Jan 24 Uwharrie River Adventure

This is not a new section of river. It has always been there, it just seems new. For years this was my favorite section of river. You could take out on a forest service road in what was referred to as the "Uwharrie Reservation". I don't know where that name came from. It is not an Indian reservation. Uwharrie isn't even an Indian name. Anyway, the road was closed 15 years ago because the Forest Service was unable to keep people off the adjacent private properties. Without that take out spot, the next available take out was Morrow Mountain State Park which required a long long shuttle. Thus this section saw very little traffic. 

During 2010 the Land Trust for Central NC purchased the Capel Property at the mouth of the Uwharrie. This tract has remained undeveloped while land all around it is crowded with both riverside and lakeside homes. I was told there was now canoe access at the mouth of the Uwharrie. Thrilled, I headed out with John, my top Uwharrie River companion. We drove to the area and searched around, finally finding a gate with a conservation easement sign. Here it must be we thought. And there was the river a short way down the wood road blocked by the gate. We dropped his truck and made our way back the  Rt 109 bridge to begin our float.

The photo above is just downriver a bit from the bridge on river right. It is a cabin perched on two stone buttresses which I assume to be the old Rt 109 bridge. Near here there is an abandoned river level gauge which read 2.2 feet.

Here I am at our lunch stop. At this point the river splits into 3 channels. It appears all 3 are clear and can be paddled. We choose the central course as it seemed to have the most water. We stopped at this nice gravel bar next to some fast flowing water. just beyond here the river cuts through some mountains and river left is a series of almost vertical cliffs coming to the water's edge. We estimated these rose up 50 feet or more.

Just beyond the bend in the above photo, there is a cove out of river's flow, with towering walls on 3 sides. It is nice spot to stop and take in the scene.

Continuing downriver on river right is a hillside littered with quartz boulders. They may not be visible other times during the year but are very apparent now. Just beyond here is the biggest drop on this section. This rapid approaches a class 2 and looks to be best paddles on river left paying close attention to a strainer just below.

Our little adventure continues. As we approach the mouth of the river we see a conservation easement sign where Dutchman's Creek enters. I got out and walked up this gravel drive. It went on and on so that was not the spot we were seeking. We paddled on and could see the mouth of the river. Homes lined river right but there was no sign of the spot where we left the truck. John asked a passing pontoon boat and they had no clue. We paddled on and the pontoon boat, now a bit upriver from us, shouted back about an inlet off the lake. maybe that was our spot. We paddled to the mouth, could see Morrow Mountain canoe access on the opposite side of Lake Tillery but still no truck. We paddled into the lake and then saw an island, slipping in beside it, we found the inlet and sure enough that was spot we sought.

Jan 22 Dutchman's Creek hike

Today's hike with Piedmont hiking and Outing Club began at Yates Place and circled around the upper loop of a figure eight, Dutchman's Creek and Uwharrie Trails form. A 1/2 mile connector trail leads from Yates Place to the UT and we head south. About 45 minutes into the hike, as we approach Dutchman's Creek, there appears to be blooming daffodils. Yes, Jan 22. This must be the earliest I've ever seen them blooming.

All day it seems as if we are in the middle of nowhere but if you examine the map, we are just steps from homes and roads for the first half of the hike. We also see many POSTED signs of all sorts and vintages along with deer stands, feeders and the ubiquitous red flagging which always seems to accompany them.

Dutchman's Creek flows through an area locally called "the flats". Here mountain laurel and holly give it a year round green appearance. 

The Uwharries are difficult to navigate as there are many trails. Signs like this one seems to add to that confusion. 

Jan 20 Jumpin Off Rock

Jumpin Off Rock has been here forever overlooking Barnes Creek as it cuts its way through the Uwharrie Mountains. When I first moved here, this was wooded and the view was not as open. The spot was cut and now is well on its way back to a forest. 

Long a party spot and graffiti destination, now I don't know how much it is visited. The official parking area is .3 mile away on the opposite side of Flint Hill Road (Ant Hill Road on your Garmin GPS). 

After scouting a hike with a couple folks from the land Trust for Central NC, I stopped here to look around. The most noticeable change is the memorial just a few yards away. "Little Jimmy Freeman" is recognized at this memorial. There is a small landscaped area with solar lights and a cross covered with messages to Jimmy.

Jan 13 Barnes Sisters Graves

This is my final day at Wilderness Wildlife Week. All week I have been hiking in warm temperatures but during the night we had a cold front move in and a 1 to 2 inch dusting of snow. We bus over to Greenbrier and are dropped off at the forks where Ramseys Creek and Porters Creek join. The walk up to the Barnes homesite follows a route I took several years back with my brother on our way up the Cat Stairs and Greenbrier Pinnacle. Our guide, Doug Duncan leads us up a faint trail along Bird Creek. We pass old homesites littered with artifacts.

We pass the site of the 3 sisters' graves before arriving at the cabin site. It is interesting to note all three of the sisters died very young. One passed on Christmas Day and the following Christmas Day another was born. Christmas had to relive memories in the Barnes family.

