Smokies Run, Mt. LeConte via Rainbow Falls and Bullhead, 4-30-2022

Aaron and Sara are moving to Virginia for Aaron’s new job, and this run was a last chance for some of us to run with him before the move. I’d first met Aaron in 2017 at the Haw Ridge Tuesday Run thru Liz Norred. During the run the discussion turned to upcoming events, and Aaron mentioned that he had made the wait list for Barkley. I was shocked to find a local Barkley runner that I didn't already know.

Aaron had done well at the BFC, but had a few navigation problems that didn’t bode well for the real race. Ron was also on the wait list that year, and the three of us ended up training together on an untold number of hill repeats, and ventures in both the Smokies and the mountains in and around Frozen Head. Coincidentally, after finishing second in the 2021 BFC Aaron had gotten accepted into Barkley for 2022 and posted a blazing first lap, plus a nighttime trip to the Garden Spot in full on Barkley conditions with driving rain, wind, fog and near freezing temperatures.

We met at Aaron’s at 6:30, Ron and I rode with Aaron, and Brian and Ryne led via 441 and another shortcut to the parkway. On the Roaring Fork Road, we made a quick pullover to admire a mother bear with three cubs. Parking was still open at Cherokee Orchard, and we were off on the run by 8AM.

Rainbow Falls.

All of these guys are much faster than I am, so I knew I’d need to push just to keep their wait times down. I was able to run the first ~20 minutes, then it was fast (or at least hard) solo hiking to the top. I hadn’t been on Rainbow Falls Trail since the Trails Forever Project was completed in 2018, and was impressed by the massive rockwork that the project completed. The day was cool and crisp to start, but we’d heat up on some of the exposed sections of the descent. Not much traffic heading up the trail at that time, and only a little lodge traffic descending later in the day. I had the bridge below the falls to myself, a rare treat on a summer Saturday morning. There was one new burned section on Rainbow from the Gatlinburg fires, but I enjoyed the views from the open scar. I kept a steady pace uphill and was able to get to LeConte Lodge in about two hours.

At the summit cairn on LeConte.

Just where was it we were supposed to meet? There was no one around the lodge so I went out to High Top without seeing any of the group. I shot a rare selfie and headed back, getting a bit curious about where the others might be. I took a side trip to the water pump by the lodge for a refill. Still no runners. I headed back up to the trail before spotting Ron and Aaron, just saying goodbye to Brian and Ryne, who were heading down. It turns out most of the group had gone up to Cliff Top, and even then it took some time for them to coalesce.

Descending the Bullhead Trail.

I’d been on Bullhead more recently (including a run with Mark in 2020) and we all expected a relatively easy run down the mountain. The top parts of the trail were gentile and smooth, but much of Bullhead Trail was rockier and rootier than I remembered, or than the other guys expected. I did much best to run the cleaner sections, but there was lot more hiking that I had planned on. The upper sections of the trail have spectacular exposure due unfortunately to the Gatlinburg fires. Pines are leading the revegetation on the upper sections, but there are still western-scale views at almost every turn. We saw far fewer hikers vs. Rainbow Falls Trail, I suppose the lure of the waterfall remains stronger than the pull of the vistas. I stopped a while at the pulpit to enjoy the views, a great place to contemplate an upcoming hiking trip out west. The park trail crew had been busy recently cutting a huge number of winter blowdowns, it seems a lot of the trees killed by the fires are still falling.

Down at the trailhead things were now a lot busy than in the morning. The guys were kind enough to tell me they hadn’t been waiting long, thanks! We gathered our gear and quickly headed out. On the loop we passed the same bear family from this morning, but this time with a clearer field for pictures. Not too much farther on Ron spotted a lone bear, munching undisturbed well off the road.

Back in Knoxville it was time for a few “goodbyes for now”, and some plans to meet at least by the next Barkley Fall Classic.

Young bears on the Roaring Fork Road.

