Total Mileage: 35
Route: Lakeshore Trail to Lost Cove Trail to Twentymile trail
Route: Lakeshore Trail to Lost Cove Trail to Twentymile trail
By the way... final mileage count... After taking into account trail re-routes since my map was published, as well as a slight alteration in the itinerary (i.e. stopping 4 miles early on Thurs. and adding 4 on to Fri.), the mileage was 22.5 on Thursday and 12.5 on Friday for a grand total of 35 miles.
My Weight Problem by Sam Graves
Thanks to my friend Andy, I’ve developed a backpacking weight disorder. I’m a bulemic backpacker. There... I’ve said it. Our recent trip from The Road to Nowhere in Bryson City, along the Lakeshore Trail ending up at 20 mile Ranger Station demonstrated that even at 26.2 pounds, my pack was still overweight. We are new subscribers to the ultralight backpacking movement. Previously, I wouldn’t bat an eye at a pack weight of 45-50 pounds for a normal overnight or even multiday trip. This time around, we did things a little differently.
First of all, Andy figured out how to build a camp stove that weighs under an ounce using coke cans.
It runs on denatured alcohol, PGA, or HEAT engine treatment. We chose PGA for the bragging rights. Next, instead of lugging a heavy 6-10 ounce water filter, I picked up some Micropur water tablets that turn pretty much any natural water source into drinkable water in half an hour. The list continues from there... as
in... don’t pack gloves if your outer layer has pockets, or you plan to bring a spare pair of socks (a must for backcountry hiking) just put your hands in them. Cook your meals in plastic ziplock bags so you don’t have to pack in plates or bowls. Use a lightweight tarp and your treking poles to make a shelter so you don’t have to carry a tent. Some backpackers cut off the handle to their toothbrush to save weight. We didn’t bring one at all. Who needs the weight? Andy managed to get possession of a kitchen scale, so here we are dragging stuff out of our packs, weighing socks, biking arm and leg warmers (you only need the extra coverage your shorts and short sleeved shirts don’t provide, so why pack the extra fabric weight?) Andy had two sets of tent stakes we weighed and of course took the lighter ones. We discovered the fancy Nalgene bottles that everyone who owns a Jeep or SUV probably drinks out of to look trendy weigh almost double that of a one quart Powerade bottle. Who needs the brand name at twice the weight?
The trip was awesome. The altered GSMNP map above shows the route we took. I’ll post the pictures Andy took as soon as he uploads them. We did 22 miles from Road to Nowhere to the Hazel Creek Trail Junction and stopped at campsite 86 on Thursday. The trail followed the various creeks when it wasn’t bordering Fontana Lake. The trail was very well maintained and we passed numerous homesites where houses existed no less than 40 or 50 years ago. This is one of the youngest additions to the Great Smokey Mountains National Park with people that lived in the areas we hiked through up into the mid-1940’s. Andy almost died of a heart attack when a grouse launched off the side of the trail (it sounds like an instant helicopter), and as we descended into the Hazel Creek area, we saw a herd of deer and a flock of wild turkeys. The Hazel Creek Hilton was one such homesite that still had a standing building. For more details about Hazel Creek check this wikipedia article. It had our saving grace when we realized it wasn’t occupied... clean drinking water. They had a water faucet feeding well water from the ground. We hadn’t anticipated the amount of water we would use the first day, so we had already gone through half the Micropur tablets and were discussing how to ration water when we saw the building. It was wonderful. Better yet, it was less than a quarter mile from campsite 86, so we used what water we had for drinking as much as we wanted, and cooked with the rest, filling up on our way out Friday morning. It was a welcome and much needed surprise. There was a group of youth with a couple of leaders from Seymour staying at campsite 86 that night also who had paddled into the site from the lake, but after 22 miles and the little energy it took to cook and eat dinner, we ended up just going to sleep and didn’t socialize. I had slept with a bandana upside down on my face to keep my nose warm and it worked like a blindfold, so I had no idea it was morning until Andy woke me up. Again, saving the weight of packing in glasses and a protective case, I just slept in my contacts. We got up late considering how early we normally start out in the morning, ate a quick breakfast, and hit the trail around 9:30.
The 4 miles we intended to get in Day 1 were moderate until we started over one of the many ridges we were to cross. We descended into campsite 90 where we had planned to spend the night, and got a great picture of the nicely built bridge they had there. (coming soon). Coming up out of campsite 90 we connected to the Lost Cove trail. It was 2.7 miles of UP. I capitalize the importance of the incredible elevation gain over such a short distance. The peak of the moutain is where Lost Cove intersects the Appalachian Trail just a few miles before it leaves Tennessee to continue into North Carolina. From there is was just a (somewhat) gradual descent for 5 miles on the Twentymile trail back to where we left Andy’s car at the Twentymile Ranger Station. My bum knee left me a few minutes behind Andy, but I got there, old man cantor and all.
The Boot Side Note: My boots (a well researched pair of Montrail Torres) have gained a reputation of giving me a good blister every hike I take with them. This trip was no different despite putting a square of packing tape on the back of my foot and then following up later with mole skin. This time these stupid boots gave me the standard blister with a couple of accomplice blisters, and then decided it didn’t like where the original blister was, so it tore it off. I hiked the remaining 14 miles the next day with my foot in this condition. It wasn’t too bad, but by favoring my right foot with the blister, I put too much strain on my left knee and it started going out when I went downhill. Here’s a pic of my nasty blistery foot if you so dare. I warned you... it’s really gross. Needless to say, these boots are going on Ebay and I’m in the market for a new pair. By the time I made it back to the car, I was hobbling like an old man. If I hadn’t used a treking pole, I would still be coming down off the mountain.
