Cumberland Trail, FHSP to Smoky Creek Key Swap, 12-1-2012

 This key swap trip would allow me to finish the Cumberland Trail Section in the North Cumberland Wildlife Management Area between Frozen Head and Lafollette, which still remains the longest continuous section of the trail. I needed to fill in a gap between Bunch Gap on the south, and a pond in the saddle between Grassy Gap and Arch Mountain on the north end. As it turned out much of the trail from Burge Mountain north to the pond would follow old ATV roads which I had ridden on my mountain bike, so only 1.3 miles between Bunch and Burge, and a short section between the pond and Arch Mountain were new to me.

The logistics for the trip were complicated. This is some of the most remote area along the CT and car access is limited. I was able to convince Brian Williams to do another car shuttle, and Susan Fiscor would accompany me. Will Brown and an unknown photographer went with Brian. I took GPS to map the trail, and got copies of a few pix from Brian.

Our Key Swap Crew.

Susan and I drove Brian’s car to Frozen Head SP and started hiking north up the Jeep Road. From our map it looks like we left the Jeep Road at Bald Knob and followed the CT east above the Coal Ponds, then around the west side of the Garden Spot to Indian Fork Gap. This section was well travelled for me, and I didn’t note anything exceptional on this visit. Then we followed the trail out below Bunch Gap to the intersection with the Indian Fork a.k.a. “Coal Washer” Road. The next 1.3 miles adjacent to the Crest Road was surprisingly nice with good views along the crest. The “County Line Road” northeast of Burge Mtn. had been well maintained out to the powerline, and looked suitable for a sedan. Beyond Grassy Gap the trail was rougher, and there were a few sections where the CT left the main road.

Susan and I got off the trail briefly after passing the side trail down to the pond, which is much larger than the others in the Cumberlands. The trail was still new and in great shape, but still hard to run because of intricate footing. We guesstimated that between the climbing and the footing we only ran 4-6 miles all day, with the rest just being hiking. The total distance was about 16.9 miles and took around six hours.

We saw several hunters driving the Crest Road, and saw a gutted fox hanging from a tree near the pond. There was also a baited hog trap along the route. We met Brian et al. about halfway along the crest road, but they’d had an hour longer drive than we did. Talking to the hunters we learned that the Coal Washer Road was in great shape for cars. They also suspected that the road down into Hembree (“Road of Horrors”) would be in good shape as well. There appeared to be large areas of new logging along Asher Fork, and from the frequent truck traffic we thought that Fork Mountain was getting logged as well.

The CTC had done some more work on the Arch Mountain section since my last visit with the SMHC that May. There was a new bridge on the northernmost crossing of Straight Fork and another on a side branch just to the north of that. I really enjoyed the run, though it is always fun to complete a long sought goal. Since finishing the CT in this longest section, my CT hikes are now much rarer, but the CTC is still working hard on their trail building and there are plenty of new sections that I haven’t hiked. The NCWMA sections still receive little to no maintenance, and I’ve been reluctant to head back out on those. As of October 2021, the entire CT from FHSP to Smokey Creek is still under a 2020 “temporary” closure, according to the State Park Trail map, but this closure is not listed on the CTC web site for the Arch Mountain section.

Duncan Ridge 50K Race, 11-17-12

After not finishing an ultra in 2011, I was looking around for an interesting fall race for 2012. Susan Donnelly, of our Haw Ridge running group suggested the Duncan Ridge 50K. She had run it the previous, inaugural year. I wanted a hilly course where I thought I could be more competitive. From Susan’s description, it sounded like this course fit the bill. The course would cover the Coosa Backcountry Trail in Georgia’s Vogel SP, and then have an out and back to Fish Gap on the Duncan Ridge Trail in the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest. I had hiked the Coosa Backcountry Loop and knew it was tough, and the Duncan Ridge Trail was also well known as one of the toughest trails in Georgia. The race was advertised as having over 10,000 feet of climbing.

The Duncan Ridge 50K Course.

I had some high quality training leading up to the race, but perhaps not quite enough of it. I’d run the Dirty South Half Marathon (more like 14.2 miles) in Knoxville the weekend before in 2:48. The four weekends prior to the race included two ~20 mile runs in the Smokies, an 18 miler on the North Boundary Trail in Frozen Head SP, and a really tough off trail climb up Lester Prong to Charlies Bunion in the Smokies (link). This should have given me enough training for a 50K. But, I have a history of IT Band and tendonitis issues in my left knee that can make downhills excruciatingly painful. I hoped that walking the steep hills would keep that issue at bay.

Luckily my friend Aaron also signed up for the race, and we were able to make the trip together. We left Knoxville on Friday at 5:30, stopped for dinner in Cleveland, TN, and stayed at the Best Western in Blairsville, GA, not far from Vogel. There were a few early indications already that I wasn’t on my “A” game. First, I left my credit card at the restaurant after dinner. I called them from the hotel, and we were able to pick up the card on the return trip. Then at the hotel, the screw holding my glasses frames together popped loose. Luckily I found the screw, and had the tiny screwdriver needed for the repair. But, if that had happened the next day in the woods, I’d have been a one eyed runner.