Run, ~14 miles, 4000’, 5:04 (for me), w/ Aaron Bradner, Ron Moore, Brian Williams, and Ryne

NCWMA Brimstone to the New River, and back, 4-27-22

After our Lone Mountain Loop two weeks ago Leonard and I were fired up about the chance to run new trails in the North Cumberland Wildlife Management Area near Brimstone. I mentioned that I’d been looking at a route that would connect from Brimstone Creek east to the New River, at a point just north of where the Cumberland Trail crossed the river. If one were to look for a loop completely encircling the Cumberlands from Frozen Head to Gobey and Brimstone, then over to the New River and the Cumberland Trail, and finishing with a stretch through Windrock back to FHSP, this connection between Brimstone and the New River would be last of the that route to fall in place. Leonard was excited about the route, so we put it on our list while the temperatures and humidity were still low.

My old National Geographic Topo! Software and some of the old ATV trail data showed the route would be about 11 miles one way. The software usually measures short, so we expected a 22-24 mile out and back run.

The next step, and maybe the hardest part of the run, was trying to get a permit to use trails on the private Brimstone Recreation Area ATV Trail system. In our other runs in the area we had parked along the Brimstone Creek Road, but used trails in the public NCWMA. To get to the New River though we’d need to cross the eastern of the three blocks of land held by the private company. Luckily their website indicated that we could order permits online. But neither Leonard nor I could get their online ordering to work! I went through the ordering process, but instead of seeing a printable receipt I was kicked back to the start. Leonard had a bit more luck, but his final screen told him that he still needed to go into their office and buy a permit. Luckily, Leonard got a helpful person on the phone that told us our permits were ordered, we didn’t need to come by the office, and we’d get the Brimstone app for our phones the next day. We never did get the app, or any acknowledgement of our permit, but once on the trail we didn’t see any Brimstone personnel either.

With a 20+ miler ahead of us we met in Oak Ridge at 7AM and were on the trail by 9AM. Our route was simple sounding. We would start with trails 8, 7, and 1, which are shared by Brimstone and the NCWMA. Then we’d run a bit of the gravel Scott County Bull Creek Road before finishing up on Brimstone trails 25 and 46 where a bridge over the New River connects to the Norma Road.

With such a simple plan it was inevitable things would go wrong right from the start. Not a quarter mile in, I went the wrong way at four way junction sending us on a short side trip to Sexton Cemetery. But a quick glance at the map got us back on Trail 8, and we made the long gentle climb up to Trail 1, the Four Way. The Brimstone map describes a steel container as a powder bin, but it is unlike any powder bin I’ve seen.

The powder bin?

Beyond the Powder Bin junction, we took Trail 1 a mile north to a main entry into Brimstone. The junction was heavily signed, a relief since we were now on new trails for us. With the first hill of the day complete we started the familiar ritual of jogging the flats and downhills and hiking the uphills. We then turned east on Trail 7, and followed the boundary between Brimstone to the north and TWRA land to the south. As we moved past the Trail 51 junction we passed farmland on the south side, then saw some logging to the north as we descended steeply to Byrges Creek Church. The church is a pretty white building set in a gorgeous spot above the river. From the church we took a gravel road down to the county Bull Creek Road and the New River, which we reached about 2 hours and 5 miles into the trip.

Approaching Byrges Church.

Running rural roads can be an adventure, but this day we had hardly any traffic. The road was mostly gravel, with patches of ancient asphalt. The local doggies were even friendly, no barking, just a modest request for a little head scratching.

Doggies!

Just before leaving the road at Little Bull Creek, we saw our first ATVs of the day, a quiet group of three that headed off down Little Bull Creek. Trail 25 started as gravel, laid down for truck traffic from recent logging. The trail was easy to follow to a junction with Trail 27, where the easily ridden trail became much more rutted and eroded once we were through the logging area. Signs became harder to find, and the junctions a more confusing assortment of similar looking options. But we still had the trails to ourselves, and flowers such as trillium and iris bloomed along the forest edge.

on the ATV trail.

We never saw signs for our final trail #46, but that trail led us down to Hatfield Cemetery. We wandered past a few more houses before reaching the New River again. Older maps indicate an “old swinging bridge” here, while newer maps showed a road bridge. Ever the pessimist, I was uncertain what we would find here. But the bridge proved a surprise, a huge concrete structure perched high above the river and railroad tracks to connect to the Norma Road. No problem getting a passenger car here!

