Hiking in the Smokies

Our group of 5 hiked from Newfound Gap in the Smoky Mountains to Charlies Bunion, down Dry Sluice and Grassy Branch to Kephart Prong and the road. We had dropped a car at the Kephart trailhead in the morning. There is a new signpost at Newfound Gap, giving the distance to Katahdin, Maine. We saw several through hikers at Charlies Bunion.

It was a neat wildflower hike, as we saw early March flowers all along the AT to Charlies Bunion, then "walked into April" as we got into lower elevations. The hillsides all along the AT were blanketed in Carolina spring beauty, with masses of trout lilies blooming on sunny banks. I thought it odd that we never saw the intermediate wildflowers, like bloodroot, rue anemone, trilliums, etc. We did see bead lily just coming up, as well as some monkshood, and lots of small turkscap lily foliage. A few clumps of false heliobore were just coming up (I consider these to be late spring flowers at lower elevations). Click on "photos" above for the pictures I took on this hike.

On Dry Sluice we found sunny banks just covered in trailing arbutus, in full bloom, a big surprise given how late it is in April. As we turned down Grassy Branch, we began to see what I consider early April bloomers at lower elevations: Trillium erectum, T. grandflorum, star chickweed. There was a lot of brook lettuce blooming by the streams we crossed, as well as monkshood about to bloom. We never saw T. luteum the entire hike. A large section of Grassy Branch had been swept away, apparently from some big rock slides, and it was a bit difficult to get past that section.

As expected, on Kephart Prong we saw some large masses of T. grandiflorum and T. erectum, as well as several nice big clumps of painted trillium (T. undulatum). Wild phlox was in full bloom, and wild geranium was just beginning to bloom.

Our big disappointment for the day was that we couldn't find the place along Newfound Gap Road where the huge clumps of yellow ladyslippers have always been found. To our dismay, it looked like the area had been mowed and bushhogged recently, and possibly backfilled. We did see a few yellow ladyslippers blooming along Little River Road, as well as enormous crossvines hanging down from trees along the road.

Six of us hiked Porters Creek this past week, and although it was a cold and overcast day, we weren't disappointed. We saw all of the early spring bloomers, save Bloodroot, as well as many others (see Photo Album). The hillsides were covered with fringed phacelia, although I estimated they were about 60% finished. The fact that Porters Creek was covered with snow the week before most certainly added to the early climax for the Phacelia. Trillium luteum, T. grandflorum, and T. erectum were all in full bloom, with many large displays of them. We saw just a few showy orchis, several in bud on the hike in that were open by the time we hiked out. Just a few dwarf crested iris blooming, but many buds.

I saw more dwarf ginseng than I ever remember - years ago when I first hiked Porters Creek, they were mostly in abundance on the trail just before Fern Falls, but now I saw them from start to finish all along the trail. I was surprised at how many wildflowers were blooming along the upper part of the trail past Fern Falls - it is up over 3000 feet, so we saw trout lily (finished at the lower elevations), rue anemone, one hepatica in bloom, and all the trilliums.

At Fern Falls, I saw the one lone jack-in-the-pulpit for the day. Looking a little cold. There were quite a few wood anemones also, but they never perked up and really opened.

Last week, Wednesday March 18, we hiked Scott Mountain trail in the Smoky's from it's junction with Schoolhouse Gap (2000 ft) to it's junction with Crooked Arm (3400 ft), and back. We saw some early wildflowers blooming, but none in profusion. We saw bloodroot, spring beauty, toothwort, hepatica, and trailing arbutus. This past week, March 25, I walked up the first 1/4 mile of Chestnut Top trail, and saw the above as well as chickweed blooming, and yellow trillium, T. grandiflorum, phacelia, and stonecrop in bud. In this next week, if it doesn't get too cold this weekend, there should be lots of wildflowers popping out, especially below 2500 ft. Look at the photo album for Scott Mountain to see the early bloomers we saw on that hike last week.

As part of Great Smoky Mountains 75th anniversary celebration, the Knoxville
Symphony Orchestra (KSO) will perform pop and light classical compositions during a 90-minute outdoor concert in Cades Cove on June 13, beginning at 3 p.m. Some favorites will include The Star Spangled Banner, Overture to The Cowboys, Beautiful Dreamer, Ashokan Farewell, America the Beautiful, selections from Sound of Music and more.

A vehicle pass will be required to attend the concert. Vehicle passes will go on sale tomorrow,
Saturday, March 28, at 9 a.m., and then again on Monday-Friday, March 30-April 3
between 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. until all passes are sold. Passes can only be purchased by calling
the KSO Box Office at 865/291-3310. Only two passes will be issued per person. The
cost of the pass is $25 for vehicles with up to a 15-passenger capacity and $50 for
vehicles with a capacity of greater than 15. Friends of the Smokies, who are sponsoring the event, will donate a portion of the sales to the Park.

Note that the vehicle pass, along with a receipt, will be mailed by the ticket office
and both are required for admission. These two items must be clearly displayed on the
driver’s side of the dashboard BEFORE entering the national park.

Cades Cove is located on the western end of the national park in Blount County near
Townsend, Tennessee. Historic cabins, farmhouses and churches that date from the 19th
and 20th Centuries are maintained in Cades Cove. The concert will be held in a large
open grassy field/meadow adjacent to the Cades Cove Visitor Center at Cable Mill,
located half way around the 11-mile one way Cades Cove Loop Road.

More information regarding amenities, parking, etc. can be found at www.greatsmokies75th.org

Access to the Symphony area will open at 10 a.m. and it is recommended that you arrive early.
All pass holders are encouraged to fill each seat in their vehicle. 1,500 vehicle passes will be issued with an estimated number of attendees expected at between 4,000 and 6,000.

The Cades Cove Loop Road to Hyatt Lane will be open from sunrise (around 6:30 a.m.) to 12 p.m for non-concert traffic. The Saturday morning bicycle closure will be cancelled. The far west end of the Cove will be closed at Hyatt Lane (the second crossroad) and motorists and bicyclists will be directed across the valley to exit Cades Cove. The detour will shorten the length of the trip to an 8-mile tour of Cades Cove. The Hyatt Lane bypass will eliminate access to the Cades Cove Visitor Center and Cable Mill area as well as the several trailheads located on the western end of Cades Cove. At 12 p.m., general access to Cades Cove will be terminated at the Townsend Wye near Townsend.

NOTE TO HIKERS:
All the trails on the western end of Cades Cove will be closed on Saturday, June 13, as they are located beyond the Hyatt Lane closure.
Trails along Laurel Creek Road – No access after 12 p.m, June 13.
Trails in the Tremont area - No access after 12 p.m, June 13.

A friend and I decided to hike up the gravel extension of Schoolhouse Gap Road near Townsend, TN, to the intersection of Scott Mountain and Schoolhouse Gap trails in the Smoky Mountains. Our intent was to hike Scott Mountain Trail to Crooked Arm Trail and back, but after about 3/4 mile, the trail became overgrown, and there was so much poison ivy we decided to abort. We turned around and hiked Schoolhouse Gap Trail to Laurel Creek Road and back to the gap. It has been extremely dry, and we saw very few wildflowers. We had hoped to see Indian Pinks in profusion, but saw very few. The rhododendrons had just begun blooming, and the Mountain Laurel was almost finished. It was a disappointing hike as far as flowers go. Click on the "Photos" link above to see the pictures I took.