Frozen Head Trip Report

“Well I just got in and we had a great trip! Little Bit, Cindy and Janet ( the last two being backpacking rookies) got to the trailhead about 30 minutes late after a last minute emergency. Ewker, Jerbear, Opie and Vicsaw were there to greet us when we arrived on Fri. It was nice to meet Vicsaw in person. You are much taller that you appear on TT! Some of them arrived on Thursday night so I'll let them post what happened that night. Off the trail we went, even tho we took different trails we all arrived at the campsite fairly early. After making camp and getting to know the newbies, we took the short hike up to the summit for some amazing views and pics. I will post my pics asap. Just after retiring for the night I hear someone yelling for us in the dark. After hearing her speak a couple of words I recognize the accent and realize it is Gemini. She hiked in the dark alone, and between 2 prisons! You can't stop a true TTer. After helping her with her new tent we all hit the hay so to speak. Saturday morning after a very cold night, all had breakfast and shared some wisdom with our new backpackers. After a short side trip to the rockhouse shelter, Little Bit, Janet, Cindy and myself headed back down leaving the rest to take the trip to Chimney Top campground. We missed the fire for sure Friday night, but after talking to the head ranger and convincing him we were a responsible crowd, he agreed to let Ewker and the rest of them have a fire Sat. night. I radioed Eddie with my FRS/GMRS radio and gave him the good news. I hope I don't read about them in tomorrow's paper! LOL, I know they will be careful. It was very dry up there and windy as well, but starting to sprinkle rain as we left. I think that is the only reason the ranger agreed to a fire. The dry weather had affected the wildflowers, they weren't as numerous as last year, but were beautiful jus tthe same. I will try to name all of them as I post the pics. I will probably have more than one album in webshots as I took over 100 pics! Well that's all for now, more later. I think maybe this will be an annual trip for me as this is a great place to hike.”

“it is good to read that no one's head got frozen on this trip.

can't wait to see your wildflowers in the the mountains pics.

always good to know more hikes to where wildflowers are blooming, and the times of their peak...did you see any morrels (shrooms)to be harvested?”

“No and I know what to look for. They like old roadbeds but it was so dry up there. I was just looking at last years pics and the difference is very noticeable. There was a fire ban till I talked the ranger into allowing them a fire tonight (Sat.)”

“Fires are nice..sorry I miss this hike..had a lot to do at home.Glad you guys had a good trip.Can't wait for pics.”

“Nice trip report. Are the newbies coming here to TT? Can't wait for the pictures.”

“very good trip report. I'm also looking forward to the flower pics.”

“Frozen Head is one of my favorite State Parks.
The wilf flowers vare pretty spectacular if ya catch them just right. Sorry to hear they weren't out in peak for ya.”

“Sounds like a good hike... Glad Gemini made it ok.. I backed out as I couldn't get out of working on Friday and a 7 hr drive didn't sound like fun to me... Maybe next time. Looking forward to the photos.
Rox”

“so post the pics already! Before I moved to FL, I was gonna try to get in on this trip, sorry I missed out.”

“So I guess this is where I would ask what Frozen Head is like?”

“Where do I see the photos???”

“Here are some of the pics. I had to split them up as I had so many. I will post pics of the flowers later today.

Frozen Head”

“On the way home we stopped by the Cumberland Trail at Black Mountain. You can drive up to the trailhead and there are the most beautiful rock formations and views. It is a short side trip off I-40, everyone should take even if you don't have time to hike. I will post those tomorrow or asap. I have surgery on Tuesday so ya'll think about me. Tanya (Little Bit) has surgery also at the same time and in the same hospital! We hope we get adjoining rooms so we can yell at each other!! But I am having sinus and throat surgery so I probably won't be yelling at anyone. Well at least Donna (my wife) will get a break, LOL.”

“hmmm I got an error said the photos had moved”

“I got the same error messege but after it directed me to the comunity page I used the back button and it took me right to Karos pics.

Nice pics and it looked like a great trip.”

“I just put up the pics of the flowers, I have most of them named. If anyone knows the others, let me know.”

