View Full Version : Current conditions around Jerry Cabin
I'm going to ride out to Flagpond here in a bit but figured I'd ask here first - how's the snow situation around Jerry Cabin shelter - anyone know?
If there's not too much I'm going to head over to the Shelton Laurel backcountry trailhead for the Hickey Fork trail and hike it up to the Pounding Mill trail, to the AT and back to Devil's Fork Gap.
If there's a lot of snow I'm just going to hike the Lost Cove trail to Devil's Creek trail to the AT and back to the Nolichucky at Uncle Johnny's.
Gonna be in the 20's tonight with winds 20-30 mph... :)
btw.. I have never hiked the Hickey Fork trail or the Pounding Mill trail - for all I know they're unmaintained and impossible to follow but they are 2 of the 3 trails left on this side of the mountain that I haven't hiked so I want to give it a shot.
The Cleaner
02-08-2013, 11:20
On my last trip down Jerry Miller trail I met Rattreks,who has a web page.We were having lunch at White Oak flats.From there the trail either heads down to the JM trailhead or you can hike west into the top of the Hickeyfork drainage.After hiking a while,take the trail on your right at a picnic table and this leads up to Pounding Mill trail 1/2 mile below the AT/Camp Creek Bald firetower.or turn left and go down Pounding Mill trail and in 1/2 mile, the trail on your left leads down to the Hickey Fork trailhead&gate&parking area.As for Jerry's Cabin shelter,I was there last week and it was clean and I left some dry firewood.From Greeneville you can see snow on the mountain sides.This could be either a few inches or maybe more.For complete info call me anytime:sun
wornoutboots
02-08-2013, 12:30
Thanks again Cleaner!! I'm thinking of hiking that section again since Blizzard like conditions (Thankfully) forced me to take the blue blaze to the south of there. I was curious, if I called you ahead of time could you have a crackling fire, champagne, escargot, & put a piece of chocolate on my pile of clothes I use as a pillow :) . Truthfully, Thank You!!
I just got back from the Pounding Mill trailhead. Not much snow to speak of, just a bit of ice. I'm going to head out there later today and do the Hickey Fork / White Oak loop and scoot up the Pounding Mill trail to the AT real quick....
Or I might do it tomorrow. I'm mighty comfortable in my recliner at the moment. :)
The Cleaner
02-08-2013, 12:58
I heard that the USFS gate is closed at the Hickey Fork trailhead.It is a few miles? from where the Whiteoak trail ends at the road near the picnic table down to the parking area.Check out Rattreks website for more info....
Right.. I was going to park at the Hickey Fork trailhead and either walk up the road and start at White Oak and hike the loop counterclockwise or start at Hickey Fork and hike the loop clockwise.
Either way will require about a 2 mile walk down FS 465.
The Cleaner
02-08-2013, 13:10
You need to check out RATtreks.com for info on all of the Shelton Laurel trails.In one post he mentioned meeting 2 backpackers doing the Fork Ridge >Jerry Cabin > Jerry Miller loop.Wonder who those guys were.....lol....
I just read his report about his White Oak Flats hike.
I've hiked both the Jerry Miller and Fork Ridge Trail (and the Green Ridge trail too) but I've never explored - I've stayed on the trails I was hiking.
I bet you could spend a week back there just walking around seeing where you were going to come out at next.
The Cleaner
02-08-2013, 13:34
You need to try some trails from the Margarettie Falls parking lot on the TN side.Several trails lead up to the AT and you can loop back to the parking lot or hike into the NC side.Take State RT. 351(also called Jone's Bridge Rd) south from Greeneville and then follow the brown USFS signs to, Round Knob picnic area(1.75 miles to AT from there)or take Davis Creek trail to Round Knob.Also signs lead to Margaretie Falls parking lot.From there Phillips Hollow goes up to the AT or take Bullen Hollow up to Low Gap on Viking Mtn Rd 2 miles from Jones Meadow....
