A Great Hike!

On Saturday we went for a hike. We had been up to the parkway walking in the snow a couple of times this year but this was our 1st REAL hike of the season.

We went to Cataloochee Valley, of course, and parked at the far end of the valley. It was a great day...the sun was shining, it was warm enough to wear a t-shirt and capri's (high fashion on the trail...LOL!) and sunny enough to need sunscreen (of course I always need sunscreen since I'm part albino). So we're pumped for our adventure. So we grab our packs and set off at about 1pm. We were planning to take the Big Fork Ridge Trail for 3.2 miles then turn onto the Caldwell Fork Trail for 3.1 miles and then take the Rough Fork Trail for 2.9 miles which would take us back to where we parked. For those of you that are counting that's 9.2 miles. Now for some people this would be a "walk in the park" but for me this is HUGH!!! Anyhow, we set off up Big Fork Ridge Trail and are moving along pretty well for the first mile or so. We saw the holding pens for the elk when they were 1st re-introduced to the park and we're having a great time...then I "hit the wall" or more accurately a whole bunch of trees across the trail. After a few scratches and raspberries (I tend to do this when I get frustrated) and a short break for water, we soldier on up the mountain and I overcame my "wall." So on up we go and near the end of the Big Fork Ridge Trail we ran into a high school cross-country team coming the opposite direction or "a herd of goats" according to the coach. Baaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!

At 4:30 pm we reached the intersection and stopped for lunch. PB&J and PB cookies...a poor hikers pantry is somewhat limited. But at that point we really didn't care. We had just hauled ourselves up 1800 feet in 3.2 miles. We were just glad to sit down for a minute. Since it was getting so late we decided that we needed to reevaluate our hiking plans and decided to take the Caldwell Fork Trail (a trail we did last year) back down Rabbit Ridge for 3.2 miles and then walk down Cataloochee Road for 2.4 miles. I was a little bummed to have to cut off 0.4 mile from my total but we really didn't want to have to hike in the dark and we weren't familiar with the other trails. So, while enjoy the surroundings and taking a few pics we were invaded by some "lost" boy scouts (they weren't really lost just tried). All I can say is, "Scout leader! You need to study your map before you get on the trail. Good luck!"

So we decided our lunch was over and started walking again. Now the fun thing about Caldwell Fork Trail is that it crosses it's namesake (Caldwell Fork Creek) about 20 times. Now the some of the crossings have bridges. I use the word "bridge" loosely here. On the trail this can be a sturdy log with a flattened side and handrail or a 2x12 laying in the mud. It makes for a real adventure. At the 1st trail crossing (a 2x12 board) we saw something really cool...frog eggs in the mud. Something new for us!!! After taking a few pics we moved on to our first big creek crossing. Thankfully this one has a nice bridge and it was an easy crossing. Now I guess that because of all the rain and snow the creeks are higher this year but I have to say that I was thankful for every bridge we came to. So we move along down the mountain pretty quickly...or as quickly as you can while still boaring through the fallen trees and all. And I do mean BOARing since at times we had to simply had to pretend to be a wild boar and charge through the underbrush blocking the trail. When we finally reached Cataloochee Road we decided to strap our poles to our packs since we knew that this would be an easy walk. In retrospect this might have been foolish since we were going to be walking near 2-ton animals and smelled like wild animals ourselves. Now you would think that the elk would be our biggest concern but, as it turned out, our biggest concern was the cars. (If you ever come across a hiker on the side of the road...PLEASE SHARE THE ROAD!!! We're tried!!!!) Now despite a couple inconsiderate drivers we did notice several things along the road that we had not notices before. Such as, did you know that 1st year bucks do NOT loose their antlers. Anyhow we FINALLY made it back to the truck and taking off our packs was almost a religious experience. So despite a few scratches and some sore muscles it was a great day and a great hike. Can't wait to go again!!!!