Enloe Creek in the Middle: A Late Spring Hike in the Smokies
Enloe Creek is one of the prettiest trails in the Smokies. Located
just northeast of the town of Cherokee, NC, the route required to access this interior Smokies trail will please you
with nearly constant sounds of running creeks and a wide range of elevations. In fact, except for a short
1.3 mile section of Bradley Fork trail, the route we followed seemed to always be either climbing or descending--especially
with regard to the Enloe Creek trail where there were only two very short sections that were level and both of those were
footbridges!
Note, clicking on the large mini-slideshow image above will open the photo
gallery in a new window where you can choose other viewing options.
Date of hike: 5/18/2009
Distance hiked: 11.6 miles
Our route began on Straightfork-Roundbottom Road
at the Hyatt Ridge trail and climbed for 1.9 seriously steep miles to the Enloe Creek trailhead. Horseback riding
has just about destroyed this section of trail. Those 2,000 pound horses--usually traveling in groups--denude the trail
of most topsoil leaving only rocky surfaces which become even more rocky once the rains and run-off wash away the remaining
soil and surface vegetation.
If I could somehow avoid hiking along this section of horse-damaged Hyatt Ridge, I
would have enjoyed the Enloe Creek hike much more. Perhaps one day before I die we'll all see a park service manager
with more courage to stand up and speak the truth about the problems horseback riding causes to so many of our fragile Smokies
hiking trails. Once the truth is spoken, actions will be taken to eliminate horses from about 80% of the trails in the
Smokies which they routinely destroy.
Hopefully I'll soon post a link to the story my hiking
companion Janice has promised for this hike. With Jan's permission, I'll be sharing her narrative with my website readers.
Meanwhile, go ahead and browse thru the 50 captioned photos I've uploaded for this hike. Check out the trail
map and elevation profile images which I've included with the other photos we took during this trip.
Note: Unless you have only a slower dial-up internet connection,
I suggest you use the "Slideshow" option when viewing our photos in SmugMug. Just click the slideshow link in my hiking journals or look for the slideshow button near the top right side of the window when the SmugMug photo gallery
opens. This option allows full-screen viewing of our photos. Be patient, it sometimes takes several seconds to
start running after you click the button.
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