10-27-2013 to 10-30-2013
After church on Sunday my wife dropped me off at the Big Creek Trailhead in Smoky Mountain National Park. This area is just south of I-40 on the Tennessee/North Carolina border and is the Northern terminus of the Benton Mackaye Trail. We planned for her to pick me up at Smokemont campground in a couple days. I am hoping to hike all of the Benton Mackaye trail before I start my new job at the end of January, 2014 and this was my first section.
The trail between Big Creek and Smokemont is about 32 miles long and has around 8000 feet of elevation gain. I had a minor emergency at the trailhead when one of my hiking poles wouldn’t extend. It was stuck so tightly that ended up having to clamp one end in the flat tire jack, stand on the jack, and pull the other end as hard as I could to get the pole to extend. This took about 20 minutes and I’m sure I looked like a real experienced backpacker in the parking lot while this was going on. I finally got started out about 3:00pm and began the hike up the Baxter Creek trail towards Mt. Sterling where I planned to camp for the night.
- Baxter Creek Trail
The Baxter Creek trail climbs from 1800 feet to 5800 feet in about 6 miles. Even though it gains 4000 feet the trail is never steep. It maintains a good steady grade all the way to the top. The vegetation on the ridge changes above 5000 feet to a spruce fir forest.
- Baxter Creek Trail, nearing Mt. Sterling
About half a mile from the campsite there is a side trail for water. When I got there it was getting close to sunset and had just started to rain. I needed water so I hiked down about 700 feet and filled up my water bottles.
- Water source near Mt. Sterling
There were 7 reservations for the Mt. Sterling Campsite for Sunday night so I expected there to be quite a few people there when I arrived. But when I got there the camp area was empty. I wandered around for awhile to find a good spot off the trail and out of the wind. A young couple did show up about half an hour after sunset, but they camped in the main tent site right off the trail.
- My spot at Mt. Sterling Campsite
I made dinner, hung my bear bag and got in the tent soon after I arrived. The camp area is right on a ridge so it was quite windy that night. It also rained for several hours, but I stayed dry and warm with my new(used) Eureka Spitfire Tent. The next morning I climbed the lookout tower and had some great views.
- Mt. Sterling Fire Tower
- View from Mt. Sterling Fire Tower
- View from Mt. Sterling Fire Tower
This is one of the few towers where you can actually climb into the original lookout room.
- Inside Mt. Sterling Fire Tower
I left the area about 9:00am on Monday morning. My goal was to make it to Campsite 48 which is about 16 miles from Mt. Sterling. Sunset was at 6:45pm so I had just under 10 hours to get there before dark. The Mt. Sterling Ridge Trail starts near the tower and runs South for 5.5 miles to Laurel Gap where there is a shelter. It is relatively flat along the ridge but dips down near Pretty Hollow Gap about 1.5 miles from the tower.
- Pretty Hollow Gap
I met a family along the way who had spent the night in the Laurel Gap Shelter and were heading for the Mt. Sterling Campsite. They said they had left a bag of dehydrated food on the bear wire and that I was welcome to take it when I got there(I guess they didn’t want to carry it any farther). I had plenty of food, but I figured I would check it out when I got there. I made it to the shelter at Laurel Gap about 11:30am and had lunch. I am quite terrified of shelters, but this one was actually pretty nice. It even had a fireplace.
- Laurel Gap Shelter
I pulled down the family’s food bag from the bear cables and it was full of expensive backpacking food. I had worked hard to get my pack weight down before this trip and I didn’t really want to carry alot of extra weight for the next 20 miles, but I’ve never had food like this so I decided to load it up into my pack.
- Free food!
With a noticeably heavier pack I descended about 2000 feet over the next 4.5 miles to Old Balsam Road. There was a short road walk before the next climb up to Hyatt Ridge.
- Bridge on Old Balsam Road
It was about 2:00pm when I began the 2000 foot climb up to Hyatt Ridge.
- Heading up towards Hyatt Ridge
Again, the grade was never steep and the trail was well laid out as it climbed up out of the Straight Fork drainage. I didn’t see much wildlife on this trip, just some bear scat and a few squirrels, but I did see a couple Salamanders in this area.
