A Walk Along Rich Mountain

This is a wonderful afternoon walk which is a moderate to strenuous walk depending on the pace. My quiet steady pace up the 2.3 miles to the ridge line was a good workout yet allowed the experience of noticing birds, lizards, and squirrels. The trail is in good condition minus the horsesh_t, with many wildflowers blooming along the way
Once at the top I took a right turn and walked another 1/2 ml or so w/ views of Cades Cove through the trees. The evening sun and strong winds made for a very pleasant hike, Peace.

Spruce Flat Falls

Hello, this relatively short walk (2.5mls.), in what has become somewhat more difficult over the recent past, took place Monday the 1st, between Tremont and Spruce Flat Falls. This reference to difficulty is probably due to the wear this trail gets consistently from visitors to Tremont and that the last two times I've been on it it has been slick! I commend the groups who were being led on instructional hikes w/ folks from the institute as some parts of the route would require close attention to where and how one steps.

The falls were busting as this picture shows and the "staircase" (top of page) was new to me covering some of the type of terrain I noted earlier. The trails are now posted w/ what appears to be permanent signage even though they are not on the maps. Though this tends to be the case for some of the more pleasant hikes. Peace.

Rich Mountain Road

I began this casual walk up Rich Mtn.rd. from the parking area for the Ace Gap trail and Rich Mtn. trail access coming in from Dry Valley. The only sign of humans were some day old bike tracks left in the snow over the 3 miles or so I walked in. It was a very pleasant walk up easy to moderate inclines most of the way with views through the trees at several points of parts of Cades Cove way in the distance. A hike I hope to do again when I'm looking for an easy afternoon walk, before the cove loop re-opens in May. Peace

Cheese Sticks, Cellophane, and Cigarettes

The title of this entry describes some of the stuff I picked up along the West Prong trail today as I walked to the #18 campsite from Tremont. The "cheese sticks" refers to the plastic wrappers someone left for the animals near the pieces of cellophane there entree' was apparently wrapped in. Hmmmmm!?.
This walk is usually quite relaxing, as it was today, and an opportunity to get some exercise with what I'd consider a moderate incline both going to and coming from the camping area. This makes for about a 4.5 mile RT. West Prong trail was soggy in some areas and quiet in most. Quiet in that the ground was soft and the only folks I saw were day hikers making the climb up from the campsite back towards Tremont. Peace.