Grapeyard Ridge Trail

Hike #21 : July 5, 2014

Baskins Creek to Grapeyard Ridge Trail

200  MILES!!!


11.8 miles

10.3 new miles
291.8 total overall miles

200.4 total miles of 800.8


Eddie and I got a nice cool early morning start today but were quickly thwarted by a slight error that turned out very well. Confused? So were we.

The original plan for today was to drop a car in Greenbrier and another at the Noah "Bud" Ogle Home parking area and hike the Twin Creeks Trail before moving on to Baskins Creek. Instead, we hiked the Noah "Bud" Ogle nature trail which was actually a very pleasant and short hike at only 3/4 of a mile. The confusing part was that we thought we were hiking the Twin Creeks Trail. As it turned out, the distance between the actual Twin Creeks Trail and Baskins Creek Trail is over half a mile straight up the paved road. That would not have been fun and I'm so not disappointed that we missed it.

After our nature trail side trip, we hit the Baskins Creek Trailhead on the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail and begin our hike. The trail takes off pretty quickly as it winds its way downhill. Its a soft trail with few roots and almost no rocks. At 1.1 miles, there's a side trail to Baskins Creek Cemetery. I've got a thing for cemeteries, so we take the trip up. Way up. Its a short walk but seriously straight up. I'd suggest taking this side trip only if you have a morbid fascination with cemeteries. Like I do.

After returning to the trail, we come to the side trail leading to Baskins Creek Falls just a quarter of a mile later. This trail is a nice well used trail also going downhill for the most part. Sweet! The falls are awesome. I've read that the settlers used to use these falls to take showers and baths. After seeing it, there's no doubt. A quick and easy climb to the middle of the falls reveals what honestly looks like a bathtub. I imagine the water to be a bit cold, so I'll wait to bathe at home... but it was tempting!

The hike back out to Baskins Creek Trail is the first real challenge of the day but still only moderately so. After rejoining the trail, we have about 1.3 miles back to the Roaring Fork Motor Trail where we'll cross the road to get to Grapeyard Ridge Trail. But first we're treated to another cemetery, Bales Cemetery. Unfortunately, it was closed for repair work but we still got a good look.

Then on to Grapeyard...

Grapeyard begins as a walk through a field past a cabin, barn and corn crib once belonging to Alex Cole. Once we enter the woods, the trail greets us with a promised steady incline. There's many huge vines along this trail that I later discovered were grapevines. Guess that explains the name of the trail. After the long climb up, the trail levels somewhat and begins rolling up and down through the forest. At 4.4 miles we came to campsite 32 where Eddie spotted a deer. Another .4 miles up and we reached the the sight of the lumber company steam engine wreck of the1920s. Seems the driver lost control and the engine rolled down into the creek which was then named Injun Creek. Seems some folks think it was named after Native Americans in the area but the truth is that its actually just a misspelling of 'Engine' Creek. Since its a creek... with an engine in it.

After lots of pictures of the wreck site, we head on out. Its 2.8 miles back to the truck from here. About a quarter mile out, I gave Eddie a surprise by jogging the rest of the trail. Surprised me, too. Just another wonderful day spent in one of the greatest places on earth. Happy Trails!

TRAIL REVIEW

Baskins Creek Trail - 2.7 miles
Grapeyard Ridge Trail - 7.6 miles

1 campsite (32)

Wanna hike the 900? Start by checking out the book Day Hiker's Guide To All The Trails In The Smoky Mountains by Elizabeth L. Etnier.

For more pictures of this hike, check out the Smoky Mountain Hikertrash facebook page.

Abrams Falls

Hike #20 : June 14, 2014

15.6 miles

15.2 new miles
262.2 total overall miles

190.1 total miles of 800.8


Abrams Falls. One of the most popular trails in all the Smokies. Most people hike to the falls from Cades Cove. Eddie and I are not most people. If there's a harder way, we will find it...

Actually, we decided to do a loop hike because we like loop hikes and we need those hard fought miles don't we? Yes. Yes, we do. After driving to Happy Valley off US 129, we came to the Little Bottoms Trailhead. We're doing the loop clockwise so we head out on Little Bottoms towards Abrams Falls Trail. Almost immediately the trail goes up, waaaay up! It's not a really long hill but definitely a difficult start to the day.

The trail mostly follows Abrams Creek and is moderately difficult after that initial hill. At 2.3 miles, the trail merges into Abrams Falls Trail. Sadly, there's still the dead remains of the many hemlock trees that were killed by the adelgid outbreak many years ago. After a couple of miles, we reach the falls around 9:30. Since Cades Cove doesn't open to car traffic until 10 on Saturdays, there was not a single person there but us. Considering that there's up to a thousand visitors a day, that was pretty cool and worth the 5am wake up call. Interestingly, Backpacker Magazine once name Abrams Falls one of the most dangerous trails in the country citing 29 deaths presumably from drownings.

After a climb to the top of the falls, a feat that seemed much easier years ago, we take some pics and continue on to the Abrams Falls parking lot at Cades Cove. This pert of the trail is so overused, it has a different feel from the less traveled trails we've grown used to. We did happen upon a couple of trail volunteers picking up trash along the trail. Don't even get me started on how much litterbugs piss me off. But anyway, once we reach the parking area we take a right to the Rabbit Creek Trailhead. It is here that I get to wade for the first time on a hike in Mill Creek. Let me tell you something, it may be 80 some odd degrees outside but that water is COLD! After the initial shock of ice shooting through my body, it actually felt pretty good on my feet after 8.5 miles of hiking.

The Rabbit Creek Trail was the surprise of the day for me as it was much more difficult than I had thought. Imagine that, right? A lot of rather steep up hills makes it feels more like a hike up Mt. LeConte. And where the hike up to here had been cool and shady, there's suddenly a lot less shade and a lot more heat. The trail itself starts off wet and rocky but dried out as we went while the rocks came and went. After the junction with Hannah Mountain Trail, we begin a merciless incline that has us baking in the sun and pushing us to the limit. At least to my limit. Finally with a few miles to go, the trail begins a nice decline leading us back to the ranger station and where we started.

A great hike. I would absolutely recommend going to Abrams Falls this way but if that's your only destination you'd be best served hiking to the falls and back instead of the whole loop.

TRAIL REVIEW

Cooper Road Trail - .9 mile
Little Bottoms Trail - 2.3 miles
Abrams Falls Trail - 4.2 miles
Rabbit Creek Trail - 7.8 miles

4 campsites (1, 17, 15, 16)
Abrams Creek Campground

Wanna hike the 900? Start by checking out the book Day Hiker's Guide To All The Trails In The Smoky Mountains by Elizabeth L. Etnier.

For more pictures of this hike, check out the Smoky Mountain Hikertrash facebook page.

For more information on this hike and many more, visit Hikinging The Smokys.