On the fourth day of WWW, we're headed to Tremont to start a hike on some trails I've not hiked before and a visit to a real gem, White Oak Sinks. Another cold start, but we are headed up right away and I warm up quickly. The West Prong Trail works its way up the mountain and finally to the Bote Mountain Trail. BMT is actually a road built in the 1840's. Cherokee labor was used to build the road. The Cherokee were paid a yard of calico fabric for each days labor. The Indians also voted on the 2 proposed routes. Since there was no "V" on the Cherokee alphabet, the route became know as the "Bote" road. The other route is now know as Defeat Ridge. Our walk on Bote was all downhill and ended at Laurel Springs Road between the Townsend Wye and Cades Cove.
We stopped for lunch in a sunny spot and once again I had a PB&J sandwich and hot tea. Headed up from here we are still on the Bote road but here it is called Schoolhouse Gap Trail. White Oak Sinks is accessed by an un-named side trail off the left. There is a horse stile here. I think it was about a mile into the sink. The sink was created when the limestone in the area dissolved or eroded and the ground collapsed. There is a caged cave entrance. If you look at the lichen hanging over the cave entrance you can see that air is coming out of the cave. A short distance away is a waterfall. We were able to see a rainbow in it and thus it is sometimes known as Rainbow Falls.
Our group had split with some folks choosing not to take this side trail into the sink. So when our group came back out, we saw that they had left. For the next 5.4 miles I hiked at my normal hiking pace, something I was not able to do with a group. There were nice views of Thunderhead and even LeConte along Chestnut Tops. The trail ended at the Wye parking area.
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