Big Cat Scratch

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Smokies SB6K Backpack – Day One – 6/8/12 – Pretty Hollow GapTrail/Palmer Creek Trail/Balsam Mountain Trail – 12.8 Miles
The most intimidating part of the SB6K challenge, at leastfor me, is 7 peaks that rise high in the Great Smoky Mountains.  Why so daunting?  After all, I’ve hiked all those trails, evensummited 5 of the total 12 peaks there (Clingman’s Dome, Mt. Collins, Mt.LeConte, Mt. Kephart, even Mt. Sequoyah) during my Smokies 900 year. 
Ah, but the remaining 7 peaks are off-trail, you see, andnot reasonably in reach for me as dayhikes. Bagging these peaks requires a multi-day backpack trip, navigationalskills, a thick skin and a good attitude. So who you gonna call?  Jeff.  I proposed a weekend to hit all 7 peaks andstill get home on Sunday night. He said okay because he is applying forsainthood. 
The plan:  DAY 1 -Hike from Cataloochee Valley to Laurel Gap Shelter, summit nearby BigCataloochee Mountain, stay at Laurel Gap. DAY 2 – Hike via Balsam Mountain Trail to Tri-Corner Knob Shelter,summit Luftee Knob, Mark’s Knob and Mt. Yonaguska along the way, stay atTri-Corner.  DAY 3 – Backtrack on the ATa little to summit Mt. Chapman, then go north on the AT to summit Mt. Guyot andOld Black, then hike down Snake Den Ridge to Cosby exit.
Oddly enough, after hearing the trip description (3 days ofbushwhacking in June, 2 nights in shelters), no one else wanted to joinus. 
After much time spent planning routes with expensive shuttlecompanies, two good friends from the Bergs stepped in to help us out.  Daniel and Mike planned a base campingweekend in the Cosby area on the Tennessee side of the Park, allowing Daniel todrop Jeff and me at the beginning of our route in the Cataloochee area on theNC side.   Daniel drove my car to Cosby, where he andMike used it for their own hiking shuttles and then placed it in the Cosbyhiker parking lot for our exit on Sunday. Genius plan that worked very well for everyone. 
The weather forecast started out to be great, thendeteriorated through the week.  At thetrailhead we were re-editing our packs in preparation for rain.  Also, even though I had made reservations forthe shelters, we each carried a backpacking tent in case the shelters were toofull for comfort or had annoying occupants (hey, it happens.)   We started off with a pleasant stroll on Pretty Hollow Gap Trail,catching up on recent adventures and checking out the wildflowers.  Here’s a new one:  stinkhorn. Yes, I touched it.  It feels justlike it appears, a cold, gelatinous, dead finger.  BIG YUCK.
After .8 miles we turned left onto Palmer Creek Trail andbegan a long, steady climb, 1,500 feet in a little over 3 miles.  Jeff gave me the details of his newest carpurchase and I tried to stay attentive as I huffed and puffed.  It takes me a while to get into an uphillrhythm, the most important consideration being not to go too fast.  Once I’ve hit the right stride, I can plodalong for miles. 
Crossing Lost Bottom Creek
Near the confluence of Lost Bottom and Palmer Creeks
Lots of summer blooms up close on Palmer Creek Trail, including galax – I proclaim this the “flower of the weekend”
Sundrops
Many azaleas in intense shades of coral, salmon and deep pink
Clamshell- like fungi on this tree as big as my two handstogether
Bowman’s root
I reached the end of Palmer Creek Trail at Balsam MountainRoad ahead of Jeff (he went off to bag a little peak some- where).  I really needed a rest on thisextraordinarily comfy rock.
Balsam Mountain road is a one-way gravel road that begins atthe end of paved Heintooga Ridge Road, a side road off of the Blue RidgeParkway.  It is closed in the winter, butcheck it out sometime for a thrill ride through the backcountry.  Several Smokies trails are accessed from thisroad.  We walked about half a mile on thegravel to the beginning of Balsam Mountain Trail.  Here we saw a piece of paper on the ground thatsaid something about Laurel Gap Shelter being closed, but it looked old andtorn and we shrugged as we passed it. But we made note of a Park Service truck parked there. 
Balsam Mountain Trail is lovely, abundant ferns lining theedges and more azaleas overhead.   Oursteady climb continued, adding another 1,000 feet.  Today was the biggest elevation gain of the tripand we would spend the rest of our weekend gallivanting on the highest trailsin the Smokies.
After 2.3 more miles, at the intersection of Balsam Mountainand Beech Gap Trail we saw a very new looking sign:


