[tennessee treader]

I love Spring Break. This year I took my sons to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Friday, 3/17: Drove to Cades Cove Campground. The Deer are tame and one can walk right up to them for a picture. This day's plan was to hike 1.6 miles up the Anthony Creek Trail, and then 3.5 miles up the Russell Field Trail to spend the night at the Russell Field Shelter on the Appalachian Trail. The 1.6 miles on the Anthony creek Trail was easy by any standards; the streams beautiful, and the forest serene; the elevation gain was minimal. The 3.5 miles to the Russell Field Shelter was grueling, most of the ~3,000 feet of elevation gain this day was this portion of the trail. Like many trails in the park, this one gains elevation quickly to find a ridgeline that it can follow until it intersects the AT. Views were nice from this ridgeline trail. Russell Field is an interesting site, as are all "field" designations in the park. The field is meadow created from some settlers clearing the area before it was a park. The Russell Field Shelter is basic: 3 walls, roof, fireplace, and 10 sleeping slots. A nice change from packing a tent. Overnight a heavy fog moved in with 20 degree temps and deposited a half inch of hoar frost on the trees; an amazingly beautiful site. when frost began melting it came down like snow! Saturday 3/18: We hiked an easy 3.1 miles on the AT to Spence Field Shelter. Spence Field is stunning with views of the Western Smokys and surrounding mountains. A truly beautiful Meadow. The Shelter at this site is first class; big, sleeps ten, nice fireplace, a cooking area outside, a skylite in the roof, an area to tie up pack horses, and an outhouse! My sons especially loved the outhouse. The thing that amazes me on the AT are the springs; you follow a ridgeline and there regularly are springs to get clean water from. Every shelter has a spring nearby. Sunday 3/19: Left the AT and followed the Bote Mountain Trail to pick up the Anthony Creek trail back to Cades Cove. This is the shortest leg of the trip, about 5 miles. It drops all of the hard gained 3500' of this hike very quickly. We dropped back into the thick Rhododendron forests we encountered on the way up. More nice streams. Near the trailhead I came within 4 feet of a doe blacktail deer. Notables on this trip: the Russell Field Shelter had a fence across the fence to keep out bears (saw scat but no bears), Hoar frost was a once in a hiketime experience, and the people I met. The AP through hikers: Sticker and John (Russell Field); John has terminal cancer and was hiking the AT for the last time. A couple from Florida who had bad eating habits (eating and cooking where they slept... the bears will come...). Mary who was hiking south, she wanted to be get a real job when she gets back to Georgia (wants to be a masseuse, but offered no massage). All in all a great spring trip.

Spence Field Shelter

Hoar Frost on AT

Spence Field

Cancer patient John Baker (left) and friend "sticker" on last AT thru-hike

Russell Field

Russell Field Trail

[wildernessed]

I did that trip as a looping dayhike about 5 years ago in March nice, very nice