Black and Blue - A smokies trip

“The trip started with a wonderful night of food brought to Cosby campground from the Smokey Mtn Brewery, and a great bottle of fine 12 year old double barrel Scotch. Sitting around the fire watching each others stresses melt away is awesome.

The next morning we head to Big Wally's for pancakes to fuel us up Snake Den Ridge. We end up hitting the trail a tad before noon, but the temps were still great for hiking.
Curahee and his bud Quinn, shot up the uphills, and I'd catch up at the many blue and blackberry bushes along the trail and gorge ourselves...no doubt starving 3-4 bears in the region.
One benefit of the guys going so fast was that they passed by a Titanium Snowpeak Spork someone had dropped on the trail.
Near the top of Snake Den, the mist started rolling in, and pieces of the f-4 wreckage can be seen alongside the trail, and a large piece is propped on the AT sign at the top of the trail.
The AT from Snake Den to Cosby Knob is horribly overgrown, and very hard to imagine over 1000 hikers have recently crossed this area. At one point the trail starts to fade into abundant blackberry bushes. I stop to start eating the thumbsized berries..and notice large "pushes" into the growth...wondering if hikers made these..i see a HUGE pile of bear scat...It's time for Opie to leave this buffet...before i turn around and see Mr Bear with hands on his hips, tapping his foot. As i head on...the trail disappears completely into head high bushes..this really starts to freak me out...blue and blackberries ALL around me, bear scat the size of a dinner plate, and me having to bushwack through it on the AT with Brian and Quinn way ahead of me. I start to whistle...then i think..bears aren't scared of birds idiot. Should i sing...crap..can't remember any songs, plus if they guys are around the next bend..i'll never live it down. So i start whooping...and clicking my trekking poles. Wuss..yea..but i'm not bear crap today!!
I turn one of the last bends before Cosby Knob shelter and hear a loud crash and cracking of branches...my heart skips, and i see a father and son gathering wood....SOB's!!!

We goof off around the shelter...the Father/Son try to get a fire going...we try for a little..but no luck..oh well it's summer..time to sleep. The Shelter's register was full and taken by the last hiker to mail in.
Quinn leaves his empty pack by his head while we try to sleep, but the mice keep rattling it..so he goes to hang it...i ask Brian if he showed the noob how to work the cables..he says no...so we sit and listen....Squeek...squeek.....nothing for 10 minutes....squeeksqueeksqueek.....nothing...squeek *we are dying laughing*......nothing..squeek squeek....*!@$!...squeek...
Once all is dark...an army closes in...an army that knows they outnumber us..and is not scared by our size...scout parties are sent out...then raiding parties...finally...they start throwing acorns and hickory nuts at us. I slip in my earplugs...and let them overrun us, hoping not to wake tied to a tree downhill.
30 minutes later..the fireplace erupts...seems our fire attempts worked..just 3 hours too late. We all sit up and die laughing.

(more later)”

“when is later? Did you get pics? Great report so far. Damn I miss the smokies”

“The next morning we wake to a beautiful day, say goodbye to our shelter mates, and sit around thinking about the long trek to pitiful davenport gap. Then..it starts to rain...so we decide to change our trip, wait the rain out, and head to Mt Cammerer once it stops, and hang out there till we decide what to do. We breeze up the trail into Low Gap, and make it to the lookout in no time. We spotted 2 rattlesnakes on top of the mount...one in the cracks of the lookouts stones around the catwalk..and one next to a rock nearby. The disease aflicting the spruce firs is evident, and sad, for they are gorgeous trees, and to hear the hemlocks are in the same fight hurts the soul.
The rest of this trip report will be abbreviated due to unknown readers...i will not say where we spent the night...but it was a beautiful night with neverending breathless views and a breathtaking sunrise and sunset.

We set out early and made it down Low Gap to Cosby in almost no time the next morning...vowing never to go UP low gap trail. Took showers in Cosby, ate at Applewood after a jaunt to the happy hiker, and a quick 3 hours home to nashville.

We were saddened at the glitz and ugliness of gatlinburg, sevierville, and pigeonforge. So sad that the communities that were built because of a gorgeous attraction have overshadowed it and become the draw for most.”

