Lufty Church & Cabin Flats Trail

Saturday, 2/9/2008, long-time girlfriend Janice joined me for a hike to Cabin Flats campground via Bradley Fork and Cabin Flats trails. I'd read on the park's website that we might have to park on a "nearby road" because of water line construction in the Smokemont campground. We arrived to find all vehicle access to the Smokemont area closed while earth-moving machinery was running up and down the road (even on a Saturday). We parked alongside US 441 at the new trailhead for Newton Bald trail and began our hike from there--a bit more than a mile from our intended starting point at Bradley Fork trailhead. Note: During winter months the Smokemont campground gates are often closed and the "temporary" trail we hiked has now been designated as an "official" trail segment for hikers wishing to access Bradley Fork trail.

Lufty Baptist Church was visible thru the leaf-bare trees from its hilltop location right at the beginning of the temporary trailhead for Bradley Fork. In all our previous visits to this area we'd never before seen this church--probably because it is hidden behind the dense foliage one finds in warmer months. Exploring the old church was one of the highlights of our trip. Notice when you look at the photos how well-preserved this 172 year old church is and also note the unusual seating arrangement. Many of the windows still had the old-style glass complete with its carnival-like distorted views. Janice found an old spring with tooth-numbing cold water and said it was some of the best water she'd tasted. Nearly 30 or 40 minutes after arriving at the church we continued (started!) our planned 12.8 mile hike. Click for photos.

The trail section we followed to the original Bradley Fork trailhead was originally part of a network of old trails around the Smokemont camping area. It passed behind the old amphitheater and then down to the campground. After about a mile of walking we arrived at the original trailhead for Bradley Fork. It looked to us that most of the water line work had been completed. Note: The park service decided to connect the Smokemont campground with the city of Cherokee's public water supply instead of continuing use of its current well water system. The campground is closed during this conversion. Work is expected to be completed by sometime in March 2008.

Bradley Fork is the main stream one sees while hiking this area and it was flowing with gusto. This trail is a great place for Spring wildflowers but the 9th of February is a long time away from the beginning of Spring.

At least so I thought until I caught sight of the unmistakable glow of a Scarlet Cup mushroom. Over the course of this hike we found two more areas with Scarlet Cup's. Check out my webpage feature story about these "Hot Lips" mushrooms which forcibly spew-out their spores in a manner that resembles a cigarette smoker exhaling smoke.

Until the mid-1980's the park did not have a master list of trail names and many trails were given names by local trail crews who probably just used whatever was in common use. By 1988 the park service had assigned official names to all of the trails and modified their trail maps to show these names. Some trails ended up being renamed and/or consolidated with other trails. This was the case for some of the trails we hiked on this trip. For example: the trail that follows Bradley Fork all the way to backcountry campsite #49 was once called, surprise, Bradley Fork trail. And the trail that followed Taywa Creek up the mountain to its junction with Hughes Ridge trail was called, yep, you know: Taywa Creek trail. And the trail that came down Richland Mountain to join Bradley Fork trail was called, all together now: R-i-c-h-l-a-n-d Mountain trail. Whatever the perceived problem with these names, they were part of the name changes made by the park service in the 1980's. Now the 3.3 mile trail that was Taywa Creek trail has been combined with Bradley Fork trail. The entire thing is now called Bradley Fork trail. And that section of the old Bradley Fork trail that continued up Bradley Fork to campsite #49, it is now called Cabin Flats trail. Richland Mountain trail was renamed Dry Sluice Gap trail. The lovely Cherokee word "Taywa" (means flying squirrel) was completely dropped from usage as a trail name--even though the hiking trail follows the Taywa Creek drainage for most of its 3.3 mile length enroute to Hughes Ridge. Just be warned that if you are using an old hiking guide or map that the current trail names may be different from what you find in your old guides. Special thanks to George Minnigh, Backcountry Manager for the NPS, for helping me to understand the history and reasoning behind these trail name changes.

There is a beautiful truss-style bridge which crosses Bradley Fork at the point just a short distance upstream of where the Bradley Fork trail turns up Taywa Creek and the Cabin Flats trail begins. I've learned the bridge was built in 1982. The park service civil engineer who designed this bridge also did the bridges for Raven Fork (Enloe Creek trail) and Eagle Creek (Lakeshore trail), erected in 1983 & 1985, respectively. I think the primitive look of the bridges fits very well with the overall image one has of a rustic environment--they would almost pass for C.C.C. era work (1930's).

Just after crossing the truss-style bridge we cross Tennessee Branch via one of those quaint-looking, very old footlogs.

Only a few places in the Smokies can one still find these old footbridges. I'll woe the day when the last of these beautiful relics from our past are gone. Soon we find ourselves on the last 0.6 mile trail section that leads down into Cabin Flats where there is a nice sprawling backcountry campsite which borders Bradley Fork. Approaching Cabin Flats, we are stopped in our tracks by the loud calls of a group of frogs singing their mating calls from a small pond 50 or 60 feet below the level of the trail. Perhaps these were Wood Frogs which are known to lay eggs in water even before the ice melts. Once the frogs detected our presence/interest they quit calling and we didn't hear them again during our visit. We enjoyed a lunch snack on a large sunny rock beside Bradley Fork before beginning our return trip. On the way back we passed a small group of backpackers from Raleigh, NC who were already setting-up at the first campsite beside the creek in #49. A couple more backpackers from Charlotte, NC briefly stopped their climb enroute to Grassy Branch trail & Kephart shelter to chat with us. These hikers picked a nice weekend to backpack in the Smokies. Mid-day temperatures were probably in the upper 40's or low 50's and the skies were beautifully blue.

Revised 2/12/2008 to include new information about the truss bridges and trail naming history.