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| Midnight Hole on Big Creek |
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| click image to view larger.... |
Sunday, 18 March 2007 Baxter Creek and Big
Creek Trails
The Big Creek area of the Smokies is located in the far northeastern corner--about
a 70 mile drive from my home in Maryville. Sunday, 3/18/07, I decided to make my first visit of the season to this favorite
area for early spring wildflowers. It didn't disappoint.
Baxter Creek trail is our favorite Smokies trail
for dutchman's breeches and squirrel corn wildflowers. About one mile up the trail the forest floor is literally carpeted
with those plants. I was perhaps one week too early to get a good show but a few dutchman's breeches were starting to
bloom. Squirrel corn must bloom later than dutchman's breeches because I didn't see any of them in flower.
This is also a good trail for hyridized trilliums but, also, I was too early and about all I found were trilliums in bud. Tag
Baxter Creek trail for the first week in April as a prime time to visit.
Big Creek trail was a different story.
It gets a bit more direct sunlight than Baxter Creek trail and along the first 1-1/2 miles of its 5.8 mile length
I was treated to my first set of yellow trilliums in bloom for this season. Also blooming along this trail were a few
bloodroot, golden ragwort, wild geraniums, rue anemone and stonecrop. A tiny sprinkling of blossoming fringed phacelia
could be found if you searched carefully. The trail will surely be ready for prime time by this next weekend, 3/24/07--just
in time for spring!
| Rue Anemone |
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| click to view larger image... |
I can't forget to mention how beautiful Big Creek was to watch as it
cascaded, swirled, splashed and gushed along its path that includes hundreds of gigantic boulders. I think it is my
favorite creek in the Smokies. Midnight Hole, about 1-1/2 miles up from the start of the trail, was beautiful and had
it not been so cold (41 F) I might have succumbed to the temptation to take an early swim. Just another 3/4 mile up
the trail I started finding lots of icicles hanging from the slopes bordering the trail. There were even icicles hanging
from logs suspended over the creek! All-in-all, it was a very enjoyable hike even though I decided to turn around
about 4-1/2 miles up the trail, just before reaching Swallow Fork trail junction.
Either of these two trails would make an excellent hike for beginners
and anyone looking to hike a trail to see wildflowers this early in the season. Click here to see all 19 photos in the picture gallery for this hike.
How to get there? From Knoxville, take I-40 toward Asheville and exit at the Waterville
exit (the last one in TN). Turn right to cross the river then left onto the paved road along the river. Follow the road
past the power generation station where it will become a gravel road and shortly afterwards you'll go thru a 4-way intersection
into the Big Creek area. About one more mile to the hiker parking area (about 1/2 mile beyond the ranger station). Trailheads
are on either side of the road. For dayhikes, both trails should probably be hiked 'out-and-back' since a loop hike
via Mt. Sterling would be more than 16 miles and somewhat strenuous.
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