Dudes and Dudettes, this Labor Day weekends, overnight excursion was fabulous! After consulting with Pam, Dan, and Mike in the Backcountry office over two days and finding the first few choices of shelters and campgrounds along desired routes already full we chose the route described in the title of this entry. I had walked all sections of it on various hikes and backpacking excursions and the "Mysterious One" had done some sections of the route. We started Sunday early in the afternoon and finished today (9/3), at about 4:30pm. The walk began with PC skies and humid temperatures in the 80's. After we accessed Panther Creek trail we saw no one until Sunday on the AT, which allowed for a quiet night in campsite #26, which sits a little ways past the high point of Dripping Springs Mtn (4801'). Even with the growing cloud cover at this altitude we had some views of Thunderhead (et.al) as we stopped at this point and appreciated what has been given.
We were delighted to see the campground empty, which may be more a testimony to the frequent lack of water at this campsite and vicinity, than to our good fortune, knowing this we had filled our bottles up along Panther Creek (There was no water at #26, or anywhere near it we were to learn on Sunday). Either way, we enjoyed the privacy, fixed one of those gourmet BP'g meals you hope you can repeat someday; one that was very light to carry, inexpensive, and tasty, and built a nice fire with the plentiful dry wood laying around the area. After enjoying the evening together the "Mysterious One" and I climbed into our tents...and then it rained! There were several thunderstorms throughout the night and I quickly found myself floating in a puddle as the groundcloth I was using had become exposed on one edge and was collecting water. Between storms I drained it and adjusted the exposed edge making for a much dryer night. The next morning despite the rain we did not find any running water so after oatmeal and coffee we started our 13ml+ day with no water. Now we did not go down the Lynn Camp Prong trail in search of any but rather continued on thinking we'd surely find a wet spring. We didn't, until we turned down Greenbrier Ridge trail and had it not been for a gift of about 16 oz of water from a pair of AT sectional hikers we would have been mighty thirsty. They told us that they had not seen water since the Derrick Knob Shelter but we found it like 1/10ml down the Greenbrier. I drank plenty and topped off my bottles for the remaining 8+ miles.
This hike brought challenging terrain and obstacles, beautiful vistas which will be more frequent along most of the route during the coming months and well maintained trails.
Besides the distance on the second day (13+mls), this hikes most difficult section was Panther Creek up to Jake's Gap, and portions of the approach to the AT on the second day. All things considered including the scarcity of water I'd call it a difficult hike for many, though worth the effort . Peace
The seasonal Lake Ocoee was still holding some water though what remained had retreated far from it's banks. This trail is described by some as "moderately difficult", which is probably true for most, though anyone in good health could easily handle it at a steady pace. The inclines were fairly easy, though sometimes long with few switchbacks and the "rock-hoppin'" was not to difficult. The leaveless trees and shrubs gave way to some great views of the nearly dry lake below and big mountains in the distance which included the Big Frog at over 4000', and the big mountains over towards the TN/NC border, snow covered far off in the distance (probably the "Nani's"). It was another awesome walk with little human interaction to distract us from the song. Peace 
