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TRAIL GUIDES
Knoxville is home to a number of hiking authorities—so where do they like to hit the trail?

TALES FROM THE TRAIL
Anecdotes on (and off) the beaten path

PATH FINDER
Think you're a tough hiker? Try off-trail hiking with 67-year-old Charlie Klabunde.

GEARING UP
What to take. Plus, a schedule of seminars by Blue Ridge Mountain Sports.

Hiketypes

Our handy guide to the many different kinds of hikers you'll meet on the trail

What had been a beautiful, sunny, crisp Thanksgiving Day had turned into a chilly, rainy evening. We stood underneath the lean-to in a horrendous downpour, nervously eyeing each other over, wishing for a bit of privacy on the Appalachian Trial in the Nantahala National Forest.

There were five of us, and though we all shared a love of the outdoors, each came from a starkly different social strata in the hiking world. There was a botany student from the University of Georgia with a long beard, carrying only an old rucksack with no tent, stove or any of the standard backpacking gear. A Canadian came decked down in a matching Gortex jacket and rainpants, a goosedown North Face sleeping bag, a water filter recommended by the World Health Association as the best. Then there was Hobo Harry, who tucked inside his battered old aluminum frame pack a filthy, snagged down vest, two bottles of wine, and a large bag of couscous. My friend and I inwardly gawked at them all with an air of superiority.

After sharing our food and booze, and snoring next to each other under the lean-to (as mice scurried across our faces and rummaged through our bags), we found to our amazement, we weren't all that different. Anyone who has ever spent some time hiking knows that it takes all kinds to hike. But it's fun to stereotype and categorize the various people you'll see on the trail—we're humans after all, and need some artificial way of knowing where we stand in the woods.

Here is a breakdown of some of the many types of hikers you will find in the woods. Many people go through numerous stages, and some take on elements of several at once.

The Greenhorn: They wear sweatpants, jeans and clunky steel-toed workboots or Nike hightops. For day hikes, they carry, not water, but a can or two of Pepsi or Mountain Dew. They never have raingear and they always look miserable, occasionally lost. On backpacking trips, they carry axes and have never heard of backpacking stoves. When it rains, they get soaked and either stare in quiet desperation or scream at each other.

Weekend Hikers: They've hiked enough to know what they're doing and own decent gear, but they don't live and die hiking. They take a few backpacking trips each year and hike frequently in the summer. They are very middle-class: scoffing at or ridiculing inexperienced hikers and believing more avid hikers to be complete fanatics.

Warriors: Sometimes ex-Marines, they have large biceps and pride themselves on using the heaviest, bulkiest equipment they can find—which generally tends to be Army gear. Their backpacks are big and bulky, sometimes with wooden frames that cut into their spines and shoulders. They use canvas tents that weigh 20 pounds. They wear black Army boots, tucking their olive green or camo pants into the top. Sometimes you will see them running along the trail to increase the pain.

Gearheads: Everything they own costs at least $300: Moonstone Gortex jackets, Vasque boots, Gregory backpacks and North Face tents that would withstand 200 mph gusts in 30 below temperatures. They walk with high-tech walking poles, fire up compact espresso makers in the morning, navigate their topo maps with Brunton compasses and altimeters and cook on Titanium pots. Though their packs weigh 80 pounds, they eat very well. Their favorite campfire topic: gear.

Anti-Gearheads: Not a polar opposite of the Gearhead, they are however a direct reaction to them. Some of them are reformed Gearheads. They pride themselves on using the cheapest, shabbiest equipment they can find, bragging about a torn, nylon pup tent they found at a garage sale the way a Gearhead brags about his North Face. Some prefer canvas or nylon running shoes over hiking boots (some even hike barefoot). Some prefer children-sized packs for their lightness. Their packs weigh less than 30 pounds and their menus consist of coffee, oatmeal, trail mix, and Ramen noodles.

The Minimalist/Low-impact: They often hike alone and it's damn near impossible to tell they've been there before you. They disturb nothing: never starting campfires or leaving even toilet paper behind. Some filter their dishwater through a strainer, drinking the water and burying the excess food crud. They often stray from the trails and know the animals and plants of the forest better than anyone.

Hobo Backpackers: These people spend more time hiking than they do at home (if they actually have such a place). They hike for months and months on end, and they are tough as nails. No amount of rain, mud or cold keeps them off the trail. They improvise well, and eschew backpacking conventions: carrying bottles of wine, loaves of bread—or whatever bulky item will satisfy their souls—and yet will go through extreme periods of abstinence. They, frankly, cannot deal well with the "real" world, but most of them are quite friendly in their element. A few are insane (like one man who lived on the Appalachian Trail and would hound through-hikers—sneaking up to their tents at night, yelling, "You'll never make it!")

—Joe Tarr

Here's to sleeping in on weekends. Here's to avoiding the madness of Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg, and the Smokies. Here's a guide to woodsy hikes that begin no more than an hour's drive away from Knoxville.

by David Madison

BIG RIDGE STATE PARK

The water is emerald green and the trails are long, winding more than 15 miles through the "big" ridges that rise above Big Ridge and Norris Lakes. For a short, yet scenic jaunt, hike up through an evergreen and hardwood forest on the Lake Trail. You'll head out a peninsula toward the Loyston Overlook. There, at the high point of the ridge and end of the peninsula, hikers can peer out at the Loyston Sea section of Norris Lake. It's a nice spot, and just a half mile from the parking lot.

