10-18-2014 MT. STERLING HIKE 10.3 MILES After our hike yesterday wed enjoyed the campfire that Ron had built while we were out hiking. Listening to the water flow nearby Pam and I had a great nights sleep in our hammocks at Big Creek. Poor Ron suffered in his hammock with his neck and didnt sleep well. We ate our breakfast and Ron put up his tent for the next night and we headed back to Cataloochee to meet our hiking friends. Wayne Garland, his son Tory and Torys girlfriend Rachel Motro, Pam Hembree and Tally Grant braved the cold, dark and very early hours to drive up and join us for a day of hiking and elk watching. We met them at the campground restrooms (as we werent at site 19 after all) and told them of the previous days adventure. They got a huge laugh out of that as well as this days screw up that I managed. You dont have to go too far into the day before I do something nutty...lol! When Pam and I had hiked the day before I said that I had meant to cut the straps off the Leki hiking poles that I found last month because they chafe my wrist. While we waited on Ron to set up his tent I got out my knife to do the deed. Pam walks over to me and asks what Im doing and I tell her. She says, you just cut the straps off my poles. Idiot! (She didnt call me idiot...I just am...lol!) Ron said they just come out and I didnt have to cut them which was good because it meant that Pams could be replaced and she didnt have to kill me after all. Anyway after rounding up the troops we headed ten miles back across my favorite road in the Smokies to the Mt. Sterling trailhead to begin our hike. As I stated in yesterdays hike the trail started a steep ascent for the first half mile but today the fun didnt end there. A total of 2.8 miles of serious climbing was on this chilly mornings agenda. Personally I was glad that it was so chilly or I really would have croaked! As it was it took two very long hours to make that 2.8 mile climb, crawling at 1.4 MPH. At least for some of us...lol! Who knows how quickly the super hikers made it in. I was too winded to ask when I finally got to the firetower...lol! Killer that it had been, it was still so worth the trip. I had been to the Mt. Sterling firetower previously, up another very serious climb on the Swallow Fork, Baxter Creek backpack with Joe Gavalda, Karen Fischer and Melvin a couple of years ago and was no less in awe of the spectacular views on this trip. Even the icy wind cutting through you couldnt detract from the spendor all around. Balsam Mt., Luftee Knob, Mount Guyot, Max Patch and Cataloochee Valley among other peaks were visible for as far as the eye could see. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful! Our return trip was on the Mt. Sterling Ridge and Pretty Hollow Gap Trails which took us back to Cataloochee Valley beside the school. Mt. Sterling Ridge (the section we did) was mostly downhill with one little bump along the 1.4 mile section. I cant wait to do the rest of this trail as it is a couple of miles of easy ridgeline walking. Another day....sigh! Today we took a nice lunch break at the gap junction where Pretty Hollow Gap, Mt. Sterling Ridge and Swallow Fork all come together in a nice flat clearing. A nice young couple who had backpacked up Swallow Fork joined us but it was soon time to go. 5.6 miles (now ALL downhill) to the valley. The 2400 descent took us through three ecosystems and gave us an excellant opportunity to see how the woods change with the different elevations. As we descended we came closer and closer to the Pretty Hollow Creek until we were hiking along it for a couple of miles. It then emptied into the Palmer Creek which we followed for the last 1.6 miles. It was near this creek junction that Tory spotted a cub coming down the hill right toward them. It crossed directly in front of them and scurried on down through the vegetation towards the creek. Hmmmm, wonder where mamma was? Pam P., Ron and I were not with the group at this time but wed had our bear sighting earlier so it was cool that everyone got to see a bear today! That always makes the trek exciting. It was also along this section that the milage to the hike came into question. Wayne had his Mapmyhike app on and he was registering 10 miles with 1.6 to go and I had said the hike was 9.3 miles. After getting back I saw that I hadnt added the .5 miles from the junction to Mt. Sterling and then back on down another .5 miles to the hike. That still gave our ending total a mile discrepancy. Normally I would say the trail isnt measured correctly but I really trust the Smokies maps. These trials have been hiked, measured, hiked, measured, hiked and measured again. Not to mention the speed discrepancies. If it had been 11.6 miles that would mean we were hiking 1.93 MPH vs. 10.3 miles at 1.72 MPH. I really dont think so with the long difficult climb at the beginning. Either way it was a great hike, awesome views and a good time! Wayne and I had to make the trek back to pick up my vehicle (another 10 miles down that gravel road) but left the others in the valley to begin watching the elk. We had come out at the school and restrooms, running into Betty and Furman Smith there. We had known that they and Bettys neice Myra and her husband Tony were coming up to elk watch and it was very conveniant that we ran into them there and then. Betty had made a chocolate chip cake and luckily for Wayne and I there was still some left when we returned...lol! We all enjoyed the elk before everyone but Pam, Ron and I left to head home. We headed back to our campsite and enjoyed another fire and night in our hammocks/tents along the creek. It had been a really good day!
Posted on: Thu, 23 Oct 2014 18:01:57 +0000
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