Jan 23 WHW Sugarland Rockhouse

For those hikers arriving a day early for Winter Hike Week 2019, I am leading a hike to Baskins Creek Falls. We have a small group and ride in 2 vehicles to the trailhead. Along the way, I notice lots of small debris in the road. I attribute this to the 4 week long government shutdown. The road is in the GSMNP and likely has not seen much in the way of maintenance. However, once we stop and open the car doors, it sounds like a freight train. Ferocious wind is swaying huge trees. After about a minute of preparation for hiking, I begin to realize the wind is not abating and is presenting a unsafe situation. Most others are relieved when I suggest we consider another hiking venue. Sugarland is lower in elevation, so we decide to check out conditions there.

Sugarland wind was much tamer, so off we go. We are headed to the Sugarland Rockhouse, an off trail destination. About a mile from the trailhead are the ruins of a CCC camp. We examine the old clock tower and the twin chimneys which served the officers' quarters, now long gone.

Many small artifacts are placed on the hearths of the two chimneys. We see old bottles and china remnants.

Continuing on, we follow a social trail, once a road, leading to a large cemetery. Here we take a break and explore the graves.

The final mile rises gently and passes through several homesites. As we climb, the wind picks up. Finally, just 10 minutes from the destination, 3 of our group decide to turn back. The rest of us push on, buffeted by gusting wind. We make it to Bear Branch and can see the rockhouse just 200 feet away. The creek is too high to attempt a crossing. Even if we had brought water shoes, this would have been an unsafe crossing. It appears a wall has partially collapsed on the structure but we are unable to get a good view of that.

After a quick lunch, we head back. About 45 minutes later, we reconnect with the rest of our group, now safely in a less windy location. About this time, I realize the really windy conditions occurred at higher elevations only. Later in the day, I learned another group encountered the same condition on their hike to Rainbow Falls.

We had a pleasant walk back to Sugarland.