Elkmont and Daisytown Ghost Towns (Great Smokey Mountains National Park, Tennessee)

It's about 5pm and with the sun setting behind the mountainside above me, I'm debating on sleeping in my car, rather than putting my tent up at the campsite I reserved. I brought a tent, but I also prepared to sleep in the car due to the high potential for rain overnight. Not that I mind camping in the rain, but as I want to get an early start tomorrow, I thought it might be just as well to save myself from having to break camp. After all, I bought this Subaru Outback because I could fully stretch out in it when I put the seats down. I decide sleep in the car. 

Since I don't have a lot of time, I quickly walk through the campground and across the main road to hike the short Elkmont Nature Trail. I had seen images of old houses and from the research I did, it seems they may be in this area. The hike is very short and does a loop around small stream, but offers no sight of any structures. I did see a couple of large turkeys though grazing in the area between the campground and the road. 

Debating on what to do next, I head to the other side of the river across a sturdy bridge and discover another parking area and trailhead here. Walking up the trail a short distance, I see some kind of stone ruins, but more like an entry gate to an estate than anything else. I'm not convinced that is the right way either. Doubling back, I head up the paved road and wander into the restored homes of the 1930's resort community of Daisy Town. This was a destination that brought the attention of the affluent crowd to the park. I'm unsure of when it was abandoned, but the National Park service has done a marvelous job of restoring the houses on at least one street of that community. I wander about a bit, but don't delay too long as it's getting dark. 

As I start to make my way back to camp, I catch site of what appears to be an old chimney up another hill and climb up to check it out. Once atop the hill, I can see that there are actually the ruins of at least 4-5 houses up here. These appear to be older than those at Daisytown, which just a bit more than a hundred yards away. I'm unsure of whether this was part of the town or perhaps part of the older town of Elkmont. After exploring just a bit more, I head back to camp to make some dinner. 

It did end up raining through the night and it continued well after I awoke. Not having to pack up the tent and other gear made hitting the road much faster. Though I had wanted to do another hike today, I decided against it with the rain seemingly all that was on the agenda for the day. When I eventually got home, I did a little further research about Elkmont and Daisytown, but still came to no firm conclusions. I'm convinced there is more to Elkmont than what I found, but it's exact location remains something of a mystery to me.

Cades Cove (Great Smokey Mountains National Park, Tennessee)

Before heading to the campground, I decided to do the scenic 11-mile loop around Cades Cove, which is one of the most visited parts of Great Smokey Mountain National Park. Though, I've been to the park a few times over the years, I've never been to this section and thought this trip would be a good opportunity.

The entrance was a little confusing and I had to turn around a couple of times, but eventually found the correct way and joined dozens of other cars exploring the area. Cades Cove opens up beautifully this time of year. This secluded valley on the southwestern side of the park and was home to several settlers before the park was established. Many of their homesteads have been preserved and are one of the draws to this part of the park.

As I make way down the one-lane road, following numerous other cars, we are gifted with sites of the valley, which remains grasslands (after being cleared by the settlers nearly two centuries ago after the Cherokee were forced to surrender their claims) surrounded by low rolling mountains currently lush with the colors of fall. Movement is very slow, as the cars ahead of me stop often to look at . . . well, I'm not exactly sure what they are looking at in most cases. 

Making a sharp 90-degree turn, cars get backed up a long way and I see two people a few cars ahead of me get out and begin taking pictures of something, but it's not until they have moved on that I can see what they are looking at. A large black bear, fat and ready for winter, had just crossed the gravel road and was lumbering through the field on the right. I didn't stop, but I did slow down to get a picture through my passenger window of this big guy. Unfortunately, there was a barbed wire fence somewhat obstructing the shot, but it still turned out pretty good. 

Continuing further, I park at near the Cades Cove grist mill and walk around to visit the preserved buildings in this area, which includes a home and several other farm buildings. They are all well preserved and this appears to be a very popular part of the area, as there are dozens and dozens of cars parked here and people walking around taking it all in.

Soon and after having seen most of the structures, I head back to the car and start heading out of the area. There are couple of more old homesteads along the way, but for the most part I'm just anxious to get to my campsite as darkness is approaching and I have another hike to do from camp. Overall, this was a pretty scenic drive into yesteryear. I only wish visitors would do as the signage asks and pull over instead of stopping traffic constantly.

