My Trails

The Great Smoky Mt. Nat’l Park is an interesting place. For one thing, it has over 800 miles of hiking trails, enough for even the heartiest wanderer. For almost 70 miles the famous Appalachian Trail winds along the loftiest peaks and scenic gaps through the center of the park, tracing with it the border of North Carolina and Tennessee. On warm, sunny weekends the park is swarming with hikers. 

Another reason the park is so popular is because there is no charge to get in. Back when the park was created, a major highway cut through the center of the park, and it was decided that there would never be an admission charged to go through. That’s one of the reasons so many people flock here during the summer. It seemed such a let down to have an Access Pass and not be able to flash it for special treatment. 

On the first day I was here I did my most ambitious, day hike in quite a while. Starting out early in the morning, I walked from Cades Cove campground along Anthony Creek, ascended almost 2000 feet to Russell Field on the AT, and then finished by closing the loop along the summit and back down. It was thirteen and a half miles, not particularly monumental, but with the climb still a good workout. The next day, I took it easy and limited my walk to a five miles hike to Alum Cave. 

Yesterday was my time of sightseeing. The weather has been beautiful. It is unusual to have such clear, sunny, cloudless skies in the Smokies, and every view  from the tops of the mountains was just breathtaking. I joined hundreds of visitors at the Observation Deck on top of Clingmans Dome – the highest point in the Smokies – to views of almost 100 miles. Even the lookouts along the highway afforded spectacular views, and it was hard to even find a place to park. Newfound Gap, where Roosevelt made a famous dedication speech, was equally crowded. 

Later that day I drove to Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. The road through town was like a parking lot, bumper to bumper traffic amidst swirling pedestrians, waddling from store to attraction to slurpy food booths. There are over 100 motels in Garlinburg alone. The Great Smoky Mt. Nat’l Park is popular, but Gatlinburg is even more popular, proving that when people pack up the kids and go on vacation to a National Park, what they really want is to be able to browse through gift shops, play some miniature golf, and ride a zip line. 

Karen and I have made tentative plans to hike a section of the Appalachian Trail from 5/20 to 5/24. We will be hiking somewhere in the vicinity of Harpers Ferry, WV, so if anyone wants to join us for our backpacking adventure, let me know. 

You know you’ve been in too many caves when you start pointing out different formations and explaining how passages were created to total strangers on a tour.  After two days at Mammoth Cave NP, I have had my fill of underground tunnels for a while. On the second day of my visit, I took a tour called Grand Avenue – a walk of four miles through some of the neatest parts of the cave. It took four and a half hours to walk and even had a lunch break scheduled in the middle. The tour guide – coincidently named Richard – a retired geology and botany professor, was the most knowledgeable and interesting guide I’ve ever seen.  

From there I traveled to Daniel Boone Nat’l Forest and spent a few days hiking the trails by the Rock Castle River. On one trail I came upon a huge snake laying across the path. I reached out and poked it with my hiking pole, assuming it would scurry off into the bushes, but it turned toward me and coiled like it was mad and would strike. Even though it didn’t look poisonous, I let it have the path and detoured way around. 

On Friday, I stopped at a cinema outside of Chattanooga and saw the movie Water For Elephants. It was a good movie and I would recommend it. I had read the book a while back and wanted to see if the film remained faithful to the story. It was pretty close. 

I spent today at Amicalola Falls State Park in Georgia. It is the place where the Appalachian Trail begins in the South. In the early part of next week, and if the weather looks good, I will hike the approach trail to Springer Mountain and the official, southern terminus of the AT. Then it will be off to see the Great Smoky Mountain Nat’l Park. 

There is a mosquito in here. I can hear the tiny whine of her fluttering wings as she circles above me in the dark, waiting until I let my guard down, waiting for me to drift off to sleep. I know she’s up there somewhere, but her faint sound gives me little indication or target, even so, I flail and slap at the air in a futil attempt to strike her down. 

It’s too hot to hide under the blankets. I lay mostly naked, clad only in my boxers and socks, exposed flesh ripe and inviting to her blood-thirsty quest. Sometimes I feel the soft tickle and think she has landed. I slap my skin even though I know it’s only a ghost bite, my mind playing paranoid tricks on me.  I know she will win in the end. She will attack when I least expect it. She will take my blood. 

I stayed in Davy Crockett Nat’l Forest for a couple of days. They have some nice hiking trails and bike paths. There was a backpacking trail near there, but it was one of those hikes that starts here and ends 20 miles someplace else. I couldn’t figure out how to do it. 

The next day I visited Hot Springs, Arkansas. This is the place where families go to vacation. There are amusement parks, water parks, wax museums, petting zoos, shopping, dining, you name it!  All the fun you can imagine. 

It started back at the turn of the century. Everyone who was anyone wanted to travel to Hot Springs to bath in the therapeutic and curative natural spring water. Entrepreneurs happily built rows of bath houses, promising to cure all sorts of ailments with there miracle waters. Patrons willingly spent a week or more soaking their afflictions away. 

I toured one restored bathhouse (now under management by the Park Service) and strolled along the path where 140 degree water seeps from the base of a hill. It is very hot! Do you think I put my finger in it?

What’s this!? I seem to be losing all the hair on top of my head!  I knew that radiation would cause problems with my body. Next, I’ll probably start losing my memory! 

Anyway, I decided to stop at Carlsbad Caverns (I don’t think I’ve ever been there before). Everything looked familiar… must have been a dream I had.  Seriously, it’s just such a neat place I could walk through there every week. Instead of riding the elevator to the top, I walked back up the path to the natural entrance, over a mile in length and 850′ of vertical climb. It’s a good workout but nothing compared to the Grand Canyon. 

Don’t let anyone tell you this country is over crowded. Just drive across Texas. I’ve never seen such miles of nothingness in all of Interstate 10. From Carlsbad to Pecos, to Fort Stockton and beyond, all there is is oil derricks and wind turbines, scattered along rolling hills as far as the eye can see.  I guess it’s one of those landscapes that grow on you, but I long for a tree or river. 

I may head for Corpus Christi in a few days. I don’t think I’ve ever been on the Texas coast.