Big Move

On our walk this morning we spotted a convocation of large birds. In flight, the undersides of the wing tips are white. Apparently they are black vultures, which are federally protected, although often regarded as nuisances or worse.

After our walk we drove to the dump station in the park to dump before relocating to site #22. It's farther from the water, but still a fine site. We have a good view of the lake out the rear windows.

The campground is filling up for the weekend, so it's a bit less quiet and peaceful than during the week, but overall not too crowded or noisy.
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Quiet Day at Defeated Creek

We got up this morning rather expecting to be at least a bit sore from our hiking experiences yesterday. We both felt a bit stiff, but not for long. I had a lump and bruise on my hip last night, and this morning the lump had gone down.

We heard news about the listeria outbreak and decided to do some research online. One of the things I found is that some groups are more susceptible to listeria and to food borne illnesses in general. One such group is "the elderly." But how old do you have to be to fit in this group? The best answer I could find online is 65 and up. Oh, no! We can't be "elderly," can we?

We got the bikes down and tooled around the campground a bit and went over to the marina and to the day use area. The deer seem less disturbed by our presence when we're on our bikes than when we're walking. They're everywhere, along with the squirrels. We've seen some squirrels carrying what we think is nesting material, so they're probably making more baby squirrels.

Tonight on our walk we spotted this nifty tear drop unit. For some reason, I find tear drops and other very small camping units irresistible.

Tonight we again ate at our picnic table and had a campfire. We're turning into regular campers! Unfortunately, we didn't have any marshmallows, so we had to make do with looking at the flames and hot coals, something that humans must have been doing for millenia now.
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Bearwaller Gap Trail

Yesterday we picked up a trail map at the lake office and spent some time looking at trail reports online. Not enough time--we were unprepared for some of the difficulties we encountered. First, the map and the sign at the trailhead indicate that the trail is blazed white, but we had also seen one mention of blue blazes.

We had a bit of trouble finding the trail, once we passed the trail sign. We ended up following a trail blazed in white that almost immediately began a series of switchbacks, for no apparent reason. It also seemed to be staying too near the road and not following the lake shoreline. We began to think that we might be on the Bear Wheels mountain bike trail.

About this time we spotted some deer in front of us. They froze, and even though we knew right where they were, they were quite difficult to see until they decided to bolt.

We came to a sign that offered a choice of Bear Den Loop and Grizzly Loop, neither of which we wanted. [We hadn't even seen any mention of these trails on the signs or website. Checking later, we found one mention on a mountain biking forum of three loops on the Defeated Creek mountain bike trail (Bear Den, Black Bear and Grizzly Bear).] We decided to follow the Bear Den trail. After a while it became apparent that we must be on the wrong trail, so we backtracked. We came to a point where another trail ran close by and parallel to the trail we were on, and Ken noticed a blue blaze.

Finally we were on the right trail. We hiked along, high on a bluff overlooking the lake. We could catch glimpses of the lake through the trees. The trail was steep at some points, but not too difficult, until we came to a section that ran along a very steep slope. It was very slippery too, with loose leaves and moist soft soil. We had to detour around a large tree that had fallen across the trail.

On one of the steep sections, Ken's water bottle slipped out of the pocket on the side of his pack and rolled down the hillside. I clawed my way down the slope to retrieve it, wishing all the time that I had brought two hiking poles instead of just one.

Several times we had to cast about for the trail, which was very narrow and covered with leaves and canted at a 60 degree angle the same as the slope. Sometimes the blazes were quite far apart.

Pretty fungi
 
We continued down steep switchbacks toward the lake and came to a place where the trail led across some rocks. Some water was oozing down the hillside across the rocks, and I made the mistake of stepping in the wet area. My feet flew out from under me and I landed on my hip and shoulder and pack. After a few moments to get my bearings and dust myself off, I got up and we continued on our way.

Pointing to the slippery spot
 

We saw a fisherman in this inlet
 
We reached a very nice overlook and sat on the rocks to eat lunch. That's when I discovered that my banana was smashed and all the little baggies with my chips and sandwich and trail mix had broken open. Not to worry, it all tasted fine. The view was wonderful. We were screened by some leafy branches, and a large raptor swooped back and forth in front of us, very close. We could look across the blue expanse of the lake.

