Smokies Off-trail, Cades, Whistling, and Mill branches, 2-14-25

Back in the days when the KNS’s  Go Smokies website was still active I would occasionally spot a trip report that looked like it might be fun for Jean and I. I stashed these trip maps in a folder and was looking through it recently for some new ideas. I came across Ron Shrieves’ accounts of hiking in the Cades Branch, Whistling Branch, and Mill Creek area. Ron’s Smug Mug photo site still had the maps posted along with his pictures and captions. Jean was interested in the route, and we were able to recruit Claudia, Ed, and Mike for a midweek trip in a brief window of decent winter weather.

Old homesite along Mill Creek.

Our only hesitation was that recent heavy rains should have raised creek levels, and Claudia had counted 12 crossings on the loop. I talked to Mike, who had led a SMHC trip last fall to the area, and he thought the only creek with potential for a difficult crossing was Mill Creek. Ron’s info indicated that there was a bridge over Mill Creek at the far end of the loop, and didn’t mention issues with the crossings of Cades and Whistling branches. So, we were relatively confident that we would have only one major crossing.

We met at the Townsend Wye, and took Jean’s car to the Dan Lawson Place on the Cades Cove Loop Road. Hyatt Lane was closed, so we drove the long way around the loop. But there were few other cars on the road that early. We walked around the Lawson homesite since I assumed most hikers never stop on the loop road. Out the back end of the site was a good path on the left leading along a ridge into the trees. Ron’s notes were good, but I didn’t have a good feel for when we would be on manway vs. hiking cross country.

The good path didn’t last long, and we descended off the ridge to find the old manway near Cades Branch, The first homesite (by Ron’s counting and my WP1) along the creek had a chimney pile and yucca. There was one narrow section upstream with rhodo, but it neither lasted long nor got bad. The crossing of Cades Branch was a rock hop that would normally be easy. But I thought I’d lost my paper map here and made a quick retrace. I did not find the map after hiking back to the crossing, but later discovered it had slipped into one of my inner pants pockets.

Then we hiked further up the main creek to Homesite 2 (WP 2) which had only a relic basement. Here we turned out of Cades Branch toward Whistling Branch with Mike leading. Homesite 3 got a brief search, but I think we did not go downstream far enough to find it. The manway to the north continued to a cut off to Whistling Gap and along Whistling Branch to the CC Road, maybe a target for another day. We made another skillful rock hop over Whistling Branch. Then we followed Whistling Branch upstream to its head. Mike led us uphill again. We followed a ridge crest until there was a junction with what he thought of as an old trail (WP 3), potentially on coming off Cobb Ridge. A bit more progress got us to what Mike called the Old Cobb Road (WP 4), which was a much better defined old dug road, and would take us to the Forge Creek Road.

Jean and I had followed Cobb Road to Forge Creek Road in 2007 with Clyde and Michael V, but we did not remember any details from that trip. You can read about that trip at: Here

The hiking was a lot quicker on the Cobb Road, and we appreciated that although our hike was short, and the terrain forgiving, we still had a full workload of 5 miles of off-trail hiking in one day. The Mill Creek crossing came as the old road dove into a nest of rhodo. Here the creek was narrow, and we could not tell how deep it was at the far bank. After much searching Mike and Ed were able to cross downstream on logs and brush, and the rest of us shakily followed.

Next up we spotted a tall chimney below our road (Rons #5 and my WP5). I had seen an image of the tall chimney, but hadn’t been able to attach it to a specific homesite. The height was about 10’ with remarkable workmanship in thin pieces of shale. With the cold and multiple stream crossings this was the first time I pulled the phone out for pix.

Next we walked almost all the way to the Forge Creek Road before crossing a soggy field on the south side of Mill Creek. There was a large hog trap off to the east that had a large fenced area, gate, and auto feeder. We suspected this had an online camera so the trap could be triggered to capture a whole sounder. The field was soggy, but I kept my shoes dry until we got to strip of hardwoods, then an old road, along the bank of Mill Creek. 

Contemplating the hog trap.

Just off the Forge Creek Road was an abandoned water treatment plant with a tower and two outbuildings. Even better, the Mill Creek Bridge was still in place! But, while packing up after pictures I noticed my GPS was missing. I carefully unpacked all my gear before letting the group know. I figured I had left the unit at the chimney after taking pictures. After my earlier episode with the “not lost” map I was mad at myself for being the idiot who couldn’t even keep track of his gear on a hike. My plan was to walk the road around the soggy field, and then speed hike back to the chimney. Jean was telling me that we should retrace our steps to have a better chance of finding the unit when we heard some whistling. Luckily Mike had retraced our route, and he saw my GPS hanging from a branch where I would have stepped onto the old road next to the river. A branch had slipped the leash on the GPS and lifted it from my pocket. Thanks Mike for bailing me out! Not only would I have lost the day’s data, but my old TOPO! software only supports inputs from old units like mine that are hard to find anymore.