Here we are enjoying lunch in the snow in the shadow of Greenbrier Pinnacle.

Jan 12 Curry Mountain offtrail

Today's hike is with the Thursday Hikers of Knoxville. I've been hiking vicariously with them for a couple years receiving weekly accounts of their hikes from a fellow, Gary Anderson, I met wandering around White Oak Sink a couple years back.

Dwight McCarter led today's wander. We began at Metcalf Bottoms hiking the Curry Mountain Trail.

Once at the junction of Meig's Mountain Trail, we ventured off trail down a drainage. Within 200 yards we encountered the wood cooking stove in the creek. According to Dwight, the CCC boys were instructed by the Park Superintendent to pull over the chimneys with mules and hide the stoves and metal bed frames in the Rhododendron. Dwight is a great resource for these things but you do have wade through the tall tales and outright fibs he's known to tell.

We located 3 old chimneys and a fourth one was located by a few in the group. Several of the homesites had stainless steel markers by them indicating whose home it had been. Local folks with family ties are said to be responsible for these markers.

Most of the walk today was in cove hardwoods as seen here. We managed to get back just before the rain began.

Jan 11 Wood Frogs

Traveling around Cades Cove, I encountered a loud peeping noise in the meadow. Looking closer I saw a puddle which appeared to be bubbling with activity. The noise was non-stop and the puddle boiled away. I later learned these were wood frogs mating. It has been a warm winter and these guys were a bit early but their eggs will survive even if frozen. The frogs themselves can survive multiple freeze thaw events. Chemicals in their blood and liver allow them to weather the winter. Small and often found in leaf litter the most noticeable characteristic is the black eye band. "Banditos" as Patti calls them.

Patti the Frog Lady gathered some eggs from a small pond on a hike later in the week. There was snow on the ground but she was able to find some viable eggs and forming tadpoles. 

Jan 11 Cades Cove Magical Mystery Tour

Another rainy day. I was to take a small group of friends around the cove today and felt inadequately prepared so I sought out Mark Snyder of the Cades Cove Preservation Society for some advice. "What can I look for?". He provides several things to seek with some clues on their whereabouts. I end up doing this scavenger hunt by myself. It turns out to be a magical day. I am greeted by an eight point buck as soon as I enter the cove. The buck runs through a rafter of turkeys scattering them in several directions. I end up seeing 40 deer including this doe above. Virtually tame, I stop taking deer photos after the third encounter - all at about 15 feet distant from me.

First stop is John Oliver's cabin. I see a piliated woodpecker up close, working a nearby tree. Then deer and a squirrel don't mind my presence and allow me to take up close photos.

Mark had provided directions to Gregory's Cave, above. I wandered around a bit before locating it. There were sinkholes in the area so I assume limestone caverns lurk below. Mark said to bring a flashlight for descending into the cave but it looks real muddy and I pass on that opportunity.

Next stop is the Primitive Baptist Church with Russell Gregory's grave. So it was from Gregory's cave to his grave I went. Gregory's Bald and Russell Field are both named for Russel Gregory. Many families were torn apart during the civil war. A popular legend is that Russell's son provided information to southern sympathizers resulting in his ambush and death.

Halfway around the loop I decided I didn't know where John Walker's cabin was. That was a clue Mark had given me to located some rusting cars. I asked at the Visitor Center and determined I was looking for John Oliver's cabin, not John Walker's. Before heading back to the start of Cades Cove to return to John Oliver's place, I continued visiting all the cabins, cemeteries and churches. 

At the Methodist Church I located the grave of Shuler. The epitaph reads " REMEMBER FRIENDS AS YOU PASS BY, AS YOU ARE SO ONCE WAS I. AS I AM NOW YOU'RE SURE TO BE, PREPARE THYSELF TO FOLLOW ME".

Further along the loop was another Methodist Church, now gone but the cemetery still exists. It is the Hopewell Methodist Church's cemetery. As the civil war tore apart the Cades Cove community, church services were suspended, neighbors fought neighbors etc. After the war, the Methodist Church with members allied with both the South and the North split. The southern faction located on the northern side of the cove still exists. The northern faction on the southern side of the cove is long gone but its legend persists. After the church split, one member deeded land for the new church. He deeded it to "Almighty God". Seventy years later when the NPS is using eminent domain to condemn land and form the national park is faced with a problem. How can they condemn land deeded to God? The legend says they never did and the property once deeded to God for the Hopewell Methodist Church is not owned by the NPS, it is still deeded to God. You can find this property just past the Dan Lawson place on the loop. At the edge of Lawson's field is a lane leading up to the cemetery.

The final piece of my scavenger hunt was this rusting vehicle behind John Oliver's place. You have to follow a creek upstream a bit, locate an old chimney and wander around to find it. It was a fitting end to a very nice day.

