GoSmokies Spring Event - Lucky #7

In spring of 2012 we had our first GoSmokies Event in Greenbrier. We had more than 50 people show up to show support for this Event and it proved to be a huge success. We return again to Greenbrier in the fall for another Event that proved the first one was not a fluke. We did do a Saturday hike associated with the second event which I was unable to attend but it did have a good turnout. It was far less people than the Sunday hike and was geared for more experienced off trail hikers. A few of the folks who attended both hikes did indicate that they were somewhat tired for the second day’s hikes; however, they did have a good time. Perhaps, we will try a weekend event one day; however, it has been difficult due to people’s schedules and other issues. Sunday has been the traditional day mostly because of the planners schedules, however, for most people this day seems to work best. Like anything else, planning an event is going to be good for some and not so good for others. As I have often said, none of us that plan this event are dictators and there is nothing stopping another GoSmokies member from staging their own event. We have been especially appreciative of the support that Knox News has given us for all these events. We have had someone from the Newspaper at all the events. Jack Lail has been to many of the hikes and has been nothing but supportive of our efforts. Not only has he shown support but also his own personal love of the Smokies through his attendance.

The third GoSmokies event was at Metcalf Bottoms. Mike Maples stepped aside and the group was lead by Mark Snyder for a historical look at Walker Country. We took the off trail route to the Walker Sisters place and again the Event had more than 50 people.

The fourth event in the late fall of 2013 almost did not take place. Some of you may remember the Government shut down that took place that year. A few people suggested having the event anyway as a protest to the shut down. Of course, we did not do this for multiple reasons with the first being the safety of our members. The event did occur shortly after the Park reopened with a mid November hike in Cosby. Even with short notice we still had 21 members show up for a great day of off trail hiking in Cosby.

We moved to Twin Creeks for the 5^th Event in spring of 2014 for some good hikes in the Twin Creeks/Roaring Fork area. One thing we were starting to notice was the difficulty of doing a morning and afternoon hike with so large a group. There seemed to be less time for socializing and lunch as we had to get going for the second hike. Furthermore, some folks would not do the second hike due to time concerns. Traditionally, the morning hike has been intended to be easy for folks of any skill level. The afternoon hike was intended as an introduction to off trail hiking.

We returned to Cosby for the 6^th GoSmokies Event in the fall of 2014. Trying to switch things up a bit, I asked Jim and Renee of the Remembrance Project to lead a hike to the Dorsey Cemetery. Me and Mike Maples would do some off trail hikes that afternoon after lunch. It worked out to be a great hike; however, we did do some “spur of the moment” decisions along the way. Jim and Renee did take us to the cemetery, but we had some side trips and the group split from the cemetery. Some returned with Jim and Renee while the rest headed off trail with Maples toward the Picnic Pavilion. Lunch was late and many people did not do the second hike. In fact, the second hike was somewhat unannounced and consisted of a small group going with Mike Maples and a second group that wanted to return to a spot we had visited earlier in the day. It was a great day from a hiking perspective, however, a bit crazy from a planning perspective.

All this leads us to spring of 2015 and Lucky number 7 with another stop in Cosby. This area has been chosen a few times for the parking lot size, picnic pavilion and ease of access to several hiking areas. However, we are looking at other possibilities and are hoping to have the fall event in another part of the park.

We have been blessed with beautiful weather for all these events. However, it seemed that out luck was going to run out for number seven. Storms were predicted for the weekend and rain on Sunday seemed imminent. The question of cancelling or postponing the event came up a few days before the event. However, the Picnic pavilion had already been reserved and we knew that some people had already made plans that were coming from out of town. Therefore, we decided to go forth as planned. Besides, we are hikers and what’s a little rain to hiking folk!

As it turned out we had people from as far away as Wisconsin show up and despite the weather forecast we had 28 attendees! The planning for the event was a little different with a short easy hike planned at 9:00am for those who wished to show up early, followed by lunch, socializing and the main hike. To my surprise as I drove into the parking lot, most of the people where already there for the early hike.

In fact, by the time we set out for the Cosby Nature trail everyone had showed up and were ready for a good day of hiking! I encountered a few sprinkles on the drive over, but at least for the moment we had no rain! Mike Maples was pointing the way as we set out to do the entire Nature trail and a little bit of the Low Gap connector.

One thing the rain brings out is all the color of the forest. Think about how you feel after your morning shower: Vibrant, refreshed and alive! That is how the forest appears after some rain fall. The colors are vivid, drops of water dripping from wildflowers and the landscape comes alive renewed and refreshed. Everyone was enjoying the wildflowers and leisurely pace of this first hike. We past some rock piles that Maples believed to be a home place. Unfortunately, there were no Nature trail pamphlets available at the trailhead for us to describe the various sign post. This place was at sign post #5. If someone has a pamphlet handy I would like to know if someone lived here. Also, information on signpost #7 and #8 would be appreciated.

Number 7 appeared to be where a barn may have been located and nearby #8 was definitely a home place. Jack Lail declared it his place!

The trail passes through in front of the chimney remains with the rock structure of the house directly on the other side of the trail.

According to my GPS we had hiked 1.6 miles and saw three home places on this first hike.

Maples took a group of people for a side trip to the car we visited last GoSmokies event, while I took the rest of the group back to the pavilion for lunch and some socializing. It was shortly after 10:00 am and still no rain!

