West Prong Trail

We needed to get away from this house buying/furniture shopping project we’ve been wrapped up in for so many days.  We wanted some exercise and fresh air.  One of the closest trails from our campground is West Prong.  It is less than 15 miles from our campsite to the trailhead and all on paved road.  East Tennessee is experiencing a record breaking heat wave this week so an early start was essential.

West Prong Trail gets its name from the West Prong of the Little River.  In the old days, folks around here called forks of a river prongs.  The trail actually begins closer to the Middle Prong, but quickly climbs away from the water and crosses West Prong at campsite 18.

The trailhead is across Middle Prong from the Great Smoky Mountain Institute at Tremont.  This educational facility conducts programs for school age children and workshops for adults throughout the year.  Their goal is to connect people with nature especially within Great Smoky Mountain National Park.

Our trailhead parking lot was on the other side of Tremont Road from the Institute.  The parking lot is large enough to accommodate about 6 cars.  It is also possible to park at the Institute.

West Prong Trail is a little over two and a half miles in length and ends at the junction with Bote Mountain Trail.  We weren’t going all the way to the end, but planned to stop at backcountry campsite number 18 about 2 miles from the trailhead.

Our hike started with a climb of 500 feet in the first mile.  The profile looks worse than the actual climb; it was fairly gentle on a wide trail relatively free of rocks and roots.  Hikers share this trail with horses, so you gotta watch where you put your foot.  Almost immediately we passes an obvious trail junction.  Even though there was no indication on the sign where this side trail went, we knew it led to an old cemetery.  We passed by wanting to save that exploration for the end of our hike.

At about one mile we topped out on our climb and began our descent to West Prong and the campsite.  We had been walking in a forest of hardwoods on the dry side of Fodderstack Mountain.  As we came around to the other side the vegetation changed to include many more rhododendron and we began crossing small seeps.

The super bloom of rhododendron has been beautiful and there are still many blossoms on the trees, but it is past its prime and many petals littered the trail.

Campsite 18 was our turning around point, but first a break was in order.  This campsite is designated to accommodate 12.  It’s a large area so backpackers have plenty of room to spread out.  West Prong flows through the middle of the campsite and the fire ring and large cooking area is located near the water.  It made a perfect place for a break.

There is a footbridge across West Prong and the trail continues on to connect with Bote Mountain Trail.  Bote Mountain Trail could serve as a connector to various trails leading to Cades Cove or to the Appalachian Trail at Spence Field.  We weren’t going that way, so after our break we headed back the way we came.

On our way back we did a little exploring.  At about halfway, we came to an obvious trail leading down the mountain.  There was a sign identifying West Prong Trail, but nothing to indicate where the side trail led.  The trail looked maintained so down we went.  We sorta expected another old cemetery, but we didn’t find one after about a half mile of hiking.  We also thought it might be another trail connecting to the Walker Valley cemetery at the beginning of West Prong Trail, but we seemed to be going in the wrong direction for that.  We also thought it might be one of those secret wildflower trails and it might be, but we didn’t see much evidence of dying spring flowers.  Not even trillium which is everywhere.  In the end, we suspected it’s an abandoned trail from times past.  There are several of these trails around the park and many of those who remember them still hike them.  We finally gave up and made our way back up the hill to continue on our way.

Our next spot to explore was Walker Valley Cemetery.  This is a large cemetery compared to many in the Park.  The trail and cemetery are maintained by the park service for the benefit of descendants.  Many pioneer communities occupied the area which eventually became the National Park.  Some of these settlements were long gone by the time the park was established in the 1930s, but many of them were thriving communities.  Naturally, there were cemeteries in those communities and they dot the park in every direction.  Walker Valley Cemetery, being close to a paved road, obviously sees lots of visitors.  We were surprised to see grave markers with fairly recent dates.  Perhaps it’s still being used.

It was good to be out and stretch our legs.  We enjoyed our hike along West Prong Trail and really enjoyed the little bit of exploring we did.