Autumn Colors in the Smokies (Great Smokey Mountains National Park, Tennessee)

I had originally planned on camping in Great Smokey Mountain National Park earlier in the year, but had to change plans due to some family obligations. At the same time I cancelled my original reservation, I was able to make another for October. Now that time is here and I'm headed to the second largest national park east of the Mississippi River. 

As I traverse the winding Newfound Gap road, I'm can't help but be in awe of the amazing palette of autumn colors on these ancient mountainsides. This should be just about peak time and the examples I'm seeing, suggest that to be true. I know Acadia National Park in Maine is well known for it's fall colors, but the combination of color and the aging Appalachian Mountains just does something magical to the visual sense. The colors stretch out like thanksgiving cornucopia as far as the eye can see. Truly stunning!

Fort Yargo Super Moon Hike (Barrow County, Georgia)

Fort Yargo State Park is only a few miles from my house and knowing that tonight would not only be a full moon, but a super moon (when the moon is at it's closest point to the Earth), I decided to schedule a hike for the Meetup to for an evening event at the park. Why not get some miles in while enjoy the lunar show. That said, it had been drizzling off and on all day and while the forecast for this evening looks to be partly cloudy with no call for rain, I'm going to prepare just in case. I had called the park office before scheduling this hike to confirm that the gates didn't close until 10:00pm, by which time we need to be out of there.

Once at the park and after wrapping a work conference call, I met up with the hikers that had signed up for my event. Nine of us in all. We did a quick round of introductions and I explained the plan, which was to hike the loop trail around the lake, which should give us multiple angles to see the moon, which was set to rise about twenty minutes after our planned start time. With all of that out of the way, we crossed the long wooden bridge departing the visitors center and entered the woods. 

Joros, joros, and more joros. That is the theme of the first part of this hike. Very large, but harmless joro spiders seemed to have colonized this part of the park. We pass by hundreds of them waiting for prey in their large, sticky webs. We stop to take a better look at a couple of the larger specimen before continuing on. 

The cloud cover doesn't seem to be easing up and I'm beginning to doubt if we actually get any views of the moon. We continue on though, as there are two objectives to tonight's event and the moon viewing is only one of them. We make pretty good time as we round the northern end of the lake and by this time darkness is beginning to set in. The kudzu tunnels offer a season-appropriate vibe as we pass through them in the twilight. 

Shortly after this section, we begin to feel some rain drops and when it finally starts raining harder, I stop the group and those that prepared properly put on their rain gear. The rain is coming down pretty good now and we are almost exactly halfway across the lake from where we left our cars. We're going to get soaked, but ah well. It's still nice to be outside, though our chances of seeing the moon have shrunk to near zero. 

As we tromp through the wet and somewhat muddy trail, I point out a few things to my comrades, including the ground spider eyes which sparkle back at us when our headlights hit them. I also catch sight of a tiny little snake on the trail and we stop to examine him, as he slithers around in the mud trying to escape us. He's a tiny little thing, only about eight inches long and with a body-diameter of no more than a quarter-inch. Later, I will find out this is called a smooth worm snake and is common in this environment. 

Finally getting back to the parking area and fairly wet, we say our goodbyes and head to our respective homes. I use the restroom and speak with another ranger who very nicely informs that the trail actually close at sundown. I explain that I had gotten conflicting information from the park office and he doesn't make a fuss about it, but just wishes me well. Total distance for the hike was about 6.4 miles, which isn't bad for a Monday evening. On my way home, the rain stops and the clouds part just a bit to allow me to get a picture of the moon from my driveway. So, I guess it was mission accomplished.

Caesars Head - Devils Kitchen (Greenville County, South Carolina)

 

I was thinking I was done with hiking and site-seeing for the day and was content to finish the drive home from Asheville, NC to my home, outside Atlanta, GA. Nature had other ideas though. After departing the trailhead where I got two different hikes in, I passed Caesars Head Overlook. I decided to turn around and check it out and I'm glad I did. 