Race morning was cold (35-40F), and we both spent a long time in line for the single bathroom near the start. The course wasn’t too crowded at the start, even with an almost immediate mile of single track. We would run the north side of the Backcountry Loop, both going out and coming back. The south side of the loop goes through the Blood Mountain Wilderness where competitive events would not be allowed. After the initial single track, was a nice downhill jeep road to the first aid station.

Then the long climb up Coosa Bald started. The grade was gentle running at first, but the last mile was very steep. Everyone started hiking, the line compressed, and I found myself just a few places behind Aaron. Feeling good, and knowing this was my strong suit, I passed him and a few others on the climb.

At the top, I was feeling aggressive and pushed hard down the steep descent of the Duncan Ridge Trail. Steep downhill running isn’t my forte, and normally is extra tough on my knees. I got passed a few times going into Aid 2 at Whiteoak Stomp. I tried to fill up and drink up, thinking of all the miles still ahead.

Duncan Ridge 50K Elevation Profile.

Duncan Ridge Trail was mostly solid single track, great for running. The drops into the gaps at aid stations 2 and 3 were steep, everything else was runnable for me. Heading toward Mulky Gap (Aid 3), there were lots of great view over the valley of Nottely Lake to the mountains on the north side. We also got a few views south toward the Appalachian Trail and Blood Mountain. Coming into the turnaround at Fish Gap (Aid 4), I saw Misty running strong, already on the return leg. I had just met her, and she had not yet joined our Haw Ridge group, so I was surprised to see her that early. Counting runners, I thought I was around 44^th at the turn, just a few places behind Aaron.

I had a little tightness in the outside of my (left) knee coming into the steep descent back into Aid 2, but I was still moving up through the pack and caught Aaron again.

But going up Coosa Bald, I could tell my tendonitis was flaring up again. I was going to pay the price for my hard run down the back side of Coosa Bald.

Once over the top, I could barely walk the downhills because of the pain. When Aaron caught up again I warned him I’d likely finish an hour behind him. I grabbed a hiking stick and barely limped down the trail, dreading every bend of my knee. On the steep section of the descent I must have been passed 20 times. I felt like a greeter at Wal Mart, “Hi, Hello, Looking good, etc.” as the runners streamed by. In barely an instant my race goal changed from a likely sub 8 hours, to a long shot at sub 9 hours, to just wanting the pain to end.

When the terrain got gentler, I could walk again at a decent pace, maybe 4 mph, but not fast enough to make up any time. The final few miles back to Aid 1 were smooth and gentle, but I just gimped along. I could hold my own on the final climb out of Aid 1 as most everyone was hiking by then. But they all ran the last downhill, and I lost another 5 or so places. I couldn’t even run the pavement into the finish line.

This was a hard course, and I’d had a decent race, but I was really disappointed. The tendonitis pain was as bad as I’d ever had. I wondered if my strategy had backfired and I needed to just run easy courses, and hope that wouldn’t trigger the knee pain. I was worried about doing long term damage to my knee, and even of ruining future hiking or running plans.

After the race, my GPS showed 29.9 miles and 9895’ of climb. After plotting in TOPO! the results were 30.5 miles and 8635’. My time was 9:10:32, and I was 62 of 91 finishers with ~130 staters. Aaron ran 8:25, which was good enough for 42th. Misty was F4 in 7:40. She would go on to win the women’s race in 2014. There were another 80 finishers in the 30K race.

As it turned out, Duncan Ridge did have a long term impact. It took several years for me to totally shake the specter of tendonitis in my left knee. I was OK at Barkley in 2013, quitting early on lap two. But in 2014 the tendonitis flared up early in lap one causing me to quit at the Fire Tower, the first time in 11 tries that I’d failed to complete a loop. I never had raced a lot, but outside of Barkley the next few years saw only a pair of 50Ks. I would still do some shorter races, but the impact on my knee still showed up for a few years in far fewer runs on my favorite courses in the Smokies and around Frozen Head SP. It’s hard to say exactly how long the recovery took, but it wasn’t until late 2016/early 2017 that I felt confident racing again.

2012,10-27, Rocky Crag to the Real Charlies Bunion

Some Smoky Mountain Hiking Clubs friends of mine had been pioneering some really interesting routes in the steep, rocky terrain around Mt. LeConte and Charlies Bunion in the Smokies. My usual off-trail hiking partner, Ed and I were interested in their route up to The Jumpoff, and tried to persuade some of the group that had done the route previously to join us. This would be an intimidating, semi-technical route, where their previous experience would be added margin of safety. Joining us would be long time partnership of Jenny and Chris, along with Charlie and Greg. They decided that the route would be up the Rocky Crag the “righteous way”. We assumed that was a nickname for the route we had in mind, and it wasn’t until part way into the trip we realized that we were actually going use the route that finishes at the top of the “Real” Charlies Bunion, just east of the prominent overlook off the AT at the “Tourist” Bunion.

