Noland Divide and Noland Creek in the Smokies

This week the Margaret Stevenson Wednesday Hikers sponsored one of its bus hikes.  Different hikes are organized beginning at trailheads along the Clingmans Dome Road off Highway 441 and ending in the Deep Creek/Lakeview Drive area near Bryson City, where a chartered bus picks up the hikers and takes them back to their cars parked at the trailheads.  This allows for longer hikes without having to shuttle cars back and forth from one end of the hike to the other.  35 hikers on five separate hikes used the bus shuttle.

I joined four others on a 20.6 mile hike on part of the Noland Divide Trail, the Noland Creek Trail, and a part of theSpringhouse Branch Trail.  A long hike means an early start; we began with headlamps at 6:10 AM.

Trailhead sign illuminated by my headlamp. On to Noland Creek.

The predawn sky was brilliant with stars, but they quickly vanished as were entered the red spruce forest.  A faint line of light to the east slowly brightened and light began filtering through the trees as we headed down the trail.  There was some conversation, but mostly we enjoyed the quiet solitude of experiencing nature greeting a new day.

We covered the 3.8 miles to the Noland Creek Trail fairly quickly, stopping only once to remove a layer as the day warmed with the sun.  At this point the Noland Divide Trail generally follows the ridge line of the Noland Divide, another 7.8 miles to Deep Creek near Bryson City.  The Noland Creek Trail follows Noland Creek, first its tributaries and then the creek itself.

Noland Creek Trail - 4.8 miles to Springhouse Creek Trail

When you look at a trail map of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, you notice that several trails follow and are named for divides and ridges or creeks.  The main spine of the park is the long line of high peaks on the NC/TN border; the Appalachian Trail generally follows this undulating line for 74 miles from Fontana Dam to Davenport Gap.  Several lateral ridges extend from this spine creating divides that separate large watersheds between the ridges.  

The sound of Noland Creek grew louder as we descended on the well-graded trail.  Soon, the trail followed an old roadbed, evidence that this area was once home to several farm settlements and later logging operations.  Our gradual descent changed with a side hike up Springhouse Branch Trail.  The trail climbs up Forney Ridge, and eventually descends to Forney Creek.  We hiked the 2.8 miles up to Forney Ridge.  Along the lower part of the trail we saw stone walls and fallen chimneys, all that remains of the homesites of the farm community that once supported several families.

Springhouse Branch Trail - it is steeper tun it looks here.

Remnants of a stone wall.

All that remains of a fireplace, evidence of a cabin.

Frank, our hike organizer had information about the homesite of Cornelius Laws and some graves just off the trail.  The remains of the chimney were easily seen, but the graves were not marked.  Reportedly there are five Indian graves near the homesite.  Using his dowsing rods, Frank located the graves not far from where they were reported to be.  Dowsing showed two rows of graves, three in one and two in another.  Were they Indian graves?  Our compass showed them to be north-south oriented, which is consistent with Indian graves.  White settlers were almost always buried east-west, with the headstone facing east.

The remains of the fireplace at the Laws home site.

Frank dowsing for evidence of graves.  You can make out the wire rods he is holding.  They cross when held over a grave.

After lunch at the Springhouse Branch/Forney Ridge trail junction we retraced the 2.8 miles back to Noland Creek and then continued 5.2 miles to the end of the trail.  The trail ends close to where Noland Creek flows into the Tuckaseegee River near its confluence with Fontana Lake.  We hiked back one mile to Lakeview Drive where we waited for the bus to pick us up and take us back to our cars near Clingmans Dome.  Total time from when I left may car in the morning to the time I got back to it was just under 13 hours.

A day of bright sunny weather, good company, and the always beautiful and varied landscape of the Smokies.

Tale of the tape:

Total miles hiked: 20.6

New trail miles: 16.8

Total trail miles to date: 221.1

Found a New Ride on Today's Hike

Several old cars can still be found on the Lakeshore Trail on the North Shore of Fontana Lake.  Why were they left  behind?  Read on to find out.

Today's hike in the Smokies began and ended at Fontana Dam.  It was raining fairly hard when we started on the Appalachian Trail where it enters the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The 3.7 mile to the Lost Cove trail took us steeply up Shuckstack Mountain and the old fire lookout tower on the summit.   The tower was built in 1934, rising 60 feet to give a 360 degree view of the Smokies and Nantahala National Forest, as well as Fontana Dam and Lake.  It rained off and on on the way up to the tower, but it did clear some for cloudy views of the surrounding mountains from the tower.  Fontana Lake and the dam are visible in this picture.

A little past the side trail to the tower, the Lost Cove Trail turns off the AT on the right.  This short trail (2.7 miles) follows Lost Cove Creek and features several stream crossings.  The upper end of the trail is steep, and with today's rain, we slipped and slid down the muddy trail.  The first stream crossings were rock-hops, but on the lower part of the trail we waded across the last five crossings.

 

Lost Cove Trail ends at the Lakeshore Trail, a 35 mile trail that follows the North Shore of Fontana Lake.  Parts of the Lakeshore Trail follow old NC Highway 288 which followed the Little Tennessee River between Bryson City and Deals Gap.  Today much of this road lies at the bottom of Fontana Lake.  Prior to 1944 and the construction of the dam, many people lived on what is today called the North Shore.  Several towns and homesteads dotted the landscape.

