cades cove hiking

well this is my 2nd time writing this due to me closing it :(

Me and a buddy hit this the last weekend in Jan. I finally got the pictures loaded up this morning. I didn't take as many pictures as i wanted to due to the wind.

 When the sun broke out we noticed the clouds and this crazy pattern

This was driving into cades cove

This is my buddy gavin on the first bridge on anthony creek trail. This was his first hiking experience.

We were on russell field trail here. no snow yet

Alot of my pictures came out looking very "busy". Alot of the trees had died and fallen over. Kinda depressing

Yours truly. i had worn rain pants because i thought the mud would be bad. It was but the leaves covered most of it up. side note* walking uphill is bad on a fat boy

this is the 1st bridge on russell field trail. Again looking very trashy.

This seems to be where you really start climbing. We're about 2 miles from RF shelter and i was hating life right then.

soon after that last picture we ran into fog. It was so thick that you could feel it going down your throat with every breath.

This was about 1pm

"Light at the end of the tunnel" this was just before the shelter and finally on the ridge.

This is the remodeled shelter. A great improvement in my opinion. Once we got to the top the wind was blowing so bad you couldn't stand it. we tried to gather some firewood but soon gave up to take a nap.

gavins kelty eagle 7850 makes my kelty redwing look like a kids backpack. He had ordered a kelty coyote and they sent him that.

drying out my clothes.

they added some benches to the front for eating.

This was were we cooked at and it was a life saver. the wall blocked the wind which never died down. Even with cooking out there we still had a mouse show up but left after getting a cracker. That or hes rolled up in my sleeping bag still.

early morning after some bacon and pineapples.

this was just before spence field. Made for a great place to lay down and have a snack! We were supossed to stay at spence but due to the wind and my buddy not wanting to hike up to thunderhead we decided to just walk on out.

Glad you got out there, Omatty! I really like the second photo of the morning sky, the saturation of color is great. 

What was the temperature like this go round? 

I hear you about the elevation gain kicking butt. I gained a ton of weight while I was in college, and didn't have time for any hiking at all. Let me tell you, that first long hike afterword just about put me down. I have been working it off and regaining my strength since then, but still haven't gotten back to where I want to be. wokring 2-3 jobs doesn't leave much consistent time or energy for getting in shape.

NICE report! love the foggy pix!

omatty,

Nice job! Glad ya'll had a good trip. I see you opted to forego trekking poles...

The wind can be relentless up there can't it? After a while you just get tired of being blown on. Too bad ya'll missed Thunderhead' did you go up that way at all to check out the views on the North side of Spence Field?

gonzan said:

Glad you got out there, Omatty! I really like the second photo of the morning sky, the saturation of color is great. 

What was the temperature like this go round? 

I hear you about the elevation gain kicking butt. I gained a ton of weight while I was in college, and didn't have time for any hiking at all. Let me tell you, that first long hike afterword just about put me down. I have been working it off and regaining my strength since then, but still haven't gotten back to where I want to be. wokring 2-3 jobs doesn't leave much consistent time or energy for getting in shape.

 thanks! that picture is actually unedited.

the temp ranged from 20 to 30, but the wind just made it miserable!

Patman said:

omatty,

 

Nice job! Glad ya'll had a good trip. I see you opted to forego trekking poles...

The wind can be relentless up there can't it? After a while you just get tired of being blown on. Too bad ya'll missed Thunderhead' did you go up that way at all to check out the views on the North side of Spence Field?

 my buddy had picked some up from walmart just to try and i used them for a few miles but couldn't really feel a difference. However on my next trip i think i'll give them another go just to see.

we didn't even hit the shelter, we got to the split and just kept going. i didn't see the point in walking to it if we weren't going to stay. I could tell he wasn't having a good time and that kinda took the fun out of it. Physically he had no prob unlike me but the cold got to him i think.

I think jptrain is putting together a chatt. trip in april so i may hit that one with better company lol

Very nice tr omatty. The pics are awesome.

Those sure are nice shelters...

So they sent your buddy a 128L pack instead of the Coyote. I bet he was surprised. That thing is a monster. 

Kinda reminds me of the bottom left photo on this group of pics lol. 

haha, yeah he ordered it through ebay and brought it over to show me. i said i'm pretty sure thats not a coyote. best $120 he ever spent on a new bag. I think it was his downfall though. I told him just because he had the space to not fill it up. I think his pack came in at 60lbs with 2 100 ounce bladders.

omatty said:

I think his pack came in at 60lbs with 2 100 ounce bladders.

Ahhhh, tell him to go ahead and fill er up. Should make for a memorable trip. :)

On a bright note he can always leave his shelter at home and just sleep in the pack .

he did haha, i think thats part of why we cut the 2nd night out

man, i hate that i missed this trip. i hate being sick. can't wait to get out there myself! pics look great omatty.

seriously, now i'm just mad. first time i've been sick in months on the weekend of the hike. even tho it was windy, still looked pretty.

I think that strange sun formation is called a SunDog?

Nice TR and pics.

Looks like a first class shelter. Ive never stayed in trail shelters, just have'nt been where they are used. How many people can sleep in there?

Nice trail report and enjoyed your pictures thanks for shareing it...

Cool photos of a cool place!

I'm glad you guys got to get out and go backpacking.

I especially like the B&W photo of the trees in the fog.

I have hiked in the Cades Cove area before but I have not been on that trail, it looked like a good one.

Mike G.

Nice trip report omatty, that is a 5 star shelter!  The few that are around here in the Park (NP) they are letting go to crap and most are not something you would want to stay in even in a storm.  Besides, I would be worried about them falling down in a big storm.  Kinda a shame, but it's the park so hard to do anything about it.

Photos are great, I love all the Rodie's!  Green all year long. :)  We have them out here (PNW) but just as landscaping.

Wolfman

This is a great picture, the play of light and dark, depth and fog.  I can smell the moist soil and hear the muffled stillness.

Ed

azrhino said:

Nice TR and pics.

Looks like a first class shelter. Ive never stayed in trail shelters, just have'nt been where they are used. How many people can sleep in there?

 16, 8 on bottom and 8 on top. The summers are usually full but in the winter i've never stayed with more than 6 people.

Thanks for all the positive replys!! I had hoped to get alot more pictures but with the wind and hassle of getting the camera out i only took around 30.

Wolfman said:

Nice trip report omatty, that is a 5 star shelter!  The few that are around here in the Park (NP) they are letting go to crap and most are not something you would want to stay in even in a storm.  Besides, I would be worried about them falling down in a big storm.  Kinda a shame, but it's the park so hard to do anything about it.

Photos are great, I love all the Rodie's!  Green all year long. :)  We have them out here (PNW) but just as landscaping.

Wolfman

 the shelter didn't use to look like that. It was just 3 walls and a roof with a fence on the front. People started feeding bears through the fence so they took them out. I was concerned about this before the hike but after staying in the upgraded shelter i'm glad they did!

omatty said:

People started feeding bears through the fence so they took them out. 

I guess some people really are as stupid as they look ;)

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