Some fun climbing sections.

The route starts with a few miles of tail hiking, then continues on a well-used manway, familiar ground to this group. Soon we split off on a side creek which was fantastic, wide and shallow. We were off the manway now, basically hiking straight up the creek. The main manway has what I call the “Mother Cairn,” a huge cairn that confirms that popular route. We passed another large cairn on the side creek which I dubbed “the daughter.” Even along this relatively large prong we needed to scramble up one small cascade.

The start of the scrambling section

Finally, we came to the critical point where the real climbing would begin. We made sure our elevation was correct, the requisite side creeks were in place, and off we went. We turned  up a very steep draw with little flow and some easy cliff faces. Further on the draw gets very tight and the really good stuff starts. Beyond this point the route seemed fairly clear, there weren’t many options on where to go. Greg did almost all the leading, but Chris and Jenny had recently done this route also. We started up a gully that soon disappeared into broken rock and laurel. There were lots of good holds, but some of this is third class climbing. I felt comfortable climbing up it, but descending would have been trickier, and the route would be dangerous with wet rock.

Chris climbing the spine of the ridge.

We ended up at the base of an east trending side ridge that is barely distinguishable on the topo map. Here was some exposed climbing on a steep slatey slope ideal for photos. I didn’t take a camera on this trip and have mixed in some photos from a 2018 visit with a few pictures I borrowed from Greg and Chris for this blog post. The side ridge hits the main ridge at “Panty Point”, one of Greg’s colorful names for the exposed sections of the route. A few beautiful, steep rocky exposed pitches lead to the Big Tooth where we had lunch at about 1 PM.

Mark enjoying the climb.

It had been foggy all day and threatened to rain. The low visibility made the route seem wilder and more private, no distractions from the job close at hand. From our first view, the Big Tooth looked to rise straight above us. To make it spookier there was even a man on top. I was Greg Hoover, peering down on us like some god from Olympus. The Gregs exchanged a lot of calls, and later I made the suggestion that yelling back and forth off trail probably wasn’t a great idea, usually the only reason to yell into the mountains is to advertise that you need help. I think Greg likes the attention, but I’d just as soon not advertise these routes to the everyday hiker. Hoover was recovering from the flu, and unable to join us for the full hike, so he had walked in from Newfound Gap via the AT.

Looking up at Big Tooth.

Normally I pack a big lunch for a big day in the mountain and this trip was no exception. Too bad I’d left the lunch in the truck of the car in my haste to reorganize myself at the trailhead. Luckily, Ed had some extra food (cliff bar, pack of crackers, and half an apple) and I got enough to power me through the rest of the day.

It turned out our lunch spot was still far from the Real Bunion. The climbing remained steep, but now it was now mostly in the trees. It took about an hour to reach my usual lunch spot on the crest.

Ed and Pam had left a vehicle the night before at Newfound Gap, so I went back on the AT with Ed and Hoover, pleading sympathy for my recent knee issues as my excuse. The others went back via a descent of the full manway, which is apparently what makes this route the “righteous way”.

It was cold and blowing at Newfound Gap, and probably the coldest part of our day. It started raining about 15 minutes after we got to the car. We hoped that the others had gotten to the trail before the rain began and missed the misery of bushwhacking in the rain. Rocky Crag proved to be all we’d imagined, and more. It is likely the most exhilarating, and technical, route I’ve done in the Smokies and rivals the Thousand Foot Scar for the most scenic. The route is worthy of multiple trips, but it would be several years before I managed to get back.

4-14-18 SMHC Trip

My friend Mark was the notable absence on our 2012 trip. This would change in 2018 when the Smoky Mountains Hiking Club added the hike to its regular schedule. Both Mark and I were leery of the large groups, and often inexperienced hikers, on some of the club hikes of this era, but the pull of the route was too strong for us to let it pass by without another visit.

The hike to the base of the climbing was routine. We travelled up the side drainage in the creek, but I did not see the “daughter cairn” from our 2012 hike. The first fork is marked by a series of steep, wet cascades. These seemed pretty safe to go up, there are generally enough holds to work. All of us did well on the climbing, but a group has to move slowly as everyone moves pass the choke points. Further up there’s another fork to the east, that’s the point where you move out of the drainage onto a “ridge” on the north side of the fork. This climbing is mixed heath and heavily fractured Anakeesta Formation. Near the top is the first airy spot which leads to the main ridge at Peregrine? Point. This climb strung us out a bit. We ate lunch at the next pinnacle.

The view down Rocky Crag.

The weather, which had looked really ominous while we were down in the drainage, now looked very clear. The rest of the climbing was steep up and over up the spine of Rocky Crag, through mixed heath and relatively solid Anakeesta Formation. From the drainage there is decently beat in path for most of the route, and once on the ridge crest there is really no other way to go than up the spine. None of the individual moves are hard, it’s just a pretty long steep scramble. Most of it is class 3, the wet sections are probably class 4 because protection would be a good idea on descent.

