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Click here to see entire photo gallery for this hike.
Eagle Creek trail is only 8.9 miles long but it took 20 years of hiking
along over nearly 800 miles of trails in the Smokies before I hiked it the first time. 6 hours 10 minutes is all it took from bottom to top--including lunch.
This hike was a milestone event in that it completed for me the last unhiked trail in the Smokies on my list of "official"
Smokies trails. Eagle Creek trail is located in the southwestern portion of the park; it is bordered on the
south by Fontana Lake and terminates at Spence Field, a bald straddling the crest of the Smokies which is traversed by
the Appalachian Trail (AT).
"Nothing in the Smokies is mostly level."
Twenty years ago I took up hiking to recharge my life and since then
hiking in the Smokies has often been for me the ultimate energy boost. My first hike in the Smokies was a 12 mile backpacking
trip along Deep Creek trail out of Bryson City, NC. The year was 1986 and as I lugged a backpack up Deep Creek trail
toward backcountry campsite #57, the former site of author Horace Kephart's last permanent camp, I remember my surprise at how devilishly difficult all those climbs up & down the
finger ridges were. I more than once pulled out my map to see just where all those hills were but on my simple
map the trail looked mostly level with only a gradual grade. "Nothing in the Smokies is mostly level." That was
the first lesson these Smoky Mountains taught me. Just this summer I retraced my steps along Deep Creek trail for the
first time since that 1986 hike and the memories came streaming back.
Just imagine a place so vast that you can hike someplace different for
each hike without doing the same hike twice in 20 years. That is the Great Smoky Mountains National Park where I've
found that each trail has at least four different faces: The multi-colored palate of rebirth in spring; green
and humid haze of summer; warm autumnal reflections of fall; and finally, the starkly beautiful profiles
of the constantly folding, turning terrain in winter.
Official hiking trails in my "Little Brown Book" Hiking Trails of The Smokies, tally to be 799.9 miles for their combined length. One hiking club calls itself the
"900 Miler Club" with membership qualification being the completion of all official hiking trails in the park. I don't have any idea
where they came up with the number 900 unless they figured that one had to do a lot of backtracking and double hiking
of some trails in order to complete others. I didn't start keeping a reliable hiking log until 2002 and since then I've
recorded over 3,000 miles of hiking in the park. Obviously I've hiked some trails more than once but there are also
lots of entries in my log for trails you'll not find listed in the "Little Brown Book." This park is filled with
old trails, railroad beds and manways that aren't to be found in hiking books or current topographic maps. The season
for hiking those is upon us now that leaves are falling and the snakes are moving into winter dens.
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Bridge? I think it went swimming...
Long lost trails like the oft-mentioned Ekaneetlee Trace between
southwestern Cades Cove and Eagle Creek are out there to be rediscovered. Who could resist trying to retrace a path
with such a history as this one? Native American Cherokee used the Egwanulti, their term for Ekaneetlee,
as a route between their settlements on opposite sides of the Smokies. Moses Proctor and his small family used
the route around 1830 to migrate from Cades Cove to Hazel Creek. It became one of the principal routes between Tennessee
and North Carolina for mountain community residents. Supposedly there are several sites along this old trail where shelters
and campsites were established by early travelers--both Cherokee and early white settlers.
Map of Lower Eagle Creek 
Click to open larger image in new window...
I think of this old trail as I wade thru Ekaneetlee
Creek just 1.7 miles up Eagle Creek trail. Earlier this year I'd paused at Ekaneetlee
Gap while hiking along the AT between Mollies Ridge shelter and Doe Knob where the AT turns south toward Fontana; there
I briefly reflected upon the history of this old route as I gazed at side trails which appeared to be traces of
the old Ekaneetlee Trace. Just writing about it makes me want to gear up for a bushwhacking adventure!