“Here is the first album of wildflowers: Wildflowers”

“My head didn't freeze, but Opie slept in his Hennessey and I slept in my Byer and we almost froze our butts off! That is why he was still in his bag in the Saturday morning group pic. They were talking about him "emerging" from his Hennessey hammock. It looked like a moth coming out of its cocoon. LOL”

“Well, I am back. Great trip guys!! Trip report will follow...I think.”

“Glad you made it back safely. I know you had a long trip, hope ya'll had a great time last night.”

“Thought I better write it now, or I'll never will.

Ewker instant messaged me, when? I think Wed. or Thursday about the trip. As I had a whole easter weekend for myself I decided to ask Clem35yeah if she wanted to rather take this trip instead of the short overnighter. I knew she probably would let me go alone because the boyfriend wasn't to happy about her leaving anyway. LOL

Anyway, I left friday around one'isch, maybe a little later. Hit big time traffic twice and took a detour that lead me through a beautiful area but really delayed me.

After driving by some prison I finally got to the state park right before dark. The park ranger took one look at me and started to worry. There I stood with my jeans and sandals and in front of my convertible. Didn't look too experienced I guess. LOL. Anyway, I told him that I did have my gear and even some boots with me. He felt a little better and gave me a $3 map for free. Cool!!

I hiked the 2.8 miles in the dark. All those campfire stories that you tell run through my mind. Some deer scared the crap out of me. At least I hope they were deer.

After looking at the map I knew I almost made it, but I didn't hear no yelling or laughing...nothing. Not even a beep. All of a sutton I hoped that those darn TTers was at the campground. I wasn't so sure anymore. I did know that I didnn't wanted to hike back down anymore, at least not all alone.

Well, after 5 minutes or so passed I yelled and GOT AN ANSWER!!! Yeah!!! Ewker was still awake, but the other bunch...sound asleep or at least in their tents.

Just like Karo wrote, we talked a little, put up my new tent and went to sleep.

The next day we hiked to the next campground, but missed it. Opie, Ewker and me myself came to a nice area where I decided to take a picture, so I had to take my camera out of the pack. Well, and it fell.
I looked at my camera, Ewker looked, and Opie looked....we looked and it kept rolling... I wish someone would a had teh change to take a picture of our stupid face. We saw the camera rolling an none of us did a thing. Problem was it rolled down an 80% wall... I am guessing 80%, could've been more like 90% or maybe less. but it was steep.

Yupp, we all climbed or slide down that hill and opie finally saw the camera way at the bottom. This is the short story of my rescuded camera. Opie or Ewker will probably be able to tell it a bit better then me.

After a while we realized that we must have missed the campground too. Oh well, that small campground that we passed before was too small anyway...so we continuted to the next one. Set up our tents, and went to eat pizza at the local pizza place.

That's it!! I didn't get into too much details besides my nightly adventure and the camera rescue. I leave the rest to the others, so they can tell their side. :)

I had lots of fun. Glad to see you guys again and happy to meet ya vicsaw.

Karos buddies: Glad to meet ya too! Sorry this was cut so short.”

“I don't know what you guys did to OPIE but he's dead to the world right now! I called him and he's not even making sense!”

“Miss Opie, he is probably jus tnow thawing out!
Gemini, did it ruin your camera? Did that funny picture turn out? See what happens when you do something bad, it comes back on you! LOL”

“Karo, the camera is fine. My camera pack is pretty thick. The lenscover was a little bit too far into the lens, but after a couple of seconds I was able to fix it. Nothing...no problem. Opie even found the orange cover from the lens brush. Too funny.

I didn't check the pictures yet. I probably won't until tomorrow or so.

Miss Opie. LOL. It was a long long hike yesterday.”

“on my way home I stopped in Pigeon Forge at the Day Hiker and bought a couple of stickers. (found a "hike naked" sticker) Then I drove up to Gatlinburg to look around in the "happy hiker" store. The young guy was pretty nice, even remembered me from last year. The old guy...what a dumb a$$ I asked him about a water bladder I saw in his store.

