We met up with our neighbors in the parking lot of Schoolhouse Gap Trail, our destinations matched enough to where we had decided to try to make a day of it "somewhat together." So our numbers doubled, although Nathan and Rebecca were getting a sunburn in Florida and weren't able to join us again. (Ahem, you all are going to have some serious catching up to do ...) So the family of four seen in the background belongs to Ken and Lisa.
Their destination was the White Oak Sinks, an area not on the park map, but known to be a haven for wildflowers. This trail head is off of Schoolhouse Gap Trail. Since White Oak Sinks area is not on the park map, it is not counted for mileage toward the 900 Miler Club, which led to some discussion in the ranks. I wanted to see the Sinks, but the other three of us didn't feel the need to add to the mileage of an already longish hike. (It added approximately 2 miles to the hike.) So I begged a guide in the form of Matthew, the 15 year old son of Ken and Lisa, and the two of us took off as soon as we hit the trail, going to the end of Schoolhouse Gap Trail, and then turning around and picking up White Oak Sinks, while Ken and Lisa went straight to White Oak Sinks, and Chuck, Rod and Pam did the School House Gap to Turkey Pen Ridge and on without stopping at White Oak Sinks.
My trip with Matthew into White Oak Sinks will be in a separate blog post. This post will focus on the planned trip of the day, which fixed a lot of our troubles in the Tremont-Elkmont Area from some trails we had completed "wrongly" earlier.
So here are Matthew and I meeting up with the rest of my group on our way back DOWN Schoolhouse Gap Trail and on their way UP Schoolhouse Gap Trail. We figured at that time we were about 0.5 miles ahead of them, which left us a little leeway for getting down into the Sinks.
Chuck, Rod and Pam.
Matthew and myself. And on we went into the Sinks. Let me just say that Matthew's legs are twice as long as mine and he is 15. I am older than 15. We forged on at a pace that kept the bugs at bay. We made it to the Sinks and let me just say that it is a different world down there. But more on that later, see the next blog post.
We made it out of the Sinks, leaving Matthew's family behind, (we had joined up with them for a while) with the goal in mind to catch up with the rest of our group. Needless to say, we did not amble. But first, to get the rock out of the shoe:
Shortly after getting out of the Sinks and back onto Schoolhouse Gap Trail, we turned onto Turkey Pen Ridge Trail, a 3.4 mile section of trail that was reported to have had recent bear activity.
But aside for a cairn or two, the only activity we saw was two horses and riders. Not another human or animal was seen on the trail, and we did stop on several occasions to gaze down into the deep ravines searching for bear or other wild life. It was the flowers that caught my attention.
Longspurred Violet
Sweet White Trillium
We estimated that we could hike this section of the trail in an hour and a half, it is without a major incline, so we were able to make good time. The scenery flew by and I wonder what we missed!!
Shortly after the above photo, we partook of some e-gel, and then spent the next while assessing whether we had more energy. The long and the short of it is that we didn't hit a wall, so it must have helped.
We decided that we probably wouldn't be able to catch up with the rest of the group, as we had spent an hour and a half in the Sinks, which left them with a lot of time to get far ahead. But by then, it was the focus of our hike ... to see if we could catch up ... so on we went.
Yellow Trillium
And then all of a sudden, right near the end of Turkeypen Ridge Trail, there they were!!
The Reunion Photo:
We hiked just a little further to the very end of Turkeypen Ridge Trail and met up with some more fellow hikers and stopped to talk for a while. They are Joe Cook, and his daughter Victoria Cook, from Winston-Salem, NC. They are also 900 Miler Club Hikers. We seldom hike a trail without running into fellow 900-Milers, and this hike did not disappoint. Maybe we can run into you all again? I will reference them in the blog post about White Oak Sinks, so be on the lookout for them there too ...
From here, we hiked down Crib Gap Trail, a 1.8 mile section of trail which ran parallel to Laurel Creek Road. It was not a nice trail, it rather resembled a stream bed, although the photo below does not reflect my recollections!
At the end of Crib Gap Trail, we had to pick up a 0.2 mile section of Anthony Creek Trail to make it to the Cades Cove Picnic area, where we were meeting up with Ken and Lisa.
We made it by about 5:00, and Ken took Chuck back to the parking lot at the beginning of Schoolhouse Gap Trail to get our car (which was locked after all, whew!!), while the rest of us rested our feet.
We enjoyed a lovely picnic dinner. Some kind soul had left hot briquettes in the grill and made it that much easier for us to heat our hotdogs.
Since we were so close to Cades Cove, and for Old Time's Sake, we all decided to drive around the loop. We were treated to a sight that none of us had ever seen in the Cove before, a coyote, totally unconcerned about the crowd of gawking humans, loped around before crossing the road right between the cars. We were in the right place at the right time here.
Another hike completed! Each hike has a flavor all it's own, with a story all it's own. I'm never disappointed, the Smokies always deliver ...
So for the STATS:
Total Trail Miles Hiked: 9.2 (Not counting the Sinks)
New Miles Added To the 900 Mile Challenge (Not counting the Sinks): 7.8
Total Miles Hiked Toward 900 Mile Challenge: 39.4
Miles Hiked that Count for the Centennial Challenge: 9.2
Total Miles Hiked for Centennial Challenge: 30.1
No comments:
Post a Comment