On the bridge over the New River.

Even for springtime the New River looked full to its banks. Any unbridged crossing would have been a tough swim. The railroad along the far bank had been active hauling coal, and for a brief time tourists, only a decade ago. But now it is now barely visible in tangle of trees and shrubs growing up around it.

The New River from the bridge.

Reaching the river meant we were halfway done, after only four hours, but 12.2 miles. I hoped the return trip might be quicker as we would need less time for navigating. But fatigue caught up with us (Leonard had already put in two 20-milers earlier in the week) and we hiked almost all the way back. I stopped to get water from Byrges Creek, and stopped again to treat it at Byrges Church, where we noticed a working water pump! We’d been surprised to see that public water lines had gone this deep into rural Scott County, but the cold fresh water was welcome on a warm, sunny day.

We saw only our second ATV group when 5 riders passed us on the lower part of Trail 8. We were back at the car after 8:24, about 24 miles, and with a surprising 4,000’ of climbing. It was my longest trip since Barkley, and probably the same for Leonard, who was training for the Western States 100 miler. We picked a great weather day with cool temperatures and low humidity, and managed to avoid other traffic. What a great way to keep our Cumberlands exploring going!

Vee Hollow Mountain Bike Ride, 4-25-22

On this weekend’s Bent Arm Manway hike Ed Fleming and I got talking about mountain bike riding. I mentioned that I was looking to ride more this year, which is something I always say, but rarely do. He asked if I knew about the new mountain biking trails in Townsend. I don’t follow the MB action around town, and hadn’t heard of the area.

Entry to Vee Hollow.

Ed is a unicyclist, with video that Pam has posted online to prove it. He was looking to try some trail riding (and he’s got the athletic ability to pull it off). He’d heard about Vee Hollow and went riding on some of the easy trails with Pam. He mentioned some signs at the trailhead and a gravel parking area, but didn’t know how large the system was. I checked online and found an advertised 14 miles of new machine built trail that opened early last winter. The overall area was small, and so the trail map looked like a bowl of spaghetti. There had been an enduro event there on Sunday, but with the weather clear on Monday I thought I’d go over and check it out. I hadn’t ridden much new trail around Knoxville lately, and this looked like it could be a fun new place.

The Little River from Vee Hollow Bridge.

The parking area is next to Burger Master in Townsend down near the KOA. There was one other vehicle in the lot, and lucky for me the owner soon rode up. Frank lives in Walland so Vee Hollow was the closest riding for him. He was more into downhill type trails, but new the system well enough to give me tips on finding my way around and where to go. The tips helped a ton, as the trail map was hard to follow with unmarked junctions and few signs.

Boardwalk on the TN Trot Trail.

I rode past a skills area and then found the start of TN Trot, the main “easy” trail up the hollow. Easy maybe wasn’t the right word for a 60+ guy who hadn’t yet been off the greenway that year. There were a few tight turns and some bumpy sections. But the flowers were nice and there was a long boardwalk near the end. The trail is basically a long skinny loop up and down the hollow. Near the bottom I ran into Frank again. We talked a bit more and he asked if I wanted to follow him on a loop on the west mountain. His info on the trails were that the land was privately owned by part of the Clayton family. They owned campgrounds around Townsend and were trying to improve the recreation options. He thought some of the climbs in the system were pretty tough, but though there was a plan in place to rent E-bikes for the trails. We rode up White Lightening with me struggling with the bike handling on the turns, then down Juice, with me being super cautious on the rolling, bermy descents. We saw our only other rider of the day for the first time here. Back at the bottom, Frank took off and I went out for another loop, this time taking TN Trot to the east mountain.

I started up Angel Share, then turned onto Bandsaw, assuming  it might have more gentle climbing. But these “intermediate” trails were tough for me. There were lots of short steep climbs and the trail was narrow, carved into a steep slope, and really twisty. This would be just what an advanced mountain biker would want, but more than I could do. I walked the bike on a lot of short steep pitches and around a series of tight, bermed, hairpin turns. It was hard to imagine an average family group of tourists riding that type of trail, but the terrain was steep and maybe the builders had few other options. At one point I must have hit a rock throwing my front wheel straight down the fall line. I managed to hook my arm around tree bordering the trail to stop my fall and preventing a more serious crash, but paid the penalty of two large abrasions on the inside of my arm. The contour sections of Bandsaw never seemed to come, and the trail kept climbing upwards. Finally, I gave up and tried a descent down Over Yonder, which seemed to have been the route of the enduro, based on a ton of fresh tracks.

