The Cross Trail is manway in the Smokies that connects Bote Mountain with
Thunderhead. It was built in the 1930s by Civilian Conservation Corps to
connect the Cades Cove area to Tremont at an elevation below the State Line
Crest and above the West Prong-Lumber Ridge-Meigs Mountain trails. This old
trail is shown on the 1949 park map, but was likely abandoned prior to the
1960s, as the park concentrated its maintenance on trails that received more
use.
The Cross Trail was then reincarnated as one of the classic manways in
the Smokies. It is a long, challenging route that connects the Bote Mountain
Trail east to the Defeat Ridge manway and the incredible network of abandoned
trails and logging grades around Tremont. When Jean and I began our off trail
explorations of the Smokies, we started in Tremont and soon heard tales about
the manway, which at that time was reasonably clear. Being cautious we explored
the first mile or so of the manway on either end before our first attempt. We
found the ends to be relatively clear, but when we attempted the whole route in
2005 we found the middle section to be a rhododendron-clogged mess. The
northeast facing slopes seemed to be the worst with young, aggressive rhodo
clogging the old trail bed and pushing us weary hikers off to the steep slopes
on either side of the old treads. Mark and I were training for Barkley, only
another week away, and the constant side hilling around the rhodo clogged trailbed played hell on our ankles. The four
miles of the manway took us 3:15 and the two miles of the Defeat Ridge Manway
up to Thunderhead required another two hours of rhodo bashing. We emerged on
the AT in late evening and ended a 16 mile, 10 hour day with a feeding frenzy
in the Townsend Subway. Except for another ill-advised attempt on the Defeat
Ridge manway the next year by Mark and I, we learned our lesson and left the Cross
Trail alone for several years.
One thing we’ve learned about off trail routes in the Smokies is that
they change more than you’d expect. Routes that were once wide open gradually
become overgrown, while others can open up unexpectedly. We started hearing rumors
that the Cross Trail was more open than in past years and that off trail hikers were
doing the route, and enjoying it. We’d also been on the first mile of the
manway a couple of times recently while exploring the upper West Prong drainage
and knew it was in decent shape. We floated the idea of traversing from Bote
Mountain to Upper Tremont to Ed and Claudia, our usual off trail hiking
companions, and since neither had done it before they were exited to give it a
shot. The question mark would be Jean who was having some back issues, would she
be strong enough for the whole route which includes 9 miles of off trail? But
we found an almost perfect weather day when all four of us could go and off we
went.
We left a shuttle vehicle at Upper Tremont and started up Lead Cove Trail, and then took Bote Mountain
Trail up to the start of the manway. The spring wildflowers were still good, we
saw lots of trillium and iris among others. We saw our only hiker of the day
just before we left Bote Mountain. The manway across the West Prong drainage was
still relatively open, we didn’t see signs of any recent work. But the ridge
between the West Prong and Bee Cove was the hardest part of the trip. It had
been sawed open, but was still slow going with pervasive side hilling and
plenty of obstacles.
Friendly snake along the route.
It was ~12:30 when we stopped at Bee Cove for lunch. We guesstimated
that this was the halfway point in terms of effort. I could tell Jean was
tired, but she was still game to go on. It was warm and we went through a lot
of water. I treated a bottle of water here and at two other spots during the trip. Ed
lost a water bottle somewhere on the route.
Typical creek crossing along the manway.
Things seemed a little easier beyond Bee Cove. The ridge between Bee
and Long coves looked very open (at least at ~4,000’) and might be worthy of a
return trip in its own right. We could move a little better and had some more
scenic sections. One thing I did not remember from 2005 was the large number of
old CCC retaining walls. None were high or especially long, but there are a lot
of them. Somewhere in here we saw a timber rattler, a rare sight in the
Smokies. There were also two spots where we ended up backing up and cutting a route around the old
manway due to the density of the rhodo. At one of these I took the lead from Ed
and kept it to the junction with Defeat Ridge.
CCC era rock wall along the manway.
Luckily for us the Defeat Ridge manway was in better shape than the
Cross Trail, so we started to make better time. The forest here was more open,
but totally bloomed out so we did not see the Chimney Rock. As the manway
approaches Thunderhead Prong it goes through a large area of thick rhodo. The
manway was well kept up here, but without some work this area could become
impassable in a short amount of time. The piers at the bridge over Thunderhead
Prong are impressively huge and made with rock too large to be from CCC hand
labor. There is no remaining trace of a logging rail spur at the crossing, but
maybe there was one, or least some equipment back when the trail was built. Jean
forded the Prong, the rest of us were able to rock hop. The vegetation was
again thick across the Prong, but we found our way to the Thunderhead Prong railroad
grade, a wide, gentle, and reasonably clear walk in the park back home.
Along the old Thunderhead Prong Railroad grade.
But still it is almost four miles from New World to Upper Tremont. We
were all tired, but enjoyed the easy walking on the RR grade. We missed the RR
grade switchback and went a few hundred feet up the Green Camp Manway before
realizing our error. Shut in Prong was an easy rock hop. We did make the
correct turn at the junction with the Sams Creek Manway. This junction is near
two huge boulders that I did not recall from previous trips. Below the
switchback is a huge flat, with many sites particularly inviting for camping.
The crossing of Thunderhead Prong.
The crossing of Thunderhead Prong is never easy. We all forded near a
little island, just upstream from the trail crossing. Ed fell in and got his
phone wet, but the rest of us were OK. I was the only one wearing sneakers and
just sloshed on through. From there it is only 0.6 mile back to the metal gate
and the trailhead. Total hiking time was about 9 hours.
