On August 19, 2004, a little blog named Smithposts… was born. Today, some 6 1/2 years later, I am typing the 500th post. My enthusiasm has ebbed and flowed over the years as evident by the fluctuating number of monthly updates but this recording of snapshots of my life marches on.
Busy weekend as we continue to get back into hiking. Saturday morning John and I left the house around 8:30 AM and pointed the car toward the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We drove the back roads, the bicycle roads, so John could get a glimpse of other riders and day dream about being in his bicycle shoes instead of his boots. As we drove along Old Walland Road, we caught this glimpse of low lying clouds trapped between the foothills. Really incredible as we drove into the clouds and out on the other side.
We parked just outside the Cades Cove Loop Road gate and paused to gaze at the serene beauty of winter. No matter how often or why we go into Cades Cove, it never fails to amaze. We talked about the times we have hiked, run and bicycled around The Cove and made a commitment to come back at least one more time this year.
Rich Mountain Loop Trail was the first leg of our hike. The trail head is located just inside the gate to the Cades Cove Loop Road and begins as a deceptively flat section of trail.
Us within the first mile of the hike
We spotted a couple of deer in the forest near the trail head. Aside from birds and squirrels, this was the extent of our wildlife experience on this trip. Deer in Cades Cove are surprisingly unafraid of people and while I couldn’t get the deer to pose for a photo, we were able to get pretty close.
About a mile into the hike, we reached the backside of John Oliver’s cabin. The cabin was built in the 1820’s by the first resident of the Cove. The cabin is a small structure with a covered front and back porch.
John Oliver’s Cabin
View from one of the cabin’s porches, really beautiful
Woodland plate for some small animal, probably a squirrel
Shortly past the cabin, the trail begins a steep climb. I say the uphill is steeper but shorter if hiking counter clockwise, John says it doesn’t matter, the length of the climb and the elevation are the same. We happened to be hiking clockwise and the hike was quite steep. I may or may not have been overheard to whine (about 3/4’s of the way to the highest point), something along the lines of “if we were hiking in the other direction” and “we would already be done with this climb” but I’m not sure about that. I was definitely aware that I need more trail time before our big summer adventure!!
John stopped to look at the view and compare it to the map. We decided we were looking toward Russell and Spence Field. Above his head is the ridgeline we would hike along….once we reached the ridge.
The view
We stopped at the trail junction of Rich Mountain Loop Trail and Indian Grave Gap Trail for lunch. The photos above and below are our lunch views.
We finally reached the ridgetop and views opened on each side. The photo below is looking back toward the foothills and Townsend, TN. Note the curled leaves of the rhododendren. Winter is here and the plant is self protecting from the cold and wind.
The photo below, taken on the opposite side of the ridge was our view of Cades Cove. The Loop Road follows roughly on the outer edge of the brown area.
At the Crooked Arm Ridge Trail junction, we headed right to complete our loop. The hike was 8.20 miles, a moderate hike by any account but we were tired and ready to go home. I have a lot of work to do before our summer adventure but we have more hikes and backpacks planned over the next months.
About 7:00 PM, after a nap and shower, we headed downtown to join friends Sonya, Mac and Micah Cissna for dinner. We had reservations at Sangria’s, which is fast becoming one of our favorite restaurants http://www.sangriasmarketsquare.com/ . We ordered an assortment of tapas. John and I split Ai-oli potatoes, chef’s choice croquets, fried artichoke hearts and Sangria’s salad. Oh so gooooood!
Dark photo of the restaurant front on Market Square Mall
We had so much fun with our friends! Our tiredness from a day of hiking disappeared over dinner. We talked and ate and laughed then walked downtown for a while. While the day had been warm, the evening was cool so we didn’t linger long. We did have time to formulate a car camping (versus backpacking) plan for late spring. We haven’t been car camping since the last time we went with Sonya and Mac to bring in the New Year (and Sonya’s birthday) around 2002-2003. We are looking forward to this adventure!!
Sonya and me with roses received at dinner
Rose close-up
