West Prong, Bote Mountain and Crib Gap Trails

Hike #43 : August 7, 2015

18.5 miles

8.3 new miles
544.1 total overall miles

374.5 total miles of 800.8

West Prong Trail

What to do on a Friday when I don't have to go to work? Let's go hiking!

As I arrived at Tremont, the weather was a bit on the wet side. Actually, quite a bit.

The hike begins at the West Prong Trailhead parking lot which is located on the right just before reaching the Tremont Institute. As the hike began, it was raining and cool. Yes, cool. After so much 90 degree plus weather lately, it felt almost chilly outside. I love it!

Almost immediately, there is a side trail leading up to the Walker Cemetery. Its an uphill walk but not as steep as many cemeteries. I give it a quick look before heading back down to the trail since its raining a bit much for picture taking.

Walker Cemetery

After making it back to the trail, it waste no time heading uphill. At a little more than a quarter of a mile, a well traveled trail branches off to the right. This trail returns to the cemetery so I keep to the left and continue a steady climb for about another mile or so until it levels out and begins a downhill walk. For about a mile the trail drops steadily until coming to Campsite #18. This is a rather large, nice campsite divided by the West Prong and joined by a footbridge.

Footbridge at Campsite #18

Here's where doing my homework would have paid off. Would have. After crossing the bridge, the trail spills into the other side of the campsite. There are several "trails". A well worn trail to the left, a clumsy trail straight up a ridge, a trail to the left that appears to lead to another campsite... uh, hmmm. Which way to go? The trusty ol' GPS is telling me the trail continues to the left so I go left on the well worn path. After a short while, the path becomes less and less worn and damn near disappears. The GPS now informs me the trail is to my right so I take a few steps off the trail (I know, bad idea) just to see if I can see the real trail. Soon I'm standing next to thick Rhododendron and a huge ridge. Time to retrace my steps back to the campsite. I return all the way back to the bridge and then I see a campsite sign to the right and boom! The trail picks up directly across from that sign. So, a right turn from the bridge and a left turn at the camp sign. Got it.

From here, its just over half a mile up to the junction with Bote Mountain. Its a very steady uphill half mile. At the junction, I take a right onto Bote Mountain and its .3 mile to the next junction with Finley Cane Trail. This is where I'll be coming out later on my way back out. For now, its onward and upward on Bote Mountain.

The evil majesty that is Bote Mountain

Bote Mountain has a reputation as a steep, rocky hellish trail. The first mile and a half does nothing but justify that reputation as I climb and climb and climb. Then something unexpected happens. It levels out to a flat comfortable and, dare I say, easy trail. I found it remarkably beautiful as I was surrounded by pine trees and the foggy mist that is so common in these wonderful mountains.

There are several glimpses of the surrounding mountains along the way as I reach the junction with the Lead Cove Trail. A right turn leads down Lead Cove. I've previously blogged about this trail here as part of my hike to Thunderhead so I'll skip on ahead to where Lead Cove connects with Laurel Creek Rd.

Directly across Laurel Creek Road is the Trailhead to Turkeypen Ridge Trail which connects to Crib Gap Trail. I hadn't planned on taking Crib Gap since it would add over 3 miles to an already lengthy hike but the weather was cool, it had stopped raining some time ago and Randy, my hiking buddy who was not with me today, had encouraged me to go ahead and knock it out while I was here. So at the junction, just .2 mile along Turkeypen, I could have turned right onto Finley Cane and headed back out but instead I go left onto Crib Gap.

Crib Gap begins as a rather easy uphill walk and I soon spot what must have been an old homestead. Rock piles indicating there was probably a farm here and what looked like a long ago fallen chimney are all tell-tale signs. So, of course, I have to wander around off trail for a while as the rain picked up again. As I finally reach Laurel Road again, I notice there are no trail signs on either side of the road but I knew from looking at the map (I did do a little homework!) that Crib Gap crossed to the other side and continued on to the Anthony Creek Trail. So I crossed and continued.

After crossing the road, the trail heads up. Steadily. Its not really steep but more than I'd expected. Now there have been a few occasions in my many hikes that I have felt, quite strongly, the the park's mileage is slightly off. This is one of those times. 1.6 miles my ass. This trail seemed to go and go and go. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice trail and all but knowing I have to turn around and come back is severely hurting my moral. There is a really nice resting area for idiots like myself just before reaching Anthony Creek.

A nice resting spot near the end (or beginning) of Crib Gap

  
Just for the record, I checked my GPS when I got to Anthony Creek and again when I made it back to the Crib Gap Trailhead and it was exactly 2 miles. Just saying.

After getting back to the the beginning of Crib Gap and the junction with Turkeypen and Finley, I continue straight on to Finley Cane going through the tunnel beneath Laurel Creek Road.

Very cool tunnel to rock-hop through on the Finley Cane Trail

I've also already blogged about the Finley Cane Trail here. After 2.8 miles, Finley comes out onto Bote Mountain as I stated near the beginning of this long winded blog and then I retrace me steps along the West Prong Trail back. I will share this nice little tidbit. I was stepping up the pace on the way out because, well, frankly, I was over it and ready to get back to the cemetery and on to the parking lot. I was at a slow jog until I came upon a bunch of roots and slowed back down. No sooner had I slowed down, I slid on a wet root and wiped out pretty badly. I'm sure it was a funny sight to see but, fortunate for me, no one did. Guess I should have kept the jog going. Anyway, I stopped by the cemetery and paid my respects and took some pictures before finally heading out.

I was exhausted! But it was one heck of a day!



TRAIL REVIEW

West Prong Trail - 2.7 miles (one way)

Bote Mountain Trail - 4 miles

Lead Cove Trail - 1.8 miles

Turkeypen Ridge Trail - .2 mile

Crib Gap Trail - 1.6 miles (one way)

Finley Cane Trail - 2.8 miles

Campsite #18

Walker Cemetery

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.