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Whack-a-mole
09-07-2013, 23:25
Heading down to Fontana tomorrow. Up the AT to silvers bald shelter, down the Eagle Creek and across the Lakeshore trail. If you're in the area be sure to say "hey"!:sun

daddytwosticks
09-08-2013, 16:24
Watch that section between Spence Field Shelter and Derrick Knob Shelter on the AT. It kicked my butt southbound last week. Also, the water source at Siler's Bald Shelter was a complete mud hole and very low flow. Had to scoop out muddy water from a hole, let settle in my water bag, then filter. Have a great hike. :)

HooKooDooKu
09-08-2013, 17:33
Watch that section between Spence Field Shelter and Derrick Knob Shelter on the AT. It kicked my butt southbound last week. Also, the water source at Siler's Bald Shelter was a complete mud hole and very low flow. Had to scoop out muddy water from a hole, let settle in my water bag, then filter. Have a great hike. :)
I was going to post that for the OPs hike, conditions between Spence Field and Derrick Knob are irrelevant, as it seems he's making a loop out of the AT, Eagle Creek, and Lakeshore.

But then I see they include going to Silvers Bald. Don't know if they ment Spence Field, or Siler's Bald... and if they mean Siler's Bald, I don't understand the path they plan to take from the trails listed... unless they are doing an out-n-back where going out they go up the AT and back they go down Eagle Creek (with Spence to Siler's being an out-n-back).

Airmed802
09-09-2013, 13:14
Watch that section between Spence Field Shelter and Derrick Knob Shelter on the AT. It kicked my butt southbound last week. Also, the water source at Siler's Bald Shelter was a complete mud hole and very low flow. Had to scoop out muddy water from a hole, let settle in my water bag, then filter. Have a great hike. :)

How are the rest of the water sources on that section? I'm doing Fontana to Newfound about 10 days from now. Siler's was one of the shelters I reserved on my permit.

thanks

daddytwosticks
09-09-2013, 15:34
How are the rest of the water sources on that section? I'm doing Fontana to Newfound about 10 days from now. Siler's was one of the shelters I reserved on my permit.

thanks As of Labor Day Weekend, water was flowing great at Derrick Knob, Spence Field, and Mollies Ridge Shelters. :)

Omaha_Ace
09-09-2013, 16:04
I had to dig two small "pots" at Silers' on Saturday night and rigged up spillways with flat rocks and sand to act as filters. I had about a gallon of relatively clean water Sunday AM. I filtered it through a piece of green scouring pad to address the small chunks of leaf, etc., and the Sawyer handled it fine after that. Tasted great!

I was a little confused to see that people seemed to have walked all over and through the little dribble of water that goes down the hill, effectively creating a mudslide.

GSLeader_in_NC
09-09-2013, 16:11
I'll see you out there, Airmed802! Four of us are going Northbound the same time you are going Southbound! (not planning on staying at Siler's Bald Shelter, though..) Happy Trails, and let's cross our fingers for good weather next week!

Ox97GaMe
09-09-2013, 18:56
Omaha,
I was at Silers on Sunday 9/1 and saw the destruction. This was primarily the doings of the wild hogs in the park.

daddytwosticks
09-10-2013, 07:24
Omaha,
I was at Silers on Sunday 9/1 and saw the destruction. This was primarily the doings of the wild hogs in the park. That was my take on the situation, also. I was concerned with animal crap in addition to all the silt, mud, and floaties. Was very glad I had my old filter along. :)

Whack-a-mole
09-11-2013, 11:21
Sorry about the confusion. I meant Spence Field, but I didn't have my map in front of me as I was posting. Was going to do a simple loop with the other trails. I have to report that I went on my trip, parked at the visitors center and started my walk. It was very very hot. I got up on top of Shuckstack, and decided to have lunch at the tower since it was just a little side trip up to some nice views. When I sat down for lunch, the black flies and mosquitoes were so bad I couldn't even eat. I was sweating so bad that I was wringing water out of my bandana like it was a dish rag, and about then I had a big bug fly into my mouth! Why is it they always have to go all the way to the back and stick on the back of your throat?!?!? Anyway, I had a little extra protein with lunch! It wasn't the end of the world. What I decided at that point was that I wasn't really having a good time. It was so hot, the bugs were pretty bad, and the trail isn't going anywhere. I have another week of vacation in Oct, and I'll be back. I really enjoy cold weather hiking, and don't usually hike when it's so hot, but I was trying to get this little section done so I could do the north end of the Smokies in Oct. I went ahead and walked back down to the dam and came on home. Even though I didn't complete my loop, I had a beautiful day in the woods, and got a heck of a work out. Hope to see you out there in Oct ....

HooKooDooKu
09-11-2013, 14:37
Heading down to Fontana tomorrow. Up the AT to [Spence Field] shelter, down the Eagle Creek and across the Lakeshore trail. If you're in the area be sure to say "hey"!:sun

IMHO, the loop should be done the other way around.

Starting the loop on the AT means you begin with a killer climb to Shuckstack that doesn't really end until you reach Doe Knob after 7-1/2 miles and 3,500' of climbing.

But if you start with Lakeshore, you do some minor up-n-down hills (nothing more than 500' of climbing) for 5 miles to get to Eagle Creek. Then the trail becomes a piece of cake (discounting the water crossings). Eagle Creek starts off almost level. Only every so slowly does the trail get steeper the higher up you go. Even when you reach the upper camp grounds, you're still no where near as steep as the AT heading to Shuckstack. You get to continue this gentle transition for 7-1/2 miles until you've managed to climb 2,000'.

Now, once you reach that far along Eagle Creek, the trail takes a sudden turn off the railroad grade it has been following to move things along to Spence Field. The climb to Spence Field at that point is less than 1-1/2 miles. But (according to the UTK web site with all the GSMNP GSP info) that section has the steeped 1/2 mile of trail anywhere in the Park. It is so steep, that I don't think I would want to hike down that section. I recall that many of my foot placements going UP the trail were the spots where the last person coming DOWN the hill stopped sliding. So I've got to admit, that section is a KILLER.

From Spence Field, its pretty much all down hill until you get about a mile past Russle Field. At that point, you have about a 700' climb to reach Mollies Ridge. After Mollies, there is a 700' climb to Doe Knob. Once you're past the Knob, it's almost all down hill. There's a few exceptions (such as the 250' climb approaching Shuckstack).


Now of course if your knees really hate down hills, then I could really understand doing the loop hiking DOWN Eagle Creek. That way, you avoid the steep decent of the AT to Fontana, and compact the worst of your decent to the upper section of Eagle Creek.