Caesars Head State Park is apparently named for a large outcropping that someone at some point in time thought looked like the head of Julius Caesar. After having seen it myself, I'm not sure I see the resemblance, but to each their own. The overlook itself though is pretty impressive as it opens up south towards Table Mountain, exposing all of the lush greenness and very beginning of fall colors in the valley between. 

Walking around just a bit, I see a sign at the top of steel staircase that seems to descend into the rock itself. The sign says Devils Kitchen, and with I name like that, you just know I had to explore it. There isn't a lot to it, but what is there is a large fracture of one of the building-sized boulders that make up this outcropping. Though at an roughly 30° angle, the crack is perfectly flat and the staircase descends into it. After about forty feet, I pop out the other side and look back at what I just walked through. It's in impressive crack to be sure. 

The trail from here offers a view of the other side of Caesars Head, which doesn't look any more to me like the famous general than the first side did. I follow the path around and back up the other side, which returns me to the parking area. This wasn't really a hike, but the overlook and interesting geology made it worth a stop.

Raven Cliff Falls at Caesars Head Mountain (Greenville County, South Carolina)

 

I'm headed home from a craft beer festival in Asheville, NC and wanted to get in a couple of hikes along the way. Departing from the same trailhead as my previous hike, I headed the opposite direction and followed a small connector trail to a second parking lot, from which the Raven Cliff Falls Trail departs. This short trail leads to what I'm told is a spectacular waterfall. There is another waterfall by this same name in Northern Georgia, which I have hiked to a few times, but it's only real claim to uniqueness is that it has carved out a trench in a large cliffside and now flows behind the scenes. It's pretty and a nice hike, but I've always been curious about it's South Carolina counterpart. Today, we'll see how they compare. 

As I make way downhill on a gravel path, I see a few other hikers and realize that this route actually shares trail with two much longer trails, the Foothills Trail and the Palmetto Trail, both of which I would like to backpack at some point in the future. So, there is a good chance that I will pass this way again.

Soon, the gravel ends and the trail passes over tree roots and dirt as it flows mostly downhill towards the vantage point for the waterfall. There are a few junctions and I pass a number of other hikers, but overall, it's a pretty easy hike. That said though, there does appear to be some indicators of coming rains in the cloud cover and I push my pace a bit more. I don't mind getting wet, but if I can avoid it, I will.

Eventually, I come to a T-intersection and having reviewed the trail map, I know I need to turn left while the option to the right is a continuance of the much longer trails mentioned previously. After only a short distance, I come to a covered observation deck which has been built on the side of the opposing cliff from Raven Cliff Falls. 

The waterfall is quite impressive and while I can't get anywhere near it from here, I am rewarded with a great view for my trouble. Several small falls cascade into small pools towards the top of the cliff, while the main highlight is the primary vertical drop of roughly 300 feet. I'm kind of glad we got that moisture overnight, as I'm sure it's contributing to the current impressive flow over the falls. 

Having seen what I came to see and with the threat of more rain, I turn around and head back the way I came. I make really good time and end up back at the trailhead where I left my car after only about 45-minutes. My distance for this little adventure was about 4.5 miles. When added to my earlier hike along the Silver Steps Trail, it's not a bad day at all. 

Silver Steps Trail (Greenville County, South Carolina)

 

Returning home from a Craft Beer Festival in Asheville, NC, I decided to get a few trail miles. My first stop was to hike the Silver Steps Trail near Caesars Head State Park just across the border in South Carolina. When I pulled in, the trailhead only had a couple of cars and I quickly put on my pack and after getting my bearings, headed into the woods. 

I think we got just a little rain overnight as the trees and ground appear to be a bit wet. No matter, that shouldn't stop me. This trail leads to junction with another trail in the park's system and towards a couple of waterfalls. I make good time along the well traveled path as it undulates through the forest.

Crossing over a small, rickety bridge, I find the junction with the other trail and begin down that path with the intention of reaching at least one of those waterfalls. However, as I continue I'm confronted with wet, slick rocks as far as I can see down the trail. Normally, this wouldn't be an issue, but I feel my ankles rolling occasionally as I try to traverse this terrain. The last thing I need is a sprained ankle and after some internal debate, I decide to head back the way I came. There are other options in this park. Arriving back at the trailhead, I check my tracking app and see that I got in about 2.6 miles on this short hike. More to come.