That’s all for today.  Thanks for tagging along.

Mingus Mill

Tuesday we had a chance to get back over to the Mingus Creek area.  I wanted to scout out the slave cemetery mentioned in our trails guidebook.  We had a good outing and we found a cemetery, but I’m not sure we found what I was looking for.

We had to go right by the Oconaluftee Visitor Center to get to Mingus Creek so we stopped in the small gift shop there to purchase a “cemeteries of the Smokies” book.  I could have sworn I’d seen one in there on our previous visit, but I guess I was dreaming.  They had churches, gristmills, log homes, waterfalls, flowers, trees, and reptiles of the Smokies, but no cemeteries.  Gene suggested to the ranger on duty that she might like to make a project of that, but she declined the invitation.

From the description in the trail guidebook we knew the cemetery was just a few feet from the parking lot at Mingus Mill.  When we were there last week, we didn’t see any evidence of a trail, but then again, we weren’t really looking.  Tuesday, however, the grass had been mowed creating a path that went right up the hill to a small cemetery.

There were no identifying markers to indicate this was indeed the “slave” cemetery.  There were about eight graves marked with field stones, but without any inscriptions.  The maintenance crew had apparently just moved, so the graves were very visible.

With nothing to positively identify this cemetery, I wasn’t sure if it was the one I was looking for.  It’s mentioned in the trail guidebook, but there are several things mentioned in that book that I’m suspect of like Mr Enloe (of Enloe Creek) being the father of Abraham Lincoln.  I didn’t do a lot of research, but did find an article from 2009 in a local Knoxville paper which states that park archives list one slave cemetery located in the Cataloochee area.  So who knows for sure if this is truly an old slave cemetery, certainly not I.

After making a few photos, we walked over to the Mill.  Mingus Mill was the largest gristmill in what is now the National Park.  Unlike most of the mills in the park that are powered by a large waterwheel, Mingus was powered by a cast-iron turbine.  Mingus Mill was built in 1886 by its first millwright, Thomas Early.

We walked the length of the flume with its sideboards covered in brilliant green moss, to the point where the water is diverted from Mingus Creek.

I guess this is what we would call the "in-take valve" at the head of the flume

This mill is still operational today and the miller sells cornmeal and flour ground on site.  We had the opportunity to speak with Winston, the miller on duty while we were there.  He had shut the mill down just before we got there, so he wasn’t too busy to chat.  Winston has been at Mingus Mill for a number of years, but being 80 plus years old, he’s thinking of retiring now.  I don’t know why.  He certainly seemed spry enough as we watched him climb the ladder and maneuver the lever to divert the water from the flume.  I’d say he has several good years left.

Winston shutting down the mill for another day.

We had a good time and we learned some things as well.  If I can ever get these trails hiked, I’d like to spend more time delving into the history of the communities inside the Park.

Another brave soul has decided to follow this blog.  We’d like to welcome JANA.  Thanks for tagging along.

That’s it for today.

Randolph Trail

As you can tell from the title, we went out for a hike today.  The rain in the forecast was not predicted to be in our area until mid-afternoon.  We dashed out the door as quickly as we could this morning and drove the 50 miles over to Randolph Trailhead on CR 60.  This is the same place we parked Saturday for the Rippey Trail.  I still can’t believe we were on the trail before 9 AM.

Again, we were hiking in the Sipsey Wilderness area and the Randolph Trail (#202) is 3.4 miles in length one way.  Randolph starts on the ridge, drops down into the gorge, and ends at the Sipsey River.  We were trying to beat the rain so we didn’t dilly dally.

Randolph and Rippey Trails run together for the first quarter mile or so.  At the junction, the Rippey trail branches off north and the Randolph continues east following the old road.  This road is the gated, gravel road just west of the parking lot.  We took the woods trail to the junction, but one could take the road if so inclined.  I think the distance is about the same.

