This week there was another round of rockslides in the Interstate 40 corridor through the Pigeon River gorge, another tough blow for an area that has yet to recover from the massive damage caused by Hurricane Helene last fall. I-40 in the gorge is now closed in both directions (again) changing Mark’s plans for the weekend. Instead of driving over to NC to run some of the Art Loeb Trail, he asked if I wanted to do some mountain biking over by Citico Creek, near Tellico Plains, TN.
I
answered a quick yes, and asked if he’d be interested in the Jake
Best-Doublecamp Loop, which turned out to be the ride he had in mind. I’d done
the ride in 2002 and included it in my book, Backroads Biking the Blue Ridge
and Smoky Mountains. But I had not been back to ride there since. 
My 2003 Biking Guide.
In
the early 2000’s Jean and I had been active in that area, hiking all the trails
in the combined Joyce Kilmer-Slickrock and Citico Creek wildernesses Joyce
Kilmer-Citico Finish, and visiting often for weekend backpacking trips. But
lately we’ve been over less frequently, and I was excited about the chance to
revisit what I remembered as a tough, but beautiful ride. This also looked like
a great chance to test out my still new 29” mountain bike on some rough, remote
roads.
Our
weather forecast looked daunting. Temperatures in Knoxville were forecast to be
in the low 90s with dewpoints in the low 70s, so we planned for an early start.
I remembered the ride was mostly in the shade, plus we had plenty of options for
cooling off in the creeks. We met at Mark’s place at 6:30 and managed to stuff
both bikes inside his Forester. It took nearly two hours to reach the trailhead
via US 411, Tellico Plains, and the Citico Creek Road. The start at the
junction of Citico and Doublecamp creeks is a crowded camping area, but we
managed to find shady parking and launched with a bit of coolness remaining in
the air.
The
start of the ride is perhaps the prettiest. You climb gently directly beside
the creek and have great views of each cascade and waterfall along the way. I
was following my guidebook description, and traced the route with GPS, but I did
not take notes or mark waypoints. Almost every pull out along the loop was
occupied with campers, this would make spotting the Citico Creek trailheads
difficult.
Trailhead along the Doublecamp Road.
Three
miles in things get serious. You go back across the creek and the climb
steepens. I went from cool and dry, to hot and sweaty, and struggled to keep
up. The entire loop would be on packed dirt roads, with solid surfaces, but
relentless climbing. Luckily Mark would wait every few minutes and I could pull
up to catch my breath. The first seven miles of the loop climbs about 1700’, so
maybe this wasn’t a great match for two guys who hadn’t done much riding so far
this season.
Flame azalea in bloom.
But
eventually we reached the unmarked trailhead at Farr Gap. “Unmarked” was a theme
for the day, as we saw only one CNF sign on the entire loop. At Farr Gap the grade
leveled momentarily as we started up the crest of Salt Spring Mountain. We were
high enough to see scattered flame azalea in the understory. 
Cell tower on Salt Spring Mountain.
We
soon passed our second vehicles of the ride, a dirt bike leading two pickups. At
the eight mile mark we stashed our bikes by a locked gate and walked the short
spur road to the old tower site atop Salt Spring Mountain. In 2002, I had seen
only the footers for the tower and a building foundation, but now there was a
cell tower and service building, both looking in need of some TLC. There were
no views, but we were high enough to begin to cool off from the exertions of
the climb. 
At Salt Spring Mountain.
And,
from the tower site it is all downhill. With my 29’er I could descend the slightly
rockier and more rutted road faster than Mark could on his old style 26” bike.
So, it was my turn to ride a bit and wait a bit. There were a few vistas as we
descended above the startlingly steep headwaters of Jake Best Creek. A pair of
switchbacks at 11 miles took us alongside the creek where the grade eased and
we could let the bikes run. The next section was a long, gradual, and fun descent,
a fitting reward for all our climbing. 
Vista from the upper road.
The
road would soon leave Jake Best Creek, but the twisty rollers would last for five
miles more glorious miles until we reached gravel FS 35 alongside Citico Creek.
Then it was back to civilization as all the pullouts were occupied by campers
and/or fisherman. The wider road meant less shade, and the lower elevation
meant more heat, but the smoother road let us push hard to close the loop. The
opportunity to cool off in the rocky pools of Citico Creek was exquisite. Though
it was only 82F at the trailhead when we returned, it would warm to 92F when we
cleared the CNF and entered Tellico Plains.
My
GPS showed an 18 mile loop, confirming that the book’s listing of 19 miles was
an error. Total climbing was about 2,000’, and the ride took about four hours
with over 1 ½ hours spent on the climb to Farr Gap.
This
was the type of ride where we immediately started planning others. The CNF is
filled with roads of various vintage and uncertain utility. But few of these
roads are within 2 hours of Knoxville. There is one ~30 mile loop near Bald
River Falls, but otherwise loop options near Knoxville are scarce.
Screen shot of our GPS track.
