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Route 2 (red): 30.9 miles, 30 new; 8:15
Route 3 (blue): 8 miles, 8 new; 2:00
Route 4 (purple): 6 miles, 5 new; 1:15 |
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| +6,832' -7,150' |
Come first weekend in February, Kevin joined me on the
Great Smoky Postman. To capitalize on his company, I proposed attempting what's possibly the crux of the entire project. But reports of snow/ice above 4,000' urged us to stick to trails, preferably lower elevation ones at that.
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| View from Snake Den Ridge |
To front load mileage, we devised a point-to-point 30 mile route starting at the Cosby Horse Trail at 8:15 am Saturday. Past the campground, we climbed into winter conditions along Snake Den Ridge to reach our turnaround at the Appalachian Trail.
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| Winter wonderland, Maddron Bald intersection |
Kevin offered to test out a prototype "postman pack" with me on these outings. It's essentially a smaller volume version of the "
sub 60 pack" utilizing an interesting monolite mesh fabric as well as some modifications to pockets based on feedback and testing over the years. We'll see how it holds up.
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| High point of day, 5,800' at AT junction |
So far so good. The trails were a joy to run and we were in cruise control down across Maddron Bald, which was unfortunately in the clouds. What struck us most was the stillness. Absolutely no wind and a muffled quiet interrupted only by the small energetic chirp of juncos.
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| Descending from Albright Grove |
By the time we reached the old growth trees of Albright Grove, the snow was a mere memory. Our pace accelerated on the gravel road bed of lower Maddron Bald. But as we turned onto the near 16 mile Old Settlers Trail, my unconditioned legs were already starting to feel some wear.
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| Along Old Settlers |
Fortunately there were a lot of interesting historical structures and natural wonders along Old Settlers to keep our minds mostly off of the intermittent rain and roller coaster terrain. Although more overgrown, there didn't seem to be any more blow downs along Old Settlers than other Smokies trails.
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| Miles of stonework |
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| Nobody home |
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| Minivan base camp |
By 4:30 pm, we made it to the rental minivan parked along the Little Pigeon River. The weather allowed us to sit out at Greenbrier Picnic Area to cook and eat our post-run dinners. With seats dropped in the back, the van became a convenient motel room further down the road.
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| Frosty first rays on Gabes Mountain |
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| +1,724' -1,448' |
Come Sunday morning, we made coffee and then drove a short ways down the road to Maddron Bald TH to run a shorter 8 mile route over Gabes Mountain to retrieve Kevin's truck parked at Cosby. The sky was clear and we could hear the wind roaring across the high ridges.
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| Hen Wallow Falls |
Both Kevin and I were impressed by this mostly smooth and well-graded trail, which made for a fast two hour run despite a side trip to check out Willis Baxter Cabin and Hen Wallow Falls. We decided that we had time for another short run on our way home, so we headed to Davenport Gap.
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| Lower Mount Cammerer turnaround |
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| +1,991' -1,626' |
This route involved a quick out and back up Chestnut Branch to the AT and then up to Lower Cammerer Trail and back down to Davenport Gap in 1 hour and 15 minutes. The cool sunny weather was just sublime, but it was time to head home. Another great trip to the Smokies!
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