Hike #41: July 19, 2015
8.9 miles
1.9 new miles
516.2 total overall miles
362.1 total miles of 800.8516.2 total overall miles
What's a person to do when its too hot outside to hike? Hike anyway!
What would lure me out of a nice comfortable air conditioned house on a hot day for a late start on a trail I'm not particularly crazy about? Well, its simple. This hike is with my good friend, the incredible and ever crazy Dawn Eipeldauer. Not only that but Eddie, Randy, Cindy and a new friend Aimee Sullivan are all along for the ride... or in this case, the climb. So here we go!
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| The gang's all here! Left to righ: Randy Hullinger, Eddie Wright, Eipeldauer, Aimee Sullivan, Me and Cindy Parton Taylor |
Since we weren't meeting until 9am at the Rabbit Creek Trailhead near the Abrams Campground, I decided to leave early and take a ride along the Foothills Parkway and stop by Look Rock since I'd never been there.
Look Rock is an observation tower similar to that atop Clingmans Dome. Its a half mile walk up a paved trail to the tower and its well worth the walk.
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| Look Rock observation tower |
The views are very impressive for such a short walk. Its easy to see that this is unfortunately the hang out for some hellions who like to drink their beer and pollute nature. The world has no shortage of dumbasses I suppose.
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| View from Look Rock |
After hanging out and taking a bunch of pictures, I head out on my way to the meeting point where I find Dawn waiting. Now, I've only hiked with Dawn once and it was the absolute worst hike I have ever been on. The Hell Hike as I call it. Still, we definitely bonded that day and have wanted to hike together ever since. I also get the pleasure of meeting Aimee Sullivan with whom I've only known through facebook. So, along with the usual suspects: Eddie, Randy and Cindy... let's hike!
We head off on Rabbit Creek Trail which I've hiked and blogged about before here. I won't go into a lot of detail but the trail is up and down with a few steep climbs and offering some nice views to the right on occasion. The conversation is the star as the group dynamic is spot on as we wind up the trail. Its clear its going to be a good day!
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| Rabbit Creek Trail |
At 2,7 miles in, we come to the trail junction with Hannah Mountain so we take a break.
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| Hanging around... |
Soon, we're starting down the Hannah Mountain Trail. I really enjoyed this section of Hannah Mountain. Its a nice trail lined with some of the biggest pine trees I've ever seen. There was also gobs and gobs of blackberries. The blackberries in the mountains are the best you'll ever taste. Oh, my, did I taste a lot of blackberries along this trail! Cindy even found a few ripe blueberries... at least we think they were blueberries. We ate them and didn't die so its all good. As for the the trail, its surface is really smooth for the Smokies as we wind our way up and down the easy to moderate trail until we reach the prize of the hike... Abrams Creek.
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| Abrams Creek... no bridge! |
Time to get wet! The creek was wonderful. The heat of the day made the cold water feel even better than I imagined it would. In a moment of poor judgement (which I'm known for), I lead the way across.
The water was deeper and the current faster than I thought. It was scary and exciting! I almost lost it and I loved it! I'm pretty sure we all did. Cindy may or may not have fallen in. Ah, who am I kidding? Of course she fell in and we all laughed. We'll bring it up many many times in the future and laugh again. That's what I love about this group of people. Its all fun and games until somebody gets hurt. Or is that especially when someone gets hurt? Lol! Either way, we have fun! And we all made it across in one piece! I was secretly hoping Eddie might get just a little bit wet but shhhhh! Don't tell him.
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| Made it!!! |
After the crossing we head up Little Bottoms Trail. I've hiked this trail a few times. I've also blogged about it here. Little Bottoms is a rough trail and the heat really made it miserable. Aimee spotted Look Rock from the trail which was really cool and kinda took my day full circle. Great eye, Aimee! I'd never have noticed it.
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| That's the Look Rock observation tower way up there on top! |
Water started winding low but thankfully Randy was well prepared and saved the day for Dawn with a few extra bottles so all was good. The heat, the sweat, the never ending climbs of the trail was wearing thin by the time we made it back to the parking lot. But what a day! I wish I had words descriptive enough to encompass all the fun we had on this hike but I don't. I know I've bad mouthed group hiking before but this group... well, it just clicked for me and I really enjoy being around these people. This could be the start of something really good.
Until next time, happy hiking!
TRAIL REVIEW
Rabbit Creek Trail - 2.7 miles
Hannah Mountain Trail - 1.9 miles
Little Bottoms Trail - 2.3 miles
Cooper Road Trail - .9 mile
Campsite #1, #16, #17
Abrams Creek Crossing
Wanna hike the 900 without getting lost? Start by checking out the book Day Hiker's Guide To All The Trails In The Smoky Mountains by Elizabeth L. Etnier.
Hiking Trails of the Smokies or "The Little Brown Book" from the GSMA
Hiking Trails of The Great Smoky Mountains by Ken Wise
There is loads of information in the pages of GoSmokies.com.
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