Where (or what) in the world is Henwallow?

To be truthful, about the only compelling thing about this trail is the story of how the area came to be called Hen Wallow. But we must start at the beginning:

I was planning a hike with my buddy Harold, but I did not want to do big miles as I had a marathon planned for the weekend. We had tossed around various options, but Mother Nature threw a curveball at us by sending (hopefully) one last snowfall on the day of. So we punted & decided to take on Gabes Mtn trail. (BTW, don't you love how I mix my sports metaphors? Just seeing if anyone is paying attention). Since Hen Wallow Falls is noteworthy enough to be named on the GSMNP $1 map, I assumed it must be rather impressive.

Since our hike was now a Wednesday event, Brian was able to go along as well. So we set out from Cosby campground (after tagging the various entrances to the trail) with great expectations. At least I did, as it turns out Harold & Brian had already seen it before. Harold maintained he was not much impressed, but I figured it had been so long since he had been there that maybe he didn't remember it right.

He did.

 To be fair, it was not a bad waterfall, just more of a trickle over a rock. The ice was rather cool.

So here's the story of Henwallow, which I got from the Kenneth Wise "blue book": It seems that one spring a family in an unnamed community in this area decided to purchase 100 chicks from a hatchery with the intent of raising them to lay eggs to sell. Once the chicks grew old enough to determine their gender, it turns out they had 95 roosters and only 5 hens! Folks in another unnamed community found this rather funny & took to calling the first community "Roosterville". The people of Roosterville did not care for their new name &  took to calling the other community "Henwallow" out of spite.

The rest of the hike was again relatively uneventful, although it was a great day to be out! This trail is one of the easiest trails in the Cosby area & there were not too many climbs. There was still a considerable amount of snow despite the low elevation:

                                                                                                    





We finished up with the gravel road walk that is Maddron Bald trail back down to the truck. I feel like we spent more time driving & shuttling vehicles than hiking, but any day in the woods is a good one!

Flyin' by the seat of our pants...

Have I mentioned that I am not good at details sometimes? It's a little funny - in my "normal" life I am the usual somewhat anal, always OCD Engineer type. But the weekends? Well, sometimes it's kinda fun to not plan anything & see what happens. Sometimes you just end up chasing your tail trying to find a trail to hike, but other times it all falls together, in some sort of fashion. This weekend was one of those times.

It was forecast to rain all weekend, so I was not overly enthused to be planning a backpack trip, but I brought my backpack as well as my day pack with me as I went to Cleveland, TN for a friend's retirement lunch. After all, you never know. And surprisingly enough, the forecast was revised Friday nite showing clear & sunny by 3 PM! So....where to go? In my quest to be a 900 miler (i.e. hike all 900 miles of trails in the Smokies) I am always looking for new trails. After a quick check of the GSMNP backcountry reservation site, we decided to get another piece of the trail up to Gregory Bald. More specifically, the Gregory Bald Trail to campsite #13.

Looking across Cades Cove towards our destination!

Knowing Parsons Branch Rd would be closed for winter, we figured we would have a few miles of a road walk to get to the trailhead, but, as usual, we did not count on the deer jams in the Cove. At the late hour of 2:30 PM we finally arrived at the Ranger Station at the far end of Cades Cove, only to find the road gate closed! I guess I should not have been surprised - the Little River was as high as I had ever seen it - but I didn't realize the road to Gregory Ridge Trail would be closed due to rain. 

Brian walks alongside a raging Parsons Branch

After a quick check at the Ranger Station, we find this will only add another 2.2 miles to our 3.5 mile road walk. It's 2:30 PM & sunset is at 5:30 PM (as our helpful Ranger reminds us!)...so....why does the scene from Blues Brothers pop into my mind? 

It's 5.7 miles to the trailhead, we got a full MSR Dromedary of water, half a pack of ShotBloks, it's almost dark... and we're wearing sunglasses.  Hit it.

This part of the road walk was not bad - we actually made good time. It was a bit of a boost when we made it to the 2nd gate in under 40 minutes with full packs. Now on to the road walk we were expecting...

This part of the road was a little bit harder for me. It was disheartening to hike up a huge hill only to lose all the elevation gain by hiking downhill again.  But I did have a little fun when we came across a grader parked alongside the road. 

