Whistling Gear

Pam, the artist, has outdone herself this time. She obtained some wormy chestnut some time back from Mike Clemmer, owner of Wood-N-Strings Dulcimer in Townsend, TN. Here is the exciting part: He obtained the wood LEGALLY from a cabin that was dismantled by Park Service in CADES COVE. Pam is going to find out more information about the cabin and I will add to this post when I get it, but in the meantime, I had to post the picture. Mike made some of the front faces of his dulcimers with this wormy chestnut, and Pam got a very small amount of some of his leftover wood and made six of these limited edition whistles. SOOOO, we are all going to be carrying around a little piece of history in the form of a whistle with us. Since the Chestnut has all but been wiped out by a fungus blight in The Great Smoky Mountains, this makes these whistles all the more special. Thank you Pam, whose creativity never ceases to amaze.

Gatlinburg Trail (The Rookie Mistake)

On Sunday we had all manner of plans, including to get in a short 2 mile there-and-back hike called Gatlinburg Trail. It begins at the Sugarlands Visitor Center and takes the hiker, or meanderer, all the way to Gatlinburg. We wanted to do this hike as it added 2 miles to our 900 mile challenge and 4 to our 100 Mile Centennial Challenge, and would get us above the 50 mile mark.

This is a trail that is very similar to the Oconaluftee River Trail in some ways, one being that this is one of two trails where dogs are allowed within the park. It also ends in town, this being the northern side of the Smokies, the other mentioned the southern side of the Smokies. Both trails are flat, easy hikes and are frequented more by exercisers than hikers. Neither are where you would go to find solitude or wilderness. Roads are on either side at intervals, and both are along a creek. The creek we followed on Gatlinburg Trail is the Little Pigeon River.

I wore my sandals instead of my hiking boots, and while it was not a problem on this trail, I quickly realized that I could never wear my sandals on the back country trails we've been on. I kept picking up little rocks and stability was a question. Some folks do hike in sandals, but that is not for me.

The trail winds past Park Headquarters,  and had it been a weekday, we could have gone into the main lobby and seen the wormy chestnut paneling that was salvaged from the park. And maybe met Superintendent Cassius Cash. Well, another day.

The Little Pigeon River ...

We met a lot of walkers and they all seemed to have a dog or two. There was quite a few flowers, but not nearly as many as seen yesterday. I still could not find Jack, although I looked, but didn't go off trail as I was wearing sandals and the poison ivy was thick.

The trail took to the road for a while and we walked past the large Park Maintenance Department, an area I hadn't ever seen nor even given thought to, but very essential, none the less.

Semicircular stairs that lead to an old homestead at one time.

There are several old homestead sites, chimneys and foundations being the remains. 

This footbridge is obviously relatively new, but according to the Guide Book, a Mrs. Trentham, who grew up in the area, recalls when it was just a foot log that was used to cross the creek. As she and some siblings were watching, a local man known to love his moonshine attempted and failed to negotiate the foot log and fell to his death on the rocks below. Rather sobering to imagine.

And there we were, right in Gatlinburg. 

On the way back, just behind the Park Headquarters, we noticed a cemetery we had failed to see on the way by. It had a number of the common area family names, Ownby and Whaley being two I saw several times over.

Bugs can be beautiful too ...

After we got back to the visitor's center, we got our written trail records out that we've been keeping for the 100 Mile Centennial Challenge and added the Gatlinburg Trail to it. This added four miles to our logs and put us over the 50 mile mark. We had found out that the Park gives pins to those who can show proof of walking 25 miles, 50 miles, 100 miles, 250 miles and 500 miles. And I wanted to get my pins. 

So we talked to this friendly Park Ranger for a while, and found out that we'd made a classic ROOKIE MISTAKE. We'd just hiked the trail we should have saved for last. The Gatlinburg trail is the one that the 900 Miler's save for last, and as they come in, there are folks cheering them in and making an event out of it. We really goofed that one up, but we are happy to pass this knowledge on to Rod, Pam, Nathan and Rebecca so that they can have a big EVENT someday.

And then I made the Ranger hand me my pins and get the classic picture. 

And there they are:

Wonder where folks usually put the pins? I'm not sure what to do with them. Ideas?

After we left the Sugarlands Visitor's Center we headed in to Gatlinburg. We avoid Gatlinburg like the plague, as neither of us like crowds, but there is a store called The Day Hiker that I've been wanting to go to, so we risked the crowds. The hubster refuses to pay $10 for parking, so we spent an hour driving around looking for a free place to park, and FINALLY found it. We then hoofed it to The Day Hiker, looked around, didn't see Mike Maples, and made it back to the car in 30 minutes. See, it really isn't worth $10 for 30 minutes.

So the STATS:

Total Mileage: 4.0 Miles

Mileage Added to 900 Mile Challenge: 2.0 Miles 

Total Miles Hiked Toward 900 Mile Challenge: 51.1

Miles Added to Centennial Challenge: 4.0 Miles

Total Miles Hiked Toward 100 Mile Centennial Goal: 51.8 Miles (JUST over the 50 mile mark)

Mingus Creek Trail to Deeplow Gap Trail

After a very hearty lunch, with several cheese and chocolate choices, of which we said "yes" to all, we headed to the Mingus Creek Trail head. It is just a mile or less down the road from the Oconaluftee Visitor Center. It's highlight is the Mingus Mill ... But more on that in a minute. We headed up to a slave cemetery just before the gate to the trail. It was quite a small cemetery, and I couldn't help but wonder at the shape of the ground over all the graves. I haven't seen that in any of the cemeteries we've seen in The Smokey's yet.

