April 26 Bent Arm Manway

Where are we?

Bent Arm manway connects Cucumber Gap and Miry Ridge trails. If it is not on your map, you can easily see its route on a topo map. It follows a ridge like a bent arm or dog leg. Judging from the stonework we saw, it was probably a CCC built trail. It appears to have been neglected for years but now is seeing some use. Many of the rhododendrons in the middle section have been trimmed so they don't slap you as much.

Fringed Phacelia 

Jenny Bennett led this Smoky Mountain Hiking Club outing on a rainy Sunday. We began up Jake's Creek trail to the gap with only a short break at camp 27. At the gap, we sipped a little water and headed up Miry Ridge Trail. We stopped briefly in the heath bald which would have looked much different without the mist and fog. Shortly thereafter we ate lunch at camp 26 in light rain.

Then it is off trail. There is a easy to follow faint path to start. It is not benched so it is a bit difficult. I brought one pole at Jenny's suggestion, to handle this type terrain. We get on the top of the ridge and there is some difference of opinion as to how best to traverse this section. Michael, who is guided by Lord Garmin, prefers one way and the rest of us follow Jenny on an intermittent path. We become separated and have to halloo to meet up.

About this time, we begin to enter a field of Phacelia (above). It looks like a light snow has fallen.

As we head downward, the next section is more of an old two track which has narrowed with time. This is where I first see the rockwork which leads us to think the CCC built the trail. There is lots of rhododendron here but we can walk upright and pass through it with minimal scrambling.

Quartz in Beech

I wanted to see the quartz in the tree, having read that it might be a boundary marker, possibly from an 1802 survey. Ken Wise doubted this since it was not located directly between Blanket Mountain and Mt Collins. Later correspondence with Ken and a friend of his, indicates this very likely was not a marker for those historical surveys. There was an original survey done in the 1700's between Indian nation and British territory. In 1802 and later dates, that line was resurveyed. This marker is too far from that line to have been in one of those surveys.

These Lady Slippers were a pretty sight. Someone counted 16 in this vicinity.