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!