Scrambling up the crag.

The route tops off on the USGS or “Real” Bunion. It was early afternoon at this point and Mark, Mike, Mike, and I decided to head back via the main manway. We thought the huge group would be even slower on the descent and none of us had any appetite for descending the wet rock on the lower fork of Lester Prong. The manway was as we all remembered it. The uppermost part is a steep and wet slope, eventually leading into the sluice. We found the spot where we needed to contour ~100” west to another draw near the bottom of the sluice. The mother cairn was still in place. The rest was a mix of old manway and walking on the rocks in the creek. No flags, but a few cairns marked the route.

We reached the creek junction about two minutes after Hoover had arrived (he had descended our outbound route after eating lunch with the group, and we had a quick break with him. I’d finished my G2 and treated some creek water. It was still bright and sunny. We got back to the trailhead about 5:15.

As I got back to the trailhead, I could see Mark talking to a ranger in a pickup by the gate. It turned out that Greg had called in a report of a hiker from another party injured in a fall. Mark and I updated ranger on the route we had taken, and the rest is another story.

2012 8-25, Mt LeConte Run via Dry Sluice Gap

The Dry Sluice Gap (aka Porters Creek) Manway is one of the best known manways in the Smokies. These long abandoned, but often still discernable paths through the Smokies aren’t on most maps or in most guidebooks. Still the Smokies manways are provide access to some otherwise trailless areas, and are fun to explore on their own. This trip came about as the result of a failed first attempt to complete a loop run around LeConte using Dry Sluice Gap.

Among off trail hikers, Dry Sluice is not considered an especially tough trip. But information on Dry Sluice is readily available online, and the route is even mentioned in the old Smokies “blue book” trail guide, so it has a particular amount of renown. This wealth of information has drawn many hikers to the route. There are two tricky spots on the manway. One is at the base of the final headwall climb, where the path starts up one draw and then abruptly cuts left back into another. People who miss this turn usually end up scrambling up an exposed slope directly below Charlies Bunion. My hunch is that the original route headed directly up that left fork and then was blocked by landslide debris, making the short jog to the right necessary.

The other tough spot is at the start. Two manways leave the end of the Porters Creek Trail, and unfortunately the more obvious one heads east and climbs up Porters Mountain. This route was the site of a rescue in 2009 of a backpacker who got himself stuck on Porters for 8 days before being rescued by helicopter by the NPS. It is an easy mistake to make. On our first trip up the manway, Mark and I started up Porters Mountain briefly before realizing that it was leading us astray. The correct route goes south and gradually leads down toward Porters Creek.

I found out about the first running attempt later that week talking to Shane at Haw Ridge. He asked me if I’d heard about the trip up the manway to LeConte. I was thinking a bit literally, and thought there really aren’t any manways up LeConte, but Shane thought Dry Sluice sounded right. I e-mailed Tony and the full story came out. It took me awhile to believe, but finally Tony sent me his GPS track which showed a six hour, three mile ordeal. The group got sucked onto the Porters Mountain manway right from the start and didn’t turn back when the manway started to climb and then essentially disappeared. They ended up crawling and thrashing their way up the ridge expecting to reach the Appalachian Trail, and not the crest of Porters Mountain. Though they realized their error once on the crest, they didn’t want to turn back and instead headed to the Appalachian Trail. It took the about six hours to reach the AT, and they were in rough shape, out of water, and pretty cut up. Since they’d expected to run, some of them were wearing gear inappropriate for rhodo wrestling. I guess they basically evicted some backpackers from the spring at Icewater, and then headed for Newfound Gap and hitched a ride back to the Roaring Fork Road where they had started. About half the group vowed never to return, but some of the rest wanted to try the route again. Since Mark and I had done the route a couple of times, we offered to lead.

 

On the manway.

For the second try, our group with Tony, Mark M, Leah, and Kathy started at 7:30 and walked/jogged 2.7 miles to CS 31 in an hour. Mark and I had a bit of an issue finding the start of the manway, we almost dove back down into the creek, but we retreated (lesson one), and picked up the manway easily after that. Another group we passed along the way had left ribbons, we should have removed those. It took four creek crossings to reach the mouth of Lester Prong. In one open section the manway pulled left away from the creek. The manway was pretty grown up, but otherwise no troubles.

 

Ed and I at the Mother Cairn.

The valley lost stream flow below the Mother Cairn which marks the start of the steep climbing. The leftward traverse was cairned, but very overgrown, I wondered if a lot of folks still miss it. Our group had no trouble on the steep sections which turns into a series of steep, narrow, and wet ledges. Mark showed off his prowess on the climb. We reach the AT in 3:11, a very fast time.

 

Climbing the headwall.

