2002 GSMNP - 4. Pre-AT Hikes

“Links to previous segments:
2002 GSMNP - 2. Introduction
2002 GSMNP - 3. Pre-GSMNP

8/25/02 Sunday - Started along Cooper's Road Trail at 6:45 pm. It took 30 minutes to reach Campsite(CS) #1 after 1 mile without any rest stops. This was a good start, meaning that my condition is much better than some years. A good time for me is 25 minutes, 60 is bad. A small creek, which is the water supply, was almost dry, the dryest I've ever seen it. After collecting wood, I enjoyed a great fire and a good night's rest.

In the morning I left on Little Bottoms Trail to CS#17. Going up the hill at the start was OK. I noted that a lot of plants are doing well. The area had been raked by fire a few years ago. But going down the other side was terrible. My knees were not ready for a steep downhill and it really tired me. The rest of the hike was slow and exhausting. This is the only trail in the park which is not graded. Some scrambling is required. Even the pack started to bother me. It was one of those days when you ask yourself, "Why?" But the trail is bordered by beautiful Abrams Creek. A popular destination is Abrams Creek Falls. At CS#17 the first thing I did was take a nap. Then I set-up my tent and ate early, just beating the start of rain. It rained all night, but my tarp hanging over the tent kept things dry. The next day the hike out was hard, but taking it slow I made it back to Abrams CG, where I ate. Then I drove to Fontana Dam,
but before my arrival I had to park and work out a cramp in my right thigh. Took a shower and stayed overnight at the Fontana Hilton Shelter. Had to get up during the night and work out cramps in both thighs.

8/28/02 Wed. - Drove to Bryson City, NC,
and had a biscuit and coffee at ingles. They always charge me a different price for the same order. Did laundry and set up camp at Deep Creek CG. Drove to Cooper Creek Trailhead area and tried to drive to the start of the trail. It started to rain, the rocks in the road were large and rough, it was no place for my little Nissan. I could not turn around and had to back out very carefully. Before I reached Deep Creek again, a heavy rain hit. So I went into town, where it was not raining. Most of the rain seem to be limited to the park area. I had a new pin inserted in my watch band, and ate at ingles. I fell for the BBQ pork, green beans, mashed potatoes w/a little gravy and a roll. Returned to my tent and realized that my hat was still at ingles! So, made another trip to retrieve my hat. My plan was to do CS#66, 65, and 60 during the next three nights. At the CG I suddenly realized that the BBQ pork had been a mistake. I started fast toward the bathhouse, but did not make it across the road. I quickly jerked my pants and underwear down and immediately resurfaced a good section of the road. I cleaned up what I could and rain took care of the rest. It rained all night.

8/29/02 Thurs. - Drove to the trailhead for 66, but did not hike. I was ready for it, but I felt tired from the pork incident the previous night. So I returned to Deep Creek CG and slept from 2 to 8 pm. It rained from 3 to 7 pm. The next day I wrote an overdue letter to my daughter in MN and enjoyed a visit and supper with some old friends. We took a peek at TT on her new Gateway laptop.

8/31/02 Sat. - Day-hiked to CS#66 along Noland Creek. Actually, I went past the CS and down near the inlet from Fontana Lake. It was beautiful. The entire area had been cleaned. This place had been like a dump. Later I kept asking who deserved thanks. Finally found out the TVA had hired a company in Bryson City to clean-up around the entire lake. The next evening I bp'ed upstream on the Noland Creek Trail to CS#65. Six people in two groups were there. But there are three main tent areas, each with a picnic table. Both creek and spring water are available. No rain.

9/2/02 Labor Day Mon. - Hiked to CS#64, 3 miles in 3 hours. Had no problems, but the time was only average. Four horsemen were there packing. One left in an hour leading a packhorse , but the others were very slow. After two hours they left, also leading a packhorse. I tried to get their fire restarted and cook. It started to rain hard and continued for 1.5 hours. One man had told me that he left me 3 tomatoes, 2 cucumbers and 4 potatoes in the creek, but one of the others took the potatoes. Managed to heat water in spurts in the rain. Had a cup of coffee, 3 tomatoes, 1 cucumber, 1 Ramon and 2 cups of hot chocolate. I knew it was the only meal for the day, excepting the apple cinnamon bar for breakfast. My left knee/leg has no lifting power and both knees hurt this evening when I bent them a little.

9/3/02 Tues. - Bad news - my best knee, the right one, is swollen and has no lifting power at all. It took about 4 hours hiking downstream to reach CS#65. "Could this be the end of my backpacking?," I thought. Ate supper and rested. In the morning the knee felt better. After policing the area I hiked out in one hour 10 minutes, which was nothing great, but not bad, either. Returned to Deep Creek.

