Feb 1 Bote Mountain Trail

 

Lung Lichen

Our hike is led by Joey and Roger, both former park employees. We started hiking on Lead Cove Trail, transitioned to Bote Mountain Trail and ending near Schoolhouse Gap. The Lead Cove trail is named for the lead deposits in the area which were mined by locals. Bote Mountain trail is named such because the Cherokee who were paid to build it, were given the choice of going up this ridge or the one next to it. They voted on this ridge. Since they did not have a "v" sound in their language, they pronounced vote as "bote". The ridge they did not choose is known as Defeat Ridge. 

Joey points to a bear hair on this tree. Bears bite trees or claw them to claim territory. Bite marks are usually about 6 feet up. Looking closely around the bite mark, often yields some hair. 

This small PVC pipe stuck in the ground, marks the spot a young woman is buried. The story is that she and a boyfriend planned to elope. One story has the boyfriend as a Cherokee, the other does not. Depending on the story, either the girl's father or uncle attempted to shoot the young man. The girl stepped in front to protect him and took the bullet. She died at the site and the boy got away. Having just killed the girl, the father or uncle must not have wanted to tell anyone what had happened, so the grave was dug atop a knoll. The PVC pipe is in a slight depression like you would expect a grave to be. It's unclear how the story survived. Did the boy tell it? Did the father or uncle ever confide in someone? That part will likely not ever be known. 

What is puzzling, there is a second pipe in the ground about 200 feet down from the top of the knoll. It is not in a depression and does not fit with the story of the girl being buried atop the knoll. Someone is messing with us?

Roger and Joey emerge from the Lead Cove Trail onto the Bote Mountain Trail which was built as a road and still resembles one. 

Dancing across the creek

We saw two chimney falls on Lead Cove. The first was just as we began hiking. This one was located right beside a creek and was likely not a home since there was no even remotely level ground around it. Possibly, it was a hunting cabin or shelter on the route to Spence Ridge which was used for summer grazing.

I found this area fascinating. Acres of muscadine covered and has killed some trees. Muscadine really takes over when there are timber cuts. Opening up the canopy and disturbing the leave litter allows seedbank seeds to sprout. The size of some of these vines indicate that this probably dates back to the last timber cut here in the 1920s or 1930s.