Hannah Mountain Trail - The Place to Get Away From the Crowds

[madgoat]

I stayed at the shelter (Birch Springs Gap) at #113 20 years ago on my first backpacking trip in the park. It was in March and the trails were exceptionally muddy, the temperatures were hovering around freezing, and the fire ring area immediately in front of the shelter had standing water overflowing from Birch Spring making it seem like the spring was pumping water into the shelter itself.

More recently I did a Fall loop from Twentymile up and over into Cades Cove then back over Gregory Bald. Route was twentymile, long hungry ridge, forge creek, rabbit creek, hannah mountain, gregory bald, wolf mountain. We stayed at 12 and 14 on this trip. We originally planned at staying at 12, 16, 13, but cut our trip a day short when we arrived at 16 and the source was dry. Instead of hiking back up to 15 which had plenty of running water (but was closed due to bears), we pushed on to 14 only to find the water source past the campsite was dry as well. I climbed up the draw for a while until I found a tiny trickle and exercised much patience to fill up there. When we got up to Gregory Bald the next day, the source before you get to 13 was dry as well. We could have hiked over to Moore Springs, but we had already had enough of the unseasonably warm weather and dry conditions so we hoofed it on back to the car.

[johnacraft]

i saw it a few months before it got torn down....

along with the shelter that was at 113.......

(and i wanna say i saw the one that was at 5)......

This won't answer the question of when the shelters were removed, but some of you might enjoy it anyway. Moore Springs shelter and False Gap shelter are shown as abandoned, but Rich Mountain (5), Scott Gap (16), and Birch Spring Gap (113) shelters are shown. There's also a Honey Cove shelter shown above Spruce Flats Falls.

The listing ignores the Honey Cove shelter, and confuses Derrick Knob and Scott Gap shelters.

IMG_20171116_095251.jpg

IMG_20171116_095221.jpg

[TNhiker]

thanks...

yeah...

i have heard about honey cove shelter and have seen it on a old map----but have never gone and looked for the old spot...

i have done other manways in that general area though...

[TNhiker]

oh....

and ive been by where false gap shelter was...

the foundation is still there and theres a really good spring right there...

pretty easy to find----if you know where your at...

and moore spring shelter was just passed the spring on a little rise..

the park uses that area when rangers stay there to cut the bald and hunt hogs...

[blue indian]

I LOVE Moore spring. Straight up magical. I didnt realize there was a shelter there at some point..

I remember seeing at least 5 different species of salamander within a 20ft radius. Amazing!

[TNhiker]

I LOVE Moore spring. Straight up magical.

i agree...

its one of the highest springs in the Park, that is always flowing.......

[HooKooDooKu]

This won't answer the question of when the shelters were removed, but some of you might enjoy it anyway. Moore Springs shelter and False Gap shelter are shown as abandoned, but Rich Mountain (5), Scott Gap (16), and Birch Spring Gap (113) shelters are shown. There's also a Honey Cove shelter shown above Spruce Flats Falls.

The listing ignores the Honey Cove shelter, and confuses Derrick Knob and Scott Gap shelters.

IMG_20171116_095251.jpg

IMG_20171116_095221.jpg

That's an awesome looking map. I've been hiking in GSMNP for 25 years now and have never seen a map like that. Would love to be able to see a full scan of it... similar to the full PDF of the current trail map.

[HooKooDooKu]

I LOVE Moore spring. Straight up magical. I didnt realize there was a shelter there at some point..

I think I read somewhere (no recollection where) that it burned back in the 70's.

As TNhiker points out, the spot is now used as a camp site by park rangers... It's located about 100 yards past the spring. There's a locker and fire ring there now. One of the times I visited the spot, they must have been doing some long-term maintenance as a very large tarp had been setup at the site.

[johnacraft]

I LOVE Moore spring. Straight up magical. I didnt realize there was a shelter there at some point.

moorespringshelter.jpg

I believe this is a photo of the Moore Springs shelter.

[johnacraft]

That's an awesome looking map. I've been hiking in GSMNP for 25 years now and have never seen a map like that. Would love to be able to see a full scan of it... similar to the full PDF of the current trail map.

I'll see what I can do.

[TNhiker]

moorespringshelter.jpg

I believe this is a photo of the Moore Springs shelter.

i bet that is...

the spring would be down the hill on the middle of the right side....

[TNhiker]

One of the times I visited the spot, they must have been doing some long-term maintenance as a very large tarp had been setup at the site.

yeah...

i think they stay up (kinda) long term...

like maybe a couple of weeks or so at a time.....

mainly mowing and cutting the bald back......along with some hunting, i believe..

while ive never seen any people up near the shelter site----have seen all the other evidence of someone living up there...

[TNhiker]

here's some pictures of some of the old shelters..


http://diglib.lib.utk.edu/cgi/i/imag...l&c=rth;g=gsmc

[TNhiker]

and that link has the same photo of moore spring shelter.....

so it is it...

[PatmanTN]

I went by the Honey Cove shelter site last year and there are bear cables still there. Actually easier to bushwhack to it from Treemont road than hike out Spruce Flats cross at the falls, etc..

neato pic of Moore Shelter, love it

[PatmanTN]

The park places a large tarp over a cable at the old shelter site off and on and there seems to always be a tool box there. It's my favorite spring in the park also; I always use it if I can.

HooKoo, A coworker gave me a copy of a map from 1921 that has lots of cool old stuff on it. If I can get a good photo I'll try. I also have the 1972 Sierra Club Blue Book and a first edition of Ken Wises book with manways described and such.

[TNhiker]

I went by the Honey Cove shelter site last year and there are bear cables still there.

what?

i thought they had torn it down long before installation of bear cables happened......

[Ashepabst]

i wonder if the Tremont kids use that as a campsite.

what's Little Indian Gap, by they way? is that same as the Indian Gap, where the old road came through?

[TNhiker]

what's Little Indian Gap, by they way?

yeah...

i was wondering that when i saw it but then got bogged down with work........

i think its close by the gap......

[Bmelee]

I went to the site of the Indian Gap Shelter last winter. Not much left there except some concrete foundations.4CD1296A-40C2-424D-9BDD-A1A9A4277215.jpeg