Smoky Mountain Weekend Trip Report

“With me having off Good Friday I decided to head to the Smokies. The trip didn't start off great. I ended up dumping a full cup of hot coffee in my lap. I had to drive all the way there in a seat soaked with coffee. BTW coffe will burn you..ouch.
Then I get up the road and my cell phone loses service. No way to call Woodzie and the others to tell them I am running late. Anyway I finally get there.
Woodzie is hanging out with Hiking Hairy at Cosby campground. They are waiting on Brandon and Mike to hike in from Walnut Bottoms.
After they leave Woodzie and I take a hike up to Hen Wallow Falls. It is a nice 2.2 mile hike up Gabe's Mountain Trail to the path leading to the falls. Once we get there a family has their stuff thrown everywhere. We have to move clothes and packs to get to spots so we can take pictures.
That night we went into Newport to buy food fo the weekend but ended up eating there. Some locals overheard our conversation about Trails Days so we ended up talking to them for over an hour.
The next morning we were on the trail by 8:00AM. We were taking Low Gap Trail out of the campgrounds up to the AT. We then hiked the AT south towards Snake Den Ridge. The total hike was about 12.5 miles.
We brought some Trail Magic with us in hopes of running into some AT thru-hikers.
We ran into 4 hikers before the first one would take anything. We ended up meeting and talking to about 13 thru-hikers during the 5 mile hike on the AT.
We did meet one guy who was hiking the ECT. He started Jan 1 from Key West. While we were talking to him, Firefly who I meet at the hiker feed at The Cheese Factory hiked up. What a surprise that was. We laughed about her with the strawberries and whipped cream.

We finally came to Snake Den Ridge and knew we had a 5.3 mile hike back to camp. This trail has a 4000' loss in elevation.

About 2 miles down the trail we run into a guy with his son. The son is about 5 and they have no water. He asks us how far it is to the top. We tell him about 2 miles. He has a walkie talkie and radios back to another guy on down the trail. We pass a boy about 10, then another boy about 13-14. he has a backpack on so we ask if he has water. He replies no and also mentions no food either. He is ready to turn around because he is hungry and thirsty. He tells us to tell the adult down the trail. We finally run into the last adult who has another boy about 5 yrs old. We tell him he is still a long ways from the top and there is nothing to see. He admits they drank all their water and ate their food back down the trail. We both tell him that they need to turn around and go back. We were very low on water ourselves and finished without any. We have no idea if they kept on going or turned around. We never did see them in camp that night.

The next morning we hit Big Wally's for breakfast. After that we drove over to where the AT crosses under I-40. There is a stone staircase leading up to the AT. We hike up it and go a little ways down the trail taking pictures. We start heading back and run into Firefly and Thomas. I laughed and told her I didn't have any food this time. It was around 9:30AM and they had already hiked 10 miles and wanted to make it past Max Patch to the next shelter. That would be about 22 miles total for the day.

Woodzie and I said goodbye and we headed home. The weather was great but it did get hot during the day. All in all it was a great weekend.

Pictures are here http://www.thebackpacker.com/pictures/album/p8ciovk9.php”

“wow. loud girl firefly looks like shes lost some weight already
last edited: 4/17/06 8:28:10 PM”

“Thanks for the report!”

“Awesome Ewk wish I had been there too!”

“whos the good looking guy in the red shirt?”

“After the hubby got you nice gifts for your birthday this is how you dis him?”

“Hey, I can still appreciate a good view. Lord knows my husband does lol! There is a diffrence between looking and touching :P
last edited: 4/17/06 9:02:43 PM”

“Spirit, that is Peter Rabbit. I think he is from England.

Crash, I thought the same thing when I saw her.

Spam, you would have had a great time.”

“Thanks for sharing Ewker!!!!!........great pics......nice ones of the flowers...what kind of camera ya got???....I am trying to decide on a camera.....”

“sounds like a good trip...you didn't happen to find the card from my digital camera did ya? LOL

i left my camera on the top of my car when i was there last weekend...i looked in my rearview mirror just in time to see it bouncing down the road after me...i couldn't even get what few pictures were on it cause the card flew out and i couldn't find it

Hen Wallow falls is a good hike and a cool tall falls...when we did it we had the whole trail and falls to ourselves”

“Hey Ewk, thanks for sharing. My first and only (so far) trip to the Smokies was Good Friday weekend, a few year's back. The weekend ended w/ an Easter dinner at a Nashville area Mexican Restaurant... remember that? Ahhhh, good times.

Glad you had a great trip!”

“Nice report. Glad firefly walked off those strawberries.



