I Would Hike 900 Miles: Twin Creeks Trail to Old Sugarlands Trail

On Saturday, March 25, we celebrated the beautiful weather by going to the Smoky's. There is nothing better to do on a day that climbs into the upper 70's with sun after a long succession of grey days ... several of us might have even gotten sunburned, 'cause, well, it's March, and sunscreen hasn't quite made it back into the packs yet ...

For several reasons, we chose one of the last remaining short hikes left in our planner book, Day Hiker's Guide to All the Trails in The Smoky Mountains, right near the Sugarlands Visitor Center and close to where our last hike was as well. We had additional hikers in the form of Tigger's sister and niece and nephew. We had several vehicles, and dropped one at the visitor's center, and crammed into the other vehicle, talking about how it would be a less enjoyable ride back on the reverse trip ... someone had forgotten their deodorant ...

We were working on hike #9 above.

Driving to Twin Creeks Trail takes the rider along Cherokee Orchard Road, one of the areas in the park that was hit hard by the fires. Last trip we noted several burned cabins at the beginning of the road, and this time, everything had been cleaned up. Are they rebuilding? Time will tell.

The obligatory awkward selfie ... someday Tigger will get the hang of the selfies, at least both eyes are in this picture.

Twin Creeks Trail follows Cherokee Orchard Road the entire distance of the 1.9 mile trail. We were in sight of the road the entire time, so this was not one of those hikes were it felt like wilderness.

The fire damage was sporadic but intense where it had burned.

Never known for their swiftness, this poor little turtle didn't survive the firestorm.

We were most interested to see the new growth, but most of the new growth we saw was in the unburned areas, which were scattered along the trail, although close to the burned areas and sometimes inches away. Yellow Trillium were EVERYWHERE, one of the eagerly anticipated spring flowers.

This time Tigger did not bring any water with her, instead, brought her Sawyer filter. The map showed a creek along the trails we were hiking and the extra weight wasn't necessary. This is the first time doing this, and probably won't be the last.

Some research is being done along this trail, and it was intriguing to look at all the collection instruments along the way, some were surrounded by electric fencing.

Mr. PeeBody had a chocolate cluster of some sort in his trail mix that he offered to the others, as it was new and he liked it. Pretty sure it didn't last long. Mr. PeeBody didn't get to eat many of his chocolate clusters.

The Sugarland's area where we were hiking had a pretty large population that was devoted to the growing Smokey Mountains tourist industry in the early 1900's. There are plenty of areas where human habitation is obvious.

The Bud Ogle cabin, one that was feared to have burned during the fires. Surprisingly, it is still standing, the fire came as close to the cabin as the leaning tree below, that had some scorching on the base of it's trunk. A favorite cabin of many, it would have been a real shame to lose it. This is the back of the cabin.

The whole group ...

The front of the Bud Ogle Cabin.

From here, we hit the road, where the mileage doesn't count, and walked up-hill the whole way in snow with no shoes (just kidding), to the Old Sugarlands Trail, which apparently doubles as a horse trail too. It was wide and even, and rather enjoyable.

Since horses can't cross this bridge, the photographer had to sand in the horse trail/stream and take this picture. Waterproof boots are pretty handy sometimes.

By this time we were all running on empty, and looking for a place to eat lunch. Short of sitting in the middle of the trail, there wasn't a good place to stop until we came upon the closed Bull Head Trail head. This trail is one of five that takes the hiker up to Mt. LeConte, a hike in our not-so-distant future that we are eagerly anticipating. But we won't be going this route, Bull Head Trail is closed due to storm and fire damage. But we got off the trail onto Bull Head Trail so we would be out of the way and ...

The backpacks exploded. Stuff everywhere ... in no time food was being consumed.

And hikers were relaxing ... Since this was a shorter hike than usual, we had time to take it easy, and it was lovely.

Back on the trail again, and fire damage was noted all along Old Sugarland's Trail.

This trail has a lot of history scattered along the length of it. The area was level and good for farming and got it's name from the many sugar maples that grew there. The book History Hikes of the Smokies (this book spells Smokies with an "ies," whereas other books spell it Smoky's), has many details in it about the settlers that came, the first of which arrived in 1795 from South Carolina. As time went on, the area was dotted with orchards, many different varieties of apple trees, most of which are no longer standing.

The CCC Camp 1458 and 1459 had barracks, officers quarters, mess hall, and more. It operated from 1933 to 1942, providing men with jobs during the Depression Era. Below is some of what we found in the CCC Camp:

This chimney/mantle belonged to the recreation hall. A very interesting paragraph in the above-mentioned book reads:

"During WWII, the Sugarlands camp was used to house conscientious objectors. From the late 1940's to the late 1950's, the site was used for park vehicle maintenance. After the Park Service moved vehicle maintenance closer to park HQ, squatters moved into the old maintenance garages, so the Park Service destroyed the garages in the winter of '68-69."

Walking toward the visitor center, the book reads, "... the trail now overlays what was once the highway through this area: Tennessee State Highway 71. That early paved road, one of the first over the mountains, has been replaced by Newfound Gap road ..."

Little Pigeon River

The first quarry used by the State of Tennessee is located near here, the rock wall was an indicator that we were in the right area. The stone from the quarry was used to build the first paved roads over the mountains.

Just like that, we were done for the day.

This bridge is at the end of the trail and was built by the CCC, the stonework supervised by an Italian stone mason. From here it was a short walk to the car and the Sugarland's Visitor Center.

The car is ahead, never mind the sign ...

Mr. PeeBody, Pam (who does not have a trail name yet), Tigger and Eeyore (who is searching for a new name, but until then, he remains Eeyore), have completed 100 miles in the Smoky's and are well on their way to 200 miles, but have kept forgetting to bring the needed hiking logs. This time, Tigger and Eeyore remembered, so were able to get their 100 mile pins.

It must have been a pretty good conversation this very personable Park Ranger and Tigger were having ...