We decided on the date of our next hike at the beginning of January, not knowing that we were choosing the best weekend in January, 2016! We were blessed with perfect weather and although January 30 started out chilly, the temperatures quickly improved.
The six of us, with the aide of Day Hiker's Guide to All the Trails in the Smoky Mountains, (a book I cannot recommend enough), picked a trail in the Tremont/Elkmont area where we've completed a previous hike. We dropped a car off at the Greenbrier Trail on Wear Cove Road, met up at the Sugarlands Visitor's Center and were on the Cove Mountain trail by 10 am. We stopped several times to shed layers and by 11:30 am were down to shirt sleeves and seeking out the shade when stopping for any length of time.
Cataract Falls, behind Sugarland's Visitor Center. I have to say, this adventure is helping us to see sights that we would never have seen otherwise. I have been to the Smokey's countless times and never knew Cataract Falls existed or that it is just a short walk from the visitor's center.
At the intersection to Cove Mountain Trail, and the beginning of our day hike.
Cove Mountain Trail has a steady incline of ~2500 feet, we did not find it to be very intense, as the incline took the entire 8.3 miles to the summit of Cove Mountain.
From reading the park map and the Guide Book, it is obvious that Cove Mountain Trail is unique. It travels right along the park boundary, and at times that is very obvious, as below:
The trail is LITERALLY right by the gate to this cabin. We were on park property, the other side of the gate was private property, as the sign proclaims. This was the extreme, most of the other signs of civilization we saw were further from the trail, although not very far, I must say.
Like this road ...
Another house/cabin ...
We read in the guide book that the chair lifts for Ober Gatlinburg were visible from the trail. And they most certainly were. We bushwhacked through the undergrowth and ended up at the top of a chairlift amidst skiers to get a photo of some snow. (We had been told by a Park Ranger that there would be snow along the Cove Mountain Trail as last weekend there had been snow in the higher elevations). We got some odd looks and picked up a chunk of man-made snow and went back to the trail.
Here we are in our shirt sleeves ... with the snow chunk.
Not all of us bushwhacked over to the chair lifts. While we were gone, Chuck, who stayed behind, spoke with a 900-Miler hiker going by. So far, almost every hike we've taken we've met up with another fellow 900-Miler ...
When hungry, stop where you are. And as long as chocolate is involved, all is good.
Just a mile or so before summiting Cove Mountain, we ran into Judy, who, according to her daughter, loves to mark off her map as she completes the trails. She does not claim to be a 900-Miler though. Judy's daughter told us to google "MeetUp" and search for "Great Smoky Mountains Hiking and Adventure Club" where we would find groups of day hikers that we could join. I can see us trying this in the near future.
And the Park Ranger was not telling idle tales ... we did see snow on Cove Mountain trail ...
Here is a park boundary marker. We saw these scattered along the trail and actually were in and out of park boundaries the entire hike.
We completed the 8.5 miles of Cove Mountain Trail. 0.1 miles from this intersection was a fire tower that Nathan went and checked out. Since I didn't see it, he's going to have to post pictures of what he saw.
Nathan and Rebecca ...
Chuck and I ...
Rod and Pam ...
From Cove Mountain Trail, we descended Laurel Falls trail for 0.9 miles and then picked up Little Greenbriar Trail for the remaining 4.3 miles of our hike. The guide book made a remark about a large vine weaving it's way through the trees. It did not disappoint, we found the vine and were reassured by observation that it was indeed large. Very impressive, one photo does not do it justice ...
An occasional view of Wears Valley (or Wears Cove, as the guide book called it) was rewarding from Chinquapin Ridge.
At the intersection of Little Brier Gap Trail and the continuation of Little Greenbriar Trail, we were met with some confusion which left us scratching our collective heads. Three trails branched off from this intersection, one was not on the map. The sign was not at all helpful, but with the aid of our cell phones, which normally would not have been helpful, we were soon on our way down the remainder of Little Greenbriar Trail. Since we were so close to the park boundary, the cell service, while spotty, was what saved the day. Our sore feet were noting every step of the remaining two miles.
Day is dying in the West ...
And the sight of the little white Toyota at the end of the trail was most welcome indeed!!
... And miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep. But at least those miles weren't on foot ...
One a side note: Another challenge I think we were in agreement to try was the Smokies Centennial Challenge - Hike 100 for the year 2016. See the link to that challenge here.
Trip STATS:
Total Trail Miles Hiked: 13.6
New Miles: 13.6
Overall Total Miles Completed: 28
Total Miles for Centennial Challenge: 13.6
Miles to Go: Still over 900
