GSMNP FALL 2020

 The Sun and the Moon and the Stars. They have always been. And the mountain too. The mountain has always been. And the forest upon the mountain. 

The Fall 2020 trip would be a 3 night expedition to Elkmont Campground in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park (henceforth GSMNP).

The focus of this trip would be more on exploration and photography, and less on summiting high peaks for the purpose (of course) of checking them off of a list.

THE PLAN:

To arrive and set up camp on day 1 (Wednesday) and then explore around some old ruins near the back of the campground. Day 2 would be a hike from Clingman’s Dome to Andrew’s Bald (the only summit attempt of the trip). Then returning to Elkmont, an afternoon loop hike of the Little River trail, returning via Cucumber Gap and Jake’s Creek trail. On day 3 I planned to drive to Cades Cove and attempt to reproduce (from my old film days) a photo of the Primitive Methodist Church taken from about a mile up Rich Mountain Road looking back down over the valley. I would return home on Saturday.

Coco, my Assistant Trip Planner

WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED:

As I arrived at the entrance of the GSMNP, that magical barrier that is the southern border of the park was there waiting for me. I crossed over to the other side and experienced a temperature drop of 15 degrees almost immediately. What had been 81F was now 66F. It was a beautiful day to be in the wilderness. I traveled on and soon enough reached my destination at Elkmont Campground, B-17. 

Elkmont B-17

Elkmont at an elevation of 2150 feet is a huge campground. The largest in the GSMNP with 220 total sites, and it was full. Full as in No Vacancy.

A Brief History Lesson:

The area was first settled in the mid 1800's by homesteaders. A logging company was formed around 1905 and a railroad was built connecting Elkmont to Townsend and later extending all the way to Knoxville. In 1910 the lumber company sold fifty acres of land to the Appalachian Club. This was an affluent social club of businessmen from Knoxville. The club sold cabins to members who would travel by railcar to vacation in Elkmont.

By the mid 1920's the logging industry dried up in Elkmont and moved on to other locations. The National Park was established in 1934 but interestingly many of the Elkmont properties were exempt from imminent domain and many owners negotiated individual leases. The last lease didn't expire until 1992 and the last full time residents didn't leave until 2001.

The park service had put a plan in place to demolish all of the buildings after the leases expired. However, in 1994 Elkmont was placed on the National Register of Historic Places, and a new plan to preserve those buildings that were still in good condition was put into place. The most recent plan is to restore all remaining buildings by 2025.

Early 20th century vacation cabins in various states of restoration

Thursday morning I was up early after an excellent night of sleep in the truck camper. It was still pitch black dark at 0630 as I walked back from the bathhouse to my campsite. My thoughts were on the drive to Clingman’s Dome and the days hike to Andrew’s Bald when suddenly...BAM...I turned my right ankle on the edge of the parking pad as I walked beside the truck. I hit the ground like a sack of potatoes and fumbled around for my dropped keys in the dark. I found them and hopped up quickly, limping on one foot and telling myself (As I always do) that “It’s not too bad”, and it will “be fine”.

Of course it wasn’t “fine”. It was sore and swelling. I had no choice but to lay down on the cot in the tent and waited for the sun to come up pondering what to do next.

Eventually I boiled it down to three choices:

1) Pack up and go home.

2) Stay around the camp and rest it and see how it felt the next day and maybe salvage part of my itinerary.

3) Flip my schedule and drive to Cades Cove and try to walk Rich Mountain Road and then make a decision about the Andrew’s Bald hike tomorrow.

What was apparent was that my original plan of walking the Forney Ridge Trail to Andrew’s Bald was not going to happen on this day. The trail is noted for its ruggedness and I had experienced parts of it last November when Spencer and I had made our unsuccessful attempt to hike out to Forney Cascades. In other words, I knew what that trail had in store for me and it was now out of the question.

After a little over an hour, the sun had now come up and the throbbing pain had subsided. I still had swelling but decided to lace up the Timberlands and drive to Cades Cove. I figured Rich Mountain Road (even though gravel) would be the best surface for me to try. Also it would be another 45 minutes just to make the drive, so I figured I would reevaluate when I got there. 

Upon arriving at Cades Cove I headed immediately to the loop road and proceeded to the parking area in front of the Missionary Baptist Church and began the hike up Rich Mountain Road. To be clear, the parking is at the Missionary Baptist Church (built 1915) but the photo is of the Methodist Church (built 1902). The hike up the road (all uphill) was 1.1 miles and the ankle was stiff and sore initially but slowly warmed up and I was walking without a limp by the time I had reached the opening in the fauna where the valley below became visible from the road. 

