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Does Scott Mountain Trail ever open? Is it just closed seasonally due to the bats, or is it always closed now?
Just curious if anyone here had any further information on this. I found an article in the Charlotte Observer from 2015 indicating that at the time the area (whiteoak sink and scott mountain trail) were closed from September through March to prevent the spread of White Nose Syndrome among the bats. But I read something here on Whiteblaze a few weeks ago that made me think that the area might be closed permanently.
Thanks
HooKooDooKu
11-15-2017, 14:19
I don't believe Scott Mountain Trail has ever been closed to protect bats...
Scott Mountain Trail was closed due to storm damage that occurred in 2013 (perhaps a little before).
What I do recall getting closed to protect bats was the Whiteoak Sinks area. Based on what I can find online, it looks like the sinks were closed during the winter of 2015 and 2016 (well after Scott Mountain Trail had been closed due to storm damage).
However, I can easily understand if someone might get the two closures confused as the eastern end of Scott Mountain Trail crosses the top of the same mountain that the Whiteoak Sinks are at the bottom of. But to access Whiteoak Sinks, you take a trail NOT listed on the back country trail map that starts very near the intersection of School House Gap Trail and Turkey Pin Ridge Trail.
Thanks HooKooDooKu. I guess I associated the two and assumed they were one in the same issue.
Has anyone tried to hike the closed Scott Mountain Trail?
i believe it was the storm of 2011....
and i have heard that is a mess right now and tough to hike....
the eastern end of Scott Mountain Trail crosses the top of the same mountain that the Whiteoak Sinks are at the bottom of
and there's a great (at least at the time) manway up in this area---right off the road-----that drops back down into the sinks..
makes for a very good (day) loop in this area...
HooKooDooKu
11-15-2017, 14:53
Has anyone tried to hike the closed Scott Mountain Trail?
At this point, technically that would be illegal as the Park Service has officially closed the trail. There are even signs (at least on the Schoolhouse Gap side) instructing you to NOT risk putting rescuers in danger by trying to hike Scott Mountain Trail.
Now I doubt the trail is 'dangerous' to attempt to hike... at least no more dangerous that attempting a cross-country hike in other parts of the park.
But when I hiked the trail just before it was closed, I found much of it to be a very narrow path (1' wide, if that in many places) thru large patches of poison ivy. If people have obeyed to trail closures, I would imaging that 4+ years of growth have obscured much of the trial and therefore wouldn't advise trying it.
Actually, if you look in Google Earth and turn the clock back to the satellite view of 4/12/2013, you simply can't follow the trail. By comparison, most trails that get regular use can be seen in Google Earth during in satellite views taken during the winter months.
I would imaging that 4 years of growth has obscured much of the trial
make that 6 years....
outta curiousity, i looked it up right quick...
(i had plans on staying at BC 11 the previous weekend before the storm hit, but changed it.............regret it now as its also been closed since then)
http://hikinginthesmokys.blogspot.com/2013/04/park-reopens-trails-damaged-in-2011.html
HooKooDooKu
11-15-2017, 14:59
make that 6 years....
outta curiousity, i looked it up right quick...
(i had plans on staying at BC 11 the previous weekend before the storm hit, but changed it.............regret it now as its also been closed since then)
http://hikinginthesmokys.blogspot.com/2013/04/park-reopens-trails-damaged-in-2011.html
So it was the storm that closed #11 that also closed Scott Mountain Trail?
I couldn't remember when it was closed... just that it was closed the year after I hiked it... and I don't have my hiking log with me to look up when I did that hike.
HooKooDooKu
11-15-2017, 15:06
Sounds like Scott Mountain Trail might have been closed BEFORE the April 2011 storm. I followed the link above and the story doesn't list Scott Mountain Trail as being closed due to that storm (they only listed trails in the area of Abrams Creek and to the west). It includes the fact that at the time of that report, Scott Mountain Trail was closed (so you are right that it has been closed for at least 6 years), but it didn't list a reason for its closure.
yeah...
same storm......
came down beard cane and hit ace gap a touch as well.....
at one time----i had seen some pictures that the NPS put out...
(we might have run them on air as well)..
and i wanna say that it was also the same storm that jumped over to hannah mountain and did some damage over that way...
it would be in the same line of beard cane.....
HooKooDooKu
11-15-2017, 15:12
Thanks HooKooDooKu. I guess I associated the two and assumed they were one in the same issue.
Even some news articles are doing the same thing...