If anything, descending down Over Yonder was harder than climbing Bandsaw. There was a horde of tight, near vertical switchbacks. I had to walk all of those, and could barely scamper down while controlling my bike. I could see tracks where many of the enduro riders looked like they had left the trail.

Steep turn on Over Yonder Trail.

But I made it down in one piece and with enough energy to ride another loop on TN Trot and add a quick trip up the dirt road that most closely follows Vee Hollow. My total for the day was 8.4 miles and 1,200’ of climbing in 2:50. Back at the trailhead I discovered that Burger Master is only open Th-Su in spring. Coming back again I need to stick to sections I rode with Frank, and possibly add the start of Bandsaw again, but this time short cut myself down Side Saddle, which was signed, and is shown as easy on the map. Is there enough doable riding for me to make another trip? Maybe, I’ll come out here with DK and see what he thinks.

Vee Hollow Trail map from website.

Smokies Bent Arm Manway , 3-20-22

This was the scouting hike for the SMHC trip that Jean and I were scheduled to lead in April. Bent Arm remains one of our favorite off trail hiking routes in the Smokies. The route was a CCC-era built trail, that likely was never added back to the park map after WWII. It is shown on the 1946 map as a manway, and seems to see enough hikers to keep it open. We first hiked it on a pair of SMHC trips in the late 90’s, before we had started exploring off trail seriously. Next we paired the manway with bushwhack route routes both successful (Newt Prong) and unsuccessful (Wrong Prong). Those early trips were in the fall, and it wasn’t until 2014 that we went in spring, and discovered the magnificent wildflower display along the upper ridge. Jenny Bennett led the route in spring 2015 on one of her last hikes with the club. Jean and I led another spring hike club hike in 2019.

This write-up contains my notes from the 2022 scouting hike and from the Smoky Mountains Hiking Club trip a month later. We asked Ed and Mike to join us for the scouting hike, both had done the manway several times previously. I’d seen a report from the 1-15-22 SMHC Cucumber Gap history hike that the start of the manway was briery, so I was prepared that the hike could be more difficult vs previous years.

We left home ~7:30AM, met at 9:15 at Jakes Cr TH, and started hiking about 9:30. It was about 1.7 miles on trail to the start of the manway. The Bent Arm manway starts just past the crest of the gap and at the start of an old railroad grade. The first large RR cut is just beyond. Heading southeast a few of the cuts are overgrown, but otherwise the manway is fairly open. Early spring flowers were just starting to bud, with some large patches of trout lily foliage. The end of old RR is at a turnaround, and a quartz rock set in base of tree is still obvious (1:30). Footway is clear beyond.

Start of the CCC Built section.

Jean led essentially all the off trail portion of the hike. Not far into the foot trail portion the manway was well clipped with some very recent (that week?) cutting with a hand saw(?) We would continue to break branches and do minor clipping, but any saw work was already done, and much of the rhodo had been trimmed open. What a lucky break for both our scout trip and the club hike to come! The valleys of tributaries of Huskey Branch were open and sunny, but few flowers were in loom. Some minor brier infested these valleys.

Once up near the crest of Bent Arm Ridge the manway is mostly in the rhodo tunnel. There was lots of recent cutting here. We took one break by tributary lower down, and ate lunch at top of highest rock wall along the rhodo tunnel. We should wait until we hit the ridge, and an open sunny area, before we stop for lunch for the club trip.

Fringed phacelia from the club hike.

Once out of the rhodo tunnel (3:45) the manway mostly follows the ridge crest. I suspect there was little need for a dug trail here, so little remains from the old CCC route. We went right around first two knobs, and then made a long bypass on left around “Bent” knob. We went over top of the next two knobs and then held elevation to go left around the large “junction” knob. Jean and I started to go downhill here, but Mike found the correct route above us. We found a pink flag here, one at the exit of the rhodo tunnel, and one other on the ridge. The ridge was wide open, and flowers should be great come April. This is still a gorgeous spot! We reached Miry Ridge Trail at 5 hours, and Jakes Gap at 6:20, with short breaks at both.

