weekend hike in the smokeys or black any one?

“I am looking to do a hike this weekend and was wondering if anyone would like to tag along. I am looking at either hiking the Blacks or the Smokeys, or somewhere on the AT in GA. I'm out of Nashville, hence my handle. If anyone is interested let me know in the next couple days.”

“Hey nashville hiker...i'll make sure this one keeps bounced up...we have a few resident quasi experts on the smokies, and the cumberland areas...fierry gizzard and stone door”

“Going on a hike this weekend to either South Fork or Mammoth cave if you would like to go.”

“I have not been to south fork. I am going to do the alum cave trail to the blvd and then to Kephart Shelter. I have not done those trails before and I have heard so many good things about them. Thanks alot though.”

“Sounds good. You might want to satrt at Kephart and go dwon the Alum Cave trail. It is easier. I hope you have great weather.”

“it sounds like it might rain. I like the steep up hills and the alim cave sounds like a good one. Do you know what the steepest trail in the smokeys is? Do you know what trail has the biggest elevation gain?

Thanks”

“3 smokies trails climb over 4K feet vertical...2 on mt. leconte out of cherokee orchard as well as baxter creek trail up mt sterling out of big creek...none of the maintained smokies trails are particularly steep when compared to nearby national forest trails...alum trail has steep pitches, possibly as steep as any in the park”

“What is the steepest trail with the biggest elevation gain in the southern appalachian mts? I did the Mt. Mitchell trail, but that is only 3500 feet and it is 5.5 miles.

Rob”

“I think the trail that holds that honor in in Joyce Kilmer/Slickrock.
The Slickrock Creek Trail.”

“Hey-
I have this saturday off, and was lookin to get hooked up with a trip. I was just wondering what you had decided on. I live in Atlanta, so somewhere close would be nice....”

“I went to Mt. LeConte in the Smokeys. I drove from Nashville Friday night and arrived at the visitor center where I registered for the back country. I had a reservation at the Kephart Shelter for Saturday night. I got the the Alum Cave trail head at around 1am Saturday morning. There was a suspicious vehicle driving around which looked like it arrived straight from the ghetto. I didn't see it anymore after I parked, thank goodness. There have been numerous reports of vandalism in the smokeys.

I set my alarm and tried to nap until predawn. at around 6 am I awoke and did my last preperations for the hike up LeConte. I was on the trail by 7am.

It was cool and overcast that morning. The fall colors were not peak but they were quite colorful. Lots of yellows. There were alot of other large parties leaving at the same time I was.

This was my first time hiking in the Alum Cave Trail, let alone the Smokeys. It was one of the best trails I have ever hiked. The altitude around the trailhead is 3750 roughly and the top of LeConte is 6593. so it is a pretty good climb. I was expecting the trail to be alot more strenious. The park service does a great job at maintaining the trails.

The views are incredible all of the way of the trail. I especially loved the views from inspiration point and of Peregrine Peak and Small Duck Hawk ridge. The colors became ever more brilliant the higher I climbed.

When I crossed the 6000' mark the temp must have dipped down around 40 degrees and the wind picked up quite a bit. I rounded the corner below the cliff tops and talked with a lovely elder couple from Cincinnati. They have been climbing the faces of LeConte together for over 40 years and they are huge fans of the Lodge.

The trail then intersects with Rainbow falls and at this point you are very close to the lodge and near the West Pt peak. I checked out the lodge and then hiked up to Cliff Top peak. It is very pretty up there and from what I hear it affords the best views on LeConte. Unfortunately for me it was socked in that day. I took a break for about a half hour and snacked and was on the BLVD by 12.

I passed the LeConte Shelter and climbed to High Top (the Geo top of Leconte 6593') and placed a rock on the top of the pile. One day maybe LeConte will be the highest peak in the Smokeys. Maybe one day it will be higher than Mitchell. Right.

