smokies loop

[gollwoods]

23521oct 26 sat to oct 29 tues. flexible , but I am looking at starting at cataloochie .

plan to start in cataloochie at the palmer creek trail head, heading up along palmer creek and the balsam mt roadd to beech gap trail in round bottom, from there it is up to the hyatt ridge and site 44. if the weather is nice the next morning may head down to the raven fork to look around.
from 44 over to hughes ridge on the enloe creek trail and then over the to tri corner via the A T
day 3 it is an easy hike over to mt sterling via balsam mt and sterling ridge trail. if weather is bad it would be possible to make it to the car
from site 38 at the fire tower head back through little cataloochie and back to the car.

[Not Sunshine]

looks better than my loop in 2008: Eagle Creek trail has 20+ "creek" crossings....boots on, boots off, boots on, boots off - again and again and again. saw a black bear at camp, though!

[Drybones]

The Old Settlers loop looks good, about 55 miles if I recall correctly, on my to do list sometime in the near future.

[HooKooDooKu]

Since you're hiking Balsam Mtn Road, I guess you know that it is currently closed to vehicle traffic (budget cuts I believe). So you shouldn't have to worry about dodging any cars coming up behind you. FWIW, that section of the road is 5 miles long (I recently plotted it out in Google Earth, so I can post GPS coordinates for it if you wanted it).

The one thing I don't like is what looks like a lack of easy access to water between Tricorner and Mount Sterling. The map looks like you're pretty much walking mountain ridges, so I don't think you're going to find any water along the way. Once you get to Mount Sterling, it has a water source, but it's 0.4 mile DOWN Baxter Creek trail (actually, its located at the end of a side trail that is 0.25 miles down Baxter Creek). So plan on either cameling up at Tricorner and stretching your water until you head back down into Cataloochee, or add almost an extra mile to the 3rd day's hike.

[ATL Backpacker]

Looks like a nice loop. You definitely won't encounter a lot of people on many of those trails. Day 1 could get boring, Palmer Creek trail I found pretty bland and the 5 mile road walk could get old. But 44 is a site ive always wanted to check out. days 2,3,4 should make for some great hiking. If you like historic structures give yourself some time to check out the ones on the little cataloochee trail.

[Dogwood]

looks better than my loop in 2008: Eagle Creek trail has 20+ "creek" crossings....boots on, boots off, boots on, boots off - again and again and again. saw a black bear at camp, though!

For that many crossings heck with the on/off shoes things. Juts hike that trail in sandals maybe with wool socks on or if it's really cold light wt neoprene booties.

[Dogwood]

The Old Settlers loop looks good, about 55 miles if I recall correctly, on my to do list sometime in the near future.

Old Settlers Tr has lots of historical sites on or very near it. It's not so flat as some think because it's so close to the park boundary and not at the highest elevations like the AT.

[grizzlyadam]

The one thing I don't like is what looks like a lack of easy access to water between Tricorner and Mount Sterling. The map looks like you're pretty much walking mountain ridges, so I don't think you're going to find any water along the way. Once you get to Mount Sterling, it has a water source, but it's 0.4 mile DOWN Baxter Creek trail (actually, its located at the end of a side trail that is 0.25 miles down Baxter Creek). So plan on either cameling up at Tricorner and stretching your water until you head back down into Cataloochee, or add almost an extra mile to the 3rd day's hike.

The Laurel Gap shelter is .3 down the Balsam Mtn Trail from the Balsam Mtn Trail/Mnt Sterling Ridge Trail junction and has a water source. Might serve as a nice lunch spot on that day. Also, the water source that HooKooDooKu mentions down from the summit of Mount Sterling isn't a bad walk at all. I stayed on Sterling in January and hiked down to the water source through 1 1/2 ft of snow. Was still only about a 5-10 minute walk from the summit.

Not sure if it's something you're interested in, but you could climb 6 (of the 12) 6,000 ft peaks that are in the park on this route with two more not very far off the route. Might be a little something fun to add on to your trip.