We decided to turn back and hike the rest of the trail from the other end another day. We figured that we would have little difficulty finding our way back. After all, we had hiked the trail out, and we had our GPS crumb trail. However, we managed to get completely lost. We couldn't see any blue blazes, and there didn't seem to be any trail across the steep hillside.

Consulting the GPS and looking around, we realized that we were way too far down the slope. It was very difficult to keep our balance and to make any headway up the slope. We were separated too. Finally I clawed and scrambled my way up the slope and found a blue blaze and a trail. What a relief! I called to Ken, and he edged his way up the slope to me. From there we made our way back to the trailhead with no further incident.

Resting for a moment later, we heard some loud noises that sounded like a person crashing through the branches. Ken said he had seen some falling leaves. Just as we were puzzling over what it might be, a tree came crashing down about 100 feet from us.

We started on the trail at 9:15 a.m. and reached the trailhead again at 2:45 p.m., five and a half hours later. The GPS showed that we had traveled 5.25 miles. I've got to say that some of those were pretty hard miles! We were glad to be home, but looking forward to doing the rest of the trail from the other end in a few days.
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More Exploration

Our walk this morning took us around the campground again. It looks like a golf course, except for having trees. Actually, we're thinking country estate.

We wanted to find the Turkey Creek Nature Trail, so we drove to the Resource Manager's Office and Visitor Center for the lake. It turns out that a new Visitor's Center is under construction, but we talked with some nice folks in the office across the street who gave us some maps and chatted with us about the lake and surrounding area. They said that they see deer or wild turkeys or squirrels and such every morning when they come to work.

New Visitor Center is still under construction.

The Turkey Creek Nature Trail is a half-mile loop. It starts just up the road from the Visitor's Center and is paved. We didn't see any interpretive signs, but it's a nice quiet walk in the woods.

We drove further down the road to visit the dam and power plant.

Some birds were wheeling overhead in the thermals rising from the dam area.

Along the highway (TN 263) we saw a sign for an overlook and stopped to check it out. Much to our surprise it turned out to be the far end of the Bearwaller Gap Trail. The trailhead is just outside our campground. It's an out and back trail along the shores of Cordell Hull Lake. We're planning to hike it tomorrow. Usually a six-mile hike leads to a point out in the wilderness, but this one ends at Tater Knob Overlook, just off the highway. Some hikers use a shuttle system and hike the trail only one way.

We collected firewood today, and tonight Ken built a campfire. We seldom have a fire, but this seemed like a good place to sit by a fire and cook marshmallows. We've seen a lot of campfires on our walks. This evening we spotted a real example of modern camping: a campfire and an outdoor television

Here's a sign by the boat ramp: the Corps' effort to encourage boaters to wear lifejackets. Convinces me!

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Exploring

We did a bit of exploring on our walk this morning. At the nearby marina, we found a small laundry, with two washers and two dryers. The campground has one washer and one dryer--and they're outside--so we had figured we'd need to go to town to wash clothes. It was much more convenient to use the marina laundry. We did two loads today and will do more in a couple of days.

Today was a good day for doing laundry. It was overcast and rainy this morning. We wore our raincoats on our walk, but we didn't actually get rained on. The sun came out in the afternoon.

We saw many more deer today. They all seem to be in good condition. They keep their distance from us, which is a good sign that people haven't been feeding them. There are several young ones.

At breakfast, Ken looked out and saw a skunk. It was traveling across the lawn, and was far enough away that we weren't alarmed. Skunks seem to lope rather than walk. We've seen the heron several times hunting along the shoreline near our site. It flew away when I tried to get closer to take a photo, but I did manage to get a couple of decent shots.

We ate dinner at our picnic table. The sun was lower in the sky and it had started to cool off, but it was still very pleasant to sit and watch the fish junping in our little cove.

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Moving to Defeated Creek

Today we moved to Defeated Creek Campground on Lake Cordell Hull. It's just north of the small town of Carthage, TN. The campground is the most beautiful we have ever seen, and we've decided to stay here twelve days to soak up the peace and the lovely scenery.

And the best part is that we actually have a reliable Internet connection and cellphone service, for the first time in three weeks, so we'll be able to post the blog.