“oh i also forgot to mention the extra stuff Curahee carried up Snake Den...I heard there was a shortage of rocks at the Cosby Knob Shelter...so i let him carry some up...lmao”

“That's inconsiderate! Three people could not stay at Davenport Gap Shelter because of your phony reservation. Hope you swept out the tower's floor before you left. May the Rangers be at your door this morning. LOL.

Hiking up Low Gap Trail from either direction is easier than going up Snake Den Ridge Trail. Glad you're all safe.”

“clear.

Sorry.”

“hehe.. I loved the story Currahee told Wednesday night .. elaborating the rattlesnake encounter!”

“Gee, you sound so thoughtful, worried about the rock shortage at Cosby Knob. hehe”

“Cosby campground to Low Gap isn't a bad hike, short but a little climbing. The part I thought was a b!tch was Low Gap to Cosby Shelter. ;-)

[standing on soapbox]
If y'all are going to camp at an 'other than approved site' in the Smokies, don't brag about it here. We have a bad enough rep with the rangers as it is. Most of us follow the rules and understand why they are required.
[stepping off soapbox]

Glad a bear didn't munch on OPIE!
That was pretty funny.”

“OPIE hit on the one thing I don't like about the Smokies. When plans need to change due to different considerations it can be dang tough to rearrange your game plan.”

“Where in Cosby are showers?
A pay campground somewhere?”

“there are showers at the laundrymat....”

“There are three places right outside of the Cosby campground that have showers that I know of.

1. the little grocery right across the road from the Cosby campground
2. The laundry on you left as you leave Cosby and head back to the crossroads
3. The commercial campground on the left past the laundry.”

“Anyone know where showers might be in the Townsend area?”

“Driving into Townsend from the park on the left hans side there is a RV campground with a two story office that let us get showers after a March Scout trip. I wish I could remember the name cause they were nice to us and all the others were very rude.

Next time I'm in the area I'll be sure to get the name of the joint.”

“Seems like there is a red building back off the road with a grassy incline leading to it. They also rent tubes. Could that be it?

When always want showers when we take the kids car camping up there, and also are SOL.

HPM - next summer you'll have to get Laurel up there for a campout. If you'd like to coordinate a trip just let me know. My daughter will be 3 in Nov. My son will be 5 in Feb. Gosh I can't believe they're getting that old. I remember talking tiny babies with you at TC2.”

“In the Fontana Dam area got to the dam. There are free showers at the visitor center.

In Bryson City just go to the NOC in wesser for a shower cause you can get some food and browse the gear store while waiting on anyone else you are hikeing with to get cleaned up.

In Cherokee when leaving the park and heading into Cherokee turn left at the first light and drive untill the development starts to thin out. On your right there is a small pay campground. These people are the nicest I've ever seen. We actually call them before our March Scout trips and tell them we are coming and they open up just for us to take showers. Once again I can't remember the name of the place but it is right next to a field where they grow christmas trees. Be warned that they do close down in the off season.”

“Sounds like fun. I plan to get Laurel up there soon.”

“"We have a bad enough rep with the rangers as it is."

StoveStomper
09:01:58 AM
08/20/04

Who says?? News to me.”

“Savage Gulf was what I had in mind TD, but these park rangers talk to each other and move from park to park.”

“Yep, SG did it. It wouldn't surprise me if they got all the names that signed up that day at Savage Station and put us on some sort of list.”

“GSMNP loves our Scout Troop.

You guys are on your own.”

“I don't think the national park service ever talk to lowly state park rangers:)

Dayhiker- SG rangers have completely forgotten about us. They deal with hundreds of people worse than us on a weekly basis.

Opie- Great TR! When you gonna post some pics?”

“I think the SG stuff was a bigger deal online than anything. The big, pre-trip talk was read and we sort of got a label. The pre-trip chicken little stuff was a bit dramatic too. That didn't help. All in all it was the most unpleasant time I've had in attempting to put a trip together. The trip itself was fun, but the rest blew.”

“Park rangers DO talk to each other. I can vouch for that.”

“did you get into trouble, TD?”

“Dayhiker is right. The pretrip stuff was crazy. The trip itself was great, but the rangers already had an attitude about us due to the pretrip crap.”