I wasn’t able to get the quality of photo that I had hoped for. The fall colors were still presumably a week or two away down in the valley so the pictures lacked that essential trait I was seeking. Despite being a beautiful morning, the direction of the photographs were looking into the rising sun in the East and the photos seemed a little washed out by the morning light.

Rich Mountain Road, being an unimproved one-way 11 mile stretch, was busier than I thought it would be. Several cars passed by and two even stopped to share my view and take a few pictures. I had an interesting conversation with a guy from southeastern Missouri about Taum Sauk (He said he lived about 20 miles from the MO highpoint.) I mentioned that I hoped to make it out there soon (as part of a three state highpoint trip to Mississippi, Arkansas, and Missouri.)

A second car stopped and an older couple from Montana highly recommended Yellowstone National Park. I hope to make it there someday too!

The guy from Missouri asked if I was on foot and told me that he had seen a large black bear near the roadside on the drive up from the Cove. I must have just missed it, or just didn’t see it somehow during my walk. When I headed back down, I had my camera ready and hoped for a ground encounter with a black bear. Alas, it must have meandered off, because I saw nothing of interest on my way back down the road and arrived a short time later back at the church parking lot.

The best I could get of the church. Still not exactly what I was going for

A better representation of my actual view of the valley. Church is circled in Red for reference

I drove on around the loop road ( I really had no choice) and then decided to take a swing through the Cades Cove Campground. I like to look at the gear and camp set-ups people have but nothing jumped out at me. Of course I also had to make a stop in the camp store to honor our family tradition of indulging in a soft serve ice cream cone. I got my ice cream and headed back to Elkmont with my ankle now cooled off and starting to throb again.

Arriving back at my camp, I spent the afternoon not doing much but resting my ankle by sitting in my favorite camp chair under the canopy of trees reading my book and enjoying the pleasant mountain air.

And when the wind would blow, the leaves would fall like snow.

Later I would heat my dinner of hamburgers over an open fire and take a dusk walk around the campground to test the ankle once again.

I awoke the next morning, this time waiting for dawn to break before getting up so I could see where I was walking. The ankle felt much better and I made the decision to give the Forney Creek Trail and Andrew’s Bald a try.

Arriving at the trailhead at the Clingman’s Dome parking lot, I was surprised at how few people were actually there as it was nearly 0900, a rather late start for me. Parking was not an issue.

Topography: Andrews Bald from Clingman's Dome. It looks so close!

I started down the rocky rugged trail picking my way slowly. My progress was slow but eventually I made the 1.7 mile journey and arrived at the Bald.

Andrew's Bald may have been more impressive on a clearer day

There were around 20 people already there when I arrived. The morning was overcast and the views were not good. The Bald did contain some trees and other vegetation. There was high grass everywhere the trail wasn’t. I wandered off the trail to avoid the crowds and found my own area to take a rest and enjoy the scenery. Of course it was difficult to see the holes under the tall grass, and I wasted no time in stepping into one and tweaking the ankle once again.

I didn’t stay long as I don’t like the crowds and there wasn’t much to photograph. I made it back to the parking lot and things had changed dramatically. The crowds were everywhere. The lot was full and vehicles were backed up as far as the eye could see waiting for parking spaces to open up. Now this was the Clingman’s Dome I was accustomed to!

Back at the campground, after a short rest, I headed back out on foot to explore more of the ruins along the Little River Trail. Given the ankle situation and the fact that the Andrew’s Bald hike had taken a little longer than expected, I decided to forgo the nearly six mile planned loop hike and spend the afternoon just exploring around the campground ruins.

The "Troll Bridge" of Elkmont

The Troll Bridge is smaller than you might think

After a few hours of exploration, it was hot dogs over the open fire and then a tear down of the tent. After everything was packed and ready to head out the next morning, I went for another dusk walk around the campground that led to a moonlit return to B-17.

Just like the August trip to Shenandoah National Park, on my last morning I woke up to the sound of pouring rain on my canvas roof. It was 0230 and I figured it was just another one of those short mountain showers that can be so common. But it wasn't. At 0615 when I decided to finally get up, the rain was still coming down and it was still pitch dark.

There was nothing else to do so I decided to go ahead and head out. I drove the 4 miles to 441 and then over the mountain in the dark and fog and rain. Given the opportunity, I would probably not make the same decision again. But I made it, and was in Cherokee by dawn. The rain stayed with me until around Spartanburg, SC. After that things normalized and I returned home in the early afternoon without incident. 

Saw dozens of turkeys on this trip but not much other wildlife