We stopped at Charlies Bunion for views and filled up with water at Icewater Springs. I saw volunteer Pete Bernsten working on the trail. The Boulevard Trail was very runnable, though I seemed to be the only one who needed to walk the climbs. I hadn’t hiked that trail for a while and spent most of the time looking for the spots where I’d emerged onto it after other off trail routes. The head of Lowes Creek looked much more overgrown than I’d remembered, maybe there’s something solid to hang onto now on the top of that headwall. I was last to the lodge by a good 15 minutes. We saw Alan Householder at the Lodge, and it was good to introduce him to some new off trailers.

About ten minutes down Trillium Gap Trail from the Lodge, I stubbed my right toes badly enough to hear them crunch. Even more painfully, I smacked them again pretty hard a few minutes later. That hurt even more, and exhausted my vocabulary of suitable words. That left me half running, half jogging down the trail while trying to baby both my feet. My left foot already had a possible neuroma, and a cracked knuckle bone on the outside of left big toe, and now I was sure I’d broken a couple toes on my right. To make it worse, the upper part of Brushy Mountain Trail was badly postholed by horses, but thankfully the lower trails were fairly runnable. I took some walking breaks to protect my knees, but they held up fine. I guess I was 30 minutes behind the group arriving at the trailhead. I went down to the creek to join the group for some washing up/cooling off. My blue and purple toes gave me a decent excuse for my slow time of ~8:20.

It turned out my toes were only sprained, but had to stay off my feet a long while nevertheless to let the sprain heal. I have no images from the trip (not even the purple toes) so the few images shown here are from prior trips.

Route Summary:

Porters Creek Trail, Dry Sluice Gap Manway, Appalachian Trail, Boulevard Trail, Trillium Gap Trail, Brushy Mountain Trail, Porters Creek Trail.

2012 6-24 Max Patch to Sterling MB Ride

Max Patch to Sterling is a serious route through some of the finest mountain biking terrain in the region. The route features two 2,000’ climbs and miles of remote, little traveled, and often unmarked trails. This particular ride ended up as the capstone of my mountain bike adventure riding, I haven’t been able to put together a ride anywhere near as ambitious or committing since.

 

Our Route from Max Patch to Mt Sterling

Just putting the ride together took significant planning. Our first introduction to the area was the opening of a new hiking trail in the Martha Sundquist State Forest. The MSSF is the former “Gulf Tract” a 2000-acre parcel of Champion Paper Company land that was acquired by the state of Tennessee in 2001. In early 2010 my friend Ed and I both saw an article about a new two mile Tennessee Gulf hiking trail in the forest, and thought that it would make a fun trip to a new area. Much of the challenge of hiking in the forest was in getting to the trailhead. We found no signs beyond the interstate and closer to the forest, the access road gradually deteriorates, turns to gravel, passes through what looks like someone’s front yard, and then makes a few shallow creek crossings, at least one of which was tough for a low clearance sedan. We passed a couple campsites before reaching a signed road junction near the lower trailhead, about 2.5 miles from the Bull Gap turn.

When we hiked the trail in July 2010, we made a loop back to our cars with two gravel Cherokee National Forest roads. The hiking trail was worth the effort. It didn’t look like it got much use and had a soft springy footbed. Much of the it follows an older trail/logging road still shown on the topo maps, but the area has likely been undisturbed since at least the 1960s. The creek crossings were elegantly bridged and the trail well marked and easy to follow. Judging by their prolific scat, the black bears really love the area. The wildflower potential looked great also. We saw foliage for both trillium and lady’s slipper. The CNF roads were well maintained, basically empty, and looked like they’d be huge fun to ride on a mountain bike.

 

Creek ford in MSSF.

That August Mark, Steven, and I put together an exciting 24 mile loop that combines the roads on the perimeter of the MSSF with the Cherokee National Forest roads that connected to the trailhead below Max Patch, a beautiful open bald located along the Appalachian Trail north of Interstate 40. The roads were old enough that we stayed cool under the tree canopy, and remote enough that we didn’t see a single car except at the parking area near Max Patch. The grades are gentle enough that even the 1,800-foot climb to Max Patch went by without too much pain.

 

Mark and Steven on the summit of Max Patch

For exploring the west side of I-40 we used the information on Tom Dunigan’s “East Tennessee Mountain Biking” website. I’d been using Tom’s maps to explore in the Cumberland Mountains, and although the maps were fairly old, I generally found the information to still be accurate. Using the Dunigan maps and the official Pisgah National Forest Maps it looked there was potential for several loop rides. It was hard to find a time when our whole group could ride together and eventually Mark went out on his own to ride some of the trails in summer of 2011. In October, I then got out solo for a 32 mile loop that took me from the Pigeon River to Mt Sterling Gap and then back via Double Gap.

The ride was everything I’d hoped it could be. The roads were in great shape, all well compacted gravel. The climbing was relentless, but never too steep for riding, I was feeling good and never had to get off the bike to push. The fall colors were just reaching their peak at the higher elevations, but I still only saw three vehicles all day on the PNF roads, there were a few more cars on the Sterling Road. Near Sterling Gap, the road was a perfect tunnel of golden leaves, some still on the trees, but most forming a thin carpet on the roadbed. Mark and I both really liked the terrain we saw, great scenery, long climbs, ridable trails, and old roads in an area that seemed almost empty. Despite our enthusiasm, it wasn’t until the next summer that we were able to pull off a ride to connect the two areas.