Tennessee Viking
02-08-2013, 14:07
Definitely hike to Margarette Falls. Clarks Creek and the Rocky Fork backcountry area in TN. Laurel River near Hot Springs. Tri-Corners TN/NC/VA is awesome. I am hopefully doing the Harper/Wilson Creek section of the MST in April. Waterfall and creek ford heaven.
@ Cleaner: Do you know how much more Carolina Mountain Club and Konnarock have to work on for the new Rocky Fork relo.
The Cleaner
02-08-2013, 17:14
Definitely hike to Margarette Falls. Clarks Creek and the Rocky Fork backcountry area in TN. Laurel River near Hot Springs. Tri-Corners TN/NC/VA is awesome. I am hopefully doing the Harper/Wilson Creek section of the MST in April. Waterfall and creek ford heaven.
@ Cleaner: Do you know how much more Carolina Mountain Club and Konnarock have to work on for the new Rocky Fork relo. I don't think that any work has started yet.I didn't even see any flagging tape when I was at the Shelton Graves last Nov.Of course I could be wrong:eek:....I'll have to ask some SOBOs if they have seen anything when I go up there in the next week or so...
Mr. Bumpy
02-08-2013, 20:30
10-k I hope you had a great hike. When my wife and I started hiking about 15 years ago those loops in the Shelton Laurel area were our first hikes. Its been years since I was up there, but you mention of the area makes me think I need to get reaquainted with those trails again.
On Wednesday my son and I spent a couple of hours up on Big Bald after skiing at Wolf. We hit a few drifts near the shelter that were knee deep. There are houses nearly to the top of the development now so they keep the road clear all the way up, however it is a hassle getting a pass into the development.
:confused: so many trails to explore; Being hiker trash is frustrating sometimes :p
Ok... just got back from hiking these trails.
I parked at the locked gate on FS 465, just before the Hickey Fork trail and walked over a very well made hiker bridge and started up the Hickey Fork trail. This is a nice trail, well maintained and blazed yellow. There is an awesome waterfall about a mile up. The trail gets very steep for a few hundred yards then eases up just before Seng Gap and there are a few switchbacks.
I then passed the White Oak trail on my right and got on the Pounding Mill trail and hiked it up to the AT at Camp Creek Bald and turned around and walked back down Pounding Mill trail and got on the White Oak trail.
The White Oak trail is blazed blue and is not maintained as well as the Hickey Fork trail for some reason. The blazes were far apart and very faint - much different than the Hickey Fork trail which was blazed as often as the AT with blazes that looked fairly new. I hiked down this trail and it just stopped. I spent about 20 minutes trying to figure out where it went and never could - there is about 4" of snow with some deeper drifts - maybe I missed something.
Fortunately, I took my GPS and trusting to luck and hoping the trail was where my GPS said it was I bushwhacked 100 yards down a ravine, stumbled around in a creek for a few minutes and finally located the trail. I was very glad for that because I would have *hated* to try to get back up that snow covered ravine....
It got dark on me about 2/3's of the way down the mountain so I hiked the last 0.75 mile of trail and 2 miles back down FS 465 and back to my truck via headlamp.
Total time, 4 hours, 53 minutes. Distance I'm guessing was about 9 miles. Drake, my shepherd, had a great time too.
The Cleaner
02-08-2013, 21:57
10-K I did that same hike in 1990 but I took my mountain bike.I had to mostly push up to the end of Hickey Fork trail.As I recall going down White Oak trail it was mostly downhill at an easy grade.Got to the end and was back at my truck pretty quick as it is still down to the gate.Back then WO trail was easy to follow.Looked like some recent maintenance had cleared the way.Is the concrete picnic table still there where WO trail hits the road?I think if you took a left turn there you would head over to White Oak Flats&intersection with Jerry Miller trail....
It was completely dark when I got back to FS 465 where the White Oak trail ends - if there was a picnic table I didn't see it.