After about a mile we came to the Johnson Cemetery.  Actually, there are two cemeteries; one east of the road and one on the west side.  These cemeteries are very old with graves dating back to the mid 1800s, but they are still well maintained.  There were even plastic flowers on many of the graves.  There were very few granite grave markers, most were just field stones.

Beyond the cemeteries, the trail continued to follow the old road bed, but was much more narrow.  Besides the cemeteries, there was a lot of evidence that this area had once been a small community.  We noticed small patches of yucca plants, metal culverts under the old road, and the occasional rusted car part or farm implement.

From a distance we noticed a huge tree with branches spread out in every direction.  Gene commented that he thought the tree had been there long before the forest grew up around it, otherwise the branches wouldn’t have been so wide spread.  Sure enough, when we got to the tree, there was a wide, flat area perfect for a small cabin and the rusted remains of an old vehicle, obviously a homestead at one time.  We passed on by, but later this became our lunch spot for the day.

The trail, as it made its way along the ridge, had very gentle ups and downs making for a very pleasant woods walk.  As we headed into the gorge, naturally the trail became steeper, but not too bad.  We got those fine views of the limestone bluffs again and another trickle of water falling into a small feeder stream.  There were several blowdowns, but most had either been cleared or were easy to step over.  There were two that were a tangled mess, but previous hikers had made a path to bypass the worst of the hazard.

The sandy river bottom

We would have normally made the river our lunch spot since it was the halfway mark and turning around point in our hike.  However, we got there way too early to have lunch so we took a short break then headed back.

On our way back, Gene got his legs and feet tangled up on his trekking poles as he was crawling over one of the fallen logs.  He ended up falling down without injury to himself, but his trekking pole suffered a bad bend.  Gonna have to have that fixed.

Past its prime, but still pretty

We stopped for our lunch at the big tree.  While we were enjoying our PB&J, the wind picked up considerably and the sky was getting darker.  We didn’t linger.  We got our packs on, kicked in the afterburners, and sped on down the trail.  We got back to the car just as the first raindrops began to fall.  It was only a teaser, though.  The real rain didn’t start for another couple hours.

The forecast calls for rain all day tomorrow.  Guess we’ll be staying home relaxing.  Nothing wrong with that.  It actually sounds pretty good to me right now.

That’s it for today. Thanks for tagging along.

Exploring with Friends

We got together with friends, Rich and Patti, yesterday for a little exploring.  We parked the car at the large parking lot near the Park Headquarters building behind Sugarlands Visitor Center and headed up the Old Sugarlands Trail.  This trail, according to the guidebook, would take us near an old CCC camp and the old Sugarlands Cemetery.  Both these features were off the trail, so with very few words contained in the guidebook about their locations, we left the main trail to begin our search.

Before the Park was a park, this area was occupied by pioneer settlers, mostly farmers, just trying to make a living by growing crops on this rugged patch of land.  Scattered throughout the park are several cemeteries, the final resting places of these early residents.  As part of the deal with settlers living in the area at the time of the Park’s formation, the Park Service agreed to keep these cemeteries accessible to the families of those buried there.  “Accessible” doesn’t mean you can drive there.  To get to the old Sugarlands Cemetery, we had to walk about 2 miles.  Even though we had an old roadbed to walk along, at the end, after we had left the main trail, we searched for maybe a half hour before finding the cemetery.

The CCC was responsible for doing a lot of work in the park.  They built and repaired roads, built trail, and even help build Fontana Dam.  There is evidence of the old CCC camps scattered around the Park, in both Tennessee and North Carolina.  Some of these old camps are clearly visible from trails, others are not.  The one we explored yesterday was near enough to the trail to see, but you had to know where to look.  There wasn’t much lift, just the remains of the camp sign and a few other piles of stone.

After several hours of poking around in the woods, we adjourned to Rich and Patti’s, for a fantastic dinner of grilled jerked chicken, asparagus, and baked sweet potatoes.  Another truly great day.

We’re off to the trail again today.  I better get ready.