After High Top I hiked out to Myrtle Pt, which is another great Leconte peak and rivals Cliff Top. This time I had great views to the south east and could see Mt. Guyot which was suited in all her fall color splender.

I hiked the BLVD all of the way to the AT. the trail is about 5.4 miles of small ups and downs and is very scenic along the way. It never drops below 5500'. Alot of the legendary views along the way were again socked in.

I slipped on a rock coming off of Leconte and twisted my knee but at this point it wasn't hurting at all so I trekked on.

I got to the AT about 4pm and was told by some hikers that all of the shelters were full, including Kephart. This concerned me because I had a reservation. They did not and decided to tent camp at the jump off. Somehow I missed the trail to the jump off. I will have to hit it next time.

My original plan was to go to the Shelter by way of Paul's Bunion. I was getting tired though and decided to attempt that tomorrow on my retun and take the AT west 1 mile to the Sweat Heifer trail and take that the 2000' down to the Kephart Shelter.

As I was going down the SH trail, my knee really started to hurt. It was still more than 3 miles to the shelter, so I kept going and ignored the pain. I kept thinking I was almost there and then would round another corner and see that there was still along way to go.

There were several glens along the way which had little waterfalls and they were pretty along with the changing colors of the leaves.

Finally around 5pm I arrived at the Shelter (barely). There was about 5 people there when I arrived and plenty of room. They were a family from Cincinnati and a very nice family I might add. They had just finished supper when I got there and invited me to help them polish off the left over chicken and potato salad. It was so good after that long hike.

They hiked up from Deep Gap road on the Kephart Prong trail.

We talked about hiking and mountains. The father was a true lover of the Smokeys and has hiked many of the trails with his wife, including the entire AT through the park. He was very fond of Andrew's Bald and Mt. LeConte.

It wasn't much longer before it was dark and everyone was in bed.
Four more hikers also from Nashville arrived. Per the Park Service the shelter was full and I snatched up the last reservation but it seemed that alot of people did not show. This meant plenty of room.

The next morning I got up at 6 with the best of intentions. I wanted to hike up to the Bunion via Dy Sluice and Grassy Branch. It was about a 5 mile hike to the Bunion. I got about 2 miles up Sluice when my knee gave out and I could barely lift it. The night before the family offered to let me hike back to their car with them at the Trail head of the Kephart prong and then they would drive me to my car still at Alum Cave trail head. I was so set on finishing my hike but every step I took was met with such pain I couldn't imagine hiking another 15 miles back to my car.

I turned around and hiked back down the mountain to the shelter. Luckily they were still there and finishing breakfast. They got all of their stuff packed up and around 11am we hiked down to their car and they drove me back to mine.

I gather I hiked around 20 miles in all but I was really disapointed I didn't finish my hike. Sunday the weather was supposed to be clear. Another nail in the coffin was that as I was hiking of Sluice I could see the tops of the mountains socked in the clouds. So I am not sure I would have gained the views that I missed the day before due to the clouds. All in all it was a great hike and I want to do the same one again, this time with stated goal completed.

Rob”

“I'm sorry to hear about your knee, but it sounds like you had a good time regardless. The downhills are always roughest on the knees. Knee injuries can be tricky to heal properly, so definitely take it eassy for a while then do some strengthening exercises. Which part of your knee did you hurt?”

“great report...maybe see you around nashville soon, and then i'll post more reports of the area!”

“I've been on Trail talk one year now and haven't been scared away even with the trolling of late.

I never posted my pics from this trip.
{url]http://community.webshots.com/album/123846353oNCRNI[/url]
I really miss the Smokies.”

“hmmmm, seems that we showed up here at the madhouse right around the same time. I have no idea what my first thread was, i kinda lurked for a while before just kinda showing up at Mt. Rogers last fall.”

“I first posted on the Mt. Rogers '03 Thread a couple weeks before.”

“Paul's Bunion.

* smirks *”

“I was a newbie back then”