It’s been a while, I know. In truth I would probably not be posting this were it not a handy distraction from cleaning up backpacking gear from this weekends trip. It’s also a handy distraction from packing the house. That’s right, I’m moving! It’s not far though, my fiance and I are simply moving to a new house. At least, we will if everything goes well! But back to the trip that I’m avoiding cleaning up after. We got out for our last trip as an unmarried couple. In just a few short weeks we will be married! Actually, our last trip almost didn’t even happen at all. I came down with a nasty flu mid-week last and was only barely feeling well enough. In truth I probably should have spent the two days in bed recovering, but the prospects of 5 straight weeks without a backpack was unappealing, so I sucked it up and set out.
Our trip was a counter clockwise loop out of Clingman’s Dome via the AT, Welch Ridge, Jonas Creek, Forney Creek, Springhouse Branch, and Forney Ridge trails. The distances were not that great, but the steep elevation changes made it a challenge. We got a relatively late start on Saturday, so by the time we were on the AT the Thru-hikers were already up and active. We enjoyed making small talk with them as we went and regretted not having a small bit of trail magic to hand out to them. We stopped for lunch at Double Spring Gap Shelter where we had a nice long talk with a thru-hiker from Michigan that went by the trail name of Smitters. He said the name was a play on his real name and better than some that others had tried to give him. When asked what he was looking forward to most about Gatlinburg he said an “All you can eat Chinese buffet.” I hope he found that buffet and that the rest of the trip goes well for him.
It wasn’t long past the shelter that we turned from the AT as we made our way down Welch Ridge Trail. The trail was very enjoyable and Julie and I both agree that the small strip of the AT and that section of Welch Ridge were amazing. Things didn’t start getting rough until we began making our way down Jonas Creek. Now Jonas Creek isn’t that rough of a trail. In fact it’s pretty good footing, but the steepness is hard on the quads and calves and even now I feel the sting on my legs. There were several crossings back and forth across Jonas Creek that didn’t help the perception of the trail. Some were easily traversible, some better done wading. Julie swears I didn’t warn her ahead of time, but I was sure I had. Maybe not though, who knows?
We saw a small family of boar along the trail and were thankful that they ran the other direction, because they were directly uphill of us. I hate boar. They are far more scary to me than a black bear.
Once we got to the end of Jonas Creek we also came to campsite #70. The first time I had been at campsite #70 in the Smokies it had a half dozen horses and a ton of people that had made it look wholly unappealing and downright bad. This time it was pleasantly empty, and I have to say somewhat appealing. I again got in trouble with Jules when I informed her that we still had a mile to go. Fortunately it was an easy mile on Forney Creek with just a little up and over ridge section before we came to our final stop for the night at campsite #71.
Campsite #71 is an old CCC camp. It’s still got the foundation and chimney stack of one of the buildings that were on the site. There are artifacts littered throughout such as pipes and other odd metal pieces. We setup camp and gathered what firewood we could before settling in to practice our wedding vows together. That was a lot of fun and I’m looking forward to expressing them in earnest on our wedding day.
The campsite, despite being one of the biggest in the park, was relatively empty. I figure it was due to being Easter weekend. There was only one other group, a small family with their family friend out for a long vacation. We made small talk with them throughout our time at #71 and the father even shared some Easter candy that he said the bunny had delivered outside their tent that morning. I figure they didn’t have the same mice that we did if that candy was still outside their tent in the morning! They were very nice, and the son actually recognized me from my blog. Shout out to “Jester”, and thanks for reminding me that this is actually read by folks other than my parents!
I got up early the next morning around 7:30am. I didn’t sleep real well the night before due to coughing fits throughout the night. Julie got up not long after and joined me. We had just enough fuel for a hot cup of coffee and some lukewarm oatmeal. Almost perfect planning. Almost. We set out from camp around 9:00am and began making our way up Springhouse Branch Trail. We’d come down Springhouse before and I have to say I think it was more enjoyable going down! Truthfully it wasn’t that bad and we were at the gap where Forney Ridge intersects in what seemed like no time. We stopped here for a long while to lunch and simply relax. It’s easy to forget that this is a relaxing hobby and get caught up in putting one foot in front of the other. After a nice break we began the climb up Forney Ridge, and what a climb it was. Now, Forney Ridge is a trail I really loved. It was also a trail I absolutely hated. There didn’t seem to be any middle ground. It was either a crazy-steep washed out trail, or a nice pleasant walk through grassy sections. All told by the time we got to Andrews Bald, we were glad to be toward the end of the hike.
We enjoyed some time at the bald and eventually began hiking out making pleasantries with the tourist types out to see the Bald. The great weather had them out in droves and I can only hope my backcountry odor offended them greatly! There was one couple though that were very upset and stopped to ask us if we had seen a 10 year old boy wearing a red hoodie. We couldn’t remember seeing one, but told them we would keep an eye out before continuing on. The final push to the parking lot was brutal, but we made it.
We stopped in the visitors center to see if they had any soda, but they didn’t. We stretched for a while and eventually made our way to the car to start the drive back. Before leaving the parking lot though we spied a small boy sitting next to a van by himself. He was wearing a red hoodie. Julie stopped the car and jumped out to see if it was the lost boy, and in fact it was. We told him that we had spoken to his parents and that he should go to the visitors center to tell the Rangers. Julie walked him over while I parked the car. He was crying and very obviously upset. We got him into the visitors center and prepped a note to put on the parents car in case they came back looking for him. When we left the volunteers were phoning rangers to send them out to find his parents. Hopefully they didn’t venture off trail looking for him. It could have been a very scary ending and I hope everything worked out well. It was definitely an exciting finish to a weekend!
I probably won’t update for another month or so, but when I do I may very well have moved into a new house and married a beautiful woman. I hope that is a good enough excuse 
Jonas Creek Backpack 4-7-2012
