'Tis a "Goat Trail" No More. 

Trails hiked:  Cooper Road, Little Bottoms, Hatcher Mtn.  12.2 miles total trip distance.  Difficulty:  Moderate.

 

Little Bottoms trail (near Abrams Creek on the west side of the Smokies) was long regarded as a "Goat Trail" because of its wild, twisting, steep and treacherous route.   Last summer the park service worked to make improvements to the trail.  I hiked it Tuesday, 2/27/07, and found that the trail still has that "wild" feel to it as it twists and turns up and down near Abrams Creek.  BUT, those areas where you once had to scramble over protruding boulders and other obstructions plus almost crawl on hands and knees up steep slopes while sliding down the other side:  No more!  Thank you park service workers for an excellent job on the Little Bottoms trail improvements.  Click here to see photos of the repaired sections.

 

My Tuesday hike was a 12.2 mile loop hike starting from the Abrams Creek ranger station (usually there is nobody home at that remote location).  The drive-in campground is still closed.  There are a few daffodils in bloom near the parking area but beyond that you'll be hard-pressed to find anything more than a few tiny cinquefoils in bloom.

 

What to watch for on these trails?  Trailing arbutus and shuttleworth's ginger are common along this route.  Note that this is one of the few places in the park where shuttleworth's ginger is commonly found.   Pink lady's slippers are also common along this route.  If you watch carefully you may even spot some gay wings (fringed polygala).  You'll be able to find other more common flowers here too but I'll generally not be calling out the species that are "commoners" in these mini reports, i.e. cut-leaf toothwort, blackberry, dog hobble, violets, etc. 

 

When to look?  Trailing arbutus should start flowering in a couple of weeks (mid-March).  The shuttleworth's ginger and pink lady's slippers maybe by late April.  Gay wings in early April.

 

Trail conditions?  Take your waterproof hiking boots for those few streams along Cooper Road trail that will be much easier to cross if you can tolerate walking thru 2" deep water.  Little Bottoms trail is steep in several places.  Hatcher Mtn trail offers easy grades and good mountain views.  Cooper Road trail is wide and frequently traveled by horses.  Overall I rate this loop as "moderate" because of its length and the steep climbs along Little Bottoms trail.  If you walk the loop counter-clockwise then most of the last six miles will be a steady descent along Cooper Road trail.