Hazel Creek Trail: Day 2 of my 4 Day Walk Thru the Past 176

Tuesday, 10/3/2006 @ 8:15 am

Hiking eastward back toward the summit of Silers Bald this morning I'm already feeling the water soaking down into my boots via my dew-drenched sock tops. Everything is saturated with moisture even though the wind had been blowing all night long. Sunlight is slicing thru the mist-shrouded treetops making for a lovely scene. I've soon backtracked about 4/10ths of a mile to the Welch Ridge trailhead where I turn south toward Hazel Creek trail that is 1.7 miles ahead.

Hazel Creek trail is about 14.7 miles in length--one of the longest in the Smokies (only the AT, Lakeshore and Old Settlers trails are longer). Over the 14.7 miles Hazel Creek trail loses about 3,100' of elevation but most of this occurs in the first 2 miles. Beyond the first two miles the trail isn't a steep walk at all.

Numerous switchbacks (zig-zags down the slope to minimize the steepness of the trail) make up the first 1.8 miles of Hazel Creek trail and then I come to upper Hazel Creek Cascades. Here I change into my new Salomon water shoes and begin the first of what will turn out to be 17 stream crossings over the next 3-1/2 miles. That first crossing felt like immersing my feet into a tub of ice water! For sure I'm fully awake by the time I reach the opposite bank.

Slipping Back to 1907--Soon the trailbed rises above the surrounding forest floor and my imagination slips back in time 78 years to 1928 when the Smoky Mountain Railway Company would have been operating a narrow gauge railroad right on the very path I'm now walking. The rails and cross ties are gone now but it is very obvious that the path for this trail was once a railroad bed. The railroad was built progressively further up the Hazel Creek drainage starting in 1907 eventually reaching 18 miles up the mountain--almost to the top of the ridges where the AT now runs. The W.M. Ritter Lumber Company owned the Smoky Mountain Railway Company and used the railroad to assist with logging operations that took place here from 1907 until 1928. Lumber was big business for this area in that time of our history and private citizens were sometimes forced by court order to sell their land to the railroad companies to make way for construction of rail lines.

The Smoky Mountain Railway was used for both logging and passenger service. Connecting rails along the Little Tennessee and Tuckasegee rivers ran from Bryson City, NC all the way west to Twenty Mile Creek (west of present-day Fontana Dam). A traveler heading to the Hazel Creek area might come into Bryson City by the daily passenger train from other cities, spend the night and then take an 8 or 9 am train with expectations of arriving at the mouth of Hazel Creek (the town of Ritter) by late afternoon. Roads weren't built in the Hazel Creek area until the 1920's so from about 1907-1920 trains were the primary method of transportation.

Sighting down the trail, the old railbed is still very obvious even though it has been over 76 years since the tracks were removed. It is easy to see the big gaps in the railbed where the creek cuts thru its path. In the old days there would have been R.R. bridges spanning the creek. For my walk today I have to ford the creek. The icy waters frequently remind me I'm walking in present-day 2006--not 1928 where I've been mind-tripping.

Pretty soon I see my first footbridge and figure I'm at Proctor Creek at a point about 5 miles down the 14.7 mile Hazel Creek trail so far. Note: For a trail that crosses creeks over 25 or 30 times over its full length isn't it ironic that there is only one "footbridge" from beginning to end?

It is this point where I decide to put my regular hiking boots back on since it looks like the railbed/trail has become more of a regular dirt road; I even see fresh tire tracks in the mud. Just over the past 1/2 mile the narrow path with steep rocky sides has widened to become what looks like a large meadow. It was here when back in 1912 a person working for Ritter Lumber might well have worked & boarded along with 50 - 75 other men at Ritter Lumber Camp #7--one of a string of lumber camps established up the Hazel Creek watershed.

Horace Kephart (1862-1931) was wandering around these parts in 1904-1908 and in his book Our Southern Highlanders, first published in 1913, referred to the area north of here as "the Back of Beyond" meaning traveling here involved skills much more arduous than simple walking or horseback riding.

An African-American community called this area home during the lumber harvesting period. Exactly when they arrived, what role they played in the overall community or what became of them isn't clear to me from my limited research but apparently they were not slaves since records indicate there were no slave owners in the Hazel Creek area.

Continuing down the trail--more of a dirt road now than a trail--I remind myself that in 1919 this would have been only a railroad since everything was moved by rail if it needed to go any significant distance. Soon I pass the site of Joshua Calhoun's old homeplace. Reputed to be one of those long-winded Baptist preachers, Josh moved here in 1886. About 1/4 mile on down the trail I see a side trail leading up the slope with a small "No Horses" sign. I've learned this sign often means there is a cemetery at the end of the side trail so I make my way up what turns out to be a very steep and long (1/2 mile) trail ending atop a ridge. There I find a tiny cemetery with the only marked gravesite being that of the "Infant Daughter of Josh and Susie Calhoun."

Note: Janice & I revisited this site 10/8/2006 and encountered "James"--an elderly gent who was using dowsing rods to identify the location of unmarked graves in these old cemeteries. James indicated that there appeared to be about 15 unmarked gravesites in this cemetery where the infant Calhoun was interned. We had been wondering just why Josh & Susie would have chosen this very remote location to bury their child and the hypothesis that there were already graves in this cemetery when they buried their child here seems to make more sense than any other theory. Because of the transient and often solitary nature of residents who lived in these regions during the 1800's it is quite possible that poorly marked gravesites would be "lost" after 100 - 200 years. Perhaps when this infant was buried this cemetery was well-known to the area residents and with Josh being a preacher it is even more likely that he would have known about it.

Soon I reach a trail junction for Cold Spring Gap trail. Just up the hill is an old building now being used as a National Park Service bunkhouse. This was formerly a residence for the Cable family in the 1930's and is one of the only structures in this area not destroyed by the NPS during the 1950's.

Another 1.3 miles of hiking and I reach my destination for night: Bone Valley Campground (officially known as backcountry campsite #83). It is here that I get a major distaste for the distraction that results from other campers who have been allowed to use two-wheel carts, occassionaly drawn by horses, to bring hundreds of pounds of camping gear into the backcountry (see my Hike Journal titled Backpacking Up Hazel Creek New York Style...!).

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With time to spare I plan to hike into Bone Valley before dark. Click here to go to the Bone Valley hike journal.