2021, 5-16, Two Bears and One Blaze, Exploring the Big Frog Wilderness

 Stretching along the state line from the Great Smoky Mountains, the Cherokee National Forest gets lost in the shadow of its far more famous neighbor. The 650,000 acre forest has hundreds of miles of trails, plenty of great camping, and spectacular scenery, but except for the corridor along the Appalachian Trail, the forest is generally overlooked by hikers.

Knoxville’s Harvey Broome Group of the Sierra Club tried to raise the profile of the Cherokee’s hiking options with their 2005 guidebook to all the trails in the forest.

Since the 2005 guide was published it has been the bible for hikers looking to explore the Cherokee, especially in those areas less travelled. Will Skelton, a driving force for Wilderness in the Cherokee, and for the greenway system here in Knoxville, edited the guide with input from a large group of volunteer hiker/writers. For the 2005 guide I was lucky enough to be able to contribute the sections on the Big Frog Wilderness and Ocoee Whitewater Center, both in the very southern end of the forest. When Will decided this year that it was time for update of the guide, he asked previous writers if they were willing to revise their sections, so once again I’ll be working on the Big Frog and Ocoee sections of the upcoming guide.

Entering the Big Frog Wilderness.

Big Frog is a relatively low profile Wilderness. There are no spectacular waterfalls, open balds, or rock arches. But combined with the adjacent Cohutta Wilderness in Georgia’s Chattahoochee National Forest, it is the largest protected block of wilderness in the eastern mountains. The trails are sparsely maintained, giving the hiker a feel of true wilderness. The few visitors are most often passing through on the Benton MacKaye Trail or visiting the campsites high on Big Frog Mountain.

I planned to redo the Big Frog trails on foot and the Ocoee trails on mountain bike, so my lack of bike training meant I’d tackle the Big Frog Trails first. From Knoxville it’s a two hour drive to the start of the gravel roads to the Big Frog trailheads, so I spent some time planning to minimize the number of trips I’d need to make, and the miles that I would need to hike. All of you out there that have worked on the Smokies 900 milers or section hiking the AT can relate, I’m sure. As I studied the maps, I also came to the realization that I remembered little from my work on the last edition of the guide. Most of that hiking had been done in 2001, and 20 years had been enough to wash almost all the detail from my memory.

For my first trip I planned a loop on the Big Creek and Yellow Stand Lead trails. My mileages would be relatively modest for many hikers. But in my defense guidebook writing takes a lot more time than simply hiking. I needed to measure and GPS the trails, and note if I could verify all the observations made in the previous edition. But more importantly, the trails in the Cherokee in general, and especially in Big Frog, are not maintained at the level that they are in the Smokies, or other popular hiking areas. The 2005 edition of the CNF, and its 1992 first edition, noted that CNF trails were often unmarked, unsigned, and often heavily overgrown with numerous blowdowns. I expected some slow, rough going even on trails that might appear gentle on the topo map.

Big Creek.

The drive in took 2 hours to Ocoee Powerhouse #3 and then another 50 minutes on gravel to the Big Creek Trailhead. The trailhead was unsigned, but I spotted a low signpost just a short distance up the trail. Big Creek is a beautiful stream, and the trail took advantage of the fine views from it. As do many trails in Big Frog, the trail began by following an old logging road towards the wilderness boundary. Not too far in I saw an old blaze and on whim took a picture of it, not realizing it would be the only blaze I’d see all day.

A rare trail blaze.

Just beyond the Wilderness Boundary the trail fords Peter Camp Branch. I heard a loud huff off to my left and heard some rattling in the underbrush. Hoping to motivate my neighbor, I huffed back and saw a brown furry fanny running back toward the branch. I’m not really sure it was a bear, the color was more similar to wild boar, but the running style looked much like a bear. I hustled along the trail, which was now a fairly overgrown single track, to give the animal some space. Not too much further on I heard some skittering on a tree, and saw a young bear sprinting up the slope away from me, time to keep moving up the trail! I pushed through spring’s leafy overgrowth and climbed over at least my share of blowdowns before hitting the Benton MacKaye Trail at another unmarked junction.

