Cumberland Trail, New River to Cave Branch 10-23-10

In the year since I had hiked the CT from the New River to Bowling Branch, the CTC had extended the trail west and south to Cave Branch to meet up with the previously built section on Arch Mountain. Warren Devine had helped with the trail construction, and was leading a Sierra Club Trip on the new section. Bruce and I had agreed to lead  a SMHC trip on the same section next April, and realized the SC trip would be a great way to scout our own hike.

Our group shuttled cars to Cave Branch and then returned to the north end to start the hike. The SC groups are usually a bit slower vs the SMHC, and in this case we had three trail builders who also wanted to check out how well their work was holding up. We found that the trail had held up well but seemed little, if any, used. There was plenty of opportunity to lose the trail in the maze of old logging roads around Lick Creek.

We saw one ATV along the trail on the top of Lawson Mtn. and had lunch in one of the meadows on top. The CT heading off of Lawson Mtn was completely overgrown. Warren said they’d dug the trail down to bedrock two years prior, but we saw no trace of the footpath. Beyond Bowling Branch was new trail for me. Further up Bowling Branch on the new trail we saw what looked to be old homesites.

The ridge line between Bowling and Cave branches was open and featured some great rock formations around the crest. There was an old outhouse and a huge rock with some recent graffiti, a real stain on an otherwise beautiful place. After too short a time on the crest, the trail dove down into Cave Branch, with some now dry waterfalls. The last two miles followed parallel to an old road down Cave Branch with a pair of crossings of the creek. I had no pictures from the trip but did GPS the route.

There were a few miles of unopened CT across Smokey Creek on the Arch Mountain section, with more work trips planned for that fall. Warren expected that in another year or so the CTC would have the CT completed to Frozen Head SP from Cove Lake SP.

CT New River to Cave Branch.

4-23-11 SMHC Trip

The SMHC hike crew.

For the SMHC trip Bruce and I organized a key swap with my group hiking north. Susan and Rob did the trip as an out and back run. My notes are a bit sparse, but Jean took pictures. It was a perfect weather day, cool, clear, and dry. The trail was generally well marked.

Creek fording.

Red bud on Lawson Mountain.

There was some new logging in Cave Branch, and some new road building in the first 0.5-1.0 mile of Cave Branch. Otherwise, the trip was similar to our October hike. Susan reported seeing an ATV head down the CT toward Cave Branch. We saw some evidence of the recent heavy rains, and Cave Branch was a tough rock hop. The flowers were out including little brown jugs, iris, lemon trillium, and pink lady slippers. Bowling Branch seemed to have more flowers vs. Cave Branch. We also saw one morel. The groups met for lunch at the old coal pond in Bowling Branch. Still great views from the old strip mines on the top of Lawson Mountain. There seemed to be keen interest in having more hikes on the CT in this area, and Jean and I would eventually lead the SMHC on the Arch Mountain section.

Rockstack on Bowling-Cave Branch divide.

Morel.