I found this news (http://www.local8now.com/home/headlines/Great-Smoky-Mountains-closes-areas-to-protect-bats-277075951.html) article discussing closure of the Whiteoak Sink area to protect the bats. It lists Scott Mountain Trail as being closed in such a way that you would think it was closed because of the bats. But the date of the article was September 2014, years AFTER Scott Mountain Trail had been closed due to storm damage.
thats why one shouldnt read my competitors websites and get inaccurate information :P
here is our version...
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/local/2014/09/25/great-smoky-mountains-whiteoak-sink-bats/16229353/
HooKooDooKu
11-15-2017, 15:31
...and i wanna say that it was also the same storm that jumped over to hannah mountain and did some damage over that way...
You might be right... I can't say for sure because the only trails in the area I hiked before the tornado was Abrams Creek and Rabbit Creek.
But I seem to recall a storm that occurred in 2013 that might have been the cause of that. I don't have my hiking log with me right now, but I know when my second son was about 7yo, I was taking him on his first backpacking trip. So that should have been some time in 2013. But we had to abort the trip. I had driving thru the night to get to the TwentyMile Ranger Station trail head, and we had to turn around after only 100 yards because the trail was totally blocked by trees that had been downed by a storm that had occurred during my drive to the park.
Now the only reason I suggest that the tornado that destroyed CS11 and the destruction in the area of Hannah Mountain Trail might be from two different storms is because of the destruction I see in Google Earth imagery dated 4/12/2013. In that imagery, you can see the effects of the destruction the 2011 tornado caused. But if you look at the valley immediately west of Hannah Mountain trail (the one that starts across Abrams Creek from CS17) that valley show utter destruction that far exceeds the destruction you see around CS11 in the same image.
yeah...
that might be right about hannah mountain being in 2013........
i know CS 11 was in 2011 because that the last year that i hiked with a particular group of blankity blanks.....
although here's something that says its from 2011
http://hikinginthesmokys.blogspot.com/2011/07/hannah-mountain-trail-reopens.html
and more realistically, the damage im thinking about might have been on rabbit before coming up to hannah...
i can recall a picture of some blow down trees on a portion of a trail where theres sorta an overlook...
blue indian
11-15-2017, 15:51
Are any of you following @plugitinhikes? Hes attempting the FKT of the Smokies as we speak.
I guess for him to complete his hike he doesnt have to hike Scott Mnt trail?
i also dont have my log in front of me-----but im pretty sure i hiked into 16 from the abrams ranger station and coming up rabbit creek to there.......thats when i saw the trees blowdown.....
and that should have been in 2011, since i havent camped in the park after 2012....
Are any of you following @plugitinhikes? Hes attempting the FKT of the Smokies as we speak.
I guess for him to complete his hike he doesnt have to hike Scott Mnt trail?I'm just making an assumption but I assume he is doing a SCAR or a double SCAR. If so, it is along the AT through GSMNP.
Are any of you following @plugitinhikes? Hes attempting the FKT of the Smokies as we speak.
im not necessarily following it, but yeah, he's trying to beat his record from last year....
with his hike, and the 900 club-----only trails that are currently open need to be done.........
at one point---the 900 club was "any trail on the dollar map of the year one started" had to be done..
but they changed that to any currently open trail...
(the dollar map started way is the reason i hiked the bottom part of hughes ridge trail, which was closed right after i started hiking in the park.............i dont recommend anyone hiking that closed portion of hughes ridges as it crosses private property and one could be subject to whatever the locals back there wanted to do to someone for crossing their land)
I'm just making an assumption but I assume he is doing a SCAR or a double SCAR. If so, it is along the AT through GSMNP.
i dont know what a SCAR or a double SCAR is, but Benny is doing all the trails in the Park and not just the AT....
HooKooDooKu
11-15-2017, 17:03
...i dont recommend anyone hiking that closed portion of hughes ridges as it crosses private property and one could be subject to whatever the locals back there wanted to do to someone for crossing their land)
Looking at the Bridle Path I see on an old Topo that I think is the lower section of Hughes Ridge, it looks like the old trail stays away from the occupied sections of private land in the area. But there are roads and trails in that private area that are still used that look to come right upto the old Hughes Ridge Trial. If you were to try the hike this old trail, seems like you'd stand a really good chance of stumbling onto one of these private roads/trails and take you right to where the land owners are.