Mark and I planned the ride to connect the best of our trips to Max Patch and the Mt Sterling area. We knew this one would be a huge day with a lot of climbing and some significant route finding. It was too big for a full loop, so we needed to set up a shuttle. We left one car at the Big Creek Ranger Station in the Smokies, and drove over toward MSSF the direct way without using I-40. However, the roads were slow going, and Mark felt that the interstate would be faster. I had forgotten to turn on the GPS or otherwise keep time, so I’ve got no real data to say which route was faster.

Once on the bikes we found the roads in MSSF were in pretty good shape, but a bit steeper than I remembered, maybe I wasn’t in as good shape. We rode the northern most route (CNF Rd 225101) in MSSF, mostly b/c those roads would be new to both of us. The last, steep mile to the Max Patch Road was on PNF 2251. This really is a great place to ride. Zero traffic, nice surface, and  great scenery. We felt good when we reached the Max Patch Road (Rd 1182) at the 10 mile mark, so we took a side trip to the Appalachian Trail trailhead, and then walked up the short path to enjoy the views from the open summit of Max Patch.

Mark had had a recent crash on one of his Greene County rides, so he was in no mood to open up the bike on the descent down the Max Patch Road to I-40 and the Pigeon River. It’s a bit unusual for me to be the faster downhill rider, but that was OK. We had about a mile and a half on the Max Patch Road before turning down PNF 148 which is the Cold Springs Road. The descent took us 46 minutes, probably as slow as anyone has ever ridden down that road. We hit the auto ford over the Pigeon River near the Harmon Den Exit at almost 20 miles around noon.

Pigeon River auto ford.

From the river it is a long crank upwards toward Sterling starting up PNF Rd 288. There was some sort of event going on at the houses near the Hicks Cemetery, it was good to see someone taking advantage of that spectacular location. We saw our last carload of people not long after. Next up is perhaps the most dramatic overlook in the Smokies region, the shear drop off at Buzzard’s Roost. Here its possible to believe you could drop straight down to 1-40 and the Pigeon River below.

 

Buzzards Roost

At the 26 mile mark we came to our first decision point on the ride. I was curious about the road shown on the Dunigan map (PNF 3537) on the crest of the ridge between Sutton Top and Sterling. It looked like an easier way up to Sterling Gap, if the road was open to its end on PNF 287. This way would allow us to visit the old tower site at Sutton Top, which I hadn’t seen.

 

Tower Road Junction.

Mark had been to the tower site on his ride and was skeptical that the crest road went through, but we decided it would be worth a look to ride up there .Of course, this turned out to be a big mistake. For one, this is where I started to tire. I’d done a reasonable job of keeping up with Mark so far, but on the climb to Sutton Top I really started to lag. I think we ended up walking the last spur of the road to the tower. The only real view from the top was down the powerline cuts.

We looked at the crest road (still PNF 3537) and decided it wasn’t a good idea to try it. It looked like it got some ATV use, but that it wouldn’t be easy biking. And if it petered out halfway along, we’d really need a long detour to get back on route. Skipping the 3.5 mile roundtrip to the tower would likely have turned our ride from epic back to just epically fun.

Back on our main route we turned left on PNF 287 in another mile and a half, then a long three mile climb to the Sutton Top junction and the end of our proposed shortcut at Dick’s Gap. I struggled a bit on the long climb up to the crest near Dick’s Gap which we reached near 3 PM. I really hadn’t done a lot of mountain biking yet that spring, and this ride was a bit of a stretch for me.

 

Approaching Sterling Gap.

There was still another 2.5 miles and 500’ of climb to go. I ended up pushing the last 0.3 up to Sterling Gap, but we did get through that rather complicated spot without getting off route.

From Sterling Gap it should have been an easy ride down on gravel NC 1387 back down to the car. Once we left the gap, Mark got out ahead, which wouldn’t have mattered much if I hadn’t got a flat tire near Double Gap. When I realized I had the puncture he was too far ahead to hear me shout. I was pretty pooped and really would have liked to just coast into the car at that point. I changed my tube, and had just learned that the new one also had a hole, when Mark finished riding back up the road to check on me. Luckily, his spare tube held air, and we rolled back down to the Big Creek ranger station at 5 PM for a total ride of about 43.4 miles.

 

Who says GPS Programs exaggerate your vertical gain?

Our return trip back to MSSF to retrieve the shuttle vehicle took about 45 minutes to drive 40 miles. The section from 1-40 to the MSSF TH is about 11 miles and 25 minutes.