I asked if he knew of anyone that had problems with leakage. I also explained that I had some leak problems with my camelbacks. Dumb a$$es answer was, well all bladders leak if you sit on them. WTF?? Do I look like an idiot?? Do I look like I would sit on my bladder? And no, I do not sit on my pack during day hikes. Anyway, I left without buying a thing.”

“Nice pictures Karo”

“it sounds like you guys had a great time even though you might have killed my man!!

nice pictures karo! i wish i could have made the trip but i always spend easter with the family.”

“thanks for the wildflowers, makes me miss the spring in the smokies.

I think the pink ones in #18 are wild geranium or a cranes bill, and the white one may be a sweet white violet.

The number 3...might be a toothwort...or something about a tooth..heh...i fergit...”

“You should have hiked with us, we left Saturday so we could be home for Easter Sunday.”

“You should come up and make the hike next year with us. I am planning a trip to Roan Mountain, maybe you could make it in June.”

“Hey Frozen Head Folks, this is your newbie, Cindy, checking in for the first time. I have taken a new name "Flamegirl" cause even though I had nothing to offer for our meals (will do better next time) I DID bring the campfire FLAMES!!! Thanks to all of you for putting up with the numerous Rookie Questions. Can't wait to learn more and to see you all again. By the way, one of the funniest memories, OPIE emerging from his cocoon on Sat morning, too funny!!!
Hope everyone made it home safely. Hike ON!!!
Cindy”

“Welcome aboard! Now you have already been on a TT trip so everyone will know you are not a troll. I hope you get your packweight down like mine. It just takes time and reading some of the gear threads on this board. let's go hikin' again real soon.”

“so flamegirl ate ...what? bugs? pinecones?

ya'll are mean, you should have fed her”

“Flamegirl and Janet ( no trail name yet) had spaghetti from Mountain House.”

“She bought enough trail mix to feed everybody!”

“Great hike! NICE people! GREAT weather! BEAUTITFUL flowers. Karo thats BLOODROOT according to the naturalist the ROOT bleeds red! Yo Bear! Also Ruby is ok just cant post yet! Thanks for the trip plannin karo and next time we know we can have fires in the chimneys. The newbys were champs! Ruby and I found a geocasche! nKewl!”

“My pictures are uploading right now. It'll still be a wile tho until all of them are up. Didn't take very many this time.

anyway, so everyone is okay and made it home huh? didn't hear anything from ewker yet though.

also, Ruby is vicsaw. Just in case someone is wondering.”

“Frozen Head

If you click on the link and get an error...just try again. Webshots is really screwed up lately. I get a lot of "album not found" errors. It's there though. Lots of double pics, but better then nothing.”

“Frozen Head

I labeled some of the flowers and if I got them wrong let me know. This is the first time I have tried to do that.”

“Nice pics Gem...did you fit into your LightYear okay?”

“Ewker your "Thyme-Leaved Bluets" are really Long Spurred Violets, Viola rostrata link ”

“HOI, thanks I appreciate that. Some of them are really hard to figure out”

“Hey Ewker, great pics!!

Bitpusher: I had plenty of room. It rained saturday night/ sunday morning and I didn't have any condensation at all. In my canyonland I would've gotten at least a little bit of condensation.

I am happy with the tent so far.”

“I thought you might...if big ol' me can fit in one, I figured you'd be able to no problem.”

“Which Light year was that, it was late but I was impressed with the tent and its ease of pitching. Usually I don't want to pitch one the first time on the trail. Some friends had a new tent on one of our canoe trips. WE laughed our butts off at them trying to pitch it for the first time. They didn't want any help, just fussed at each other! LOL”

“vicsaw needs a MUCH taller hat! ;-)”

“Karo, it was the Sierra Designs Ultra Light Year.

Bitpusher: yeah it's a nice tent. Only thing I don't really like too much is the way you get into the tent. I am short so I can crawl in it, but most people will have to get in feet first.

I just read my trip report. I'll be posting the exact same report again, but with much less errors. (still will have some, but not as many as the above). Dang...I must've been really tired. Well, yeah, I WAS really tired.”

“Gemini, are you still gonna call jerbear, yerbear? ;-)”