Wild Women of Deep Creek – 6/2/12 - Deep Creek Trail/IndianCreek Trail/Martins Gap Trail/Sunkota Ridge Trail/Loop Trail/Indian CreekTrail/Deep Creek Trail Loop – 13 Miles
Another adventur- ous weekend for the Wild Women, this timebased in another of my favorite camp- grounds of the Great Smoky MountainsNational Park, Deep Creek. Thecrew: Leida, Karen, me, Ellen, Joan and Carol. Leida, Ellen and Joan are WW veterans. Karen is Ellen's neighbor, likes hiking and camping. Carol is a long-time Girl Scout buddy of mine and an experienced backpacker. So no real newbies this time, but still an opportunity to make new friends in the outdoors.
We set up camp on two sites right beside the creek on Fridayafternoon – then rain began to pour. Wewent into Bryson City, got a rain poncho for Ellen, and then to pass the timewe drove out to the Lakeshore area of the Park via the Road to Nowhere. My idea was to just show the Wild Women thetunnel where the road ends and tell them the background story, the initial planto build a road along the north shore of Fontana Lake and the subsequentdecision to abandon it. We walked up tothe entrance to the tunnel, as spooky to me as ever, and peered through to thesmall glow of light at the other end. Then… they began to walk right through. I was astounded that they were not afraid, as I certainly had been thefirst two or three times I encountered it. Remember, these gals worry constantly about bears behind everytree. Apparently they did not thinkbears lurked in pitch black tunnels. Moreover, they were wearing sandals which must be protection againsticky snakes and creepy-crawlies.
But we fearlessly walked through the tunnel, and at the farend Karen climbed up on top of it to see what she could see. We walked a few dozen yards beyond until thewide road bed narrowed, then turned and walked back through the tunnel. And it had stopped raining and the sun wasbeaming.(A more in-depth article on the history of the Road to Nowhere is here.)
Back in town, Carol arrived, we had Anthony’s pizza fordinner, then headed back to camp for a small campfire before snoozing. Big plans tomorrow!
Morning, an elaborate breakfast of eggs, bagels, fruit,etc. Someone asked me if this was a lotdifferent than what we eat on a back- packing trip and I laughed. On backpacking trips most people don’t evenbother to light a stove for hot water. Peanut butter spread on a granola bar is elaborate. 
Several hiking options: I chose a 13-mile loop route that efficiently covered a portion of theDeep Creek trail map, a route that Carol had hiked with me before. She planned a loop route that matched minefor the first few miles; then when I turned left, she turned right so she couldcover some new miles. So we hikedside-by-side loops with a shared central trail, like a butterfly withwings. The remaining four women planned a loop that passed by thewaterfalls on Deep Creek Trail, Indian Creek Trail and Juney Whank Falls Trail.
Carol and I headed out first on Deep Creek Trail right outof the campground. Tom Branch Falls isjust .2 miles from the trailhead. 
A right turn onto Indian Creek Trail brought us almostimmed- iately to Indian Creek Falls, looking robust today. As we paused here we met a group of a dozenhikers from Haywood County (I think?).
We passed Stone Pile Gap Trail on the right where Carolwould close her loop hike, and then the Loop Trail on the left where I wouldclose mine. Ten minutes later we saw a “nohorses” sign that indicates a cemetery. 
I had done some research online and had my eyes open for two cemeteriesalong Indian Creek Trail, and this was the first one, the Laney Cemetery. Most graves were marked with bare rough stones.
Grave marker for Liza Conner Parris, born 1841, died 1918,possibly a victim of the flu epidemic of 1918?At the intersection of Indian Creek Trail and Deeplow Gap,Carol and I parted ways. I was at thisintersection in April 2012 during my birthday solo backpacking trip. Carol turned right onto Deeplow Gap and I continuedon up Indian Creek Trail looking for the second cemetery I had read about. Unfortunately, I didn’t find it, but gave upthe search and settled in to enjoy the climb up Martins Gap Trail to SunkotaRidge.
A tree burl
New spring green on the rhodo- dendrons
Lovely green ferns
My mom called this running cedar. She would wind it around a wreath form tomake a Christmas wreath for the front door.
Flame azaleaAt the intersection of Martins Gap Trail and Sunkota Ridge Istopped for a short lunch. Just a coupleof minutes later a fellow came running up behind me, waved and said hello, andturned to run back down. The Deep Creekarea is very close to the town of Bryson City, close enough that residentsconsider it like a town park, and it is heavily but lovingly used by runnersand walkers for daily exercise. I haveto remember that I am not quite in the “back of beyond” here.
After my brief rest I resumed the last bit of climbing onSunkota Ridge before the big downhill back to Deep Creek. Now, do I hear voices? Hey, it’s the Haywood Hikers, they’re hikingthe same loop in the reverse direction.
It’s a long way down Sunkota Ridge, 3.8 miles, and then ittees into the center of the one-mile Loop Trail. Since I’m surreptiously marking a second mapof the Smokies 900, here I decided to hike the right half of the Loop Traildown to Deep Creek, then returned and hiked down the other half to Indian CreekTrail and continued on backtracking to the campground.
An impressive blowdown on the Loop Trail. Always wonder what it would be like to seethis happen.
In mid- afternoon I turned back onto Deep Creek Trail for mylast mile. The parade of tubing folkswas steady, toting or dragging their tubes, some dads carrying kids on theirshoulders. For the first float down thecreek, people hike more than a half a mile to the farthest put-in. Each subsequent float is shorter as thethrill of the ride is eclipsed by the work of the hike. 
I was the last hiker to make it back to camp. Everyone was set up down at the creek, tryingto unwind. (It was working.) We compared adventures of the day – Carol sawsnakes, the other gals explored a cemetery. 
Karen, Joan and me
Watching the tubers go by – most of the adults asked for abeer
Another in my series of “feet first” photos
After a couple of hours of doing absolutely nothing, Leidagave us our assign- ments for cooking dinner: a delicious stew in one Dutch oven and my fabulous “bear scat” cake inanother one. Ellen threw some veggieswrapped in foil on the coals just in case the main course did not turn out asadvertised. I must say that the stew wasthe most delicious dish I have ever tasted and everyone had seconds. My wild women friends are just wonderful. They are learning more with each trip and Ithink they are ready to take off on their own. Gee, I hope they invite me!
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