I did detailed write-ups for both the Max Patch and Sterling scouting rides and posted those to Matt Steagall’s Knoxville Cycling message board. That board was taken down not long afterward, but I used drafts of those write-ups for this article. The pictures used in this post also come from those earlier trips, as I did not bring along a camera on the final ride. Since this post is coming almost a decade after the original riding, remember that road and trail conditions may have changed significantly since that time.

2012, 3-11, Cumberland Trail, Arch Mountain

Jean and I had volunteered to lead the newest section of the Cumberland Trail at Arch Mountain for the SMHC in 2012. Since the acquisition of the much of the Cumberland Mountains by the State of Tennessee under 2008’s “Connecting the Cumberlands” initiative we’d been exploring both the Emory Tract addition to Frozen Head and the new properties that were now part of the North Cumberland Wildlife Management Area. We’d found a rugged, little known area in the heart of the Cumberlands, in many respects similar to the Smokies in the 1920’s and 30’s. Though not far from Knoxville, few people have visited here. The land has been heavily logged and was sparsely settled. Most recreation use is by ATV or hunters, but the opportunities for hiking and mountain biking are tremendous.

Looking at the Arch Mountain CT section map, we saw that just west of the trail was the two-mile long crest of Arch Mountain, which if passable, looked to be an enticing off trail return route. We decided to scout the hike, and use the crest route on our return to avoid an out and back trip. From previous trips in the Cumberlands, we’d learned a few crucial differences between off trail hiking in the Smokies vs. the Cumberlands, the main one being that in the Cumberlands the route always goes somehow. There are no impenetrable rhodo hells in these mountains, you may fight the briers and blowdowns, and be forced to detour around scattered cliff bands, but you can almost always eventually get where you want to be.

The first hint that this was to be our day came as we drove beside the New River on the Norma Road south from Huntsville. In the huge field along the river bottom were eight grazing elk. Considering ourselves to be tourists, we parked the car in the middle of the road and watched as one bull slowly gathered up his harem and escorted them off into the trees along the river.

Elk along the Norma Road

The start of our hike wasn’t quite so auspicious. Immediately after fording knee deep, but chilly, Smoky Creek we lost the CT by following an obvious gravel road. To be fair, this section wasn’t yet officially open so the absence of trail markers might have been deliberate. We’d make two other “side trips,” once missing a turn off an old coal bench and missing another turn near a log loading station. 

The ford at Smoky Creek

The trail generally heads east up Smoky Creek, then turns south to follow Straight Fork. The creekside walking is beautiful, with either the creek or rocky bluffs generally in view. We passed an unfinished hog trap, where TWRA was attempting to habituate hogs by feeding, so they can be then trapped and removed.

There are two easy rock hops of the Straight Fork, then the trail climbs steadily toward a saddle just south of the high point of Arch Mountain. On our scouting visit, the trail ended at about 2500’ below the saddle. We stopped for lunch at the end of the trail then followed the CTC flagging to the small saddle on the crest about 200’ above us. Ahead lay 3-4 miles of unknown bushwhacking along the crest of Arch Mountain.

Steps along the Cumberland Trail

Open Forest along Arch Mountain.

We turned south to follow the crest and soon came to the first rock tower. We’d gambled that the long straight crest of Arch Mountain was topped with a thick sandstone caprock layer that would offer the cliff line walking so distinctive of the Cumberlands, and in this case our gamble paid off. The vegetation on the crest was never too thick for travel, but there only a few snippets of game trails to follow. The slopes of Arch however are a different matter. While its coal mining in the Cumberlands that gets the attention, its logging that is doing the damage. A quick of the Cumberlands on Google maps or the Acme mapper shows a dense network of clear cuts that are devastating the Cumberlands. Like the loggers who chased every tree in the Smokies before the coming of the park, the Cumberlands are being logged with little thought of sustainability and no plans for renewing the forest. We passed above the tops of several clear cuts, mostly on the east slopes of the mountains that stretched from the crest of the mountain all the way to the creek bank. Although the views were fantastic, they only served to reveal even more clear cuts. We soon realized that even the CT along Straight Fork had wound up the mountain in a narrow strip of mature forests sandwiched between timber cuts.

Cliffs at the Crest of Arch Mountain.

In the center of the crest is a particularly steep section of cap rock. We had to do some backtracking to find a chute we could down climb, and then walked the west side for a while until we could regain the crest. Despite all the rock formations on the crest we never found an arch and speculated that that the mountain’s name derived from its arched shape. Up ahead, Jean flushed out a sounder of eight wild boar, two adults and a pack of little ones. We’ve had several boar encounters in the Cumberlands and so far, they all ended with boars fleeing at full speed.

At the north end of Arch Mountain, the crest split. We followed a sharp, steep ridge to the northeast down to a coal bench at about 2000’. Here we were looking for an old road, but were lured onto an active logging road which brought us back to a crossing with the CT. We ended the day with about four miles of off trail, ten miles total, and about 1,500 feet of climb.

Descending to Straight Fork.

