Big Creek

Our Big Creek trip to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Roger writes:

For the second time, we were going to go camping at Nolan Creek. This time it burnt down before we could get to it. Luckily Richard remembered to get reservations at #37 just in case. So, on 12/1/01 at 11:45 the Atlanta contingent (Bev, Richard, David and me) arrived at the ranger station at Big Creek campground. Only 45 min. late, which is pretty good for us. Richard was kind enough to drive and I believe the trip was around three hours from his house.

At the ranger station, we met my brother Mike and his friend Pam, filled out a backcountry permit, then headed to the parking lot just below the Big Creek trail head. After eating lunch and a fair amount of "getting ready" we got on the trail at about 1:00 PM. In the beginning, the trail leads away from the river and steadily uphill. We never got far enough away from the river to escape its roar but it did get quieter. The uphill part was steady but not painful. Just a very gentle gradual grade. I must confess I did not remember this from my last trip here. Of course I was not old enough to drive back then, "killer queen" by Queen was atop the billboard charts, so it has been awhile. I did not remember the grade and the trail being reasonable rocky. I could have sworn that it was just a pretty level gravel road. Well, it's not level but after talking to my brother Chris, he also remembered being able to drive a car all the way into where we camped on a gravel road. It is amazing what we remember without even trying. We were walking down the trail and I told Bev that the river was on the wrong side. Not long after this we crossed a big bridge and the river was on the side I remembered. I also remembered that there was a bridge just before the camp and the river swapped sides again. Now if I could only remember what I did yesterday!

Anyway, back to the trip. The trail then heads back to the river and follows it the rest of the way. At 2.1 miles we stopped for a bit to enjoy "Mouse Creek Falls". A nice 20 foot falls on the left side of the trail. Then a bit further we crossed the before-mentioned bridge which has one of the most beautiful deep green pools under it I have seen on any of these trips. The river itself is stunning, full of deep pools, huge boulders and swift moving shallows. You want to look at it more but if you take your eyes off the trail for long you will trip and fall. As I think all of us almost did a time or two. How about those rocks! When we reached "Brakeshoe Spring" we paused again for a bit. At this point the trail does get a little more level. I kept looking for the pool that we went swimming in long ago. I found many that could have been the one but no definites. Maybe Jim Spencer would remember if here were there with us.

Even at this time of the day the sun was going down in the valley. The temp was about 50 or so degrees which felt like walking in real good air conditioning. As Richard and I discussed, another plus to winter camping! Along the way we were met by a few folks and a number of horses. I would imagine the flies are pretty thick on this trail in the summer. We then crossed over the final bridge and made it the 5.1 miles to our destination. Campsite #37 "Walnut Bottoms". The time was 4:10 PM.

Walnut Bottoms is the most heavily used backcountry site in the Great Smokies National Park. The site is "rationed" which means you must get a reservation. This site is so busy you must normally get a campsite reservation weeks in advance to have a place to stay. For some reason we lucked out (maybe the recent fires) and had the whole place to ourselves. After we reached the site, tents were put up and firewood was gathered. This was great because there had been a fire ban in the park until the day before. Richard the "fire god" got to work. Richard, has this knack for building a fire that produces a great number of coals and is pretty self sustaining after awhile. Tis a beautiful thing! Anyway, we all assembled our Thermarest chairs and gathered by the fire. Mike had gotten me one of these for my b-day and I got Bev one as an early X-mas present. They are pure luxury!!!! I mean just outstanding! David Cain had been telling me how great these things were for awhile and he was right. Like sitting on a nice cushy couch. The only thing different than being at home is that if you lean back away from the fire you can see your breath. This luxury sure felt great at the end of the trail.

Dinner was next. We had a bunch of different freeze dried meals. I had Mountain House's new "beef and potatoes" which was pretty good. I'll give it a 6 out of 10. Bev had Mountain House's beef strogonoff which is great and tasts just like chicken. I think David had their beef stew and he said if was pretty good. Can't remember what Richard had although I think it was strogonoff as well. Mike and Pam were living it up with real fried chicken! I did hear my brother utter two words that I did not think were in his vocabulary when he tasted his freeze dried potatoes. The words were "needs salt" (salt is bad for you). Mike had also brought some great German wine which we all enjoyed [name of "oscillator"? - DC]. Was a great time had by all next to the fire in the woods that night. We had a full moon so the forest had a glow about it. These campsites are all in a grove of large pretty hemlocks which really give you a tremendous canopy effect. The full moon streaking down through the trees was awesome! While we were next to the fire, Pam got out the coolest new gadget. It was a LED headlamp about the size of a small egg. It was three white LEDs and put out a tremendous light. We talked and talked. I think it was about 10 or so when we all turned in.

Sunday morning we woke up to around 40 degrees which is down right balmy for one of our adventures. Mike and Pam already had the fire going and we commenced to start Pancake Fest 01. I think we made over 20 pancakes between all of us. Bev and I tried something new, we added pecans to our bisquick mix. This is real tasty! Mike had also brought bacon and eggs.

Sometime right after breakfast, Richard noticed something had been munching on his Snickers bar in his pack. This was odd because the pocket it was in had a zipper and was shut. Come to figure out that the night before, while we were all around the fire, a mouse had snuck into his pack when the pocket was open and munched his candy bar through his ziplock. I have heard of similar things happening in heavily used shelters but never in a campsite. Smart mouse! Mike thought he saw him again that morning.

Anyway, after breakfast we struck camp and headed down the hill. I think it was about 11:15 AM. We paused at the waterfall and enjoyed lunch. Then made it down the trail back to the cars just before 2:00 PM. Mike and Pam did great. I hope they had fun and not too many blisters.

I think the reason I remember this trail as being flat is because it looks flat on the way out and that would have been the last impression I had of the earlier trip. All in all, it was about the perfect camping trip. Wonderful weather, a beautiful but not challenging walk, an incredible campsite all to ourselves and great company.