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Shopping Jam

When we went out on our walk this morning, we were surprised to find the boat launch area overflowing with trucks with empty boat trailers. We found out later that there was a big bass tournament, and the anglers had set out on the lake at daybreak to try their luck. We weren’t around when they came back for the weigh-in, which must have been quite an event.

We walked to an area called the Trotter Bluff Small Wild Area, near the campground. We didn’t know much about it, but the website indicated hiking and bird watching opportunities. We found a signboard which mentioned three trails in the area, but gave no map.

We set out to explore, trusting our GPS to keep us from getting lost. We found trails marked with blue, white, and red blazes, so we figure we walked on all three of the trails, but we must not have found the whole trail system. We found vistas of the dam and the French Broad River, but not the promised fishing access.

It was a beautiful day and a nice walk through the woods. We heard a couple of woodpeckers and saw a robin. Lots of other birds were calling, but we didn’t spot any. We did enjoy the wildflowers.

After the hike we went to check out two nearby campgrounds. The first we went to was the other Corps of Engineers campground on Douglas Lake. We’re camped in the Headwater Campground, and we went to look at the Tailwater Campground, which is located below the dam on the French Broad River. Many of the spaces there are on the river, but they are all close together.

Overall we were not favorably impressed. Besides, large signs warn of the danger of sudden rising waters. There is a warning siren and light system, but inexplicably, only the lights operate at night. I guess if you’re sleeping and don’t see the warning lights come on, you’re out of luck!

Next we went to a private campground located on a bluff above the lake. The location is good, but the sites were small and crowded together. We thought that many if not most of the rigs looked like they were there long term, perhaps being used as summer getaways. All in all, we’re very glad we’re staying at the Headwater Campground, which is by far the loveliest and most spacious.

After lunch we went back to the Tanger Outlets, mainly because we still wanted to go to the Skechers store to look for more Shape-Ups. We found out that approximately one zillion other people were at the outlets, most of them driving around looking for parking places. We joined the crowd and eventually found a spot. It was right next to a Hummer, and it took at least 20 minutes of maneuvering to get into the space. The folks whose vehicle was parked on the other side had come back to their car to leave some packages. They watched the proceedings with some concern. Finally they offered to back their car out so that we could get in. We made it! We were completely in our space. Then we took photos of the Hummer and its license plates, just in case.

We ended up buying a couple of pairs of Skechers, neither one Shape-Ups. I got a pair of white and silver Tone-Ups. They seem to have good cushioning, and I’m hoping they’ll work okay for me. Ken got a pair of black Skechers Sports. Besides getting the shoes at outlet prices, we also got half off on the second pair.

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Outlet Shopping

We decided to explore some outlet malls. I remembered from a much earlier visit to this area that Pigeon Forge boasted that it had the largest outlet malls in the world. That was then, and this is now. The outlet mall in Pigeon Forge stands half empty, but a very large and thriving outlet mall has sprung up in Sevierville.

So we visited the Tanger Outlets. Actually, we only visited part of them. The place is so large that we were tired of shopping and hungry before we ran out of stores. We did find a few good deals, including a nice cheese plane, but mainly we looked. One thing we noted was a growing tendency for manufacturers to put prominent logos on all their clothing. Everything in the Eddie Bauer store was like that. We prefer not to walk around like advertising billboards.

For lunch we went to Subway, where we actually had an Internet connection, although not a very good one. We researched where to stay next and decided on another Corps of Engineers place, Defeated Creek Campground, near Carthage, TN. We’re hoping to have a decent cell and Internet connection there.

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Douglas Dam Headwater Campground

We got up this morning, packed up, and went for our final walk through the campground. We said goodbye to our New Jersey friends in the Cougar, who were also preparing to leave. They are headed back home, stopping tonight in Virginia. We are always “home” wherever we are.

We decided to make a very short trip today, to Douglas Dam Headwater Campground, a TVA facility. It’s just north of Sevierville, and we found it in our Day’s End directory. We found a wonderful spot overlooking the lake, and our site has electric and water, real luxuries, and at $10 per night with our senior access passes. We hooked up our DirecTV, so now we’re back in touch with the world.

Well, sort of. When we arrived, we briefly had an Internet connection using our Verizon modem, but it has been either almost or entirely useless. We’re hoping things will be better tomorrow. We’ve paid for three nights, and unless our Internet connection becomes more reliable, we’ll probably leave on Sunday.