Tower for the old water treatment plant.

There was a short path on the far side of the bridge. Then we went cross country a bit before reaching the large fenced in modern treatment plant and crossing its gravel access road. There was a fine old two track road leading from the new plant to the Pine Oak Nature Trail. It was getting late, so we skipped my planned loop around the nature trail. Then we had about 0.8 mile of walking on the shoulder of the CC Road. No fun with narrow road shoulders and steady traffic. Next time I would park at Nature Trail and walk the CC road first! But the remaining Cades Cove traffic proved mild compared to summer or weekend afternoons, and we were soon back at the Wye. We reached Claudia’s in Knoxville just after 5 PM. Our total for the day was 5.6 miles in about six hours. 

The bridge over Mill Creek.

Smokies Tater Ridge, Off Trail, 2-1-25

I’ve been exploring the off trail ridges around Rich Mountain since being introduced to the area by Mike and David on a SMHC hike two years ago. All the ridges trending south from Rich Mtn. are steep, narrow, and relatively open in their understory. Tater Ridge trends west off that end of Rich Mtn., but there was reason to assume that it too would be relatively clear. I could not find any evidence of old roads or homesites etc. on the ridge from old maps, and also did not find any documentation that others had hiked it.

It was getting to be prime winter off trail conditions, but Jean and I hadn’t been to the Smokies yet. So, I sent a note to Ed and Mike to see if Tater Ridge would interest them. Immediately, I heard from Mike who said he could go the next day.

We picked Mike up at the Townsend Wye. I parked at the Methodist Church on the Cades Cove Loop Road. Traffic was light, but I wasn’t sure if there would be parking at Hyatt Lane (we could have pulled over, if needed). There are 7 paved slots at the Church. The temperature was about 40F at the start, warming to about 50, with heavy overcast all day. 

The Methodist Church from Tater Ridge.

We first walked around the church cemetery, then headed down the Loop Road. We were passed by a few cars, but traffic was light. Then we turned right onto well graveled Rich Mtn. Road. The NPS had cut lots of trees around both the Cades Cove and Rich Mtn roads. The windy road climbed gently. Two high speed mountain bikers passed us heading down. It turns out Mike often rides Rich Mtn. Road from the park boundary to the Cove.

A fungus on Tater Ridge.

There’s a high bank where Rich Mtn. Road crosses the crest of Tater Ridge. We had to overshoot it, then weave through some rhodo to gain the ridge crest. Jean was up top first and kept the lead all day long. The start of the ridge is gentle with three small knobs we called the little taters. The ridgetop was all hardwood, with a lot of young white pine in the understory. There were scattered blowdowns and a few thick patches of young hardwood trees, but there was no rhodo and nothing difficult to walk through. We got one great view down into the cove with the Methodist Church in view. Much of the ridge had a faint game trail along it, and there was one section with several piles of bear poop. We likely missed some other vistas because of the thick fog. I went jacket free for a while near the top.

The main part of the climb was steeper, but not too long or too tough. There is one false summit followed by a short RR-grade like section of flat ridge. The final peak at point 3380’ was pleasant and would be a fine side trip from the Rich Mtn Loop. There was a slight breeze at the top, and without our warmth from climbing we headed down to the Rich Mountain Trail to get out of the wind before stopping for lunch.

Descending Cave Ridge.

Then we walked down the trail to the old, and nearly grown over, overlook at ~3000’. The upper part of Cave Ridge is one of my favorites, It is narrow, easy to follow and has very little understory and good views. It is probably also great for flowers in spring. We took our time descending. But the last few hundred feet of the ridge are wickedly steep. I had to concentrate hard to keep my balance and make sure my running shoes didn’t skid down the mountain. With Mike’s help we came to the bottom of the ridge exactly at Gregory Cave. The cave mouth is now obscured by a blowdown over the opening. I took a few pictures, and then went into the cave as far as the bat gate in the first room. 

At Gregory Cave.

There is still an obvious manway back to Cades Cove Loop Road. On the way out we passed a woman hiking in. We walked the Loop Road back to the Methodist Church. Though there were more cars than in the morning, there was still plenty of room to walk, and much less traffic compared to full season. Totals for the day were 5.9 miles and 1700’ of climb.