Our SMHC trip that May was a ten miler extending past the end of our scouting hike to the crest, and then beyond to an old road at about 2900’, just north of Grassy Gap. Smoky Creek was much lower then, almost dry enough to be rock hopped. The TWRA hog trap was now fully functional. The logging crew on Straight Fork was still active.

Smoky Mountain Hiking Club Members Crossing Smoky Creek.

I did one more trip on the Arch Mountain section in December. We organized this as a trail run key swap, with my friend Brian and his friend William starting at Smoky Creek and running south, while Susan Fiscor and I ran north from Frozen Head State Park. We measured the route as 16.9 miles and 4,000’ of climb which took Susan and I almost 6 hours. Between the long climb up the FHSP Jeep Road and the technical tread of the CT Susan and I only ran 4-6 miles of the route. The stretch between Bunch Gap and the crest of Arch Mountain was new to me, and was the last piece I needed to finish the CT between FHSP and LaFollette. Two new bridges had been placed on Straight Fork. We were lucky to get a chance to run this section so soon after its construction. As is typical for the CT, the new trail receives almost no maintenance, and the dense overgrowth discourages most hikers from using it.

Runners on the Cumberland Trail.

The Route of our Scouting Hike.

Here’s a link to the Cumberland Trails Conference’s page for the Arch Mountain Section: CT Arch Mtn.

Note: As of November 2019, the CT is closed between the north end of FHSP and the Cave Branch Trailhead due to numerous blowdowns.

Smokies, Bull Cave and the Big Ditch, Off-trail, 2-18-2012

This hike resulted from observations we’d made on our 12-4-11 Ace Gap-Rich Mountain hike that used part of the Rich Mountain Road. We were reminded of Bull Cave, just inside the park off of Rich Mountain Gap, and had also seen the start of a very prominent ditch leading north off the road near BM 2509’. We though it possible to connect these two intriguing features with a single loop out of Rich Mountain Gap.

To do so, we turned to Clyde, our first stop for all things off trail in the Smokies. He had, of course, done a hike on the Bull Cave side, but hadn’t been in the area around the ditch. Using Clyde’s notes, we put together a route from Rich Mountain Gap to Bull Cave, to Hesse Creek, to Rich Mountain Road, to BM 2509’, then down the ditch, and back to Rich Mountain Road. This would be only a 4.4 mile loop, but it was one of the few times Jean and I headed off on an off trail trip with a significant leg we hadn’t scouted or researched.

We discovered that Bull Cave had two large sinkholes, the second was larger and prettier. Of course, all caves in the park are closed to exploration, primarily to prevent the spread of white nose syndrome in bats, but probably also for obvious safety concerns .

Bull Cave.

The 2011 WKYU MS thesis by Nolfie gives this description of the cave The Bull Cave System is the deepest known cave in GRSM (as well as Tennessee) at 282 m. It is ranked as the third deepest in the eastern US and the twentieth overall in the US. Bull Cave has two entrances, the historic entrance, and the more recently discovered Snakedance entrance. The total mapped length of cave is 3656.4 m. The historical descent into Bull Cave requires descending three vertical drops of twelve, fifty-two, and twenty-seven meters as well as exposed down-climbs in often cold and wet conditions.

Entrance to Bull Cave.

From the cave we continued upstream along a steep, narrow gorge. We followed a game trail on its north side. After a small divide we headed left down toward a branch of upper Hesse Creek. We encountered a lot of rhodo there and climbed up on the north side to avoid it. Once at Hesse Creek the valley was wider and more open. We saw several rock piles that we assumed were from chimneys, but we did not see the old RR grade we expected.

Map reading stop.

We went up Hesse Creek briefly, then turned up the next side creek to the south, following the route that Clyde had used on his trip. There we found an old RR grade about 50’ above the creek on the right or north side. This grade shows as a trail on the 1931 map from BM 1869’. The grade was intermittent, and had moderate rhodo. Clyde’s route eventually moved onto the nose of a small ridge and brought us to the gravel Rich Mountain Road. We walked north up the road to BM 2509’, and had lunch at the top of the big ditch. We’d now have a short piece of unknown terrain.

Jean at small waterfall.

We discovered that the ditch soon split into two branches heading straight down the nose of the ridge. In places the ditches reached 12-15’  wide by deep. There was no other equipment around to indicate what they were used by, but we imagined their purpose was related to hauling logs. Maybe this was some kind of skidder line with the dragging of logs scraping out the ditch. There were lots of dead pines at this elevation.

At the saddle where the ridge turned northwest, the ditches went straight downslope and became less obvious, before ending in a rhodo patch. We first attempted to go further downstream but encountered too much rhodo, and soon climbed a small ridge to escape back to the Rich Mountain Road.

Massive root ball from blow down.

This hike gave us three miles of new off trail hiking. The section near Bull Cave was nice, but except for the mysterious ditch, there was nothing else special about the rest of it. We decided that there would be better options for including in the next SMHC schedule. We also made the general note that the ridges were much easier going vs. the creek bottoms in this area.

Hiking on Rich Mountain Road.

Bull Cave and Big Ditch Route.