We also got back our TV connection just in time to learn that the Dow plunged nearly 400 points today, and the world hasn’t gotten any better since our last news.

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One Last Waterfall

We had been planning to hike to Mt. LeConte via the Alum Cave trail, but decided that we’d stick with something less strenuous for our final day in the park. It rained pretty much all night last night, and we were uncertain about the weather, so we packed our raincoats.

We stopped at the campground office and chatted with the ranger there. We asked about the Jakes Creek Trail. He suggested the Little River Trail to the Cucumber Gap Trail, a little over a five-mile loop. The Little River Trail is a wide gravel road that runs along the river and is mostly level, a very pleasant walk. At the junction with the Cucumber Gap Trail, there’s a warning sign about recent bear activity. Two of the back country campsites in the area have been closed because of aggressive bears in the area.

We were glad to turn and walk along the Cucumber Gap Trail, presumably away from the aggressive bears, but we kept our eyes and ears open. This trail was narrow and a bit more challenging, including a couple of stream crossings. The forest here is dominated by tuliptrees, tall and straight, with large gray trunks reaching high into the canopy. Along the trail we saw a diverse assortment of mosses and ferns and other low plants.

The Cucumber Gap Trail ends at the Jakes Creek Trail, which returns to the parking lot which the Jakes Creek and Little River Trails share. By this time we were hungry, but we decided to drive to the Laurel Falls trailhead to have our sandwiches. About the time we got there, it started to rain fairly heavily, and it rained the whole time we were eating. Just as we finished, the sun came out.

The 1.3-mile trail to Laurel Falls is paved, but steep, and it winds along the mountain. Signs along the trail warn of “high vertical dropoffs” and the danger of falling to one’s death. It sprinkled a couple of times as we climbed, so we put on our raincoats, but it didn’t amount to much. It's too early for real fall color, but some of the trees are beginning to turn.

The 75-foot high falls divides at the top into two sections cascading down over the rocks into a pool with a bridge over it. Another shorter drop falls from this pool. The falls are beautiful—and popular. We would have stayed a bit longer to enjoy them, but we heard thunder in the distance and decided to hike back down.

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Rainbow Falls

Today we got a rather late start after running the generator and filling up water containers to pour into our fresh water tank. Our first stop was Sugarlands Visitor Center. We hadn’t yet seen the orientation video for the park or checked out the nature museum. Both were definitely worthwhile. The video managed a nice balance between education and inspiration.

The nature museum had lots of displays of the wildlife in the park, from the beetles to the birds to the bears.

Next we drove to the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail and stopped first at the Bud Ogle Place briefly before continuing to the trailhead for Rainbow Falls. It’s 2.7 miles each way out and back. On the way out it’s a series of switchbacks, gaining over 1,000 feet of elevation. The trail is boulder strewn and requires attention to where to put your feet.

Part way up we encountered a couple who were pointing off the edge of the trail ahead, where a very angry rattlesnake was making its presence heard, quite loudly and menacingly. We watched it for a while and then decided to go back down the trail a bit and have lunch while waiting to see what developed.

As we ate, a whole hiking club came down the trail. They said that as long as you stayed on the trail and didn’t make too much noise, the snake wouldn’t be a problem. A few other people came by too. When we were done eating, we decided to try our luck, but just as we approached the area where the snake had been, a young couple came down the trail.

He was holding the rattler, one hand just behind its head and the other near its tail. He said he was taking it to put it someplace away from the trail. He had done the same earlier, but the snake had come right back up to the trail and he was afraid that someone would be bitten. Seeing our look of surprise, he said he’d been catching rattlers since he was a kid. The girl said, “And scaring his momma!” I wish I’d had my camera out.

We walked on up the trail and came finally to a small and disappointing waterfall.

We were just getting discouraged and ready to start back when two young women bounced up the trail and started talking with us. They said that someone had told them that there was a sign at Rainbow Falls. We fell in together talking and climbing and finally came to the falls, which at 80 feet high are the highest single-drop falls in the Smokies.

The return trip was all downhill and somewhat easier, despite the boulders and roots, but we were tired by the time we reached the truck and it was getting late, so we decided to skip the hike to Grotto Falls which also starts from the Motor Nature Trail.