9/5/02 Thurs. - Hiked past CS#66 and down to the lake. Enjoyed the evening with a nice campfire followed by a good night's sleep. In the morning on my way out I collect about 25 pounds of trash from the fire rings and other areas. The area was really clear of trash now and it looked great w/o discarded tires and other junk. It was difficult hiking up an access road to the parking area with a backpack and a heavy load of trash.

9/7/02 Sat. - Hit the AT at Newfound Gap (Pictures)
and bp'ed up to IceWater Spring Shelter, 2.9 miles and about a 1,000 ft. elevation gain. The first part of the trail had been improved. Soil retention logs have turned it into a stairway. Before long those great TT hikers arived after climbing up from the Porter's Creek area (CS#31). There was Skidder, towndawg, smokygirl and John (Towndawg's group picture). All of them were in great shape and smokygirl was beautiful. We visited for an hour before they continued on their way up to Mt. LeConte. (Mt. LeConte Shelter from
Andrew's Photo Gallery
Mt. LeConte Lodge, June 2002.)

By evening a lively crowd was at the shelter. Two men carried about 80 pounds each, just for one night. They had a grill, large steaks, onions, 4 very large potatoes and much more. (They could only eat about a half potato each.) One couple had 4 children, who slept on the grass under a long tarp. and there was a couple from Knoxville, a couple from Chatanooga, and Mark, who had hiked in Central America and Mexico.

9/8/02 Sun. - Saw a beautiful sunrise from about 6,000 feet elevation about 7 am. It took about 3.5 hours to hike out, longer than normal for me. But my left knee now has a little lifting power!!! I had collected trash from the other TT hikers and now realized that I left the trash bag in the shelter. I feel embarrassed. Smokygirl had estimate that they would arrive at the Smoky Mtn. Brewery in Gatlinburg between 2 and 2:30. I waited until 4:30, when I could not possible drink another coke. She informed me that she arrived later. Now I wished that I had stayed. It would have been nice to get acquained with that talented girl. But I left, did some shopping in Maryville, made some telephone calls, and spent the night at Abrams CG.

9/9/02 Mon. - Visited with Harold, a park maintenance man at Look Rock CG. We exchanged e-mail addresses. We met years ago and he and I have Adak, Alaska, experiences in common. (A picture of one of Adak's best known sights. Many thanks to Brad Choate for this. ) On TT I am known as AdakHiker, also. Went to Maryville again. Wanted new boots, but my 5 year old, $13 boots are no longer carried by Payless Shoes. Bought some chemical hand warmers, a bottle, gas and did laundry. Back at Abrams CG I met a farmer and his wife from Wisc. He had what must be a very expensive digital camera. It had everything, it could even make Polaroid like pictures. The maintenance woman (good looking) told me that there had been car break-ins in the parking area by the ranger station. This turned me off on doing any more backpacking there.

9/10/02 Tues. - Packed and went to Fontana Dam for another shower, and stopped at Tooties in Stecoah for lunch. No BBQ, but enjoyed a roast pork special. Finally, hiked up Noland Creek again, in real good time to CS#65. I was carrying a lot of extra weight to help build myself stronger for the "big hike" on the AT. In the morning I boiled water over a campfire for oatmeal and coffee. The reason for hiking this trail is that the pork special will be about due when I reach CS#64, where there is a privy. Wow, I had a fantastic hike. Three miles in 1 hour 55 minutes with an overloaded backpack! The elevation gain was 500 feet. I still slow down considerable on steep upgrades, but now all I need for those 8 mile days on the AT
is endurance.

At 7:30 pm. I was enjoying a campfire, when two park rangers arrived in a car. They claimed to be looking for people who might be digging ginseng. They checked my permit and seemed to be overly cautious while near me. Obviously, they were looking for someone.

9/12/02 Thurs. - Hiked out without any problem. Stopped at CS#65 to eat. Wrote a letter to my granddaughter in MN and drove to the Fontana Hilton for the night. A policeman came down there to make sure that I was a hiker. He may have been looking for someone, too. He never asked my name!

9/13/02 Fri. - I hiked 5.2 miles to CS#90. I was able to confirm that this end of the Lakeshore Trail had been plowed three years ago, too. At one mile the plowed area stopped, but it continued later. Around two miles the trail was very steep, and later there were areas with grades of 20, 30 and 40%. At times it seemed that the trail was headed for the top of Shuckstack, instead of around it. (Shuckstack Fire Lookout Tower and view from tower.) With about one mile to go, I stopped for water. Somehow I lost my balance after removing my backpack and fell backwards in the trail, downhill into a shallow water crossing. Thank goodness for my current aikijutsu training. I can fall and I can take falls. However, I hoped that my head would not hit any rocks. It just missed a head-size rock by a few inches. A lot of mud and water splashed up into the air.

