Bears and Bugs and Snakes Oh My!

Gregory Bald Loop

May 15-17, 2015

Map can be found HERE

 

Day 1 - 7.1 miles hiked with 3516 ft up and 198 ft down of elevation change

The day arrives for my first backpacking trip into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I leave my house, swing by Crockett's and pick him up and head west to meet up with JJ.  Once we are all in the same vehicle we make our way to the Smokies.  Today's plan is to start out from the Twentymile Ranger Station and hike up to backcountry campsite 13.  The day becomes a little warmer than ideal and we sweat our way up the Wolf Ridge trail.  

 

In the months since Standing Indian I have gone down the ultralight backpacking rabbit hole a bit and my pack is considerably lighter than last time.

Myself, JJ and Crockett getting ready to hit the trail.  

We are all rocking the oh so unflattering but practical zip-off pants.

Many of the creek crossings in GSMNP have these log bridges.

Our first but certainly not last wildlife sighting of the trip.

The Wolf Ridge trail continues 7 miles up, and I DO mean up, to campsite 13.  BC13 is one of my favorite sites in the Smokies.  It's large with plenty of tent and hammock options and a handful of firepits for multiple groups of campers.  We arrive at the site and a group that is already there warns us of a bear they've seen walking around camp.  Keeping an eye out but not seeing the bear, we set up and prepare for dinner.

While sitting around the fire on whatever logs and rocks were available we notice another group at the site sitting in chairs drinking bourbon and smoking cigars.  A thought occurs to us that we might not be enjoying ourselves as much as we could be.  The experience does open our eyes to the possibility that chairs small enough to take backpacking do exist.

Sunlight playing across the ferns in the forest understory.

JJ demonstrating the proper wearing of the headnet.  They are much more bearable with a billed cap.  The gnats had come out in force and were determined to make a landing in our eyes.

Testing out the new and much lighter Dutchware nylon hammock.  

Part of my continuing gear evolution.

Wildlife sighting #2.  Several whitetail deer warily approached our camp this evening.

 

Backcountry sites in the Smokies are equipped with cables to make hanging food and packs easier.  We made sure to take advantage of them (it is also required), having been warned of a bear earlier.

Day 2 - 10 miles hiked with 1259 ft up and 4161 ft down of elevation change

The day dawned warm and humid, typical as the Smokies warm up for summer.  Today's hike will take us up the Gregory Bald trail, over Gregory Bald and eventually meet up with the Appalachian Trail at Buck Gap.  We then turn south on the AT towards Shuckstack and the fire tower.  Once we are done at the tower we will backtrack north on the AT to the Lost Cove trail and make our way down to campsite 90.

Crockett and I having breakfast before heading out for the day.  

He is the lone ground dweller on this trip.

Hey guys!!  I think this is the top!

The day was gray but still very much worth the work to get up here.

One of my favorite photos JJ has ever taken of me while hiking.

Calling the bear hotline to see if they like blueberries.  They do.

 

We spent a pretty good while admiring the views from Gregory Bald before continuing on towards the AT and ultimately Shuckstack fire tower.  Something I learned on this trip is to make sure you are out of sight of the trail when nature calls and also that you know exactly how to get back to the trail!  Luckily being pretty much in sight of the trail I was able to look up and see my friends waiting on me to finish. 

 

Going southbound on the AT we soon reached backcountry campsite 113 aka Birch Spring Campground and elected to have lunch here.  This very nice site was closed when we were there due to bear activity.  Closures are fairly common and always remember to check the park webpage for trail and park closures when making your reservations.

Some common sense right here.  The Smokies have one of the highest concentrations of black bears anywhere in the United States so it's not unusual to see signs like these and signs of the bears themselves.  Although in the intervening years I have hiked 400 miles and spent over 40 nights in the park and have only actually seen a handful of bears.  More on that later...

Birch Spring Campground also known as Backcountry Site 113.

After lunch we made our way down to the Shuckstack fire tower.  If you are ever in this area of the park, the tower is worth the effort to reach it.  Some of the most amazing views of the park are found at the top of the tower.  A short side trail off the AT leads to the base of the tower.  Unfortunately the top of the tower was locked and inaccessible so we had to settle for the views from the stairs.

