wonderland

Family adventure~

My wife and I took our daughter on a fantastic adventure Saturday. We drove down to Cades Cove Saturday morning before the gates were open to car traffic. So we loaded the bikes up with gear and pedaled into the cove. I was riding the X-tra Cycle, and carried our hiking gear. We rode back to the Abrams Falls trailhead and locked our bikes up. The journey to the falls would continue on foot from here. So we hiked the 2.5 miles to Abrams Falls where we sat by the water and waded a little. We had planned to swim, but the mountain water was too cold, probably from all the recent rains. It was amazing relaxing back there by ourselves. It is a hike that is normally very popular, so we felt lucky to enjoy it all to ourselves. When people started showing up, we took our time gathering our gear and headed back. We hiked out, then finished with a ride. After making it out of the woods, we set-up a picnic. It was an amazing day.

Mount Guyot

deep

Saturday was pretty much the first sunny day since the snow storm. It had not gotten above freezing in a week. We checked the GSMNP road report and 441 opened that morning.
Heading up the mountain it was clear that we were going to be in deep snow. At Newfound Gap there were a dozen or so cars, and it looked like everyone was gearing up for a big day. Some had XC skis, some with snowshoes.
Somehow me and Brian ended up breaking trail for most of the morning. Whoever was up front ended up working twice as hard as whoever was further back in the line of hikers. We stopped a few times to let someone else get a turn up front.
Our plan was to make it to Charlies Bunion, but it was eventually scaled back. Our first real stop was going to be Icewater Springs Shelter. I had packed my DSLR and wanted to get there first so that I could get a few pics before the snow got tracked up. I hustled like I was in a race to make it there. After taking the pictures I wanted, it was a great place for lunch.
After finishing lunch around 2:30, we had officially ruled out Charlies Bunion and decided to head to The Jump Off. It was amazing. We stayed for a while, I didn't care if we had to hike out in the dark.






Ice Water Springs Shelter






Tremont:

Metcalf Bottoms

Look Rock

Summer

Fall

Winter

Spring

Blue

Look Rock

liquid sunshine

Blooming Rhododendrons from the Chimney Tops, GSMNP

pictures worth a thousand words / flowing prose

Mt. Cammerer

The mountain formerly known as White Rock, Mt. Cammerer, was buried in waist deep snow on Saturday. This fire tower had recently appeared on my radar when I came across some old photos.
In the mid-ninety's I hiked the AT through the Smokies, starting in Cosby. I managed to by-pass the tower by ascending Low Gap and heading south towards Fontana.
Saturday was a perfect day to reach the summit. Blue skies and deep snow.
































The moon shines bright in Cosby

White Rock

I found these old photos of the look out tower on White Rock, which was not mentioned in a GSMNP trail map. I went on to discover that White Rocks has since been renamed as Mt. Camarrer.
I had missed this portion of AT when I hiked a small chunk in 1996. Starting from Cosby up Low Gap; heading south. I begun just a few miles south of the tower.
Needles to say, I've got this in my sights. HERE on the state line.





Photo Credit:
Albert "Dutch" Roth

Ramsay Cascade

Despite less than ideal weather, I was determined to make something out of nothing. Fortunately I was able to talk Eric into going for a hike on a shitty Saturday. We drove to the mountains in the rain, which became snow above 2000'. It was hard to tell at what elevation the snow would fall, so rain was a good possibility.

Snow was a welcome sight. We climbed around on icy boulders in old growth forest looking for a big waterfall, and I figure that was good way to spend what was a rainy Saturday morning in Knoxville. Hope you enjoy my pics.

On our way back from the falls, we passed a couple of other groups, which was somewhat of a suprise given the conditions at the lower elevations. But the true hearty souls were the one carying kayaks up the trail to put in the Middle Prong of the Pigeon River on a cold day with the water ripping. We saw two different groups making runs. The water looked rough, way above my skill level in a boat.

The spelling of the the name Ramsay is contridicted here:









I'm a tree hugger