Tired, I reached CS#90 and set up for the night. A man with two children (enrolled in N.C. home school) arrived. They had taken a boat to Hazel Creek and hiked back this way. I asked about their hike, because there is a new trail section from about 0.5 mile above CS#90 to somewhere above CS#86 on Hazel Creek. There never saw the new trail or signs for it. They did see see signs about the trail no longer being maintained. This is the section of the Lakeshore Trail between Eagle Creek and Jenkins Ridge Trail. This implies that CS#88 is closed.

9/14/02 Sat. - It rained lightly all night and continued off and on during this morning. Between showers I found a log bridge over Lost Cove Creek. But the handrail was broken and half of it was missing. So I decided not to continue on. I would have to wade across both Lost Cove Creek and Eagle Creek in hopes of finding the new trail, and the weather was not to my liking. I managed to make a shelter in front of my tent by extending my tarp and using my hiking stick to hold it up. After that I was able to cook in dry comfort. The sky finally broke open a little in mid-afternoon. I noticed a lot of pecular looking flying bugs and a lot of tin-foil. Could Marvin have been here? A group of 9 college students from Savannah, GA., arrived. I enjoyed supper and hot cocoa before more dark clouds gathered and released rain.

9/15/02 Sun. - It was a rough hike out for me, more than 7 hours. Saw six relics on the way out, cars from the 40's. They were so visible I don't know how I missed seeing them the other day. I examined a couple of them close up. The thickness of the fenders reminded me of my first car, a 1941 Plymouth. My feet got wet and I decided that I definitely need new boots. Back at the parking lot above the Fontana Hilton, the same policeman said a friendly "hello" to me, using my name! So he must have done a license check on my car plates.

9/16/02 Mon. - Drove east again. Stopped for coffee and a biscuit at Tooties. Continued to Walmart at Syvla and bought some new boots. It appeared that I might have a checking problem. (I had sent a check to my daughter at college, previously.) So, at a bank branch in Waynesville, I learned that the routing number on checks is different than the routing number on deposit slips. A nice lady assured me that everything was fine, the check to my daughter had cleared. Most of the day was gone and I headed over a mountain to Cataloochee CG. There had been a number of changes since last May, and I observed:

1. Many more sightseers blocking the road, while trying to see the elk.
2. Three runaway, saddled horses were moving fast along the road, alone.
3. More trash bins embeded in concrete.
4. Speed bumps in the road near the CG.
5. A donation box and signs.
6. No deer (actually, over several days I saw one in a field and three in the woods. The Elk seemed to have forced the deer out of the area.)
7. No turkeys.
8. More parking. They had moved the registration board.
9. The men's side of the bathhouse had been completely redone on the inside. It now has two thundermugs, a tile floor, a mirror, etc.
10. Palmer Place, built in 1860, was newly painted and had two new trashcans in front.
11. A number of the campsites have new picnic tables.
12. There is more gravel at some of the campsites.
13. The roads have recently been scraped and improved. The dirt road, that comes down the mountain-side after the park entrance, had been widen in numerous places.
14. The vegetation had been trimmed way down at the lookout point near the start of the paved road. Some hiking club did most of it and then the park service people finished the job. Previously, things had grown so high that there was no view!

Pictures: Cataloochee Valley - Part 1,
Cataloochee Valley - Part 2.

Ever since the Park brought elk into this area, the number of visitors has increased greatly. They have plans to add 10-12 new campsites, another bathhouse, , a picnic area and more. They are three years into an invironmental impact study.

Found a good campsite where someone had left a large supply of dry, cut firewood. I put some of it on some coals that remained in the firering and soon had a nice fire.

9/17/02 Tues. - Had coffee, drove to Waynesville and did some shopping. Had a light rain all day and evening. Wrote three letters at the library and mailed them.

9/18/02 Wed. - Light, misty drizzle, cloudy, and I'm lazy. Cataloochee is a beautiful, peaceful valley for a rest. Went to Waynesville and did laundry. Rain storms are forecast until a cold front clears the are this weekend. Had an interesting talk with the host. His son, 39, in Waynesville, is a 6th degree black belt in Judo. But he does not have all the championships like the brother of my aikijutsu instructor. (The 60 year old brother has been world judo champion. He was at our class last summer and it took him about one minute to throw me.)

9/19/02 Thurs. - Started a bp'ing trip. But I was immediated scared off by a sign. The trail went went past a holding area for new elk, and I could not tell if the trail was open or closed. So I took a different trail and hiked to CS #40. It was only 1.5 miles. I ate lunch and decided not to stay and hiked back. There was still some rain and rain threats. Drove to Deep Creek. My new plan starting tomorrow is CS#59, 60, 74, 70, 74. Icewater Spring, Mt. Le Conte, Icewater Spring. BTW, yellow leaves have been falling for one week.