The Big Creek/Grassy Gap Trail junction.

Just as I stepped onto the manicured BMT I saw two trail runners (the only other visitors I would see on the trip) approaching up the trail. They remarked that they wouldn’t have noticed the Big Creek junction, if I had not just stepped out of the woods in front of them. The two had been exploring the Wilderness trails and warned me that many of them (Wolf Ridge and Grassy Gap, in particular) were overgrown.

Along the Benton MacKaye Trail.

But my next two trail sections were on the Big Frog Trail and were both luxuriously well cleared. Instead of staring at my feet to watch my footing and clambering over blowdowns I was watching the scenery and studying the wildflowers. It was past the peak of spring bloom, but I was seeing lots of galax and foam flower, plus a few scattered irises and even a flame azalea. But the easy walking would come to an end at “upper” Low Gap.

My return route down Yellow Stand Lead Trail was signed here, but it took some effort to find the end of the Grassy Gap Trail. In true optimization mode I needed to hike out Grassy Gap to the Big Creek junction, and come back, to cover that section for the guide. I found the trail very overgrown, but did see some places where blowdowns had been cut relatively recently. The trail follows the 2,400’ contour for its entire distance and would be a lovely, easy hike if the hiker wasn’t constantly forcing the way through the brush.

Back at “upper” Low Gap, Yellow Stand Lead was my last trail of the day. This trail also looked little used, but only the upper half of it inside the wilderness was single track. The rest was another old logging road that teased closeness to the end of the hike. At an old, abandoned parking area I came to a startling sight, a signboard with a map and information about the trail. The map showed I still had a mile or so to get back to my car, but the extra distance was probably why this particular board had not yet been vandalized.

Map board on Yellow Stand Lead Trail.

The Big Creek and Yellow Stand Lead trailheads are on opposite sides of Big Creek among several large informal campsites. I had planned to stay at the CNF Thunder Rock Campground back on the highway. This meant driving back 50 minutes of tedious gravel (and returning on the same stretch first thing the next morning) but offered showers as compensation for close spaced campsites. With only one other site occupied, I took the easy route and decided to camp at the trailhead, settling for a quick clean up in the creek. The only other visitors turned out to be on a day trip, and were kind enough to fill me on some of the local road conditions.

Informal campsite along Big Creek.

After an exceptionally quiet night I drove over to the trailhead for Wolf Ridge Trail. The trailhead is unmarked, just a small parking area, empty signboard, and gated old logging road. I headed up the road a quarter mile and spotted my first sign where the trail turned right onto a single track trail. On one hand it was good to see a trail sign, but from that spot I could also see my first three blowdowns. The trail wasted no time climbing up the ridge, but I did spot another sign at a switchback and my second blaze of the trip.

Wolf Ridge Trail and blowdowns.

At the Wilderness boundary there was a sign marking the end of other section of the Grassy Gap Trail, which would be my return route. Grassy Gap looked at least as overgrown as Wolf Ridge, and I was thankful for the warning I’d gotten yesterday from the runners that these trails could be slow going. I’d hiked all the previous day in shorts and had gotten scratched up, so I zipped on my long pants to try to minimize the damage.  Next up was an intersection with the Hemp Top Trail. I hit this ridgetop junction just in time to catch a well-deserved breeze. Hemp Top proved to be in great shape for the rest of the long climb up to the top of Big Frog Mountain.

The summit of Big Frog is a complicated place, with three trails converging there, along with a large campsite and a short side trail to the site of the former fire tower. It took a bit to get my bearings, and then I headed east on Hemp Top to pick up the two trail sections leading south into Georgia. These sections were also part of the Benton MacKaye Trail and the added maintenance and open forest made them a joy to walk. After dropping down to Double Springs Gap on the state line, and checking on the water in the springs, I returned back to the Summit Junction on Big Frog Mountain.