I call it "Taming the wild grader". 

Eventually we came to a low water crossing that required changing to water shoes. Even though it was quite warm at this point, no way could I imagine crossing water over a foot deep. I love my Keen boots, but had no desire to hike another 4 miles uphill with them being wet.   Soon after we came to the trailhead & I started on new miles!

Again, I was surprised at the amount of water on the trails. Even small crossings were running pretty well. But the trail itself was very nice - long gradual grades & very well drained for the majority of the way. We had to watch the sunset while hiking, but did make it to #13 with enough light to gather firewood & set up the tent. 

It got a little colder than I expected overnite. Remember my lack of planning problem? I left my down jacket & mittens at home, but it wasn't too bad. Only trouble was the excessive rain made it very hard to get a fire going. We were able to get a small one, but it mostly smoldered & did not kick off too much heat. Funny thing was we had a group come in even after us - a father, mother, daughter team that showed up around 9 PM. They were all also engineers - 2 electrical & 1 chemical. Poor Brian - surrounded by Engineers!

Next morning it was even colder as it had snowed some during the night. But the hoarfrost was awesome. 

At this point it was only a half mile up to Gregory Bald.....And when I say up, it was all up. But the clear views at the top....well, I only wish my camera could capture them:

From this point it was all downhill again, which tends to hurt my knees more than going up. We were treated to some great views of Cades Cove going down & it gradually warmed up enough to shed many layers. The water was still rather high for the crossing at campsite #12. High enough that I did not want to chance crossing on the downed trees with my backpack. Not sure when this bridge washed out but it appears there are no immediate plans to replace it. The water at the next trail bridge was still within a few inches of the log stringer - I am guessing it was overtopped the day before.

At this point we arrived back at Gregory Ridge trailhead. Another couple of miles of road walk & we were back at my trusty Element. 

I love it when a last minute trip comes together!

Searching for a pile of rocks.... Part 1!

That was definitely the theme of the day for a couple of nice hikes earlier this month...

The quest was actually started on a cold, rainy Saturday when I accompanied Brian to scout out a hike he was planning in January for the Smoky Mtn Hiking Club.  We were searching for Courthouse Rock & Quilliam Cave in GSMNP. I was somewhat surprised that this off trail was not listed in Kenneth Wise's "Hiking Trails of the Great Smoky Mountains" as I have found that book an indispensable guide. (Note: If you have a copy don't even lend it out - it is nearly impossible to find anymore!) Regardless, Brian had been once before & we look forward to any excuse to wander in the woods so off we went....

We found the correct pull-off quite easily & a well trod path led up to the old roadbed in the woods. Which way - north or south? When in doubt, always head uphill (because it's never the easy path, right?). So we did. Now it got fun as there were so many trails heading off the old road to choose from. We started up one that quickly faded out & backtracked to try again. Next trail was more defined & we contoured around past an old homesite that was pretty cool. We had a couple of easy creek crossings & dropped onto a very well defined trail that (you guessed it!) led upwards.

 






Brian negotiating one of the crossings



 

 

 

We soon came to another old homesite that Brian remembered as belonging to the father, Joe Quilliam. Once again there were numerous trails heading in all directions! We visited a super-cool waterfall that was the water source for the family. Originally called Quilliams Creek, this large creek is now known as Road Turn Branch.


We then followed the trail behind the old chimney as that was the one that should take us to Courthouse Rock & the cave. We found a side trail going to an overlook that would likely have great views if it was not so misty & rainy. We continued onward & upward & soon crossed the creek only to lose the main trail. After climbing over trees & sliding around in the mud for a while, we decided to head back down to try again another day when visibility was a little better. Following the trail back we mentally marked where it split off the old roadbed. I was surprised at how well hidden it was - maybe an attempt to keep it not too easily accessible?

Despite the lack of views, I still saw a few cool things:

 

 

Stay tuned for Part 2 - when we actually make it!

Slicker than cat shit on linoleum!

Or maybe the better title is "Don't bring old hiking boots to a snowy hike"?