Scouting party at the end of the manway.

We saw one tent at Jakes Creek Campsite, but we saw no hikers until near the trailhead. The Jakes Creek ford was tricky, Jean waded barefoot. We reached the bridge at Newt Prong ~7:15. We needed to start club hike earlier maybe 8:15AM. 12.2 mi., 2800’, 8 hrs

4-23-22 Club Trip

The SMHC Group Hike.

We had strong, experienced crew of SMHC vets for this trip. Again, we found the roughest part of manway at the start on the old RR grade section with some briars and blowdowns. The manway was much clearer by the end of the RR grade, which is marked by quartz grown into tree. Perfect weather, warm, sunny, and calm. We took one break at small tributary. Lots of flowers out on the trail section and lower “forest” section. No understory in rhodo tunnel. Manway seemed even more open vs. our scout trip. Jean led thru rhodo tunnel and kept strong pace throughout.

We ate lunch on the ridge at the top of the first small knob after the rhodo tunnel. The informal Sands-led off-trail group was planning to follow us up the manway and then go down Hostility Branch (presumably from the saddle at the top of the rhodo tunnel), but we never saw them.

Lunchtime on Bent Arm Ridge.

The lunch spot marked the start of wildflower heaven. The spring beauty, trout lily, and fringed phacelia were in a deep, solid blanket, almost like a continuous bed of moss. The flowers were so thick they seemed to be fighting among themselves for light. I led this section and barely could follow the old manway. I tried to keep to the path to stomp the fewest flowers, but often I had no choice but to step in their midst. This carpet went on for a full half mile about to the highpoint on the ridge. It was probably the largest densest, and most beautiful wildflower display I’ve ever seen. We had a lot of experienced flower watchers (Ed, Claudia) in the group, but none of us had seen anything quite like this before.

Walking through the wonderland.

Apparently trout lily typically has only a small number of plants bloom each year. The large number of bloomless flowers we typically see has often led us to believe that we were too early or too late for their peak bloom.

Trout Lily.

We’d see some smaller areas of this dense flowering on the rest of the hike, but nothing else to match the ridge top. On the return we took breaks at the junction with Miry Ridge trail, and then the Blanket Mtn. junction. We saw two backpackers on upper Miry Ridge, and our first day hikers on the Newt Prong Bridge. It’s a long 6 miles back by trail, but we were all fresh and still running on some of our euphoria from the flower fest. It was an easy rock hop over Jakes Creek, but some of the group waded with or without removing their shoes.

Summary of previous Bent Arm Manway Hikes:
11-21-98, SMHC Trip, Up Bent Arm and down Miry Ridge Tr

11-13-99, SMHC w/ Jean, Up Blanket Mountain off trail and down Bent Arm

11-4-07, w/ Jean and Ed, Up Bent Arm and down Newt Prong, first pix, first GPS

1-11-09, w/ Jean, Ed, and Claudia, Up Bent Arm and down Wrong Prong, GPS

4-27-14, w/ Jean, Up Bent Arm and down Miry Ridge Tr., discovered flowers

4-26-15, SMHC w/Jean, Up Miry Ridge and Down Bent Arm, Jenny Bennett leader

2-9-19, Scout for SMHC trip w/ Jean, Up Bent Arm and down Miry Ridge Tr, saw boar

4-27-19, led SMHC Trip w/ Jean, Up Bent Arm and down Miry Ridge Tr

NCWMA Brimstone Lone Mountain Loop, 4-15-22

Leonard and I have been making a project out of exploring some of the North Cumberland Wildlife Management Area trails around Brimstone Creek. After two previous recon trips, this was our third visit to area. Our goal this time was to make a loop hike from Lone Mountain Church up to the “Four Lane” to the east.

Falls along Mill Creek.