We had plenty of time for lunch and chatting with friends new and old. We had not planned the main hike until noon so it was nice to enjoy the day with no rush.

And of course, we had the official group photo!

The atmosphere was relaxed and for the first time we actually set out for the second hike ahead of schedule! Another first was the way that the hike was planned. The map below shows the entire hike for the afternoon. I will break this down later.

The hike was designed to give people multiple options. The first part of the hike was to the Williamson Cemetery. We walked from the pavilion, through the campground, and to the trailhead for the Snake Den Ridge trail.

It is a short hike up to the Williamson cemetery and along the way we encountered our first rain of the day.

The rain was more like sprinkles and had little effect on our enjoyment of the cemetery. Ella Costner the “Poet Laureate of the Smokies” is buried here, as well as Joseph Campbell and several members of the Williamson family.

The rain was short lived and rain gear was removed as Mike Maples predicted no more rain for the moment. When asked how he knew this, he replied, “A little Birdie told me.”

Well, he is the Jedi… so we took his word on it and proceeded up the trail. At this point, I informed the group that we would be looking for home places on both sides of the trail and that anyone who wished to return via the park trail the could at any point. Everyone follow us up to the point where the road bed loops around and it becomes a trail up the remainder of Snake Den Ridge. I had marked several waypoints on my GPS from the 1931 map that were in this area.

The Snake Den Ridge trail does not appear on this map but we were at the upper home site on the map. There was no indication of a home place off the trail other than my waypoint, so a group of us headed off trail to explore. We were not disappointed as four of us found the home place above the trail.

We sent someone down to inform the rest of the group of the home place and that we were going to continue off trail from here.

We ended up with 9 members to do Part two of the days hike while the rest returned via the park trail. We took our brave souls back up to the home place for another look before departing down the ridge.

Very close to the home place, Mike Maples noticed a very large rock standing upright on what appeared to be a man made mound. The mound was adult size and you could see where dirt had been dug right next to the mound. It did not look natural and very much had the appearance of being a grave.

I happen to have my dowsing rods and did get a positive indication; however, with the rain and the damp ground this may not be accurate. Still, it looked like a possible grave. At this point, it is unconfirmed.

We headed down the ridge to look for two more home places. We found some old roads, but no home places. However, we did take note of where we might return to look for them next time. We still enjoyed the wildflowers and stopped now and then to relax and just soak in the moment.

We came out on the Snake Den Ridge trail with another opportunity for anyone to bail out and take the park trail back down. All nine of us decided to proceed down to the old road on the 1931 map below the cemetery. We came to a rock wall that I followed across to where the upper home site was supposed to be located. I did not find anything other than the old road heading down. I met back up with the group as we attempted to follow the old road. Storms and Tornado damage has ravaged this area and we kept getting driven farther from the old road. In fact, it was so bad that we crossed in between the other two home places I had wanted to find in an effort to evade all the blow downs. Some members of the group were elated to discover something else that made the effort worthwhile.

Even though we were side tracked away from the home places, the hike was enjoyable with wildflowers and lots of scenic beauty to take in.

We took the path of least resistance back to the campground and had a great hike with only an occasional sprinkle of rain. I check the time and it was only 2:30, so I began thinking about those home places we had missed on the way down. As we came to the campground connector trail to the Gabes Mountain trail, I announced that I was going to head up the trail to look for the other home places. Mike Maples and Joel Parton said they would accompany me and we bid farewell to our fellow hikers.

Here is how the afternoon hikes break down on the map. The blue shows the initial hike up to the cemetery and the Snake Den Ridge trail. The red shows the second part off trail with the group of nine. The yellow is the last part where the three of us went to find the other home places.

We took the connector trail toward Gabes Mountain and left it near a home place I had previously been to with Mike Maples.

Here is where the real rain of the day began. We continued off trail and found the old road and once again ran into all the blow downs we previously encountered. Had it not been for my waypoint on the GPS, I do not know how we would have found the home place. It turned out that my waypoint had been plotted very close to the actual home place and we located a chimney amidst the ruble of fallen trees.

I managed to bushwhack around the chimney for some closer views.

We continued across to where we had come down earlier to look for the other home place. We got close to my GPS waypoint but the area was in such bad shape that we could never locate the chimney. With so many fallen trees it could be buried beneath one of them. Since it was raining most of this hike, I did not get pictures of just how bad this area was. Maybe some winter we could return and do further exploration.

For all but the three of us, it was a relatively dry day. Only the rain on the last part left three of us wet. Luckily, I had dry clothes waiting in the car so it was no big deal. Once again, it was a great event and despite the forecast we had a good turnout for an enjoyable day in the Smokies! All of the GoSmokies hikes have been wonderful experience; however, I think today’s event was the smoothest and best planned one to date. I would like to think we have learned a few things along the way. When dealing with nature and the elements there is always going to be an element of the unknown. However, the unknown is often what makes hiking so enjoyable. Thanks again to Eleanor and Bonnie for all their hard work and effort in making this thing happen for us. Thanks to Jack Lail and Knox News for their continued support. And thanks to my partner in crime. Mike Maples for your friendship and help in making these hikes so special. And most of all thank you to all our members who have come to these events to make them the enjoyable days that they have been!

Mike G’s GoSmokies Blog Index