exploring than training. Since the previous winter the CTC had extended the Cumberland Trail west of the New River to Bowling Branch through part of the TWRA North Cumberland Wildlife Management Area. I decided to hike the new section and see if it was as nice as the trail east of the river.

Cumberland Trail at the New River.

It was a bit over 55 miles, and a 90 minute drive, to the CT trailhead along the New River on the Norma Road. I parked in the new TH lot, crossed a double set of railroad tracks, and then took the concrete bridge over the river. On the far side, I crossed an ATV road and started on the CT which gave me some river views. It was a cool, cloudy day, with some wind, but no rain, and wet vegetation from the previous day. The leaves had all fallen.

Vehicle ford over the New River.

After a mile a logging road split right, and I crossed gravel and ATV roads. Just beyond was the first CT bridge, where the trail turned up the valley of Lick Creek. There was a second bridge a half mile beyond. At two miles the trail followed the logging road a short ways before splitting off onto a maze of single tracks and old skid roads up to a saddle between Lawson and Lick Creek Mountains.

Former logging road

At 2.9 miles, there was a signed junction at the saddle with an ATV road. I followed a 0.6 mile side trail to the north up Lick Creek Mtn. but found the view from the top not any better than what I was seeing on the trail. A few lots were marked off dating back, I supposed, to before the property had been sold to the state.

Cumberland Trail on Lawson Mountain.

The main CT went south along the crest of Lawson Mountain with nearly continuous views for a mile. I saw spur roads leading north and west from Lawson, but these roads remain part of the unexplored maze of ATV roads in the NCWMA. The top of Lawson Mtn. looked to be a reclaimed strip mine, and lower down on the mountain were old strip mine benches and much evidence of recent logging. Theis ridgetop hiking was really nice, showcasing what the CT could do in otherwise recovering coal mining land. The trail descended for a mile down the mountain to the signed end at an ATV road in Bowling Branch. There was an old coal pond near the end that made a great lunch spot.

Cumberland Trail.

From my saved CTC Maps from the hike, it looks like there was a gap in the CT at that time between Bowling and Cave branches, but that the CT had been constructed down Cave Branch, and then up the Straight Fork toward Arch Mountain. I’d be back the next fall to close the Gap between Bowling and Cave branches.

Coal Pond along the Cumberland Trail.

From the end of the trail, I turned around to retrace my route. But at the two mile mark, I left the CT and decided to follow the logging road, just for variety. There were no ATV tracks, and the road offered some good views. The road made one crossing of the CT, where it looked like some fallen trees were keeping the ATVs off of the CT. The logging road was 0.4 mile shorter and seemed faster than the CT, though that likely has changed.

On the drive back I went down to the Hembree store and Hembree townsite to map and measure some road mileages with future trips in mind.

My route map to Bowling Branch.

Smokies Off-trail, Mt Cammerer via Leadmine Ridge, 11-8-09

With this hike, Ed and I were starting to specialize in leading the SMHC’s fall off trail trips to Mt. Cammerer. These were super fun trips, there were a number of great routes to explore, all ending at the Cammerer Tower and its unobstructed views of some of the finest fall colors in the park. In 2007 I’d led the club trip up Toms Creek, and just two weeks prior we had led the club up Panther Branch and Rich Butt to the summit.

This time we would move over a ridge, and attempted the climb via Leadmine Ridge. By now we were aware that upper reaches of all the ridges on Cammerer were guarded by steep, rocky walls of massive Thunderhead Sandstone. In honor of the similarity to the  scramble route up Greenbrier Pinnace, Ed had named the cliffs on Rich Butt “the Panther Stairs”. And so, to honor all my buddies at work we named the cliffs on Leadmine Ridge “the Miners Stairs.”

Our original route plan was to start from the informal Groundhog Ridge Trailhead on TN 32 and follow either lower Rowdy Ridge, or the west fork of Groundhog Creek to the Lower Mount Cammerer Trail. Then we would follow the LMC trail west to the crest of Leadmine Ridge. The final leg would follow Leadmine Ridge to the spur trail to the Cammerer tower. This would be a scouting trip for a planned 2010 club hike. I took a GPS track and Jean took pictures.

From the trailhead we turned uphill to climb to the crest of Rowdy Ridge. But we found the broad and relatively gentle crest choked with rhodo. Rowdy Ridge has a fearsome reputation for its dense clusters of ill-tempered rhodo, as Janes and Mary had found out in a 1990s trip, and Charlie had confirmed from his experience. So, we quickly backed off and decided to try the right fork of Groundhog Creek.

The right fork was easy at first, and then picked up some minor rhodo where the creek split again. We stayed right at the fork and followed it directly, but steeply, to the LMC Trail. In later trips we’d try a number of alternatives to gaining the LMC Trail from this fork, with none having a substantial advantage over the others.  We turned west on LMC to Rowdy Creek, which divides Rowdy and Leadmine ridges, then climbed steeply west to gain the crest of Leadmine.

Fall vista from Mt. Cammerer.

The Leadmine Crest was variable, never awful for long, but never that open either. Fairly soon we hit rock outcrops and enjoyed some views. The crest was very narrow and there was a continuous bear trail along it. Bears are not known for diligent trail clearing so the going was still rough. The bushwhacking and scrambling proved too much for Jean’s old hiking pants which busted out in the seat. We hit the steep, rocky section later than we expected.

Ripped hiking pants.

There was only one great vista from the rocks, and we had less of the fun scrambling that we had anticipated. But that may have been because we left the crest near the top to the right to try some hardwoods in a small draw, potentially bypassing the fun stuff. The draw led directly to the Tower spur, popping out about 100 yards from the tower. We had lunch at the tower while enjoying the views on a typical clear fall day.

Ed emerging onto the trail.

The climb took about 4 hours, including our early detour onto Rowdy Ridge, but barely covered two miles. We would end up overstating the trip mileage in our hiking club reports, assuming no one would believe how short the trip actually was. We enjoyed the route, and knew it would make a good club trip, but thought that Rich Butt was a more interesting climb.

We descended the Groundhog Ridge manway back to TN 32.

Ed and I on the summit of Mt Cammerer.

10-16-10, SMHC Mt Cammerer via Leadmine Ridge

This SMHC hike repeated the route of the 2009 scouting hike by Jean, Ed, and I. Jean took pictures again, but this time I did not save a GPS track. Once again, my notes are brief since I was leading.

Climbing the Miners Stairs.

From the trailhead we followed an old road on the left bank of the right fork of Groundhog Creek at the start. I lost my Brunton altimeter down a hole in my pants, but we backtracked briefly, and Chris found it. Once on Leadmine Ridge we found cliffs at 3600-3700’, and then once again near the top.

Near the top of the Miners Stairs.

This time, instead of leaving the ridge to the right near the top, we kept to the crest despite the thick brush and found a fun rocky section with spectacular views that included the tower. I thought this direct route far superior to our bypass, and felt it made up for the occasional tedium in the brush on the ridge crest.

At the Cammerer summit.

At the top we ran into the other SMHC hikers who had come up via the Low Gap Trail. After lunch and appreciation of the fall colors our group descended down the Groundhog Ridge manway. The manway was more grown over than I had noticed on previous trips. Jenny mentioned that the club used to descend via McFalls Branch, but that route was becoming more overgrown through lack of use. 

David descending Groundhog Ridge.