Well, this was more than an inconvenience, this could be aproblem.  I made our reservations weeksago.  It was too late in the day and wewere too far away from any kind of vehicle to turn back.  No other choice but to continue the remaining2 miles to the shelter and see what’s what.
And…there was indeed a trail crew settled in with a veryelaborate setup.  In addition to overtakingthe shelter itself, they had a shower tent, a cook tent, several enormouscoolers, a gas grill, and an electrified bear fence to keep it all safe.  There were also several tents spread around.  We never asked, but I’m sure it was allbrought in via horses. 
I told the young crew chief, Eric, that I had reservations.  He questioned me a bit rudely, like where wasmy paperwork and who had I talked to?  Ididn’t back down, said again that I had reservations, and obviously there hadbeen a mixup but that we had to stay there. He wanted to know how many nights (one) and where we were headed thenext day.  When I told him our plans andthat we were hiking the SB6K’s, that Jeff had hiked them all and that I wasextensively familiar with the Smokies, good old Eric changed his tuneconsiderably.  He pointed out the path tothe spring for water, then escorted us to an area that he would permit us tocamp – which turned out to be the toilet area. No flat spots, and Jeff and I ended up setting our tents up on afaint path, a ditch, really.  Jeff was putout by the treatment we got and noted that it was all well and good to be niceif we were experienced backpackers, but if we were inexperienced it would beeven more important to be nice and helpful because there were no other optionsthan to stay there.  (note: I reportedthe issue to the Park office when I got back home.)
At the spring we filled up extra containers with water andthen left the shelter area to carry out our real purpose of the day – summitingBig Cataloochee.  And remember, we hadalready backpacked nearly 10 miles uphill.
Continuing a short distance on Balsam Mountain Trail to thenext intersection, we turned right onto Mount Sterling Trail.  Now, Jeff is the man with the GPS track tothe summit, and as I followed him I became a little nervous because the woodslooked impenetrable on either side of the trail.  Oh ye of little faith!  Jeff turned left off of the trail and walkedinto the thick of the forest and I followed, determined to keep him in sight. 
Bushwhacking:  Slowlystomping through thick underbrush, stepping up over fallen tree trunks and downinto holes you can’t see, duck walking under branches, sliding on moss,stooping and twisting sideways to squeeze in between trees.  Fallen trees lay every which way.  Everything in the forest is rotting everyefficiently, crumbling and crunching and squishing underfoot.  There is no time to worry about what youmight be stepping on or what might be scurrying or slithering away just as yourfoot comes down (you can’t see it anyway). If that stuff bothers you, you’re in some trouble.
So we bushwhacked a half-mile steeply uphill at a snail’space through thigh-high ferns and head-high blackberry briars.  This was beyond even my experience on theRichland/Reinhart hike (that was in winter). Now we were in full summer undergrowth. Areas of balsam trees were better because there was very littleundergrowth, but watch out for the small, bare lower branches which I calledstubs – they can really scratch or poke an eyeball.  I got some impressive scrapes on my legs andarms, bloodied up in the first five minutes. (One scar remains – I like to call it my Big Cat scratch.)  We left our packs back on the trail and Icarried my hiking poles out of habit, but they were a hindrance and I didn’tuse them off-trail for the remaining peaks.  
People who came before us had left flag tape intermit- tently,but not in any organized manner that I could follow, so I worked hard to staynear Jeff.  The summit of Big Cataloocheeis designated by a tree with a bunch of flags. My first peak bagged!
You find some awesome stuff when you venture deep into thewoods.

We bush- whacked back down trying to go a slightly differentway (i.e. longer), but ended up coming out at the same spot. I was never so glad to see a trail in my life.  And just how was I going to do this 6 moretimes?
Back at Laurel Gap Shelter the hour was getting late.  The off-trail hike had taken more than two hours.  Wehustled to treat more water for the next day, cooked and ate supper sitting underneaththe bear cable hangers.  Afterwards Iwent to have a little chat with the trail crew. (Eric the leader had retired to his tent.)  The other fellows were very nice, said thetrail work had been scheduled for months and someone in the backpackreservation office obviously messed up. They described the work they were doing to repair Gunter Fork Trail,which had been closed for nearly a year due to landslides.  They said they would be up and out to work thenext morning by 7:00 a.m.
Daylight was fading and the air was chilling.  I crawled into my tent, too exhausted tomove, a good thing because I was nestled in a ditch. 
Ifyou pick 'em up, O Lord, I'll put 'em down.  ~Author Unknown, "Prayerof the Tired Walker"