With no desire to spend New Year's Eve in front of a television watching celebrities twerking, I wanted to start the new year differently than I have in previous years.
For the past four years around this time of year, some friends and I take a trip to the mountains for few nights on the trail. So, when planning the trip, we decided to bring in the new year in the backcountry.
With both the Smoky Mountains and Appalachian Trail in mind, on December 31st, the seven of us set out for Newfound Gap, the lowest drivable path through the Smokies (16 miles SE of Gatlinburg, TN).
Even though the temperature at Newfound Gap was below freezing, it did not seem to deter tourists one bit on this clear and crisp December afternoon. With cars and people with cameras everywhere, we saddled up our packs and headed North.
A recent rainfall had turned sections of the trail into icy slopes that would later be to blame for a broken trekking pole and a sore butt.
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| One of the icy death traps. |
Night one was spent at the Icewater Spring Shelter, right off of the AT, three miles from Newfound Gap. The shelter was filled to max capacity with twelve people, who were all in their sleeping bags by 7 p.m. to escape the frozen winds and frigid air.
The shelter is perched on a ridge facing east with beautiful views of the sunrise and North Carolina Smokies. This shelter also offers a fireplace, privy, cables for hanging food, and a water source within a hundred yards.
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| Northeast view from the Icewater Spring Shelter. |
The next morning, after a warm breakfast and several cups of hot tea, six of our original seven (the seventh had underestimated the weather and turned toward home) set off on the 5.5 mile hike to shelter #2.
Near a mile and a half North of the Icewater Spring shelter lies a protruding rock face known as Charlies Bunion. Here, there are views as far west as the eye can see with the lowlands of Tennessee and Fontana Dam in sight.
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| Charlies Bunion and beyond. |
Less than a half-mile past Charlies Bunion, we turned off of the AT onto the Dry Sluice Gap Trail and continued for 1.3 miles before turning onto the Kephart Prong Trail.
This route descended 2500 feet into a valley where the Kephart shelter lies along a river, which later feeds into the Oconaluftee River.
The temperature and winds here were better than on the higher peaks from where we came, thankfully. This shelter offers a constant water source, fireplace and food-hanging cables.
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| Kephart Shelter |
With it only being noon on this beautiful New Year's Day, we had daylight to kill. Half the group hiked to a popular area with multiple waterfalls, known by the odd name of Sweat Heifer Cascades, while two others and myself stuck behind to give our feet a break, explore the area around the shelter, and gather water and wood.
Within 50-yards of the shelter, flows a beautiful river where we tested our balance by crossing from one side to the other on rocks, trying not to fall in. I felt like a kid again.
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The night, our last on the trail, was filled with warm laughs and cold drinks around the fire.
The following morning, a light rain accompanied our hike out and continued until we arrived back home. The short, 2-mile, hike to our second vehicle followed the same stream that we camped by. Before arriving at the car, we crossed over slick log bridges and passed by the remnants of the Civilian Conservation Corps camp that called these woods home from 1933 to 1942.
Overall, I could not have asked for a better trip with such good friends. This area of the Smokies was new to me and one that I plan to visit many more times.
A special thank you to Blake, Brad, Brent, Joe and Nolan for helping the trip go the way it did and for providing a great way to begin the new year, in a new way.
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| Follow where your feet take you. |
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