19 Crossings
(Knee-to-Crotch Deep)
Wading thru the creek seems like a very unlikely thing to be
doing when the weather outside is near freezing but for my hike today the weather along Eagle Creek is a tolerably cool 50
F as I start my hike. It is forecast to warm to near 70 in the valleys today before the rain moves in by late afternoon.
Still, the creek water is cold and with some eighteen or nineteen walks thru the creek along the first 6.5 miles of Eagle
Creek trail I'm going to wish it was warmer. You've just read one of the reasons Eagle Creek has gone unhiked by me
until now: Unbridged stream crossings.
"Getting across this creek without taking a bath is going to
be seriously challenging."
Click image to open larger size in new window My first three
crossings of Eagle Creek confirmed what I'd expected: Getting across this creek without taking a bath is going to be
seriously challenging. I quickly discover that the very large-- submerged--domed, slippery rocks, which make
up a large portion of the creek bottom, make just standing upright difficult. The currents are very fast and they've
cut hidden paths thru the creekbed which make the water depth vary tremendously; wading across I find depths vary from shin
deep in one place to nearly crotch deep just one or two steps further across. The glare on the water surface makes seeing
the bottom very difficult so I find myself "fishing" for good footing with one foot while trying to remain upright in the
swift current on the other. It is a tricky balancing act but I manage to avoid getting wet any further up than about
mid-thigh for most of the eighteen or nineteen crossings I find today. It takes me four hours of walking before
I'm past the section of trail that weaves back and forth across Eagle Creek. Now the trail goes from periods of
alternating immersions to seriously steep.
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The old railbed I've been following is gone; the terrain has become
more like what you see along the Incline Railway going up Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga: Steep, very steep.
Perspiring freely now, my long-sleeved shirt comes off as I climb bare-chested up the trail, pausing every 50 feet
or so to catch my breath. Roughly 2.5 miles later I arrive at the spring where Spence Field shelter visitors get
water and I pause there to recharge both my water bladder and to reflect upon reaching my milestone event: I've
been here before. Arrival at this spring marks for me the completion all of the official trails
in the Smokies!
"I've Hiked 'em All !"
Passing thru Spence Field and then down Bote Mountain trail the weather
changes from nice to wet as it starts to rain. I don my wet weather gear shortly before passing a couple of trail maintenance
workers who are clearing a large windfall (downed trees) from the trail. I'd seen one of them before at the old High
Rocks fire tower site a few weeks ago and we chat briefly about how bad the mid-October (106 mph maximum!) wind
storm damage was before I resume my downhill journey. The rest of my journey is uneventful as I move down the northern
face of the Smokies along Bote Mtn trail then Lead Cove trail to the Laurel Creek road that leads to Cades Cove. I've arranged a pick-up at the trailhead for Lead Cove trail.
Thanks to my hiking partner for all your support--both
moral and as a car shuttle driver--without which I'd not have been able to manage to hike many of the disjointed routes
I did this year much less having been able to enjoy them like I did.
Just one day later (Thursday) Janice and I drive back to Fontana
Marina to retrieve my car and passing along the Foothills Parkway are treated to wonderful views of the Smokies. The
ridgetops are capped with a white frosty coating of hoar frost. I think about how just 18 hours earlier I was standing
atop one of those ridges, shirtless and dripping with sweat. This is one of the things I love about our Smoky mountains--constant
change. This morning (Friday) as I compose the final paragraph of this journal I'm looking outside my home as
an opaque mist rises and drifts across my pond into the sun-streaked morning air. A lonely river otter is playing in
my pond while nearby I see four young deer kicking up their heels like kids on a playground. My stereo is playing a
nature sounds recording that just now sounded the ethereal call of a wood thrush--it seems a fitting end to what has been
perhaps my most enjoyable season of hiking since I began 20 years ago.
Soon I'll be saying to my Best Friend and any others who'd like a serious
taste of this adventure I so love: Come, hike with me.
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Click here for a link to the webpage where you can download a free trail map for Smokies trails.
© 2009 Al Smith. All rights reserved.
Last updated on
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