“An in spite of the pre-trip perception and the heat the embear unfairly took, the rangers were still cool to us. Sat night could have been an issue, yet it wasn't that I saw. The guy came into camp, asked for permits, I went to my tent to get mine and by the time I found it he'd made it to that part of the campsite. Totally laid back. I was super impressed with SG and the folks that work there.”

“Long story embear.. well several long stories.”

“em - what he's trying to say is, "Which time are you asking about when I got in trouble?"”

“I've got until 2. :)”

“Good idea embear, TD, we're listening.”

“heh... naw.. wrong forum.. if you want THOSE stories.. they only get told in person.”

“-- and you know that too, John.. Emily may not.. because she doesn't know a lot of the TT history.. but John?.. You do.. and I ain't repeating some of them in front of God and everyone.

* laughs *”

“I know, I know. I had to jump on it though. If I hadn't, you wouldn't respect me in the morning.”

“Always an adventure awaiting in the Smokies...I love it there!

great trip report”

“We did have loads of fun. Especially with a noob as Opie put it. One of the reasons we changed our itenerary was because i didn't want Quinn to be miserable on his first trip. If he enjoys his first trip, he may go back. I all he does is pull hills and stay in a miserable shelter near the road, well whats the fun in that? Hilights of the trip were listening to Quinn try to hang his pack well after dark and after everyone else had racked out. After what seemed like 10 minutes Opie asked me if i had showed him how to use the cable system. We died laughing when we realized that he had no idea. *squeek squeek* quiet *squeek* long silence *squeek*, this went on for about 10 minutes. I was wide awake after that. Opie did have a hickory nut dropped on him by a mouse in the shelter. The little SOB's were aggressive in their persuit of nocturnal entertainment.

On one stop for blueberry consumption, I pointed out a large fresh pile of bear poop which really freaked out Quinn. He knew bears were out in the Smokies, but he wasn't prepared to have a close encounter with one. It was another look of "Oh, #&%!$".
The rattlesnake incident was cool as I have never seen a rattler on the trail. We saw two this time out in the space of 2 hours. One was in the rocks of the lookout. Right where Quinn was about to lean back and take in the view. Opie caught him (Quinn) before he could get bit on the ass. The other was down in some rocks we were scrambling over. Opie led, followed by Quinn, then me. As Quinn was admiring a view provided by a break in the clouds, one foot a step higher on an outcrop, I saw the second one between his feet. I casually told him to step up. He just looked at me like, "why"? I told him again and got another bovine stare. Then I told him flatly, "Quinn there's a rattlesnake between your legs". He had the highest vertical leap I've ever seen from a white boy from Orlando. Opie said his eyes were as big as his head and he went white as a sheet. Another good giggle from the noob. We were treated to great views of the sunset, the Milky Way, and a few meteors left from the Perseides(?) shower. Was it illegal? Yes. Did we leave the place in better shape than when we found it? I think so. Do I regret it? Not a chance. And I seriously doubt we put anyone out of the Davenport Gap shelter. It was midweek, raining that day, no fresh tracks on any trail we crossed and the ranger told me it was far from a problem to reserve 3 slots at that shelter. Which I took as another wat of him saying,"guys, it's all yours".
It was one of the best trip I've had in a long time. Good friends, great laughs, and no worries.

My only regret was not paying Opie back for letting me carry his rocks up the mountain. So, watch your back, boy.”

“Any pics?

Me illegal camping experience was in similar circumstances. Raining like hell and we re-routed to cut out 5 wet miles. No regrets.”

“Opie has some great pics. He should be posting them soon. Right Opie?”

“Sounds like a good trip! Every time I have been to Mt. Cammerer, it has rained. I've done the Snake Den/Gabes trails as a dayhike loop. I took Lower Mt. Cam to AT over Mt. Cam and then down Low Gap to Walnut Bottoms before.

SMOKY MOUNTAIN BREWERY IS MY FAVORITE PLACE IN G-BURG. My family goes there on Thanksgiving for wings and beer before we have our turkey at home. Their wings are the best EVER! Seriously, there are no other wings that have been the SMB yet. I always order the Black Bear Ale. YUM!”

“revision "that have beat SMB yet."”

“http://community.webshots.com/user/opieraver

dang OPIE, how many accounts do you have on webshots?”

“awesome pics man”

“just 2...michelle has a pay one”

“you have one with the Winter LeConte pics on it too. I think it is under OPIEHIKER”