It’s not a good idea to underestimate the drive time to Brimstone. Lone Mountain is about far south as the road goes, and it’s a good 75-90 minutes from Oak Ridge. We parked behind the church, where there was already one ATV trailer parked. Once on the ATV trails, our first surprise was a ford of raging Mill Creek. Neither Leonard nor I remembered a ford from our previous trip, but we also couldn’t remember a bridge being there either. We could see some discarded concrete slabs ahead, so we assumed an old bridge must have been washed out. The water max’ed out at knee deep, but wasn’t too cold or too powerful. Well, at least we wouldn’t have to worry about trying to keep our feet dry the rest of the day….

Fording Mill Creek.

On our 2020 trip we’d walked through a farm area in the valley bottom, but that area was now signed and fenced off. We’d hope to use a trail marked on my old ATV trail map, but that route had gone through the farm and was now off limits. So, we continued south along Mill Creek passing two unmarked side trails before coming to the start of what we presumed was Trail 77. The ATV trails in this area aren’t blazed, and are usually unsigned. To complicate matters a bit more there are some older trail numbers that match my ATV trail map and the few legacy metal signs, but there is also a newer series of trail numbers on yellow posts that don’t match the maps. We were keeping out of the private Brimstone riding area to the north, but presumably those guys have their own trail numbers as well.

Three (different) trail signs.

At the Trail 77 junction we uncovered a sign for a cemetery, but no trail sign. Away from Mill Creek, Trail 77 forked almost immediately, first right, then left, but we kept along the creek. The lower section was muddy, but soon the trail climbed above its unnamed side creek, and wandered it along giving us nice views down to the creek. We had two short shallow wet stream crossings. It was still early spring with the trees not yet leafed out and the early wildflowers, mostly phlox, still in bloom. But eventually the easy creekside trail gave way to a full on climb. Near the top the trail was cut but a deep steep sided ditch. The ditch was likely deep and steep enough to stymie ATV riders. Trail 77 was marked as “Foot Travel Only” on our maps, but we had found the trails in the WMA get ATV traffic no matter their designation. In this case the ditch had made any ATV traffic impractical.

Crossing the big ditch.

Next up we reached another unmarked junction with Trail 56, which did get substantial vehicle traffic. We headed east on 56, and reached the unmarked junction with the “Four Lane” (aka Trail 1, also aka the Brimstone Haul Road) in another half mile. We turned north on the Four Lane enjoying a nicely groomed surface and good views. The Four Lane follows some of the upper coal seams of the Cumberlands, and we saw neat rock formations in the sandstones that often cap the coal seams.

Rock overhang along the Four Lane.

The start of our descent was hard to find where Trail 54 turned off the Four lane in a small meadow with no signs or obvious track at the start. The top of the trail is super steep, likely keeping most ATVs away. Partway down the we saw our first trail sign of the day, a reassuring #54 laying on the ground. But once the trail dropped into the head of Little Creek we again had great streamside views and many wild flowers to entertain us. Dwarf iris was plentiful and sported a darker purple than we were used to seeing. But in the jumble of headwaters and coal cuts we did not see the connector to Trail 56 that we were expecting.

On Trail 54.

Continuing down the head of Little Creek we next saw an old sign for Trail 76. At the junction with Sparkman Hollow Trail 55 came in from the right, but the trail we followed ahead was confusingly marked as both 76 and 22. Regardless, we continued downstream almost to the edge of the farm near Lone Mountain Church. From here we climbed exceptionally steeply up the south side ridge.

Cloud effects.

Our map showed a junction with the top of the trail cutting down to the farm, but we did not see any junction. Instead, the trail kept climbing until finally reaching some gentler terrain at a well site. We saw signs for both numbers 56 and 22. The graveled road to the well site led us back to our first junction of trails 56 and 77, closing our loop. From here we retraced our inbound route down Trail 77, across the ditch to the Mill Creek Trail, across the ford, and back to the church.

Dwarf iris.

For the day we had 12.4 miles and 2600’ of climbing in 5:17. We had spotted one ATV group before leaving the Four Lane, but otherwise had seen no one else all day. But driving back on the Brimstone Road we would several ATVs, and even encountered a food truck(!) parked at the trailhead for Brimstone #95 by the Huntsville Branch Bridge. Hot burgers and cold drinks were too good to pass up.