Hwy 28 Fontana - morning views on the way to the trailhead
Twentymile Ranger Station - The entrance to the Twentymile area of the Smokies. This will be my first walk out of the Twentymile area.
Twentymile Ranger Station - Twentymile Creek just tumbles under Hwy 28
Twentymile Ranger Station - Twentymile Creek empties into gorgeous Cheoah Lake
Map of today's route, a 15.6 mile loop in the quiet southwest corner of the Smokies.
Elevation profile for today's 15.6 mile loop. This is my favorite type of walk...uphill in the morning and downhill after lunch. (just realized I put an 's' on Gregory and Parson Bald, oops...sorry about that)
Twentymile Trail - The Twentymile trailhead near the tiny Ranger Station.
Twentymile Trail - The wildflower show on my walk today would be stunning. This is a toadshade trillium
Twentymile Trail - Twentymile Creek and new Spring buds on the trees
Twentymile Trail - Toadshade trillium beside the trail
Twentymile Trail - The first few miles of today's walk are an old railroad grade
Twentymile Trail - Beaked Violet
Twentymile Trail - Crested Dwarf Iris
Twentymile Trail - Foamflower
Twentymile Trail - Yellow trillium
Twentymile Trail - Twentymile Creek
Twentymile Trail - Wood Betony
Twentymile Trail - I had some great stream views all day today
Twentymile Trail - Approaching the Wolf Ridge Trail intersection. I'd return from Gregory Bald via that trail this afternoon.
Twentymile Trail - Moore Springs Branch empties into Twentymile Creek as seen from the bridge
Twentymile Trail - The obligatory trail sign...new one mixed with the old, they must have updated some mileages.
Twentymile Trail - This is the spur trail that leads to the Twentymile Cascades
Twentymile Trail - Twentymile Cascades
Twentymile Trail - A second spur trail over to the view of the cascades
Twentymile Trail - Twentymile Cascades as seen from the trail
Twentymile Trail - A 12 foot tall standing boulder just beside the trail
Twentymile Trail - More Dwarf Crested Iris
Twentymile Trail - Another spill area of Twentymile Creek
Twentymile Trail - A strong cascade. Despite the recent lack of rain up here the creeks in this area were all running strong
Twentymile Trail - This big boulder was about 15 feet high
Twentymile Trail - More views of the creek
Twentymile Trail - Wild Geranium?
Twentymile Trail - Starting to climb above the creek
Twentymile Trail - Rue Anemone on the right and ?? some type of lily ?? on the left
Twentymile Trail - More nice bridges along this former railroad route
Twentymile Trail - From the bridge
Twentymile Trail - Twentymile Creek now on the left of the trail
Twentymile Trail - Rue Anemone tucked under a ledge
Twentymile Trail - More shots of the Rue Anemone
Twentymile Trail - Tiny Catesbys Trillium were very abundant on today's walk
Twentymile Trail - Here's something you don't see often in the Smokies...a pond. (even though it was only about two feet across)
Twentymile Trail - Approaching another bridged crossing
Twentymile Trail - A Twentymile Creek tributary comes in from the south
Twentymile Trail - Approaching backcountry campsite #93
Twentymile Trail - The bear cables at campsite #93
Twentymile Trail - These would two guys setting up camp would be the only humans I saw today until the end of my walk.
Twentymile Trail - The brand new camp sign
Twentymile Trail - A large boulder area
Twentymile Trail - More creek views
Twentymile Trail - A violet..not sure what type
Twentymile Trail - Another strong cascade
Twentymile Trail - A big boulder hovers over a spill area
Twentymile Trail - Finally reaching Procter Field Gap
Proctor Field Gap - Here at this intersection 3 trails converge. The Twentymile Trail continues up to join the AT, the Long Hungry Ridge Trail splits to climb to meet Gregory Bald Trail, and the Twentymile Loop Trail heads back west and over Long Hungry Ridge to connect with Wolf Ridge Trail.
Proctor Field Gap - Long Hungry Ridge Trail to the right and Twentymile Loop Trail to the left. My destination is another 2500 feet of climbing on Long Hungry Ridge Trail.
Long Hungry Ridge Trail - A fern waking up from its winter nap and stretching its arms
Long Hungry Ridge Trail - A huge dead hemlock beside the trail
Long Hungry Ridge Trail - White trillum
Long Hungry Ridge Trail - Heading up the ridge
Long Hungry Ridge Trail - Tall rhododendron beside the creek
Long Hungry Ridge Trail - An old survey marker
Long Hungry Ridge Trail - Tall rhododendron block views of the creek
Long Hungry Ridge Trail - These rhodo are over 10 feet high
Long Hungry Ridge Trail - The bear cables at Campsite #92
Long Hungry Ridge Trail - The creek beside #92
Long Hungry Ridge Trail - An old drum the creek
Long Hungry Ridge Trail - They put these signs to help with these areas where you're not sure which direction the trail goes.
Long Hungry Ridge Trail - Time for a knee deep crossing of Twentymile Creek
Long Hungry Ridge Trail - Another knee deep crossing just a short distance further up
Long Hungry Ridge Trail - A giant dead hemlock blowdown.
Long Hungry Ridge Trail - A large boulder field
Long Hungry Ridge Trail - A wide but shallow crossing
Long Hungry Ridge Trail - Looking upstream at the crossing at the tangled mess of blowdowns
Long Hungry Ridge Trail - Now switching to a totally different character of walk, a strenuous ridge climb
Long Hungry Ridge Trail - Climbing up to the crest of Long Hungry Ridge
Long Hungry Ridge Trail - Spring colors as I climb
Long Hungry Ridge Trail - Now starting to see ridgetops
Long Hungry Ridge Trail - White pine beside the trail as it climbs relentlessly
Long Hungry Ridge Trail - A Halberd-Leaved Violet
Long Hungry Ridge Trail - Not sure what this one is. My close-up of the flower didn't turn out.