Although the trail sign (above right) is hard to read, we hiked 5.2 miles of the Lakeshore Trail to the parking area near the dam.  It is along this section you will see several abandoned vehicles left behind by people who moved, or were removed, from the area because of the dam and lake.

We had some views of the lake through the trees as we hiked along, and the morning rain gave way to afternoon sunshine.

So now to answer the question posed in the caption of the picture at the beginning of this post.  Why did the people leave so many cars behind when they left the area in the 1940s?  One would think these cars had value and would be useful in resettled areas.  These were wartime years, and rationing during World War II included tires.  Rubber was needed for the war effort.  So cars in otherwise good running condition may not have had tires to drive them away.  By the time tires would have been available after the war, the lake had cut off road access and the people had moved away.  So, here they sit along the Lakeshore Trail, a reminder of the past.

Tale of the tape: 12.5 miles; all "new" trail miles with 3,000 feet elevation gain.

Total miles of trails in the Smokies to date: 202.8 (1/4 the way!!)

Trail Math: When does 15.3 = 3.6?

Many trails in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park can only be reached by hiking to them on other trails.  Such is the case with the Bone Valley Trail.  It is a short trail - only 1.8 miles one way - that follows Bone Valley Creek ending at the Hall Cabin, one of several historic structures maintained by the Park Service.  In fact, the Hall Cabin is the most remote maintained structure in the park.  In order to get to the Bone Valley trailhead, one must hike 6 miles from the boat landing at Hazel Creek on the Hazel Creek Trail.

Before I explain the math equation in the title, here are a few pictures and notes from the hike a group of us did on August 13.

We met at the Fontana Village Marina for our boat shuttle across the lake to the Hazel Creek landing. The morning was cool and mist rose from the surface of the lake.

Early morning on Fontana Lake

Morning clouds and mist.

We began our hike at Ollie Cove on a short spur trail (0.3 miles) and 0.7 miles on the Lakeshore Trail to Hazel Creek.  This area of Fontana Lake's North Shore was the site of the town of Proctor.  It began as a farming settlement, and by the early 1900s, it was a booming lumber mill.  Once the timber was cut, the mill was shut down and the area reverted back to a faming community.  With the construction of the Fontana Dam and as the lake filled, communities like Proctor on the north shore were cut off from roads of lost under the rising waters.  Read more about Proctor here.

As the name implies, the Hazel Creek Trail follows Hazel Creek upstream for about 12 miles.  We hiked 5.3 miles to the junction with the Bone Valley Trail.  Hazel Creek is more a river than creek in size.  With the rain we have had in the past few weeks, it was running fairly high.  Sturdy bridges provide trail crossings of the creek.  

Hazel Creek from one of the bridges.

Bone Valley got its name in 1877 when an early spring blizzard caught a herd of cattle with no shelter and they froze to death.  Their bones littered the valley for many years, though none are seen now!

The Bone Valley Trail follows Bone Valley Creek for 1.8 miles.  It is an old road that allowed families that lived in the valley access to the road to Proctor, and before the Fontana Lake, the "outside world."  There are no foot logs across the creek, so there are four wet crossings on the trail.

Crossing Bone Valley Creek

A reminder of logging operations: a rail wheel beside the trail.

At the end of the trail stands the Hall Cabin.  Craten Hall settled in Bone Valley in 1877.  The cabin dates to 1892. A half mile beyond the cabin is the Hall family cemetery, where many of the family are buried.

After lunch at the cabin and a visit to the cemetery, we reversed the hike and returned to the boat landing to catch our boat shuttle back across the lake to the marina.  This leads me to the equation in the title: When does 15.3 = 3.6?  When accounting for trails hiked in the Smokies, you only get new trail miles; that is, miles of trails not hiked before.  Since I had already hiked 4.5 miles of the Hazel Creek Trail earlier and the access trail to the boat landing, this hike only netted me 3.6 miles of "new" trail miles:Ollie Cove (0.3), a short section of Lakeshore Trail (0.7), 0.8 new miles on the Hazel Creek Trail, and 1.8 miles (one way) on the Bone Valley Trail.  So, a day's hike of 15.3 miles netted me 3.6 miles of previously un-hiked trails.  Not all days are like that, but when trails like Bone Valley are remote, using previously-hiked trails is the only way to reach them.

But it is not only about the miles you mark in the map.  When you have a beautiful day, trails along rushing streams, wildflowers, and good company, just being on the trail is enough.  Who could ask for more?

A species of orchid.

Charlies Bunion

Charlies Bunion is not found on a foot.  It is a rock outcrop just off the AT about 4 miles north of Newfound Gap in the Great Smoky Mountians National Park.  Three of us were scouting a hike for the Carolina Mountian Club, joining the Friends of the Smokies hike to Charlies Bunion as a part of the scout.  It was raining when we left Newfound Gap, and while the FOTS hikers were deciding if they wanted to begin a hike in the rain, we started north on the AT.  After an hour, the rain lessened, and by the time we reached the Bunion, there were breaks in the clouds and hints of sun.

Charlies Bunion View

Instead of retracing our route back to Newfound Gap on the AT, we returned on three trails: Dry Sluice (upper part), Grassy Branch, and Kephart Prong.  As the afternoon progressed we saw more and more sun.  The trails were wet from the previous days rain, but not difficult to hike.

 Grassy Branch and Kephart Prong Trails both followed streams that grew in volume as we descended in elevation.  With each mile, the sound grew louder.  We crossed Kephart Prong four times on foot logs.

Kephart Prong

The tape: 10.2 miles on 4 trails.