- This one wasn’t afraid of me
I got to the top of Hyatt Ridge about 3:30pm. At this point I had hiked about 13 miles and all of the uphill hiking was behind me. This was good because I was pretty whipped. Doing tax research and building spreadsheets in Graduate School is a poor way to get in shape for backpacking. The elevation on the ridge is about 5000 feet and the trail leveled out for a while.
- Hyatt Ridge
I descended about 1500 feet in 3 miles to the Raven Fork of the Oconaluftee River where my camp for the night was. I got water from a feeder stream just before the campsite. I usually try to get water from streams that don’t drain from the Appalachian Trail area. It seems like there are alot of viral outbreaks due to poor sanitation along the AT in this area.
- Sawyer Squeeze Mini
Campsite 48 is across an old metal bridge over Raven Fork.
- Campsite 48
Campsite 48 is a pretty nice site with two separate areas and the trail in between. The sound of the river is really cool in the campsite. It reminded me of the Linville River with all the big rocks.
- Raven Fork River
It was about 5:00pm when I got to the campsite. I was thinking about having a fire but I was pretty tired so I made dinner and went to bed.
- My alcohol stove. Made from a can of potted meat.
The alcohol stove I made worked great(Andrew Skurka has a great youtube video on how to make it). It boiled water fast and didn’t use as much fuel as I thought it would. I’ve been using 190 proof Grain Alcohol as fuel because its non-toxic and if it spills in my pack it won’t contaminate all my gear. The only downside is that you can’t buy it in North Carolina. I called a North Carolina ABC store to ask about this and apparently it is legal to possess, but not legal to sell in the State. So I bought some the last time I went through Tennessee. When I bought it the salesman looked at me kind of funny and warned me not to drink it without mixing it with something. I was using Denatured Alcohol in my stove for a while, but you never really know what mix you’re getting with it. Plus there are alot of toxic chemicals that can pose some fairly significant health concerns(permanent blindness, cancer, and reproductive harm).
- Thrift store cooking pot, 50 cent stove, and a tin foil windscreen
The next morning I took my time getting up, had breakfast and coffee and left camp about 10:00am. It was 10 miles to Smokemont Campground where my wife was going to pick me up at 6:00pm. The trail paralleled Enloe Creek for about a mile after I left camp.
- Enloe Creek
The log bridge over the creek was washed away but it wasn’t too hard to find a way across. Enloe Creek was my favorite drainage area during the trip.
- Enloe Creek
After about a mile the trail left Enloe Creek and climbed about 1000 feet up to Hughes Ridge. It then becomes the Chasteen Creek Trail and descends steeply down to Campsite 48 on Chasteen Creek where I stopped and cooked some noodles for lunch.
- Campsite 48
Shortly after leaving Campsite 48 there was a nice side trail to a cascade.
- Chasteen Creek Cascade
The trail became flatter and the day started to warm up once I got down under 3000 feet in elevation.
- Chasteen Creek Trail
At this point I hadn’t seen anybody for a day and a half and I was surprised there was no one out on the trail because I was very close to the campground and Highway 441. Smokemont is one of the busiest campgrounds in the Smokies and October is the busiest month in the park but I had the trail all to myself.
- Chasteen Creek Trail near Smokemont Campground
I made it to the trailhead about 5:30pm and was happy to sit down on a real bench. At the trailhead there is a reconstructed church that you can walk around in.
- Historic Church at Trailhead
Anne came to get me a few minutes early which was nice. It was good to see her again.
- Anne
The total trip was 32 miles with about 8000 feet of elevation gain. This is the highest part of the Benton Mackaye Trail so Fall was a good time to hike it. I think temperatures ranged from the mid 30s to the low 60s during the 3 days I was on the trail. That’s perfect backpacking weather for me. I hope to do the 25 mile section between Smokemont and the Road to Nowhere next. Hopefully I’ll get it in sometime before classes end. Thanks for reading!
- Me
Blue Ridge Trails 