Smokies Kayaking

Cable Cove Boat Ramp
3/9 - 3/12/17
2017 bag nights: 6
Animals: wild turkeys, assorted birds
Campsites: 87 and 2 nights at 85 (Proctor)

Pulling away from the boat ramp, beautiful day, but windy, thankfully not as windy as Laurel River Lake a couple weeks earlier.

The water level is about 50 feet down from the tree line, so there are a lot of steep rocky "beaches".

This photo gives a good perspective of how far down the water line is. Of course, all the camping gear has to be carried up the hillside.

I had a couple hours before sunset, so I walked along the shoreline. Because the waterline is so low, the island is actually connected by a landbridge to the mainland.

Stumbled across an old brick (and lots of less interesting trash).

 Campsite for the night with easy access to the landbridge for the sunset and stars.

Moonrise (all most full)

Nice sunset

Venus and Mars

Lots of stars, but lots of airplanes, so no really good photos

That night a thunderstorm blew through, thankfully not as bad a the one at Laurel River Lake. I woke up to a very windy and overcast morning.

Lots of wind today, thankfully at my back, would have been impossible/dangerous if I had to paddle into the wind. Without paddling, I was being pushed at ~4 MPH. It was fun cruising along with so little effort. But I had the George Castanza line in my head "The sea was angry that day"

I stopped at Cable Cove to check out the Cable Cemetery. It made a good lunch spot and I was able to play with some long exposures and the clouds.

The trail to the cemetery parallels the creek for a little bit

And then follows what I suspect was a road 100 years ago.

Old home site at the end of the road

I was hoping for more wildflowers, but I was probably a couple weeks too early

Are Daffodils "wild flowers" if they were planted 100 years ago?

View of Cable Cove

A couple gravestones at the Cable Cemetary

Every time I visit a smokies cemetery, I am always struck by how many children died at such young ages. I can't imagine being this family.

I then paddled on towards Hazel Creek and the site of Proctor. The lake was down too low for me to walk up the trail at Hazel Creek, so I had to backtrack and hike up the Ollie Cove Trail. It was a good day for a hike, but I had about a mile to carry all my gear. A little heavy since I had packed for a paddling trip vs. a hiking trip.

The campsite is large with a number of firerings, I found one that had no garbage and a lot of wood that someone had spent a lot of time processing. Someone really wanted me to have a fire that night.

Since it was only about 3, I went exploring for a bit. The Calhoun House was built in the 1920s. I passed through this area 3 times now, and every time I have to take a picture of the house.

There were lots of daffodils in the area. Kind of neat to think that they have been growing there for 100 years.

Some true wildflowers (I think wild geraniums)

I then continued down to the end of Hazel Creek.

Remnants of an old bridge. Based on the water line, I think this might have been the old railroad bridge from the logging days. In the background is what looks like a bridge/road bed, that might have once crossed the trestles, but spring floods have washed it away.

I thought this rock was interesting with the very obvious seam of quartz in the middle.

There is lots of remaining junk that is old enough to be archaeological, like this old steel beam

Sign at the bridge across Hazel Creek.

I had a quiet night with my campfire and then woke up to an overcast day.

My goal today was Bone Valley about 7 miles north into the middle of the park. The last time I was in the area I had tried to check it out, but the creeks were too high.

The Hazel Creek Trail follows the old railroad bed, so it is very easy hiking. Just north of Proctor is the remains of the old log mill.

One of the 5 creek crossings on the way to Bone Valley, the water was very cold and at a couple of the crossings was up to mid-thigh. I just pulled my pants up high and waded through.

The Hall Cabin at the end of the trail (according to the sign, it was built around 1880).

I had imagined that I would hang out on the porch, enjoy lunch and relax. But, my feet were soaked, the temperature was about 40 and there was a forecast of rain starting around 4. So I explored a bit, ate a quick lunch and watched snow flurries.

I made a quick visit to the cemetery. I like the daffodils better than the plastic flowers.

There are some ruins of an old lodge right next to the cabin, but all that is left is the chimney and foundation.

It really started to snow as I was in the middle of the 3rd creek crossing, only 2 more to go. By the time I got back to the Hazel Creek Trail, the snow was really coming down and was sticking to the ground.

Snow on a spiderweb.

It stopped snowing after about 1/2 hour, but did not warm up. In the end, better to be snowed on vs. rained on given the temps.

Old axle in a tree.

I ran into a dad and 2 adult sons fly-fishing, they were staying overnight. Saw them briefly the next morning. I had enough firewood left for another fire and the rain/snow held off until about 7:30. I woke in the morning to this

I quickly ate breakfast and went to find some snow pictures. The snow was already melting off the tree tops.

I walked back down to the end of Hazel Creek. The cracked mud and snow was really cool.

And then it was time to pack up and get back on the water.

It was a gorgeous day with very little wind. But the previous couple of paddling days and found muscles that don't usually get used. Clearly I need to use my rowing machine more if I am going to enjoy paddling.

A great way to end the trip.

In the end, I hiked about 20 miles and paddled about 15 miles. A great couple of days.

Kayak on Laurel River Lake

Craigs Creek boat ramp
2/24 - 2/26/17
2017 bag nights: 3
Animals: 4 wild turkeys, assorted other birds, heard coyotes at night

Dropped off the kids at school and then headed south to Laurel River Lake. I got to the Craigs Creek ramp about 10 and was surprised to see 5 or 6 empty trailers (in the end, I never felt like the lake was crowded, just the occasional boat in the distance). I figured since it was Friday everyone but me would be a work. I quickly inflated the kayak and loaded up and hit the water. And ran right into a 20 MPH headwind. It was a beautiful day, but hard work.

