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August 7, 2002
Destination: Hyatt Ridge Trail, Beech Gap Trail
II, Beech Gap Trail I and Balsam Mtn Trail, Great Smoky Mountains Nat'l Park (GSMNP). About 11.4 miles total plus a
7 mile bike ride. 2,900' minimum to 5,200' maximum elevation range.
Remote location and a nearly 3-1/2 hour drive from Maryville, TN to
the trailhead for Hyatt Ridge Trail made this day hike one that required an early morning departure. This hike was a
combination of trails selected to make a "loop" hike that we could start and finish from points along the old one-way Heintooga-Round
Bottom Road, a dirt road that runs from Heintooga camping area on the southern boundary of the park to a point of exit within
the Cherokee Indian Reservation near the town of Cherokee, NC. We staged our bicycles at the end of Balsam Mtn Trail
in anticipation of using them for the seven mile downhill ride to our vehicle at the Hyatt Ridge Trailhead.
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| Trailhead for Hyatt Ridge Trail |
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| Click image to view photo gallery... |
The drive to this trailhead took us to Cherokee, NC where we picked-up
the Blue Ridge Parkway for several miles and a few thousand feet of elevation gain to the spur road that leads to Heintooga
campground and the beginning of Heintooga-Round Bottom Road, a circuitous, mostly one-way, 28 mile dirt road. This was
a beautiful drive and there were no other vehicles to be seen after we entered the park on the dirt road. We drove in
the low-light of a dense canopy forest with alternate side views of the Cataloochee Valley and the Oconoluftee River Valley
from our 4,000'+ elevation. Driving slowly with windows & sun roof open, we enjoyed the early morning bird sounds,
saw a few hawks up close and even stopped to watch a Barred Owl for nearly 10 minutes until Al's efforts to mimic the sounds
of a Barred Owl scared-away the one we were watching (and probably everything else within earshot).
Hyatt Ridge Trail began rocky & steep and continued that way
for some two miles
Hyatt Ridge Trail began rocky & steep and continued that way for
some two miles until its junction with Enloe Creek Trail. A Scarlet Tanager was heard vocalizing with its distinctive
Chuk-burr but we never got a visual. We passed a group of eight hikers from the Smoky Mountain Hiking Club--another
bunch of those "destination-oriented gazelles" except that the slope was too steep for this bunch of hikers to out-pace Jan
and me. (We chatted with them briefly and after mention of the tanager and some wildflowers we'd seen we decided
they were not into appreciation of either wildflowers or birds.) At the top of the trail, some 3-1/2 miles and 2,000'
of elevation gain later we paused for a rest and talked with two seasonal trail maintenance workers, complete with their weed-eaters.
| Umbrella Leaf with Extra Long Berry Stems |
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| Click to see full photo gallery... |
These had the longest stems for the berry clusters of any Umbrella Leaf plants
I'd ever seen
Beech Gap Trail II runs 2.9 miles down Hyatt Ridge to Round Bottom
where there is a ford of Straight Fork Creek (Note: The ford was replaced with a fancy new $650,000 bridge in 2005--just another example of the park service using limited resources to buy Beluga caviar for the starving
masses). It loses about 1,800' of elevation in the process. Notable sightings along this route were huge
patches of Umbrella Leaf plants with their lovely red-stemmed blue berry clusters. These had the longest stems for the
berry clusters of any Umbrella Leaf plants I'd ever seen.
We paused at Round Bottom for a lunch break, refilled our water bladders
and then started up toward Beech Gap. Beech Gap Trail I climbs from Round Bottom up the side of Balsam Mountain to Beech
Gap for a distance of 2-1/2 miles and an elevation gain of about 3,000'. It is a steep trail and for the initial 1/2
mile its surface is rocky. Somewhere near the 5,200' Beech Gap we finally hit some cool air and the 20% grade became
more bearable in the late afternoon heat & humidity. Fortunately for us this was a much less-humid day than most
we'd been having during this summer season.
| Our Hiker Shuttle Service....Where's the Key? |
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| Click to see TREK's finest wheels... |
We'd locked our bikes to a tree in hope they'd be there for the downhill ride
to our vehicle some seven miles away
Balsam Mountain Trail is generally a ridgeline trail with minor undulations
(relatively speaking). Its foliage cover was very dense, mostly White Snakeroot, and in many places the trail was completely
obscured by the vegetation. Green-headed Coneflower and Crimson Bee Balm provided good color in the area of Beech Gap,
however, several areas showed signs of extensive rooting by wild hogs. Only 2.2 miles of hiking took us back to the
Heintooga-Round Bottom dirt road where we'd locked our bikes to a tree in hope they'd be there for the downhill ride to our
vehicle some seven miles away.
The downhill bike ride was along an excellent dirt/gravel road, all
downhill (no pedaling required) and fully beneath the forest canopy. It seemed like only a few minutes before we found
ourselves at the vehicle where our traditional reward of ice cold beer was waiting. All-in-all, I found this particular
hike to be less interesting than others and I doubt I'd go to the trouble of the long drive again to repeat it. The
Heintooga-Round Bottom Road was probably the high point of this trip. <<End of journal>>.
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