Boogerman Trail trip report

“Or the "Where are my batteries?" trip report...

Friday night Mocs123 and Ewker crashed at my apartment so we could get an early start to the Cataloochee area of GSMNP. We got up Saturday morning bright and early, and hit the breakfast buffet at Shoney's, then headed up the road. It took us just under three hours to get to the Boogerman trailhead.

As we were hitting the trail, I took a pic, then noticed the batteries in my camera were about to die. No problem, I'll change them out. Ha! I couldn't find the batteries, so it was up to Mocs and Ewker to be the photographers on this trip.

We headed up the Boogerman Trail from the Cataloochee Campground, destination campsite #41 for the night. We had roughly 6.5 miles to go, and it took us all day, not because it was difficult, but beacuse there was so much to see! BIG trees, artifacts in the woods, BIG trees, Boogerman's old homesite (although there was nothing left there except a stone fireplace of sorts). And we saw BIG trees. We passed one big ol' tree (parden me for not knowing what kind they are) that we stopped to admire. Mocs went around behind it and discovered we could actually go inside it. Way cool! We (they) took pics and we oohed and awed for a good while. We saw gorgeous old stone walls - the rocks had been layed without any mortar. These walls were very impressive, although we couldn't figure out their purpose. The walls were long and straight.

As we hiked on, we saw more BIG trees :-) Mostly tulip populars or tulip trees, I think. Saw some big hemlocks, too. It was so peaceful to be among these giants. If you want to know what respect feels like, go hang out near one these big fellas for a while.

Ocassionally we could get a glimpse of the Cataloochee Divide and the Smokies through the trees. Wildflowers were not plentiful along the trail, much to our suprise, but the BIG trees kept us looking in wonder.

The Boogerman Trail ended after 4.1 miles; we picked up the Caldwell Fork trail here and headed for CS #41. Along the way we took a short steep side trip to see a couple of Union soldiers' graves. Actually, there are three soldiers buried here; two are buried together according to the Little Brown Book (Smokies book).

We reached CS #41 and found our spot for the night. Ewker was hammocking; Mocs and I claimed our tents sites. There was a couple camping as well. Was very nice because it wasn't crowded and no horses :-) As I was unloading my pack, I found my batteries!! I was a happy girl! But I decided to hang on to them and let the rechargeable batteries in my camera completely die before changing them out. My mistake. More on that later.

We had a nice little campfire Saturday night, and we all crashed around 9:00.

Sunday morning we were up around 7:30, ate breakfast, packed up and headed UP the Caldwell Fork trail. We had 1.5 miles to do on this part of the trail. Even though it was only 1.5 miles, it seemed like 5 miles, as it was a relentless uphill. Again, there were BIG trees to keep us happy :-) About 1/4 mile up the trail from CS #41 we visited the Big Popular. I have no idea how old this big giant is, but it was well worth taking the short walk over to it. I was able to snap a few pics before my camera batteries died completely. No problem, I'll go ahead and put the good ones in. Ha! I couldn't find them, again. The night before I put them in a safe place where I could get to them easily, I thought.
After leaving the Big Popular, we continued on up the Caldwell Fork trail, eventually coming to the intersection with the Rough Fork Trail, which we headed down.

The Rough Fork Trail wasn't too exciting after the Boogerman Trail, but at least it was downhill. We had to go about three miles down this trail. Near the end is the Woody Home, a beautiful old home built in the mid-1800's (according to the Little Brown Book). We explored this old house and marveled at the architecture. Again, pics will follow. I did dig through my pack (again) and finally found the missing batteries, again. This time they went into the camera :-)

We hit the last leg of our hike. Along the way out we stopped at CS #40 and checked it out. Not a bad site.

We knew we had to do a road walk to get back to my car, but we had no idea of how long it was going to be. We thought less than 2 miles. Turned out it was 2.4 miles (we clocked it later). It was the roughest 2.4 miles of the whole trip, even though it was level all the way. I will say we got a good look at Cataloochee Valley. We saw elk tracks and poop, but no elk :-(

We FINALLY made it back to the car.