Besides, just like Scott Mountain, it's likely become very overgrown. Hughes has been closed for longer than Scott. When I hiked up Chasteen Creek Trail a few years ago, you could clearly see the start of the lower section of Hughes Ridge that's been abandoned (don't recall any "Closed" signs)... and there were 8' tall pine trees growing right in the middle of the path.
I would think the most anyone would want to try would be to follow the old trail out to Becks Bald. I could envision there being some winter time views from up there (and you'd be well above the private land). It looks like you have to drop half of the elevation change between Becks Bald and Tow String Horse Camp Road before you cross into private property.
i hiked the closed portion of hughes ridge about maybe ten ish years ago (again, dont have log in front of me)....
but yeah, i saw it on the map and at the top i could see the trail sign on ground and the makings of the trail.......
so, i went back there and went up chasteen over to the closed part and hiked it down to smokemont where it pops out near the church...
it was really easy to follow and not many blowdowns at all, at the time...
i didnt have any views from becks bald, in fact it looked more like just an open field than anything else............and not that large of a field...
i knew that i would be crossing private land and that was a concern of mine of having to turn back if there was signs and all that...
in fact, i had toyed with the notion of hiking up it from near the church that way if i needed to turn around, it wasnt that far of a hike...
but, chasteen would be a shorter up hill hike so i chose that way...
sooooo....
and i can honestly say this-----of all the hikes ive done in the park----this is the ONLY one that i was scared for my life on......
the only time i wished i was packing heat...
sooooooo......
coming down the trail, crossed over becks----and came down where the trail met a dirt road...
thats when i started hearing voices and an ATV coming at me.....
not sure what their intention was, but i didnt want to find out..
oh, and i was hiking alone at the time...
i heard them coming towards me and yelling back and forth...........not sure exactly what they were saying, but i was hearing stuff like "i think he went there"......not sure if they were talking about me but again, i didnt want to find out....
so, i backtracked and sorta hid in the bushes...
and on that backtrack, i found another trail that i figured would be the route as opposed to hiking the road down to somewhere to pick up a trail back to smokemont...
so, i started along that trail and it was on the side of the hill......and it ended up paralleling the road after a touch...
which i could see down and see that there was some sorta camp or something like that right off the road...
with the typical stuff of tarps, a pickup truck and ATVs...
i quickly got the heck outta there and back into the woods (via the trail) and followed it for a little bit before i popped out in smokemont....
like i says---i had no idea if they spotted me or if i was getting way paranoid but there was no way i was sticking around to find out...
i dont know if they were cooking meth back there, or growing pot or making shine----but i didnt want to find out...
i dont care if they were doing those things----i just wanted to hike...
but, as they say, the only good witness is a dead witness....
Gotcha, a SCAR/Double SCAR is a FKT for the AT through the Smokies.
More info here if desired. http://fastestknowntime.proboards.com/thread/128/scar-tn-nc
David Worth holds the supported FKT, 14h50m22s, set May 19, 2011.
Will Harlan has the unsupported FKT, 15h45m07s, also set on May 19, 2011.
Billy Simpson did an unsupported double SCAR in 3d7h25m, Sept. 22-26, 2014.
Scott Simcox reported a new FKT for the unsupported double in 2d17h49m, June 8-10, 2017.
The women's FKT appears to be Vicki Johnson, 18h50m in the mid-1980s, but this is unconfirmed.
Alicia Hudelson ran the route in 19h54m, April 30, 2016.
Plug it in is not just doing the AT in the Park----he is doing every official trail..
this is his second time doing it---once earlier this year...
Plug it in is not just doing the AT in the Park----he is doing every official trail..
this is his second time doing it---once earlier this year...Gotcha, was just explaining what a SCAR was. Pretty cool to do all the trails in a year, even more impressive twice!
HooKooDooKu
11-16-2017, 13:09
... Pretty cool to do all the trails in a year...
I was tickled getting it accomplished over 20 years.
I was tickled getting it accomplished over 20 years.
likewise....in 12.....
benny has the luxury of owning his own business, which his wife is running while he's hiking...
and he is getting a ton of support with rides, food drops, and such......
There are a few people who are doing all of the trails in the park twice per year for the last couple of years. They just don’t publicize it.
There are a few people who are doing all of the trails in the park twice per year for the last couple of years. They just don’t publicize it.
That is true...
the difference is this guy is trying to beat his old record of how few days it will take him...
so he can be the person who has hiked it twice the fastest...
at least for the Internet...