A Little Porters Creek and a Whole Lot of Fun

Hike #45 : August 23, 2015

10.2 miles

1.8 new miles
562.5 total overall miles

384.5 total miles of 800.8


I don't know why in the world it has taken me so long to hike on Porters Creek Trail but I'm glad it did. Why? Because if you're going hiking in Greenbrier, nobody knows it better than my friend and guide, Mike Maples. Although its not really off trail season, one little adventure wouldn't hurt. So let's go!

Randy and I met Mike at the ranger's station in the Brier at 8am and headed on down the gravel road as Mike gave us a history lesson along the way. Mike has an incredible knowledge of the places and people that made up this once thriving community. His love and passion for this area is abundantly clear in every word of every story he shares. I only wish I could retain a small portion of his knowledge.

The first mile of the trail is a wide gravel road bed that follows alongside of the creek. About .7 of a mile in, we cross Long Branch (see, Mike, I finally remembered the name!) by way of a footbridge and come to the rock stairs and a zig-zagging rock wall to the right side of the trail. This was home to Joel Ownby and later to Vanderbill Whaley before the creation of the park*.

*Edited from an earlier post where I confused this with the Cantrell place. Thanks for keeping me honest, Mr. Maples! Lol!

Steps leading to the old Joel Ownby place

Just a short ways from the Ownby place, a side trail to the right leads to the Ownby Cemetery. Although I'd been here a few years ago, I was glad to be back. My love and appreciation for these beautiful fading cemeteries has grown immensely and I feel somehow connected with them now.

Ownby Cemetery

Just a ways beyond the cemetery there lies the old remains of a truck just off the trail. I'm sure this is missed by most but is clearly visible once you know its there.

Rusting away

After a mile, the road ends at what is called Porters Flat. From here the trail goes on to the left but we head to the right toward the Brushy Mountain Trail to the John Messer farm site. Here we see the beautiful cantilevered barn along with the hiker's cabin built by the Smoky Mountain Hiker's Club in the 30s. There's also a two person outhouse on back beyond the cabin.

John Messer Barn

Spring House

Hiker's Cabin

Now, when hiking with Mike, he sometimes shares some (never all, I suspect) of his secrets and hidden places. These belong to Mike and I'm not giving them away. I guess that's the main reason I've never blogged about our hikes together. That and the fact I seldom even know enough about where I'm at in the first place! Anyway, after leaving the Messer place we head off trail. Mike leads us right to several cool spots including the nearly reclaimed foundation of another cantilevered barn.

Barn remains

As Mike was sharing the history of this barn with us, a deer walked right up to us. She seemed fascinated by us as if she'd never seen a human before. She stayed within sight for quite a while. Sometimes the mountains are like your own private Disney movie.

After a while just meandering around in the woods, we connect with the Brushy Mountain Trail and head back to Porters Creek. Along with a little light rain, we reach Fern Branch Falls. There wasn't a lot of water flowing but that didn't take away the beauty of it. I made the slippery walk up to the falls while Randy and Mike took a snack break.

Fern Branch Falls

Just a little cold water trickling down...

From the falls, we head back down Porters to the car where we head off to the next adventure of the day... the Barnes place.

The remainder of this hike is all off trail. As Mike always says, "Hike off trail at your own risk!"

Again, its not my place to reveal exact locations and such but there are several blogs about the Barnes site including one from Mike himself on his GoSmokies blog.

After reaching the trailhead, which is not marked or particularly well visible, we begin the climb up. The climb is around two miles up and I mean UP. Unrelentingly up. Going off trail around Porters Creek was relatively easy but this climb is more what I'm used to with a Mike hike. Mike is also a hiking machine and he can be hard to keep up with but Randy and I do our best. As we reach the last little bit of the climb, things become rather overgrown and the briers are thick but we scratch our way through and find the three small tombstones of the Barnes children waiting at the top.

The Barnes children cemetery

I've seen this small cemetery referred to as the saddest place in the entire park. Maybe it is, maybe its not... but it does evoke emotion. The thought of a family losing a child on Christmas Day is horrible in itself but to then have another child born exactly one year later, again on Christmas Day, like some Christmas Miracle only to lose it... Well, I can't even imagine.

A little further past the graves, Mike showed us the remains of the Barnes cabin. All that's left is a portion of the stone chimney.

John Barnes' place

The hike back down was much easier than the climb up but still steep. And that's where the trip comes to a close. I love hiking the park's trails and I hope that someday I will be blessed enough to walk each and every one of them. Still, I have found there's so much more out there than what's on any map. You just have to know where to look or who to walk behind.

Until next time, keep it in the dirt and happy trails!



TRAIL REVIEW

Porters Creek Trail - 1.8 miles

Brushy Mountain Trail

Off trail - somewhere around 8 miles, give or take.



Messer Barn, Hiker's cabin, spring house, etc.

John Barnes Home site

Barnes children graves

Other old homesteads, barns... and just a bunch of cool stuff




Do yourself a big favor and check out Mike Maples on GoSmokies.com! You might learn something!

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.