As I am typing this I have a big ol' fire roaring in the woodstove to dry out my boots so I can hopefully get enough Shoe Goo on them to survive some potential water crossings for a Wednesday birthday hike. I am a big fan of Hi Tech as I can usually take them right out the box & hit the trail with little to no break in but they just don't seem to last. This pair is only a little over a year old & the rubber on the toe is separating just enough to let water/snow in, as I found out this past Black Friday.

I was lucky enough to enjoy a great White Friday over in the Smokies.

After being snowed in for a couple of days & overeating in the American tradition, I was more than ready to get out & get some new miles. The original plan was to hit Clingmans Dome (since the road closes for winter each December this would be the last chance) & get in a good downhill hike & hopefully see some snow. The problem was the huge amount of snow & ice was causing road closures everywhere in the Park... Not to mention my steep driveway was a solid sheet of ice & I was not sure of the new Element's ability to skate down it yet! I met my hiking buddy Harold at Sugarlands mid morning to work out a plan of attack - both of us hoping the roads would be open by the time we got there. They were, but when we checked with Backcountry they said there was 8-12" of snow at Clingmans & Harold had forgotten his gaiters. Everything happens for a reason, so we decided to hike Jakes Creek-Meigs Mtn-Lumber Ridge. The way this hike really worked out was as I was leaving the Park Service was closing Hwy 441, which would have meant if we had done Clingmans down one of our vehicle would have been locked behind the gate!


We started out from Elkmont at Jakes Creek & I was surprised at the number of people out, although it was quite a pretty day. The snow was not very deep & we followed footprints for a while.  Once we made it past the intersection to Meigs Mtn Trail Harold noticed we were making the only human footprints on the trail, but there were plenty of other tracks. Some decidedly looked like bear, but I am not sure if it was a few bears or just one bear crossing the trail several times! We noticed some tracks followed the trail continuously - a small cat or coyote?-and a lot of sign of boar.

The trail was just beautiful! 

When we made it to the intersection of Curry Mtn trail I was surprised to see people! I quickly found out why as the Huskey cemetery was very close & is apparently a destination. The light & shadows were very nice on the snow:

 

 

As soon as we were past the cemetery we lost "human" tracks again until we came to the intersection with Meigs Creek trail. We stopped for a snack & noticed many footprints heading down a track across from the trail. There was no trail shown on either the $1 map or the National Geo, but we decided there were too many prints heading down in the new snow so there had to be something good down there. And now we finally get to the title of this post. The "trail" heading down was super steep & a good mix of mud & snow/slush. As I finally made it to the bottom after self-arresting a few times with my trusty MSR Denali poles, I heard that awful sound behind me. The thud when someone behind you slides & falls. The moment you just cringe & wait to see if they take you out as well. Well, Harold didn't take me out, but he stood up & proclaimed "This hill is slicker than cat shit on linoleum" so we promptly named it Cat Shit Hill. I am pretty sure the name is not taken...



Ok, we staged this shot cuz I didn't take one going down,
but it's still funny!
 

We followed the trail down a long ways - far further than I expected - yet the foot tracks continued on. This is when I realized how much cold water was making it into my boots! We soon realized we were walking on an old railroad grade: a fact confirmed when we found a few sections of old rail. This "off trail" was not well maintained & we soon came to a crossing that we were not willing to cross. 

 

Trail? What trail?

Without knowing where or how far the trail went & because my feet were getting wetter & colder, we decided to wait for a better day to explore. (Note: Since then I found out this is the Spruce Flats manway with 3-4 water crossings that eventually ends at the small waterfall at Tremont - definitely will do this loop one day!)

 

 

Once we were on Lumber Ridge Trail we started experiencing a more southern aspect & pine forests with less snow. Walking on pine needles is much like walking on a shag carpet as far as I am concerned & I love it! I highly recommend this section of trail for families or someone wanting to experience a good trail without extreme climbs or descents. The trail just rolls along & there were some good winter views along the way.

Harold taking it all in.....

 We started the descent back down to Tremont & finished the day with daylight to spare. After a bit of a slippery trip back to Elkmont (the roads were starting to ice again) I picked the E back up for the trip back home.

  

 

Thinking I may have a new post Thanksgiving tradition.....