When we got back to the gate/trail head entrance, there was a couple coming off the trail, who had just completed the same portion of the trail that we were planning to hike. They advised us to go to the cemetery that was well-marked about a mile and a quarter in. "It only took us thirty extra minutes," they said.

We backtracked though, and went to the Mingus Mill first, as it was suppose to be closing at 5:00 and we weren't sure that we'd be back in time. It is a fully operational mill open to the public from mid-March to Mid-November. But the Miller was on lunch break, as Millers have to eat as well, so we missed our opportunity to see the mill in action. But a helpful volunteer was in the building giving out as much information as he could. It was an interesting visit and I would love to go back when the Miller is milling ...

Straight from the Guide Book, "An earlier building with a traditional overshot waterwheel once stood here. The current building was constructed in 1886 and was designed to run off the water-powered turbine system still in use today. A 150-yard, oak-lined sluice diverts water from Mingus Creek to a wooden flume which carries the water to the mill, where it drops 30' to the turbine. Rehabilitated in 1937 and 1968 ..."

We headed back to the trail head and off we went, following the wet, muddy trail that itself followed Mingus Creek. At times it felt as if a creek was going down the middle of the trail. Oh, how I appreciate my water-proof boots.

Mingus Creek Trail is part of the Mountains-to-Sea trail that will take a hiker (upon completion) from the Mountains of Western North Carolina to the Sea in the eastern part of North Carolina. The trail is not yet completed.

Once again, the going was slow, as I stopped every few yards for another photo-op with a flower. I saw a number of these beauties on the trip, Vasey's Trillium.

Youthful Squaw Root

Elderly Squaw Root. There were patches of this all along the trail.

This metal pipe appeared to have been tossed carelessly into the hollow log. 

This little tiny salamander almost got squished, it's a wonder I saw him at all.

This is the simple little Foam Flower, so much detail up close. I will have to expound at some point on the lense the hubster got me for my iPhone ...

Green has always been my favorite color, and I do believe it is one of the things that draws me to The Smokey's. There is never an end to the green and never too much of it.

It's a jungle out there ...

The Guide Book told us that there were six switchbacks to the top of the ridge, where we were heading to the junction of Deeplow Gap Trail. By the time we reached the top, I was sure that there were at least ten switch backs. In fact, I really believed the Guide Book was quite OFF on that one.

The weather, as you can see, was quite lovely, and although not quite the 80 degrees F that had been predicted earlier in the week, had cleared up completely and all signs of rain had vanished.

It's funny, despite the sign, there was horse poop all over the trail. 

Posing with the hubster, and counting switchbacks the whole way back. And what do you know? There were actually six switchbacks. The Guide Book does not lie.

BUT if you don't read the Guide Book carefully, you might think it lies. We reached the sign on the trail on our way back that pointed to "Cemetery." The helpful couple at the beginning of the trail told us it only took them thirty minutes out of their way, and we both remembered that it was .5 miles off the trail. So although we were dreaming of the hot-tub at the cabin, we struck off toward the cemetery, 'cause what self-respecting hiker ignores a cemetery sign? About a half-mile in, uphill the whole way, we were wondering who on earth would have taken their dearly departed all this way? No signs of any homesteads had been seen (although I'm sure they were there, with a mill nearby), and no sign of a cemetery in sight.  Another hiker passed us and told us to be careful, "they're all dead up there." 

Upon reaching the cemetery, we were rewarded with a rather large, cleared bit of land on a hill. We took out the trusty Guide Book and read the following:

"The fork to the right proceeds as a roadbed 0.8 mile to a path which leads 100 yards to a cemetery."  Again, no lies there, just careless readers. And 0.6 miles does make a difference.

This is the only tombstone that was identifiable, the rest of the tombstones were literally stones. It was a quiet, peaceful place that we had all to ourselves.

The hinge where a gate had once been.

The cemetery was 100 yards from this rock, up a hill.

Here's Chuck giving his best, "If-I-had-known-I-would-add-1.6-miles-to-the-hike-by-going-to-the- cemetery-I-wouldn't-have-gone" look. But don't let him kid you, it was totally worth it.

And then we were back. It was a most satisfying venture.

This Luna Moth that greeted us at the hot-tub.

And this is the steps achieved for the day. Not too shabby.

So for the trip STATS:

Which by the way, since I blogged last, I realized that I will have to keep on this blog, as this is the only place we've been keeping up with the stats consistently. We still have to do some tweaking as a group though.

Total Mileage: 5.8 + 1.6 to cemetery = 7.4 Miles

Mileage Added to 900 Mile Challenge: 2.9 Miles (seems awfully low to me)

Total Miles Hiked Toward 900 Mile Challenge: 49.1

Miles Added to Centennial Challenge: 7.4 Miles

Total Miles Hiked Toward 100 Mile Centennial Goal: 47.8 Miles