We continued on the Motor Nature Trail, but didn’t stop at most of the pull-offs. We did enjoy the Ephraim Bales Place, which faces the Roaring Fork. The house was built towards the end of the nineteen century and lived in until 1930. The barn and the corn crib and the hog pen are original too. It’s a beautiful setting.

The one-way Motor Nature Trail takes you back in to Gatlinburg, where we decided to stop at the Nantahala Outdoor Center. I ended up buying only an S-biner to attach my water bottle to my backpack. By then it was getting late and we decided to have dinner at Bubba Gump’s Shrimp Restaurant. That was a mistake. First we had to find a parking lot that would fit our big dually truck (and pay $5 to park).

We had the she crab bisque, which was okay but nothing like as good as what we had in Virginia Beach. The grilled mahi-mahi was dry and not very flavorful. The rather breezy waiter kept up what he obviously thought was an entertaining patter with us and the booth behind us about the Forrest Gump movie. He did an imitation of Forrest’s manner of talking. We prefer a bit less attention of that sort from the wait staff. We can’t imagine what the Yelp reviewers who gave it four stars were thinking.

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Clingman’s Dome and Charlies Bunion

We got out on the road earlier today and headed east on Hwy 441 past Newfound Gap to Clingman’s Dome, where we planned to take the trail to the observation tower. Crews were working on the road, and we spent some time behind a very slow moving vehicle and then waiting at a flagger to enter a one-lane section.

Fortunately the delays weren’t too bad, and we finally got to the road leading to Clingman’s Dome. It’s a seven-mile drive in to the parking lot from the highway, and the day was gray and a bit foggy. We worried that visibility would be minimal.

Ours was only the third vehicle in the parking lot. We looked out on a sea of white clouds with mountaintops emerging darkly above the clouds. Wow! It turned out that we were lucky and visibility was actually very good. We climbed the steep half mile trail to the observation tower. Along the way we saw lots of Western Mountain Ash sporting clusters of bright red berries. Sadly, we also saw the dead skeletons of Fraser firs, killed by the Balsam woolly adelgid,an invasive species.

As we neared the tower, we could tell that we were over 6,000 feet. We gratefully stopped a few times to read sections from the interpretive booklet. When we climbed the tower itself, the wind was whipping around us and it was very chilly. The views were awesome, with mountains and ridge lines in every direction. We were alone at the top for a while before the next couple arrived and offered to take our picture.

When we returned to the parking lot, we found some park employees just loading up a mule train with heavy wooden planks. They were heading out to work on a trail and said the planks weighed over 125 pounds. Each mule carried two.

Next we drove back to the Newfound Gap parking lot to take the Appalachian Trail (AT) to Charlies Bunion. The Rockefeller Memorial dominates the area. Rockefeller provided half the funding to create the park, in memory of his wife.

Our plan was to take the four-mile hike along the AT to short spur trail to Charlies Bunion, an unusual large rock formation from which again the views are spectacular. For some time I’ve been wanting to hike at least a small part of the AT, and this was my chance. The AT runs through the park, roughly following the North Carolina/Tennessee border. We were hiking at nearly 6,000 feet along ridge lines that offer views of sheer dropoffs to the right and the left, with mountains everywhere.

The trail is often steep and rocky and narrow, but the views and the sense of walking among the clouds along the “spine of the Appalachian Mountains” made it all worthwhile. We explored the Icewater Spring shelter, one of a series of shelters that backpackers can reserve a spot in. This one offers cables to suspend backpacks and food high out of reach of bears.

As we approached the four-mile mark, we saw the sign for the cutoff to Charlies Bunion and recalled the warnings to be careful of your footing since the dropoffs here are especially steep.

As we arrived at the Bunion, a couple that had been there before us moved on, leaving us alone with the spectacular views. After admiring the views for a bit, we sat down to eat lunch. Some little chippy dark eyed juncos came to check us out, probably hoping for crumbs from our picnic.

As we were finishing lunch, another couple came up and shortly after them a single guy who offered to take our picture. After chatting for a bit, we packed up and headed back down the trail. How lucky can we be, to have two such great experiences in one day. However, by now we were tired and hungry and ready to head home.

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