All in all, this is a wonderful trip to do, only I highly suggest doing a car shuttle or make it a loop hike. The road walk is not fun (and no one would give us a ride). The Boogerman Trail is magical, and the big old trees are awe-inspiring.”

“my pics are up
http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/558379038xQJuQa

The Boogerman Trail was really nice. Some of the largest trees in the park are here. The Boogerman family didn't allow any logging which is why there are such huge trees.
The weather was great, semi warm with a nice breeze blowing kept it comfortable.

One thing nice about the Big Poplar was that no one had craved their name in it. There were some names in smaller trees but this tree had been left alone.

Great hike and company. Thanks to Woodzie for allowing Mocs123 and myself to crash at her place. Thanks for driving to :)”

“Great pictures, Ewker. Sounds like you had a nice trip.”

“Thanks for the report. I enjoyed reading it. Glad it was a nice trip.”

“Cucumber trees (magnolia acuminata) shed bark like that. THe white flower looks like bloodroot, but it's hard to tell which leaves belong to the flower.

Looks like it was a cool trip.”

“treebait, I looked at my book of wild flowers and it wasn't a Bloodroot. I will check to see if that tree is the one you mentioned..thanks”

“the unknown flower looks a lot like a white hepatica but the near by leaf looks like a buttercup

the other nearby plant is toothwort

the unknown metal parts look to me to belong on an old saw mill - was there the possibility of water power in the vacinity?
last edited: 3/27/07 11:00:31 AM”

“Nice trip report Woodzie. I wish I had been able to join you guys. I loved the pictures Ewker. The trees were amazing. Mr. Boogerman deserves a star in heaven for saving these wonderful trees.

I agree with HOI on the wildflower identification.”

“Great report and pictures! Glad you had a good weekend. Boogerman trail in at the top of my to do list!”

“the unknown flower looks a lot like a white hepatica but the near by leaf looks like a buttercup

the unknown metal parts look to me to belong on an old saw mill - was there the possibility of water power in the vacinity?
last edited: 3/27/07 11:00:31 AM”
Hog On Ice
10:54:28 AM
3/27/07

thanks I will change that picture

the wheel up against the tree was fairly close to water but the other one with dimensions on the side wasn't”

“the flower is probably green and gold.”

“Nice pictures, Ewker. Thanks.

Some of you folks are just learning some of the things that draw me back to Cataloochee year after year. I do have some favorite areas where I like to sit, relax and meditate. But the biggest attraction is all the people I have met there over the years. The memories cannot be lost and more are added each year.”

“The wheel and part remind me of pictures I've seen of old steam powered portable sawmills.

It seems plausible to me that the family might bring in a portable unit to saw lumber for their own use. Who knows. I guess there was no mention of them in the little brown book?”

“green and gold ??? the green and gold I know is nothing like that flower - see http://2bnthewild.com/plants/H490.htm”

“I was just going on the buttercup description.”

“Good pics, Ewker. I enjoyed looking at them. I have a few; maybe I'll get them posted.”

“see much sign of horse travel on the trail?
Funny the differences in the park on the same weekend. I was over on Fontana”

“My photos are now up as well at:

http://community.webshots.com/user/Mocs123

This was a great hike with tons to look at so I would recommend that anyone give themselves more time than really needed to hike the trail. Campsite 41 ended up being a nice campground with a good water supply and fairly private sites. The portions of the Caldwell Fork Trail and the Rough Fork Trail that we did were not as exciting, but not bad trails by any standards.

Thanks to Ewker and Woodzie for the company, and a big thanks to Woodzie for allowing us to crash at her place and for volunteering to carpool us to the trailhead”

“There were a few places on the trail that had damage from horses, but not as bad as I had expected or have seen before. Of course if it had rained recently it would have been worse.”

“Mocs, good pics. The newspaper (from 1909) for wall coverings is different. I guess you used what ever you had at the time.

BTW you have mail”