Man, if you pushed a bicycle up the Hickey Fork trail that's one heck of an accomplishment - I couldn't imagine trying that!
I'd like to go back up there and check out a couple of unmarked roads that are in good condition around Seng Gap. One of them looked like it headed straight for Little Laurel shelter.
And, the last time I hiked the AT south of Devil's Fork Gap which wasn't terribly long ago there was no new trail being built. I've been hearing about it for over a year.
The Cleaner
02-08-2013, 22:10
It was a bit hard getting up,but going down was a blast.I used to ride from Greeneville up to Jones Meadow,camp and make it back to Greeneville for Sunday dinner at Mom's house.23 years ago I used to do a lot of things that for some reason I can no longer do:eek:.....
The Cleaner
02-08-2013, 22:16
Better to burn out than to fade away....:cool:.....
It is for sure...
I'm going to try and make a loop at Rocky Fork next and check out Buzzard Rock and the lake. Am I correct that the trails in Rocky Fork are mostly logging roads?
I'm guessing nothing in there has been maintained - what kind of shape are the trails/roads in?
The Cleaner
02-09-2013, 14:03
It is for sure...
I'm going to try and make a loop at Rocky Fork next and check out Buzzard Rock and the lake. Am I correct that the trails in Rocky Fork are mostly logging roads?
I'm guessing nothing in there has been maintained - what kind of shape are the trails/roads in? The main road is twice as big as a logging road.At one time this was a planned development of some kind so some roads are very wide.There are many side roads which may be dead ends.A while back I met a TWRA full size 4x4 truck chasing a 4 wheeler w/lights&siren full on.For a moment I thought I was hallucinating hearing a siren near the top of a mountain:eek:.Be sure to take a GPS and the USGS topo Flag Pond section.I did see tire tracks,probably TWRA.Also near Buzzard Rock there are " NO TRESPASSING" signs.The local District Ranger said that about 100 acres is still owned by some private holding company.I called the # on the sign and some pencil pusher said that he guessed that someone wants to keep people out.We camped at Buzzard Rock anyway and I tagged one sign with a Steep&Cheap sticker:cool:....Happy Trails...
Yeah... I have the Flag Pond topo and GPX tracks for navigating through there. Just wondering if it was mostly trails or roads.
From the reports I've read no matter which way you go it is always uphill... :)
The Cleaner
02-09-2013, 14:59
Here's some pics..1957419575195761957719578
Did the Hickey Fork / White Oak trail loop again today and no picnic table....
The Cleaner
02-14-2013, 19:02
Did the Hickey Fork / White Oak trail loop again today and no picnic table.... Was it hard to follow,or did you get through easier?Now to find out how to get over to White Oak Flats @ Jerry Miller trail.Rat said it wasn't too hard to follow if starting from JMT.......
I found where the trail cut off the old logging road so I didn't have to bushwhack down the ravine but there's still about 50 yards of creek/rubble/rocks that I had to do some searching for the trail. Somebody went through and tied little-bitty pieces of blue flagging tape to limbs but they're hard to see.
JMT would be pretty easy to find I think. I have a Pisgah Forest US Forest Service Map that shows how to get to it.
To get to the White Oak trail from the Jerry Miller trail you'd hike down JMT till it cuts off to the left at the junction with a woods road - which is actually the upper end of FS 465. Walk down that woods road (FS 465) road until you cross a concrete bridge and in about 10 yards you'll come to a T on a well maintained gravel road. Make a right and walk up the road till you see the carsonite sign at the White Oak trailhead. Can't miss it because if you walk by it you have to cross a creek and the road comes to an abrupt end at a cul de sac.
I have not hiked it yet but based on what I've seen hiking from the White Oak trail back to the Hickey Fork trailhead down FS 465 and the Pisgah Forest map I think it's right.
One day I'm going in there with a few days of food and just wander around.