Curry He or Curry She? Smokies Trails Hike Journal

The two mountains Curry Mtn trail climbs are strangely named: Curry He Mountain and Curry She Mountain. The name "Curry He" derives from the corruption of the Cherokee phrase gura-hi which means that the gura salad green grows here. White settlers not only corrupted gura to curry but a woman among them also named the neighboring hill Curry She. Several Yellow-Fringed Orchid plants were seen in bloom along the more open ridgeline areas of this trail along with a Turks Cap Lily look-alike--the somewhat rare Carolina Lily.

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Meigs Mountain Trail connects the Elkmont and Tremont areas of the park and runs thru an area once home for many families until the park service made history with its first use of eminent domain to force the sale of private lands for inclusion in a park. The Smokies was the first U.S. National Park for which purchase of private land was used to form a national park. Notwithstanding all its history, Meigs Mountain Trail was unremarkable from a hiker's perspective and its 1.9 mile route to Meigs Creek Trail revealed little worth mentioning here.

Remembering 9-11....

The end of Meigs Mountain Trail at the junction of Lumber Ridge & Meigs Creek Trails reminded me of just where I was on September 11, 2001. It was at that point that I aborted a hike from the Tremont area that was to have been some 19 miles in length. I'd learned of the World Trade Center collapse just prior to beginning the hike and the news weighed so heavy on my mind that I couldn't enjoy the hike that day.

Meigs Creek Trail leads down the mountain to River Road at an area known as The Sinks. It is a notorious trail due to the number of times the hiker must ford Meigs Creek; I counted 19 crossings during the 3.5 mile walk. Fortunately the water levels are low this time of year and I was able to rock hop all of the crossings with no need to wade thru deep water. I can imagine a spring season hike would be a tricky event indeed since water levels would be much higher. There were a few really impressive waterfalls and the sound of the rushing water was quite pleasing after the monotony of the previous trail segment. I saw several Doll's Eyes plants with mature fruit that look like the eyes in a porcelain doll.

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Also seen, for the first time this season, were a few Cardinal Flower plants in bloom and several blooming stalks of Crane-fly Orchids. At the end of this trail there were scores of people jumping from small cliffs to swim in the Little River at The Sinks, an area famous for its waterfalls, large streamside boulders and, regrettably, somewhat infamous for its drownings. From this point I walked along River Road for about 2.3 miles to the car--an experience I don't recommend for those not willing to dodge the side mirrors of trucks & RV's whose drivers would need an opening the size of a two car garage to safely park a riding lawn mower.