One of the beauties of a carcamp is you just grab and take almost anything you need or want. Why then on this outing did one person fail to take his sleeping pad, and another failed to take her stove (but brought the fuel for it), and another failed to bring his hard-boiled eggs for breakfast? - - Also, upon arriving at the group campsite on Saturday, the leader assumed we had reserved the same campsite as we had last time and we therefore set up on site #1, rather than #3. (We later moved to #3, which turned out to be nicer, except that it was not on the edge of the creek. However, no one claimed #1.)
Half the group went to Cataloochee on Friday, spending the night in the main campground, before joining the other half on Saturday. (It was the Friday hikers who discovered the camp site mistake upon arriving Saturday afternoon.) The Friday group hiked a loop which included stops at the Hannah cabin and cemetery, and later had an excellent elk viewing (including the dominate male and 15 females in one grouping, plus others in additional locations).
Some or all of us hiked some or all of the Mt. Sterling, Long Bunk, Little Cataloochee, Cataloochee Divide, McKee Branch, Big Fork Ridge and the Caldwell Fork Trails. [For the record, the Cataloochee Divide Trail includes a spectacular view into the park and several nice views outside of it, plus a large section was blanketed with flowering May Apples and a couple varieties of Trillium. - - The Caldwell Fork Trail has17 footbridges (15 across water, plus 2 broken and laying in the water. Most have handrails.) Luke Skywalker's princess, Kendra Logwalker, made a surprise appearance and The Force was truly with her as she passed each and every challenge! Several clumps of blooming pink lady slippers were also sighted on the Caldwell Fork Trail.]
After supper on Saturday, most people went to view the elk, before returning to sit around the campfire until about 10:-10:30. Although it probably got down to the upper 30s, water left out during the night did not freeze as it did Friday night.
Sunday morning, the group split, some going to look at some of the historical buildings, some to climb what seemed as it must have been halfway to heaven (nearly straight up, tougher than any climbs on Friday or Saturday) to visit old cemeteries, and some going straight home.
Those enjoying the outing and companionship were Kendra Cross, Bill Knoke, Robbie Martin, Melissa Moreau, Betty Petty, John Rowland, Monty Simmons, Ralph VanPelt, Calvin Watson, and Donald Box, reporting.
Cataloochee Carcamp/Hikes -October 28-30, 2005
Cataloochee Carcamp/Hikes -June 28-30, 2002
Cataloochee Backpack -Sept 1-3, 2001