The area at
Camp Creek Bald I call my backyard and there are not too many places that I like to hike more. So,
Sunday I headed back up to this place I have come to know and love. Since I got back into hiking I have visited the area around Camp Creek Bald on seven previous occasions with Jones Meadow being my preferred starting point on five of these (and visited on a seven).
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| Icy Camp Creek Bald Fire Tower from November... |
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| ...Jones Meadow from the same outing... |
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| ...warm times in August looking back at Camp Creek Bald... |
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| ...Blackstack Cliffs from Jones Meadow on my first visit in 2013. |
This was the first time Deb had been with me and her first trip up here since the 80's (the old cabins were still there). I have covered this hike on a number of occasions (see the bottom of this post for links to these blogs). So mainly what I will talk about is the trail conditions on Sunday. When I came to Greeneville on Saturday there was still snow high on the mountain, but it seemed to be melting and I really expected it to be no problem.
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| The cabins, long since gone, were there when Deb last visited (Photo from RATtreks) |
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| Saturday snow on Camp Creek Bald. |
Well, we were taken by surprise first by the condition of the road on the way up (it was noticeable worse than this past November) and the amount of snow at Jones Meadow. When we started out it wasn't too bad on the blue blazed trail that is actually an old jeep road.
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| Heading up... |
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| ...to Camp Creek Bald. |
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| We started to see snow & the rough road! |
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| Viking Mountain Overlook. |
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| We have arrived at Jones Meadow... |
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| ...yes there is snow... |
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| ...on Camp Creek Bald. |
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| Headed down the blue blaze trail... |
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| ...with snow... |
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| ...I was surprised that the big mud hole had shrunk. |
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| The remains... |
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| ...of the Old Shelter. |
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| I had missed this before. |
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| Heading down to the AT. |
However, when we reached the
Appalachian Trail (AT) it was sloppy, I mean really sloppy. One reason is the melting snow making it muddy, but the other is the traffic the trail sees during AT Thru-Hiking season. Anyway, we headed south to White Rock Cliffs, before heading north toward Big Firescald Knob.
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| The AT was muddy... |
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| ...& snowy. |
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| Deb started out well. |
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| The trail to... |
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| ...White Rock Cliffs... |
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| ...with these views... |
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| ...which I told this thru-hiker about. |
The AT was sloppy all the way to Bearwallow Gap. Once we passed the junction with the bad weather trail it wasn't near as muddy because it is rockier and since it is shaded...icier. Because of this, I will just say we didn't make it to Big Firescald Knob as it was icy and I made the call to head back.
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| Heading north... |
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| ...on the AT. |
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| Deb trying in vain to avoid the mud. |
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| Under a favorite tree of mine, the AT was a mudhole. |
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| Heading right... |
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| ...the trail got rocky... |
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| ...& icy... |
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| ...we turned back here. |
On the way back we did make one more spot...Blackstack Cliffs. Deb didn't drop down to the actual cliffs, staying at the US Geological Marker while Pete and I went to the rock outcrops.
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| Headed back... |
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| ...but first a stop at Blackstack Cliffs. |
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| We got to see where we failed to make. |
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| I left Deb here... |
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| ...because she did want to climb down here... |
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| ...while I did & took in the vista of Blackstack Cliffs. |
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| Greeneville. |
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| Nice! |
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| Where we are headed. |
Once we got back to Jones Meadow I decided to follow a trail on the other side of the old Valhalla Inn site. I did get a great view, but I paid a price for it. I didn't take my hiking sticks and I slipped on slushy ice, hitting my knee on some rhododendron cutting it open.
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| Blue blaze... |
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| ...back to Jones Meadow & where I came from Blackstack Cliffs. |
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| Soon Big Bald, soon... |
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| The path I went down where I hurt my knee... |
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| ...but I did get this vista. |
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| Thru-hikers carrying a friends pack. |
Let just say it hurt. Overall, even with all of the problem,s any day in the mountains is better than most.
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| The Smokies. |
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| The road was just as rough on the way back. |
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| Dillard Place... |
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| ...a plaque with the story... |
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| ...Dillard Cascade... |
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| ...it is a beautiful place. |
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