The Benton MacKaye Trail along Big Frog Mountain.

It is the camping near the summit of Big Frog that draws most visitors. Besides the Double Springs on the Hemp Top Trail at the state line, there is a fine spring just 0.2 mile south of the summit junction on the Hemp Top/BMT trail. Jean and I had first come here in 1998 on a backpacking trip, and after my first round of guidebook scouting was complete, we led a Smoky Mountain Hiking Club backpack trip here in 2002. This was a midweek trip, so it was no surprise to not see any campers.

From the summit junction I had a beautiful walk down the Big Frog/BMT trail down to the top of the Big Creek Trail. The start was open, gentle ridge top which led to a steadier descent through two short rhodo tunnels. Once back on the Big Creek Trail I was back to battling the same overgrowth I’d struggled with the previous day. At the next junction I went west on the Grassy Gap Trail to finish the last section of that trail. Grassy Gap has almost no elevation change and should be one of the easiest trails in the Wilderness. But the lack of maintenance makes it a heads down, watch your footing ordeal. It appeared that the CNF occasionally had cut some blow downs, but otherwise I doubt there had been any maintenance since I’d walked the trail 20 years earlier. With the vegetation crowding the trail, the tread was sloping outward into what Jean calls a “dumpster” trail, even harder to follow with all the branches slapping at my face. But the few short stretches of open tread were spectacular, and I got some nice views of the smaller creeks as the trail wove around the face of the mountain.

Of the creeks, Penitentiary Branch was the largest. It was the only one to be large enough to form a small valley as the trail crossed it. I was out of water when I arrived, and I quickly dropped to the crossing to refill. Popping back out on the other side of the creek there was no sign of the trail in the jumble of rocks, blowdowns, and runoff channels. I made a big loop around the area where I thought the trail would be before I started to get worried. I was using the Avenza App on my phone for GPS, but neither the creek nor the trail was shown precisely enough to be any help. So, I tried the old fashioned way and went back to the last point where I knew I had been on the trail. These old CCC trails tend to keep the same elevation where the cross small creeks so I tried the strategy of crossing the valley a constant elevation. That put me crossing the creek at exactly the same spot as my first attempt. But I kept my elevation as I crossed the valley and eventually reached a spot where I could see a trail tread climbing gradually out of the valley. Whew!, There’d be no “guidebook author lost in wilderness’ headlines for that day.

It was still a mile and a half to Wolf Ridge, but both that section and the descent of Wolf Ridge Trail back to the car went by quickly. I picked up several ticks on the grassy old logging road on the way out, finding two before starting the drive, and then two more after I got home. I saw only two other vehicles on the 10 miles of gravel leading back to US 64. FS 221 generally follows along contour, it seems it would make a nice gravel road mountain bike ride, a good compliment to the single track trails in the Ocoee system.

I was really happy with the progress on the trip. I finished four trails and hiked parts of two others. Though more difficult that I’d expected because of trail conditions, the area has a great wilderness feel and the lesser used trails are much like some of the off trail hiking I so enjoy in the Smokies. I have at least three more days of hiking left to do to cover all the trails in the Wilderness, but those trips will have to wait until later in the summer.

My route over the two days.

2021, 5-5, Cumberland Falls State Park

One of our favorite weekend getaways is Cumberland Falls State Park in Kentucky. The trail system is relatively small, but there is a lot of variety, and I managed to include the three loop hikes at the park in 50 Hikes in Kentucky.

5-5-21 Cumberland River Loop

Cumberland Falls

We drove up from Knoxville in the trailing edge of a storm system that had dropped a couple inches of rain. We stopped first at the falls for photos while the light was good, and the water would be high. For our first hike we picked the Cumberland River Loop, probably the area’s most diverse trail. The loop starts with an easy walk upstream along the river above the falls. Some wildflowers were still in bloom, but the explosion of early spring was past.