Long Hungry Ridge Trail - The Smokies are famous for their Fall color show, but the Spring color show isn't bad either
Long Hungry Ridge Trail - Bluets
Long Hungry Ridge Trail - Phew...reached the crest of Long Hungry Ridge at Rye Patch
Long Hungry Ridge Trail - Rye Patch
Long Hungry Ridge Trail - This barely legible sign said Rye Patch
Long Hungry Ridge Trail - The view from the crest of Long Hungry Ridge at Rye Patch. Although there was still some climbing to do, the worst was over by this point.
Long Hungry Ridge Trail - Finally a sighting of a couple of trout lilies.
Long Hungry Ridge Trail - What tree is this?
Gregory Bald Trail/Long Hungry Ridge Trail intersection - Reaching the crest of the state line ridge near Rich Gap. Darn....I realized I lost my olddanwalking.com hat!
Gregory Bald Trail/Long Hungry Ridge Trail intersection - A break here amongst the thousands of Spring Beauty wildflowers
Gregory Bald Trail - Now heading toward Rich Gap along the Gregory Bald Trail.
Gregory Bald Trail - Tiny Spring Beauties
Gregory Bald Trail - More Spring Beauties
Gregory Bald Trail - Nice ridgetop walking now
Gregory Ridge Trail/Gregory Bald Trail intersection - At Rich Gap. Here you go north into Cades Cove
Gregory Bald Trail - Walking among the grass and thousands of Spring Beauties towards Gregory Bald
Gregory Bald Trail - Looking north past an old dead tree
Gregory Bald Trail - Grass and Spring Beauties
Gregory Bald Trail - I really liked this trail
Gregory Bald Trail - A closer view of the wildflowers
Gregory Bald Trail - This young lady walked right by me..must be used to the typically heavy crowds up here.
Gregory Bald Trail - Just a few feet from me and not even spooked when I turned on my camera
Gregory Bald Trail - See ya later
Gregory Bald Trail - Approaching stunning Gregory Bald, the high point on today's walk at 4949 feet.
Gregory Bald Trail - Hog rooting damage on Gregory Bald
Gregory Bald Trail - Gregory Bald
Gregory Bald Trail - The hills are alive and all that...
Gregory Bald Trail - More hog rooting
Gregory Bald Trail - Gregory Bald views looking north into Cades Cove
Gregory Bald Trail - Cades Cove from Gregory Bald
Gregory Bald Trail - Looking south from Gregory Bald
Gregory Bald Trail - Looking west from Gregory Bald
Gregory Bald Trail - Gregory Bald USGS marker
Gregory Bald Trail - Gregory Bald USGS marker at 4949 feet
Gregory Bald Trail - A few more views from Gregory Bald
Gregory Bald Trail - A Park Service sign at Gregory Bald
Gregory Bald Trail - More Spring Beauties as I continue west along the trail
Gregory Bald Trail - Approaching Sheep Pen Gap
Sheep Pen Gap - From here Gregory Bald Trail continues northwest to Parson Branch Road. I now switch on Wolf Ridge Trail for my return to Twentymile.
Sheep Pen Gap - Bear cables for backcountry campsite #13, which was completely empty
Wolf Ridge Trail - Now the long descent back to Twentymile on sunny west facing slopes (wish I had my hat!)
Wolf Ridge Trail - Approaching Parson Bald
Wolf Ridge Trail - Parson Bald at 4732 feet in elevation
Wolf Ridge Trail - Parson Bald..the forest is working to reclaim the bald
Wolf Ridge Trail - Cool looking tree on Parson Bald
Wolf Ridge Trail - An area of huge boulders on the descent
Wolf Ridge Trail - Another huge boulder cathedral
Wolf Ridge Trail - My greatest fear on today's walk...blowdowns. Fortunately they were not a problem today.
Wolf Ridge Trail - Descending with beautiful views of distant ridges
Wolf Ridge Trail - Pictures don't do justice...the views were nice all the way downhill
Wolf Ridge Trail - More views
Wolf Ridge Trail - White pines line the trail again
Wolf Ridge Trail - Views to the southwest..the first ridge is probably Dalton Ridge
Wolf Ridge Trail - More nice views
Wolf Ridge Trail - I spooked 4 deer when I rounded the bend as they drank from this little seep area. Unlike the Gregory Bald deer these 4 took off up the hill and out of sight.
Wolf Ridge Trail - Descending on a nice April afternoon
Wolf Ridge Trail - Looking back up the trail at some nice trail worker rock work
Wolf Ridge Trail - A long flat cove
Wolf Ridge Trail - The spur trail to Campsite #95 beside Dalton Branch
Wolf Ridge Trail - Switching back to the southeast to parallel Dalton Branch beside high rocks
Wolf Ridge Trail - A tall boulder cathedral
Twentymile Loop Trail/Wolf Ridge Trail intersection - Another switchback and only 1.6 miles to go!
Wolf Ridge Trail - The creek fordings I had worried about now had footlog crossings...I was home free
Wolf Ridge Trail - Footlog crossing of Moore Springs Branch
Wolf Ridge Trail - Another nice footlog
Wolf Ridge Trail - This area often gets high stream flow, so the bridges are now anchored to trees
Wolf Ridge Trail - A slide on Moore Springs Branch
Wolf Ridge Trail - This high cathedral (approx. 15 feet) echoed the sounds of the creek to the right
Wolf Ridge Trail - More slides along Moore Springs Branch
Twentymile Trail - Approaching the gate and the end of fantastic walk in the woods.