[gollwoods]

I do plan to stop at laurel gap for lunch, Those peaks just don't seem worth it to me. I can't bushwhack alone with a full pack in late oct safely enough to take the chance,
balsam mt road is the only convienent route over to raven fork and hyatt ridge. 44 is a nice spot I moght dayhike down the old manway to the creek

[gollwoods]

I plan to bushwhack down the west side of balsam mt at a point where the road crosses over from east to west. it appears there is a ridge I can try following down so I don't have to descend too steeply. we will see. i can stop at laurel gap and take a break an refill my water. I don't mind walking down the trail to the spring on Mt sterling I like the old mossy logs and thick ferns etc., up there.

[TNhiker]

As its been mention and as you stated---you'll be stopping at laurel gap for break and water...

I doubt you'll have water issues with the spring at the shelter, but if you do, there's a spring up on mount sterling ridge trail just shortly from the intersection with balsam mountain....

Years ago, during a drought, this spring was flowing better than spring at shelter...

Also, there's a spring down mount sterling trail before you start the climb up the trail to the firetower...

I can't remember how far down it is but maybe 5 ish minutes......

Some people fill up at this one if they are coming from the west or up mount sterling trail...

Mount sterling ridge trail has got to be the flattest ridgleine trail on the section between balsam mountain and pretty hollow gap...

After the gap, that's the climb...

[gollwoods]

one of these days I will have to get to the old settlers trail, alot of the northern boundry trails I have neglected for more scenic routes. I found I like newton bald for some reason. maybe because both times I was there I had unusual occurences, one time a raven came and was trying to make off with my cook set which I had left near the fire ring. I thought I would look out of the tent and see a bear.
he had a large vocabulary too.
the next time a couple guys were already there when I got there, it caught my attention because they had jeans on and had some hefty gear as well. then they started speaking what I think was russian, and they dumped their leftover stew in the fire ring. so newton bald is my strange occurence site.

[HooKooDooKu]

I found I like newton bald for some reason.
I would agree with the sentiment. I'm not really sure why, because there's really nothing up there. The bald has long since been reclaimed by the forest, and there seemed to be much less grassy ground cover usually seen with former balds. But there was just something special and nice about that campsite... at least if you're on the upper section of the campsite on top of that little hill. The lower section has the trail cutting right through the middle of it.
What's really weird is the water source. You do not go far down that gully to get to the spring. But when you look at the campsite in something like google earth, there doesn't appear to be much mountain above the spring to act as a collection area and reservoir for the water.

[TNhiker]

i found newton bald to be just an enjoyable site...

was up there in summer of 2012 and heard fireworks (and not the little kinds) coming from the deep creek watershed at 1 in the am......

[gollwoods]

very mysterious, hog hunting rangers with night vision eh.

[HooKooDooKu]

very mysterious, hog hunting rangers with night vision eh.
What's so mysterious?
The GSMNP has far too many non-native invasive feral hogs doing significant damage with their rooting in the ground. They've tried capturing the hogs in the past, but that was a loosing battle. So they've now resorted to simply shooting them. As I understand it, they usually hunt in the winter months when there is likely to be fewer people in the back-country. But they will go out at other times when hogs become a particular nuance. As I was told by a park ranger, they use high power riffles with silencers (but I don't recall hearing about night vision goggles... but I would believe it). So they can make for quite a sight in the back-country if you should encounter one.

[TNhiker]

here's an article mentioning the night vision goggles...

http://www.smliv.com/features/1427-the-end-of-an-era-great-smoky-mountains-national-park-ranger-kim-delozier.html

[gollwoods]

I heard one in a trap off the A T west of silers on the north side of the trail it sounded like it was just ramming the gate so i didn't go over to see thinking I would just aggravate him enough to tear the trap up . A couple guys at the shelter said a ranger was around because someone reported an aggressive hog that really is not typical I 'm told and I have never had any seem aggressive even with young piglets around. never trust wild animals though. this was around july 8

[TNhiker]

thats one of the downsides of those traps----how long does it take for a ranger to come and take it outta its (and our) misery?

another downside is that people think that they are bear traps and if and when these things are baited and armed----people disarm them (either lowering or cutting the rope) making them inactive......

[gollwoods]

24739
the site at McGee springs