Let's begin on Lost Cove Trail on the North Carolina side of the Great Smoky Mountains. The 2.5 mile straight up profile of this trail is where my thoughts begin. Then they shift to the torrential downpour encountered while making this hike and how lucky we were to have made the ten creek crossings before the rain began. The concern was being trapped between two rain swollen crossings. Luckily, most of them were in the first mile but then came the steepest part of the trail.
So as the rain poured down upon us we would take one step up and slide back two in ankle deep mud. Our rain gear was a joke. Anything that could hold water did hold water. We huddled under a cedar tree in hopes of eating a snack only to find that as soon as we opened it we had nothing but a soggy mess. We had hiked in five miles and spent several hours making that climb up to the Appalachian Trail, which would take us back to where we started. Sixteen of us, all experienced hikers, made that 12 mile hike that day in July 2002 and we still talk about it as if it were yesterday. There are only three of us left trying to finish hiking all of the trails in the Smokies.
So after I relive a quick trip up Lost Cove Trail my thoughts race ahead three years to October 2005 to Eagle Creek Trail. The three of us had to take a boat shuttle to a backcountry campsite on Fontana Lake in North Carolina then hike in for a mile to reach this eight mile trail that would offer nineteen creek crossings and another steep two miles to get to the end of it. We would then hike out on two other trails and end up in the Cades Cove area in Tennessee where we would meet our driver. It was a total of 13 miles.
We had no rain this time, but we had to hike in water shoes for four miles as most of the creek crossings were at least up to our knees - no rock hops. Where the two miles of Lost Cove were a muddy straight up climb the two miles of this hike were rocky and straight up. It was the closest I have ever come to rock climbing. It was hot and it was buggy and we thought we would never reach the top. For each few rocks that we climbed it seemed that they became bigger, more numerous, and that the trail became steeper. I took pictures looking straight up and I took pictures looking straight down. Once out there, especially when starting with a boat shuttle, you have no choice but to continue no matter what challenges may face you.