Fire Pinks.

Next the trail climbs to the restored CCC-era lookout tower on Pinnacle Knob. This tower, rebuilt in the late 2000s, has a huge compartment on top, large enough to have  housed the fire lookout. Though the cab and catwalk are closed to visitors except during tours, it is an elegant structure, well worth the climb for the view of the river and park.

Descending the bluff line to the river.

Pinnacle Knob Lookout.

Beyond the tower the trail then descends a series of bluff lines back to the river where it joins the famed Moonbow Trail. The north side of the loop is downstream of the falls. Here the wide riverbanks are replaced by steep cliffs, and the jumble of giant boulders shed from them. The river channel, instead of running smooth and fast, twists chaotically through a jumble of huge rocks separated by cascades and small falls.

Pink Lady Slippers.

We’d changed focus from flowers to the rocky scenery until a patch of lady slippers around a trail blaze caught our attention.

The river was high from our recent rains and boomed alongside us. We could see scattered river debris on the trail indicating our route had been at least partially underwater recently. One particularly low section of the STT/Moonbow had a designated bypass around it, and we found signs indicating that the old section had finally been abandoned in place of the bypass.

Trail Reroute.

Back at the falls we were amazed at how empty it was. Maybe a half dozen people were wandering around the overlooks around the falls, and the parking area was nearly vacant. In so many other areas an attraction like Cumberland Falls would be crowded to the point of overuse, even on a cool, damp, midweek day. We felt extremely likely to be there in the quiet, with such an attraction nearly to ourselves.

Cumberland Falls.

5-6-21 Eagle Falls and Blue Bend

Eagle Falls.

On Day 2 we hiked the Eagle Falls and Blue Bend trails which share a trailhead across the river from the developed side of the park. We chose to walk Eagle Falls first to again photograph Cumberland Falls in the gentler morning light. When we first were visiting the park there were several great overlooks early in the trail perched on the edge of the falls. But the trail is heavily used in midseason, and maintaining the trail on the steep hillsides was a constant battle. So, the trail was rerouted, trading some its vistas for a more sustainable trail. The new routing puts a better emphasis on an old CCC overlook shelter. Built in the 1930s the overlook gives hikers a unique perspective on the falls.

At the Overlook Shelter.

Cumberland Falls from the Eagle Falls Trail.

Just past the side trail are the primo overlooks. We had those to ourselves and took our time taking pictures. The falls looks much more horseshoe-shaped from this perspective vs. the straighter profile we’d seen from up close.

Next up was Eagle Falls. There’s another side trail to it, accessed by a couple sets of steep wood and steel ladders. Eagle Falls is a more traditional Cumberlands waterfall. Here a side stream pours off layer of thick bedrock into a small plunge pool. The flow in Eagle Creek was higher than we’d previously seen, and the increase produced some prodigious spray and noise.

Eagle Falls.

For our last hike we moved across the road to the Blue Bend Trail. Our trailhead was once the sight of an historic inn. The Blue Bend Trail starts up the old road that once brought in the visitors from Parkersville. The roadbed is now just a deep rut, and hard to imagine as a major thoroughfare. The trail passes some steps and foundations for the old inn, a pair of wooden bath houses nearby probably are much more recent additions. Once we reached the top of the hill, and turned off the old road, the walking was flat and easy. This is a trail for birders, and for wildflower enthusiasts, provide they are earlier in the season than we were . We’d hoped for wildflowers, but found the dry ridgetop relatively empty.

The old road to Cumberland Falls.

The scenery picked up at the far end of the ridge as the trail turns down to the river and to join the Sheltowee Trace Trail. We stopped at the junction for lunch and then headed down stream along the wide riverbed. Approaching Blue Bend itself, the valley narrows near the mouth of Bunches Creek. The next section of trail has marvelous bluff line walking with cliffs, rockhouses, and other formations. Closer to the end we saw one last wet weather falls before closing the loop.

A wet weather waterfall.