That is a long title for an approximately 10 mile loop hike, but we pieced together pieces of trails with short distance trails to make a nice loop hike in the Deep Creek area of the Great Smokey Mountains National Park. On Wednesday February 10, 2021, I met with my Sis to get another hike in, in our favorite National Park. This is the first time I have been able to do 2 hikes so close together. In my last blog we ventured along the Cataloochee Divide Trail and walked across snow drifts. What a difference a few days can make in the weather in East Tennessee and North Carolina. It certainly keeps life interesting. The difference in the experiences is part of what makes the effort pay off so well it keeps us coming back for more.
After Saturday’s hike through a Winter Wonderland, today’s weather was absolutely balmy. The temperatures were in the low 60’s. The sky was blue, the sun delightfully warm. We parked the Jeep at the Thomas Divide trail head-on Tom Branch Road in the Deep Creek area of GSMNP. There were a couple of other vehicles in the parking area. For a beautiful day in the middle of the week, we had it made. We headed up Thomas Divide Trail, and the climb on the wide, well laid out trail, was invigorating. We could see Snow caps on distant peaks reminding us of the snow we traversed only days ago. We had mapped out a 3.2 mile length of Thomas Divide trail to the intersection with Indian Creek Motor Trail.
This loop was new to me, the trails I have done before in different combinations with different folks and solo. Hiking the same trail in the Smokies, is never hiking the same trail. The time of year, the weather, the direction all make for different hikes. Today, instead of descending Thomas Divide, which I have done a couple of times, we ascended. The elevation gain from the trail head at Tom Branch Road to the intersection with Indian Creek Motor Trail is roughly 1700 ft. The climb is pretty steady. There is a short section between the cemetery and Stone Pile Gap that is fairly flat, but it doesn’t last long. I like to start a hike with a good climb, it tests my resolve right off the bat. I felt good on this hike. When we came to the Indian Creek Motor Trail intersection, we took a quick break before heading down that trail.
Indian Creek Motor trail descends 800 ft over 1.8 miles. Last time I hiked this trail I had come in from Deep Creek with my daughter in law. We had made a loop with Deep Creek Trail, Indian Creek Trail, Deep Low Gap and Stone Pile Gap. This loop rivals that one in length. On the descent we ran across a wee bit of snow that was clinging tenaciously to the shadowy banks away from the heat of the sun. This trail connects to Deep Low Gap and was originally constructed to be part of a scenic auto trail. It is a wide well defined trail and it is easy to imagine it could have been an auto trail. . We met a couple of other hikers on this section of trail.
Deep Low Gap, connecting Indian Creek Motor Trail to Indian Creek Trail, was the next section we conquered. At 0.4 mile it didn’t take much. This section is a little rocky and rough with wash out. The sound of running water accompanies one down this short length. We took another break at the Intersection with Indian Creek Trail. Making a left here we did a 2.4 mile stretch of this trail. I have hiked this trail several times making loops in different directions. It is a well traveled trail and we met a couple of groups of hikers as we made our way to the intersection with the short Stone Pile Gap trail. Indian Creek trail is a road bed and easy hiking. It’s length is a very gentle incline of 600 ft over 3.6 miles. As we strolled down the 2.4 mile section on this leg of our loop, I marveled at the sun sparkling off the water and the warmth of the day, a gift in February.
Stone Pile Gap connects Indian Creek Trail to Thomas Divide and we had to make up the elevation loss we had incurred on our descent. Stone Pile Gap is a narrow, rocky, slippery trail that winds up a little gap to connect these two trails. My last adventure on Stone Pile Gap I had descended, and I knew it was fairly steep as it rises to meet Thomas Divide. It is a neat little trail as on part of the trail, you get to wade through a shallow creek, the trail goes right up the middle of it in places as the stream winds down the little gap. This trail is a little less than a mile in length but the elevation gain reclaims all the elevation lost on the descent. In 0.9 miles we got 700 ft or so elevation back. The upper half of this trail is pretty steep in places and tired from the miles trekked so far, my sis and I took our time on this trail. I had this loop at 9.8 trail miles. We made the distance in a little over 4 hours. It was a great little hike. Deep Creek is very hiker friendly, with many ways to put trails together for loops and in and out day hikes.
Until next time. I have a couple more hikes to catch up on.
MrsSmithsLifeUnexpected 