Abrams Creek Hike

This hike stared at the Abrams Creek parking area.  It was warm, maybe in the mid 80s and a little humid.  It had rained the day before.  There were several cars in the parking area, and a couple eating lunch on the picnic tables.  The gate to the camp site was closed and locked since the camping area is closed due to the Sequester.  As I started my hike up Cane Creek Trail, I passed one person on the gravel road between the gate and the camping area.  Other than that one older man, I didn't see anyone the rest of the hike.  I did see this odd looking fungus growing on a log at the bend in the gravel road.

I did note a lot of footprints in some of the fresh mud that seemed to be heading in the same direction I was going, east on the trail.  The trail generally follows the creek heading NE, but turns away from it after about 1/2 mile.  It is a wide trail that is well maintained and is graveled , wide enough for a truck or jeep to drive up and I noted that someone had driven up the trail recently.  After about a mile I turned off of Cane Creek Trail to Little Bottoms Trail.  At this point I was heading due East, I waded a small creek and followed the trail through a Rhododendron thicket. It smelled good.  Nice and fresh.  It also looked like the Rhododendrons were about to bloom.  After I passed out of the ticket, I started up the ridge.  The ridge is steep and the trail switches back and forth a couple of times.  From the trail, you can see down into camp site 1.  There wasn't anyone camping there.  About mid way up I saw this little guy (Ring Neck Snake - http://www.tnwatchablewildlife.org/) sitting the middle of the trail.  I took his picture a couple of times and shooed him into the woods some some crazy hiker wouldn't stomp on him or smash him with a stick.

The trail up the ridge is pretty steep, you can see the Look Rock Tower through the trees on your left as you climb, and as you crest the ridge it opens up into a nice sitting area with a couple of logs where you can see the trail going down in both directions and you can hear Abrams Creek in the distance.  One thing that I noticed was there was A LOT of poison Ivy, and it was everywhere!  All the rain has created a great growing environment for it.  From the sitting area I made my way down the trail toward the river.  Some of the wild flowers were blooming along the trail.  I thought this one was colorful.  I have no idea what it is called.

I got down to the creek, it should be called Abrams River,  and saw it was running high.  I fished a little without much luck.  I stuck to fishing from the bank.  The rocks in that river are so slick and due to the geology most of them are flat and angled one way or another.  That combination of high water and slick rocks doesn't make for a good wading experience.  I hiked and along the river up to camp site 17.  Along the way I saw lots of lizards, butterflies, and this great big Hellgrammite.  I have never seen one that big before! 

I also saw a lot of brush piles that were several feet above the trail.  The water looks to have been several feet over the level of the trail during some of the big rain events that we had.

When I got to camp site 17 I and turned around and hiked out.  I figured I would be out just before dark and I made it.  On my dive out I stopped at the corner of Happy Valley Road and Abrams Creek Road and took this picture looking across Happy Valley towards the Foothills Parkway.

On my way out I took Happy Valley Road over the ridge line and got these pictures about 2/3rd of the way up the ridge.  This is looking SE across Chilhowee Lake into the Citico area.            

These are looking NE into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park