Jan 10 Meigs Mountain & Lumber Ridge

Three days into Wilderness Wildlife Week and this is my first organized hike. Beginning in Elkmont and ending in Tremont, we are in the capable hands of George Owen, lecturing above. Today's history lesson covered a couple GSMNP tidbits. The park, formed in 1934 was the first national park to be created from formerly private land. Using the powers of eminent domain the National Park Service was able to appropriate through condemnation of property between 4000 and 5000 land holdings. Most, of course, included homes and farms as well as public buildings like schools. Some years later, about 1940, many more properties were appropriated before construction of Fontana Dam. Although that was related to Tennessee Valley Authority, the land became part of the national park. 

GSMNP does not charge an entrance fee putting it at a disadvantage with other parks. Parks which charge an entrance fee, keep 80% of it for their operating budget. The remaining 20% goes into a pool for those parks which do not charge a fee. According to the NPS website: The reasons for free entry to the national park date back at least to the 1930s. The land that is today Great Smoky Mountains National Park was once privately owned. The states of Tennessee and North Carolina, as well as local communities, paid to construct Newfound Gap Road (US-441). When the state of Tennessee transferred ownership of Newfound Gap Road to the federal government in 1936, it stipulated that “no toll or license fee shall ever be imposed…” to travel the road. 

At that time, Newfound Gap Road was one of the major routes crossing the southern Appalachian Mountains. It’s likely the state was concerned with maintaining free, easy interstate transportation for its citizens. North Carolina transferred its roads through abandonment, so no restrictions were imposed.   

Action by the Tennessee legislature would be required to lift this deed restriction if Great Smoky Mountains National Park ever wished to charge an entrance fee.

Creek crossings are always interesting events. Everyone seems to feel they can't get a boot wet no matter what. This one might have risen over your boot so gaiters are in order, note Steve sporting gaiters on the left.

This 11 mile hike featured a fairly level route with lots of forest scenes, small creeks and major grapevines. We passed the obligatory homesites and one cemetery.  

Finishing early at Tremont, we had over an hour to gaze at and listen to Middle Prong from the bridge leading to Tremont. The Tremont Institute has been supported by the GSMNP for many years It relies on the park to supplement its budget shortfall. Recent budget cuts are forcing those umbilical cords to be cut. The park would like Tremont to cover its operating budget shortfall through fundraising. I know this is a tough time to have to go out and beat the bushes for charitable donations, especially when there are so many others in and around the park already competing for those dollars.

Jan 9 Cataloochee Valley in the Rain

It was raining and the valley was full of puddles. I didn't think this would hinder the elk from venturing down from their daytime refuge in the forest but it did, at least while we traveled through. To arrive in the valley, you must negotiate a winding road with narrow spots and steep drop offs. Once in the valley you are treated to some great scenery like this shot above. This is the meadow I hoped we'd spot some elk but we saw only rain.

Here we are in the hayloft of a barn seeking shelter from the rain. Calaloochee Valley is Cades Cove's counterpart in the GSMNP. Cades Cove sports log building with a few churches. Cataloochee showcases later homes with clapboard siding as well as a church and schoolhouse.

The Beech Grove Schoolhouse above was built in 1903. Not revealed in park literature is the tale of how this school came to be. The earlier structure was too small to serve the area. Three local fellows traveled to Waynesville to request a larger school be built. County officials in Waynesville turned down their request. The three returned to Cataloochie accompanied with a bottle of whiskey. The next morning revealed a burned schoolhouse with all the furnishings removed for safekeeping. The three returned to Waynesville with a more urgent request and were successful. The last to die revealed their secret before passing.

Gorgeous setting along a creek for this church.

Jan 9 Oconaluftee Visitors' Center

When the forecast is rain all day, what do you do? Today I headed to the new Oconaluftee Visitors Center just outside Cherokee NC. The center was constructed and opened last year. It was a collaborative effort between the Great Smoky Mountain Association, Friends of the Smokies and the National Park Service. The GSMA donated just north of 3 million dollars, financed locally. The Friends ponied up about half a million for the interpretive exhibits. On the way there, we encountered this view above.

The center is a showcase building with passive energy and design. There is a floor of wormy chestnut reclaimed from a local barn. The exhibits here are outstanding.

Next to the center is a recreated mountain farm with buildings and garden as you might have found 100 years ago. I highly recommend spending a hour or more at this locale.

Jan 8 Rhododendron Creek

It is the first day of Wilderness Wildlife Week and I'm off on a short hike up Rhododendron Creek in the Greenbrier area of the GSMNP. The trail is not listed on park maps but is well worn and climbs alongside one of the prettiest creeks in the park. The creek is quite steep and sports many small waterfalls. 

On a hot summer day there are numerous spots to sit in the water and cool off. Today was not one of those days. Although winter it was a warm winter day but I suspect a dip in the creek would feel quite frigid. Fortunately, we managed all the creek crossings without mishap.

Once you've passed all the falls and reached the Grapeyard Ridge Trail, the creek levels out and a number of homesites can be found with some searching. It is in this area you'll encounter, what I call the Stone Cube, a pile of rock constructed into a cube about 6 foot cubed.