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.