My first experience with Wilderness Wildlife Week is this hike. This organized hike was led by Marty Silver, a Tennessee State Park ranger. There were about 15 participants. We started from the Cosby campground and headed up Snake Den Ridge trail. Marty set a blistering pace which soon had me breathing hard and fogged up despite the below freezing temperature. The previous week's rain made all the creek crossings interesting. Two or three folks got boots wet and Marty went through one bootless.
Near the junction with Maddron Bald trail we encountered a scruffy looking fellow headed down. His backpack was about the largest I'd ever seen. He was trying to do the "triple crown", AT, Continental Divide and Pacific Crest trails all this year. Additionally, he was biking from Maine to the the Continental Divide trail head in Southern Canada. He was making a 13 mile round trip to the store at Cosby. Marty told him, he had extra food and would be willing to give it to him. The fellow replied he wasn't in need of food, just some smokes.
Further on the trail, we entered Maddron Bald, a heath bald now growing back. There are only two balds in the park being maintained as balds. This one barely resembles a bald now. Maddron Bald trail passes one of the jewels of the park, the Albright Grove. Named for Horace Albright a National Park Director, this grove contains some of the oldest and largest trees in the park. It is a much different forest than the second growth forests that cover much of the park. The final couple of miles out to Rt 321 are along an old gravel road and a very easy grade.
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