Pigeon Mountain, GA / Pocket Wilderness

Inspiration took hold of me this morning, or perhaps it was envy, after listening to stories of family and friends having romped with abandon in the abundant snowfall which slammed this part of the Southeast from Nashville to No. Georgia. Because temperatures today were far above freezing, the snow pack wet and soft, these conditions spurred a trip to the Pocket Wilderness for an exploration of the 8.4 mile Pocket Loop. I went without the expectation of necessarily completing the whole hike, but more to see whether I could even reach the parking lot in my ’99 Honda Civic. No problem!

What a glorious approach to Pigeon Mountain with its double peaks (No. Pocket and So. Pocket) shimmering white in the blue sky and sunshine. I had never seen a snow-covered mountain sparkle the way and it seemed to me I was going to experience something new. The initial 0.3 from the parking lot was steep, although the snow hardly covered the gated road leading to an impressive waterfall to the right with stone cliffs to my left. There were actually two flumes today dropping from the creek bed above. This creek is intersected by the trail about 0.1 from the falls, normally my choice for a finale after starting a hike from the other end of the loop, but I decided to head upward into the area known as the So. Pocket for a more strenuous approach knowing I was only here to hike for a short while and carrying no food or water. The trail was easy to walk, sometimes lacking snow at the very center, not because of footfalls, but having evaporated naturally. At other times, a layer of ice created a vulnerable crust over the inch or so of snow making for decent traction. I followed a single set of tracks (human) for about 200 yards upward before it became apparent to me that nobody had walked much further during this particular snow and that it would be my privilege.

As I kept on, I witnessed the most extraordinary conditions, bare tree limbs and all tree branches were covered with glassy ice, the heavy snow from Friday having melted and re-frozen a day later, forming clear and solid drippings like candle wax all throughout the forest. Not only that, but the sunshine was at a perfect angle, early afternoon about 1 PM EST, and refracting on all these icy surfaces creating spirals of rainbows as I walked. It was quite spectacular! I continued along the trail for about forty-five minutes or so, growing warmer in my winter layers, then decided to turn around before I was able to convince myself to walk the whole loop. H2O was plentiful...I probably could have made it all the way around. Just glad I decided to take a walk on the last day of January 2010.

The Great Smoky Mtns : Hiking While Roads Closed!

All the major roads through the Smokies were closed today (1/09) because of snow and icy conditions, also due to a restriction on salt for de-icing roads which harms the biosphere. But the hike today was pretty awesome and challenging nonetheless.

Walked from Stoplight #10 in Gatlinburg, saying hello to the great folks at The Happy Hiker first, all the way to the Sugarlands Visitor Center 2.0 miles. Backtracking a little, crossing RT 441 to the trailhead marked Old Sugarlands Trail, walked a slight incline around steep rocky hill then traveling a flat trail along the West Prong of the Little Pigeon River for a mile or so, until sharply ascending to intersection with Two mile Horse Loop (or Trail), until my ultimate destination the Bullhead Trailhead, 3.5 miles total. Old Sugarlands continues 0.4 into the parking lot for Rainbow Falls Trailhead as well as walking detour to Trillium Gap. Very dry snow covering most of the way, following impressions of previous hiker's bootprints from earlier in the morning. Traveling by foot down the wrong way on "one way" road to Noah Ogle Nature Trail at the Ogle Homestead approx. 0.5, which runs into Twin Creeks Trail, it’s 1.9 miles to National Park entrance on Cherry Orchard Road, back into town. Peaceful dry snow, sometimes deeper, sometimes hardly an inch, no ice. It was super-cool getting to a Le Conte trailhead without driving. About a four hour hike, including back through Gatlinburg (how many miles?). The sun tried a few times to burn through overcast skies without success. Multiple layers, hat, gloves, a necessity except for the strenuous uphill walk on Old Sugarlands, very pure and beautiful to Bullhead Trail, and fantasizing about the 6.4 to top of Mt. Le Conte only.

One of the most striking features of today's hike, besides the covering of snow, were the multitude of incredibly mangled blow-downs, healthy trees that seem to have been victims of a major windstorm in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park a few weeks back. All sorts of trees, both evergreen and deciduous, broken in the weirdest places, looking as if they’d been hacked ferociously by a very disturbed person with a chainsaw, or having seemingly imploded of their own accord. Most of these noticeable on the last two miles of hike and impeding the Twin Creek Trail.

That's my report. Back to Pigeon Forge, safe and sound. Yes, Le Conte would have been an odyssey, although people were heading up Rainbow Falls to see the frozen waters.

A Cold Day in 2010

This walk was taken last Sunday the 3rd of January, along and in the Savage Gulf, which is part of the South

Cumberland State Park, atop Monteagle, Tennessee. We started out of the Collins West Access near a campsite located along the gulf rim about a 1/4 mile in from the parking area. We had visited the Gulf from this point before in much warmer times (See the entry from 07/09 "Collins West"). The 'mysterious one' and I followed the frozen and often slippery, Collins Gulf trail by Suter Falls and on to Horsepound Falls about 2 miles further on.

We had seen Suter Falls during the earlier visit however there was much more water on this most recent trip. Much of it frozen around the edges and making for some precarious stepping in places. The first picture is at Horsepound Falls, our lunch spot and turn around point. A really pretty spot even with temps in the lower 20's.
The other picture shows the trail along some cliffs just before the stream crossing at Suter Falls.
This trip was 5 miles according to the signs posted and the state park service is now posting notices of bear activity in this area of the South Cumberland State Park so bring some rope for hanging your gear if you do an overnight.