I worked my way east following/exploring all the inlets, sometimes into the wind, but mostly had the wind at my back or in the "shadow" of the ridge so I did not notice it.

One of the inlets had a pretty good headwind going south, but then I turned back to the north and with the wind at my back, I decided to relax a bit. That beer was delicious. I could get used to kayaking.

I passed a couple nice campsites early in the day, but wanted to keep exploring. I also passed a couple of pretty trashed campsites that made me sad. I could have filled my whole kayak multiple times with all the garbage I saw. Around 4pm I found a nice flat area at the end of what looked to be an old road and decided it would make a nice campsite.

This is looking west down the long inlet from the same location as the above picture.

There was a pretty cool cliff line above the campsite that was pretty easy to get up to, I spent a little bit of time exploring before it got dark.

And then it was time for the sunset. I was hopeful that I would get the best of both worlds, the clouds would stay on the horizon and give me a nice sunset. And with the clouds on the horizon, I would have clear skies for stars. The sunset was a good one.

A 30 second exposure with my ND10 filter.

After dinner, I crossed my fingers and waited for the stars to come out. Orion in the middle with a hint of clouds

Looking towards the west and the remnants of the sunset and Venus. Mars is the sort of bright star about 10 o'clock from Venus at the end of the tree branch.

After enjoying the view for a bit, I climbed into my hammock and quickly fell asleep. I was awakened around midnight by massive gusts of wind pushing the tarp into the side of the hammock. And then the thunder and lightning became apparent in the distance. I laid there for a bit wondering if the tarp was going to get blown away and decided that I should take the opportunity to retie down the tarp and make it a little more weather proof. I was very glad I did. The rain started just as I was finishing and I scrambled back into bed. It ended up being the worst storm I have ever been out in, it reminded me of SW FL summer thunderstorms, lots of wind and rain and thunder and lightning. I was very glad to be low down and not on top of a mountain with all of the lightning. Thankfully, it never got closer than about a half mile. After about an hour, the storm passed and I fell back asleep.

The next morning was nice, but pretty windy. I climbed back up the old road/trail to get a signal and see what the weather looked like. The wind was going to be about 20 MPH until 5-6 PM, so there was no point in hoping it would die in the next hour or so.

I packed up and hit the water and almost immediately regretted my decision. I had about a mile to go and straight into the wind. It was blowing hard enough to cause some whitecaps. And then I got to the end of the inlet and the full force of the wind hit. I had planned on kayaking more to the east, but was worried that I would have a really long last day to get off the water. In addition, as I turned perpendicular to the wind, I began to worry that I was going to capsize. I decided to make a run for the White Oak Boat-in Campground. I figured that I could at least get out of the kayak and I knew that there was a gated road and a hiking trail to occupy me. Hopefully the wind would die down in the early afternoon and I could get back on the water for a couple hours.

I explored the campground a bit. It is spread out on a couple "fingers" that stick out into the lake, so walking the whole campground was about a mile or so. There was an inlet that still had submerged trees sticking out of the water, kind of surprising that they have lasted ~40 years.

I then hiked up the road towards the hiking trail. I was surprised to see a patch of daffodils on the side of the road. I suspect it used to be a homesite before the National Forest took over.

The trail follows a neat cliffline, but I did not any really nice photos.

Then I followed the road back to the kayak to see what the water looked like. It ended up being a perfect day for a hike. I probably covered about 5 miles and I had a beer waiting for me when I got back.

It was still really windy so I decided to make camp and hope for better weather in the morning.

The sunset was not as nice as the night before, but I can't complain.

The stars were good again, but I was too tired/cold to stay up long.

I woke up the next morning to bright sun, the temperature was right about 30 and there was no wind. I had a second cup of coffee and read my book and then packed up and hit the water. It was a very good day for paddling.

I only had a couple miles to go and was back at the boat ramp by 12. I could have done without the wind, but it was a great trip. 

Swift Camp Creek

2/9/17
The gravel roads are still closed in the gorge. I decided that I would park at the gate on Rock Bridge Rd and just walk the 3 miles to the normal trailhead and then loop back on the Turtle Back Arch trail to the road then my car. It would be about 11 miles, but ~5 miles would be the road, so an easy hike. I figured I would be guaranteed to have the place to myself.

Got out of the car at 9:30 after dropping kids at school/daycare. The thermometer said 30 degrees, it was overcast and damp. I'm glad I went back in the house to get a hat and gloves.

It was a pleasant road walk. After less than an hour, I was at the Rock Bridge Trailhead.

View from the overlook about half way down the Rock Bridge Trail, cold and grey, it started snowing about a half hour later.

I spent a little time photographing Creation Falls.

And then headed down the Swift Camp Creek Trail. Swift Camp Creek was really running, lots of silt from the last couple days of rain. It looked like the creek was 6-8 inches higher in the very recent past. When the weather warms up, I'm coming back to do a little creek walking.

Then off to check out Pooch Falls. I knew there was a waterfall here, but I had never bothered to climb down the cliff to actually see it from below. A while back, someone posted a picture on kywilderness.com of the falls and I knew that I wanted to check it out the next time I was in the area. It is a very cool waterfall.

Then up the hill to find Turtle Back Arch. I had last been here a couple years ago and remembered the basic location. After a little bit of poking around, I found the arch. It ended up being higher up the cliff face than I remembered.

View from the top of the arch

It took a little bit of doing, but I made it to the top of the ridge and found a very obvious trail. It was very easy to follow once I was on top of the ridge. The sun had sort of appeared, so it was a very nice hike back to the road and then to my car.

Interesting tree, maybe a "Cherokee Tree"

A great 6 hours in the gorge. Once again, I did not see anyone.