Old Settlers Trail - West

What do you do when the forecast calls for an 80% of rain?  You go hiking of course.  That is what seven of us did today.  We met at the Old Settlers Trial parking area in the Greenbrier section of the Smokies and took one car to the Noisy Creek access on Hwy 321.  This access point allows hikers to reach the 15.8 mile Old Settlers Trail at the halfway point.  I had hiked the eastern half last December, and today hiking the western half would complete the trail for me.

A few high clouds were all we had at the start of the hike.  I figured the rain would move in later in the morning.  A 3/4 mile hike along Noisy Creek took us up to the Old Settlers Trail. It was the same place we reached the trail last December.  We began hiking west toward Greenbrier, about 9 miles away.  

It was't long before we saw evidence of the trail's namesake, people who settled the area long before the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was established.  We saw old rock walls that once marked fields and pastures and chimneys that once provided warmth and means of cooking for cabins and houses.  

Rock wall at least 4 feet high.

Still standing!

Fireplace with two pots.

End of a wall.

The Old Settlers Trail is home to more than homesites and old farmsteads.  This time of year it is home to wildflowers.  This was the day of the pink lady slipper.  By our count we saw over 260 lady slippers along the trail.  No telling how many stretched farther into the forest.  We also saw the first mountain laurel and flame azalea of the season.

Multiple Lady Slippers 

First mountain laurel of the season.

Flame azalea

As the day progressed we climbed up and over a few ridges and wound through the greening forest.  The sun seemed to brighten the canopy from time to time, and the forecast rain never materialized. We had good hiking weather all day, cool and no rain.

As we got close to the end of the trail we began to hear the Little Pigeon River below the trail. We only had a few small streams to cross, and given the volume of water in the Little Pigeon, I was glad it was not one we had to cross.  When we reached the cars my GPS showed 9.93 miles and an elevation gain of 2394 feet.  My total trail miles in the Smokies is 390 - almost halfway to 803!