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I normally don’t post my day hikes but the last few weeks have left me with no time for overnight trips.
Things have been hectic lately but I found time to squeeze in a few short trips and even two with my wonderful wife Susan! These are all in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park (closest place to home) at various locations.
We started with a quick foray into the Big Creek area on a crisp weekend.
Editoral note: (I used the forum tools to embed the photos this time instead of linking them so they are clickable and not fixed)
Here was Susan bundled to protect from the 10 degree temps and occasional wind.
This is a snowy shot of Big Creek.
I stole the backcountry ninja motif from Gonzan.
Here is Susan carefully stepping down an embankment for a river side rest stop.
The next outing was a “we don’t care if it rains all day” trip. I had wanted to see the Walker Sisters cabin and a couple of nearby trails for some time. This was an area I usually avoid due to excessive tourism but we decided to gear-up and go in the rain.
We started from the Wear Cove Road junction with the Greenbrier School driveway (gated and closed to cars for the winter).
That’s the old School House. It’s one room of course.
A couple miles further was the Walker Sisters cabin. The spring house is on the left.
They were the last residents of the area purchased for the park. The family eventually was reduced to five sisters that never married and opted to remain in the mountains living out their days in the subsistence lifestyle. They negotiated a “life-time lease” with the government and the last sister died in 1963.
We had lunch on the porch and tried to imagine life in what was once a remote homestead.
Here was Susan out back near the old barn.
We explored the surrounding woods a bit and found this big old oak. (big by eastern US standards anyway).
I filled up our water bottles from the Walker Spring before leaving.
Next we hiked up to a boundary trail that I had never seen.
Boundary trails are a mixed bag here because they will kill your illusion of remoteness (when you can see houses and roads); but as such they are not well traveled and can often result in not seeing other humans for the whole day. We found a nice spot overlooking Wear Cove valley and enjoyed intermittent views through the fog.
Next up was a trip to Mt LeConte that I did solo.
I started from the Rainbow Falls trailed head in the early AM.
There were some very icy spots in the shady places despite the recent warming trend.
Ice covered greenery makes neat pictures.
You can’t tell from here with no context but that is actually an 80 foot waterfall.
It was tricky getting close as the mist from the falls was frozen over all surfaces.
I had made it most of the way without spikes by skipping around the ice but finally had to put on the micro-spikes when I reached this.
It would have been extremely dangerous without aid. The LeConte blog described these parts as “nearly impassable” without crampons; however I did meet one pair of backpackers on the mountain without spikes and they were really sorry they didn’t bring any, vowing to never make the same mistake.
The trail was essentially just slick ice for the rest of the ascent and most of the mountain top (about my next 4 miles of trekking on my 17 total mile day)
Ice or not, it was a really nice day on the mountain and I was glad to be up there!
This was approaching the Ciff Tops Overlook.
The burnt sienna colored shrubs are Sand Myrtle and turn deep green with white blooms in summer but offer a pleasing contrast against the light rock in this season.
This was a great but windy spot.
I’m wearing full zip rain pants over a poly/wool base layer for the trip and I had them unzipped for ventilation. My wife tells me it looks like pantaloons when I do that. :) She just saw me writing this and started singing “can’t touch this” inferring I’m MC Hammer as it were..
The trail was still icy on top of the mountain and downright treacherous in spots.
Here was nice spot on the way to Myrtle Point.
Almost to the Point here; I’m not going to show any of the Point pictures, ‘cause really you gotta put in the work to see that Lol The spot has really nice views, almost 360 degrees.
Eventually I had to head back down the ice chute, er, I mean trail.
As I descended the Bullhead route, the sun had cleared up the lower elevation sections.
I’ll end the report with a picture of some frosty moss. Yes I like to say “frosty moss”.
Hope you enjoyed the report blurb...
Happy Trails my fellow outdoor enthusiasts!