9/20/02 Fri. - Drizzle, overcast, and rain expected all day. Rain predicted throughout the weekend. Stayed at DCCG.

9/21/02 Sat. - Rain. 3.1 inches in Ashville. Deep Creek is running real high. Back to Walmart in Sylva. Bought a waterproof, hunting jacket. Cooked supper and then ate in the car with more rain falling. I'm getting to be a specialist at doing nothing. And I'm getting worried about the 8-mile days up on the AT. I have not progressed much. Got to thinking about my friends, some of whom have died, some are ill with cancer including an ex. At 70, with a heart condition, how much longer can remain for me?

9/22/02 Sun. - It rained most of the night. It is overcast and more rain has started. It should get some of the dry springs flowing again on the AT. Better weather is predicted for tomorrow. Tomorrow I hike!

9/23/02 Mon. - Spent the morning drying things. In the afternoon I hiked to CS#74. It only took three hours, but I was tired. Two men from Lexington, KY, hiked down from Clingman's Dome. One tried out a new hammock. It worked fine, except that he hung it up wrong the first time. It was like a tent hung between two trees. I went on down to camp by the lake. One couple there had a nice fire going. They invited me over and we talked until 11 p.m. They were friends and both were graduates in the computer field. He has done some work with H.P., the buyer of Compaq, and will be returning to them in Germany. They were both from Germany and went to school near Stuttgart, where I did my military time. He insisted on walking with me across the field to my tent to see that I made it OK. Guess I'm really appearing old! Actually, he was just trying to be a real nice guy. They plan to look in on TT to see my trip report.

9/24/02 Tues. - Spent the morning eating and talking with the couple from Germany. I was still able to converse a little in German. Finally I said, "Auf Wiedersehen," and headed for CS#75. It took 3 hours plus a 30 minute break for the hike. My speed was OK, but I still need more endurance. It was a nice, sunny day, and I had forgotten to bring a camera. An overcast returned and during the night it rained.

9/25/02 Wed. - Hiked out 7.5 miles in a light rain in less than 7 hours, which included an hour lunch break at the closed CS#73. Near White Oak Trail I changed shirts and put on a light, water repellent jacket. It was definitely not waterproof. I was tired, but not completely exhausted. I should have been at this condition two weeks ago. With almost everything wet, I went to the Fontana Hilton for the night.

9/26/02 Thurs. - Rain predicted through tomorrow evening. By then we should feel
effects from the hurricane, Isidore. I need to dry out. Both tents are wet. Shall it be an Ashville or Pigeon Forge motel? Forgot to shower at the dam. Got a double room at Pigeon Forge for $19.xx plus tax. Discovered that a mouse or mice had been in my pack on the wire hanger at CS#75! Spent $92 for 20 pairs of socks at Socks Galore. Noticed that the Music Mansion was for sale. Dolly was part owner of that place.

9/27/02 Fri. - Went to Diamond Brand Outdoors store, 6 miles north of Hendersonville, on Hwy. 25. Had decided to get a new Sierra Zip Stove, but they did not have one. Checked my bank account balance and got some cash, before returning to Cataloochee.

9/28/02 Sat. - Did laundry again and some mailing. Cataloochee is crowded again with people looking at the elk. Watching the elk is almost as exciting as watching a dairy herd grazing in a field.

9/29/02 Sun. - Cancelled a hike. I'm, also, on a vacation! Found some possible places for work on my car. It needs a wheel bearing set replaced.

9/30/02 Mon. - Found a Nissan garage, and made an appointment. Got packed for the big hike across the park on the AT and return. Almost all 7,500 cu. inches of the pack are full. It was not too heavy, so I added a couple of things. Tomorrow we start a real hike!

End of 4. Pre-AT Hike.

Segments to be posted soon.
2002 GSMNP - 5. Backpack Contents
2002 GSMNP - 6. Food
2002 GSMNP - 7. AT Hike
2002 GSMNP - 8. Post-AT Hikes
2002 GSMNP - 9. Back in Florida
2002 GSMNP - 10. Summary
2002 GSMNP - 11. Photographs
2002 GSMNP - 1. Index & Links”

“Great report! Wish I had the time to do something like this!”

“Holy Cow. I am astounded by your report. And all that rain! Wow!!!”

“That was beautiful, Nowslimmer... You also made me blush :)

I am interested in doing the reroute of the Lakeshore trail, and the old route too. I really like the Road to Nowhere area.

I am going to print out your trip reports - they could be framed!”

“Holy Toledo, you need to write a book nowslimmer, call it:

"Over 70 and Still Kicking All Forms of A$$!"”

“no doubt. this is good. nothing like being in the paving business.”