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.
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.Our Key Swap Crew.
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.