Shuckstack fire tower viewed from the base.

Fontana Lake as seen from the tower.  The dam can be seen in the right side of the photo.

Crockett putting a happy face on the climb up the narrow stairs.

I'm apparently channeling a high rise steelworker here.

Leaving the tower we hike northbound up the Appalachian Trail to the Lost Cove trail junction.  The three steep miles of this trail will bring us to campsite 90 on the shore of  Fontana Lake.  Be prepared to lose nearly 2000 ft of elevation from the AT down to the campsite.  Even more disheartening was knowing that we would have to climb right back up this trail in the morning to go home.  Such is the way of the Smokies and the designated campsites.  Sometimes you have to take a less than desirable route to make the trip work.  I will say though that having the designated sites helps to concentrate the human impact in much smaller areas and I greatly appreciate not seeing a campsite and associated toilet paper blooms every 200 ft in the other areas of the backcountry.

It's not called Lost Cove for nothing! 😉

 

An unbridged creek crossing provides some welcome relief for tired, sore feet.

This has got to be the most unflattering shirt I've ever worn backpacking by the way.

Looking down on backcountry site 90 with Fontana Lake slightly visible through the trees.  Another excellent site although it is reachable by boat so it tends to accumulate trash more than some of the more remote sites.  This in turn attracts animals.  More on that later...

Looking down at Fontana Lake from BC90.

Say hello to my little friend!

I think he might have followed us from Wolf Ridge trail because we look like so much fun.

Crockett and I marveling at JJ's ability to build a bonfire even in the often damp Smokies.

Day 3 - 8 miles hiked with 1912 ft up and 2328 ft down of elevation change

PERV BEAR appears!  As promised earlier, here's the bear story.  

 

I was answering the call of nature about 1 am at the edge of the campsite.  I tend to scan around the area with my headlamp while doing this and on one pass I see 2 orange glowing dots about 50 ft up the hill from me.  I'm pretty sure this is not a deer as my lamp picks up no lighter color in the neighborhood of the eyes.  I can only see the eyes slowly blink in a black void on this moonless night.  "HEY BEAR" in my most intimidating voice causes the eyes to turn and retreat into the black night.  Just to make sure it's gone I go wake JJ and Crockett.  JJ is so sound asleep I can bearly wake him.  After what seems like an hour we get up and look around to make sure it's gone and then return to bed in an attempt to sleep.  Not more than a couple of minutes after settling down I hear a stick fall from a tree and hit the top of Crockett's tent and slide down the side with a loud zzzzzip sound.  The next thing I hear is him flailing about and yelling trying to get out of the tent.  I very nearly wet myself laughing when I figured out what had happened, good thing I had just gone to the bathroom!  This incident repeatedly gets brought up with the joke that maybe it was just trying to get a look at the goods.  We then christen this animal the Perv Bear.

Once the eventful night passes we wake and begin to pack up for the hike out to the Jeep.  As soon as we start back up the Lost Cove trail it starts to rain turning the steep trail into one long muddy slip and slide.  The final wildlife encounter of the weekend occurs when I round the bend and see a low black shape drinking from a stream right in front of me.  After the night before you can imagine what I was thinking.  This is not a bear however.  It's one of the Smokies feral pigs.  Upon seeing me it bolts straight up the rocky mountainside at the side of the trail.  I had no idea pigs could move so fast!  Following this last wildlife encounter we scramble up the muddy trail to once again reach the AT.  This time we take the Twentymile trail back to the parking lot at the ranger station.

Twentymile trail coming down from the AT.

One benefit of hitting the Smokies when it's warmer, the mountain laurel have started blooming.

Twentymile Cascades.

 

Wondering when our pizzas are going to show up as it feels like we are about to starve to death.

What a wonderful adventure.  The events of the weekend only helped to further cement in my mind that I had found something I loved to do.  Even the frights from the bear and snake and pig couldn't keep me away.

Til next time...