Rough Fork, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, January 2008

Roger planned a loop trip in a beautiful part of the park. The Park Service has recently released Elk in the area, and while they're shy, they're not shy about dropping tons of Elk scat on the trail.

We happened upon the Woody House - a decently kept-up settler's cabin, and we went exploring...

This just in: Roger writes with a wrap-up:

Campsite 41
Caldwell Fork Trail

The Asheville contingent - Mike, Chris, Suzy and I - met David Cain at the back country permit station within the Cataloochee Campground at around 11:30. Then went on to the Rough Fork trail head further down Cataloochee Rd. It was 1.26.08 and we had been working towards this trip for a while. David and Dawn are expecting so it was necessary to do the annual Smoky Mountain trip as early as possible. There had been a fire ban and low water supplies due to the extreme drought. This among other things made us cancel our earlier December attempt. Thankfully the ban had been lifted and there was water aplenty by the time we reached the trail head. The trail head was in the beautiful Cataloochee valley which was wide and grassed. There was on old homestead here as well as an old barn.

We got geared-up and took off down the first leg of this loop trip. The time was 12:30 pm. The loop was Rough Fork Trail to Caldwell Fork Trail. Caldwell Fork to campsite 41. Then on Sunday, Caldwell Fork to Big Fork Ridge back to the car.

Rough Fork Trail starts out as a gravel road bed that is flat for the first 1.5 miles. Toward the end of this leg a house appears out of nowhere and is open for viewing. I was not expecting this but enjoyed the early architecture. The ceilings were only 7' in a good portion of the home which is quite different than today's homes. Just past this house is campsite 40 and the end of the gravel road. Campsite 40 is stuck off the trail to the right. It is in the rhododendrons but a nice site.

From here the trail gets narrower and goes up hill 1000' over the next mile. It took us a couple of hours to get up the mountain and we were quite happy to see the top. The trail although strenuous was beautiful and filled with huge trees. We were following tracks of an Elk or two and a wolf. We followed these guys for quite a long distance. We were in and out of snow for most of the weekend. So the tracks were easy to see.

At the top of this hill was the intersection with Caldwell Fork Trail. From this point to campsite #41 was all down hill. Once again it was beautiful landscape. The trail got a little rockier which always makes it more challenging. We eventually got to campsite #41. It is the first campsite that I have seen in the smokies without an official campsite number marker. It is a wide open site on both sides of the trail. We chose the left hand side of the trail and set up camp. The right hand side is much bigger but both were nice. The time was 4:30 pm. The sun had been behind the mountain since 3:30 pm.

Our campsite had a fire pit that someone had built a rock wall on to reflect more heat. I would have to say this did work to some extent. We all got our tents up and went looking for firewood. Chris had brought an axe and Mike the saw, so the procurement was more on the large scale than is typical for us. The 6-8" tree parts were sawed, split and stacked.

Soon there was a nice fire which felt wonderful as the temperature was already in the 20s. Next we all had dinner. I had the Mountain House chicken stew which tasted like the inside of a chicken pot pie. David had the lasagna which he thought was good. After dinner we just hung out by the fire and talked. I jokingly said that "I had reserved the entire Smoky Mountain National Forest for us for the night." Where we were at the time it really appeared as though I had. Not a sound could be heard except the crackle of the fire. Was a wonderful experience compared to the hustle and bustle of the everyday.

As is tradition, David brought a small sampling of bourbon which he and Chris enjoyed. For future reference this was Woodford Reserve. I had poured a Mackeson triple stout beer into a plastic container to enjoy. This is not recommended as it was really flat and just about burst my platypus as it was being shaken as we went down the trail. I think Suzy had a butterscotch schnapps which she said was tasty. Mike turned in first then Suzy and David turned in next. Chris and I hung out by the fire talking and looking up at the stars. We had a great time visiting and coaxing the fire to sleep. Soon after we hung the bear bag and we went to bed. My thermometer said 25 degrees.

My 0 degree bag did well and morning came quickly. We all got up and had breakfast. It took a little longer to boil water in the cold. Chris even brought an old coffee percolator which he used to make coffee with. As this aluminum pot did not weight much it was a great idea. We all enjoyed the morning fire then struck camp. David had a child-birthing class that he needed to be back in Atlanta for so we needed to hurry.

We started walking at 10:30 am. We went downhill for about a mile and a half on Caldwell Fork trail until we reached Big Fork Ridge trail. Big Fork Ridge goes up 500‚ for about a mile and a half then back down to the trail head for another mile and a half. This trail should be renamed Elk Poo Trail as it was covered. This is usually not a problem but at points on this trail the erosion was so bad there was only and 18" wide trench to walk through. This confinement made missing the poo tricky. More big trees made this a very pretty walk. For some reason this hill seemed to never end but eventually we got to the top and started down the other side. At about a half a mile out, Suzy got bit by a root and fell on her bad knee. Mike and Chris carried her pack the rest of the way to not overload this recently broken knee cap. She made it out fine and is bruised but not broken. On the way out we passed a very tall pen of some sort. I would imagine this had something to do with the Elk or the tagging there of. We got back to the van at around 2:00 pm.

All in all it was a beautiful walk. The snow was easy to navigate and the temperature although brisk was pleasant.

The iron man award goes to both David Cain and Mike for walking 9 miles on hurting feet.

The gear award has to go to the Chris for the percolator. This is usually referred to as the best "new" gear award. Since the percolator is probably older than I am the award title has been amended for this mailing.

David mentioned to me on the trail that this was probably going to be his last trip with us due to the pain in his feet. He has been a tremendous supporter of and wonderful company on these winter outings for many, many years. Should his situation not improve he will be surely missed. We will look forward to seeing him and his new family on the shorter trips when they are able.

Sure is fun walking heavy in the Smokies in the winter. I'm already looking forward to next year. The tentative plan is for campsite #34 on Gabes Mountain Trail in the north east corner of the park. There is suppose to be a nice water fall (hen hollow falls) on the way. The trail head is the was as where we started from on Lower Mount Cammerer trail last year.