Too bad you didn't have a can of whipped cream, I know for a fact firefly likes that.”

“was in the Smokies this past week end I must admit im no pro but my g.f the kids and i love jumpin in the car and findin a dirt trail to "hike" for a few hours”

“I love Gabes Mountain! Cool that you ran into Loud Firefly!”

“We were in Deep Creek this weekend, too.”

“It appears the Smokeys were nice this weekend.

I wouldn't know as I was on the beach in Lower Alabama.”

“Here's my trip report:

An overnight backpack trip was changed into a 3-night car camping trip out under the full moon and clear skies.

Thursday was a lay around camp day, other than a really nice walk around the nature trail at the Cosby Campground (GSMNP). Hikinhairy was there, so we hung out and relaxed. He left Friday when his friends came out of the woods.

On Friday Ewker showed up and stayed until Sunday, when we both packed up and left. Friday afternoon we dayhiked to Hen Wallow Falls (about 4.5 miles rt). Friday night we pigged ut at KFC (needed to work on clogging up the arteries). While there, we met a nice couple, although later we decided they might be serial killers. After we left KFC, we stopped at the WalMart in Newport to pick up some supplies. That WalMart is from another dimension. It's a very strange place, like no other WalMart I've ever been in before.

Saturday morning Ewker and I got up early and headed up the Low Gap Trail out of the Cosby Campground. From there, we went to the Cosby Shelter, then on down the AT to the Snake Den Ridge Trailhead and hiked back to camp. Total distane was 12.5 miles. While we were up on the AT, we came across 12-14 through-hikers, and we passed out string cheese and Pringles to them. It was fun watching then gobble down this stuff, especially an through-hiker who goes by Outlaw. She was shoving the Pringles in her mouth faster than anything I had ever seen!

On the way down the Snake Den Ridge Trail, about halfway down (it's 4.6 miles one way) we came across two men hiking up with 4 kids (a teenager, and three boys under the age of 10). They had no water or anything, and they looked like they were suffering. We talked to them a bit - I don't think they had any idea what they were getting into; they just wanted to get the "top." They didn't even know where the "top" was. I think they thought they would come out to a big open area (nope). We told them they really should turn back, but they didn't as far as we know. One guy had one of those little cards out of Backpacker magazine - you know, the "Hikes in Your Area" cards. He said something about "turning right at #6." Huh? #6? There were no signs along the trail with numbers. That's all they had - no map, no water, no food, nadda. Would YOU go on a 10-mile hike with no water???

When we got back to camp we rested a bit, then went to Burger King. Yeah, we fudged on this trip. I did get to try out my brand new REI Quarter Dome tent, and I think I am now in love with it.

Wildflowers were beautiful, the weather was perfect, and the full moon was beautiful! It was a great weekend with good friends.”

“It is a wonder to me that more people don't get lost, seriously hurt or killed while hiking in the Park.

Everytime I am on the trail, I see stupid people.

My pet peeve is when I go to Laurel or Abrams Creek falls. Without exception, I wind up packing out trash. What amazes me is that someone can pack a 12 ounce can of soda in.....but can't pack out the empty can. The other thing I see is people hauling their kids up the trail without water then stooping down to drink right out of the stream near the falls.

Maybe none of them are getting sick, but somehow I doubt it.”

“What amazes me is that someone can pack a 12 ounce can of soda in.....but can't pack out the empty can.

wow, it's like you're reading my mind...i say that all they time...it's frigin lighter than when you carried it in...fortunitally it's not as bad in national parks as it is in state parks

The other thing I see is people hauling their kids up the trail without water then stooping down to drink right out of the stream near the falls.

you forgot the other part of this equation...the white trash yokal taking a leak upstream”

“Exactly.”

“EWKER-sorry to trash your trip report thread with ranting...i'll get off my soap box now ;)”

“Don't forget all the people who take their dogs to Abrams falls, without a leash.”

“When we moved here, I told Cottonsocks there were two rules and she should never forget either one of them.

1) Every time you step foot inside the GSMNP, you will see stupid people.

2) You can never correct stupid people because they won't listen.”

“thrify, you didn't. Woodzie and I both commented on the people walking Snake Den Ridge without food or water. BTW Snake Den Ridge from the trailhead to the AT is 5.3 miles with 4000' elevation gain.”

“Don't forget all the people who take their dogs to Abrams falls, without a leash.

guilty (razing hand w/ head lowered in shame)

although, my dog is trail trained to stay about a foot behind me the whole time and leave people alone...with out actually looking at us, you wouldn't know that she wasn't on a leash”

“leash or not, trained or not, it's still illegal.”