For a longer trip, park at the group camping area and head north on the Ghost House Trail. You'll eventually link up with the Big Valley Trail, which intersects with the main corridors in the park's network. Do a loop on to the Indian Rock Trail if you're ready for a long one, or cut back on the Dark Hollow Trail (west) for a five or so mile circle tour.

Halloween tip: The best place to throw a Blair Witch Project Halloween party may be the Ghost House Trail. "Eerie and unexplainable events occur along this trail," reports a park brochure, which suggests visits to the Norton Cemetery and remnants of the famous "Ghost House."

Historical note: A strenuous three mile round trip will take hikers deep into the park and to the site of one of the oldest settlements west of the Appalachians, Sharp's Station, founded in the 1780s.

Directions: From downtown, take Broadway/U.S. Route 441 to Halls, then drive north on Maynardville Pike. Turn left onto State Road 61 in Paulette and drive into a hilly pocket of Appalachia en route to the park's entrance near New Loyston.
For more info: (423) 992-5523.

NORRIS WATERSHED/NORRIS DAM STATE PARK

Rise early enough on a Sunday morning, and you could have this place all to yourself. The crowds begin to show up by noon, with mountain bikers unloading their wheels in the parking lot along the Clinch River and mini vans full of kids kicking up dust on Clear Creek Road.

For hikers in search of a pleasant, one-to-two hour loop trip, Clear Creek Road is a good place to begin. Follow a foot path that parallels the creek for about 1.5 miles. This area is all protected rainbow trout habitat, and fingerlings can be seen darting around the creek's tiny pools.

Still following the creek, continue past the Old Gauging Station where the trail leaves the road and eventually links with the White Pine Trail. In the shadow of oak, hickory, sourwood, poplar and white pine, the trail gains nearly 500 feet in elevation, rising from Clear Creek at 1,000 feet above sea-level to the watershed's high point of 1,460 feet.

By comparison, Cades Cove in the Smokies sits at about 1,800 feet. Rhododendrons begin to thrive at this elevation, but are hard to find in the lower Norris Watershed. There are only a few groves of rhododendrons and a scattering of hemlock in the preserve. But surprisingly, the Norris Watershed rivals the Smokies when it comes to wild flowers. The River Bluff Trail on the west side of the Clinch River offers the best flower walks, where attractive species such as the trout lily thrive.

Turkey, red and gray fox, osprey, screech owls and lots of deer also live amid Norris' wooded gullies and ridges. From the area's high point at the juncture of the White Pine and Hi Point Trails, head back to your car at Clear Creek by taking Hi Point to the Freeway Trail then cutting down the Ridgecrest Trail. In the fall, you can avoid deer hunters by hiking between Oct. 17 and Nov. 20 when the season is closed (it opens again for the holidays, Nov. 20-28 and Dec. 20-Jan. 2). Some trails, such as the River Bluff Trail, are off-limits to hunters year-round.

Directions: From downtown, take Broadway/U.S. Route 441 to Halls, then follow 441/71 to Norris. Wind through the charming village of Norris and look for signs to Norris Dam.
For more info: (423) 426-7461.

HOUSE MOUNTAIN STATE NATURAL AREA

Standing alone in the northeast corner of Knox County, House Mountain offers stellar views of both the Cumberland Plateau and the Smokies. It rises near Skaggston, with five miles of trail scaling its steep slopes and narrow, tree-lined ridge.

After-work hikers should try a power walk up to the West Overlook, following switchbacks that pass several rock outcroppings before reaching the top. Once at the "summit," try and spy the Knoxville skyline off to the southwest. There are several places to sit on the rocks and read, picnic, or play music. This may be the quickest mountain escape from Knoxville, perfect for both mid-week or weekend getaways. On Mondays and Tuesdays, the parking lot gate is closed, but the park is still open until dusk.

Directions: From downtown, take 1-40 to the 11W exit. Follow 11W (also known as Rutledge Pike) to Idumea Road, where signs will begin to point you toward House Mountain State Natural Area. Turn left off of Idumea on to Hogskin Road and look for the parking area on your right.
For more info: (423) 933-6851.

IJAMS NATURE CENTER

In Smoky Mountain National Park, there are 900 miles of hiking trails. At Ijams Nature Center on Island Home Avenue, there are 3.5. But it's a splendid three and a half miles of path. The trails snake through the Ijams preserve, running along a riverside boardwalk, up a modest ridge and past a quiet forest pond.

When the center completes construction on its new 2.5 miles of paved trail, it will link with the neighboring Forks of the River wildlife management area. This state-run hunting ground includes 280 acres of rolling, tree-lined fields. Check in with Ijams around Feb. 28 when the hunting seasons for dove, squirrel, rabbit and Canadian geese (among others) are all wrapped up. From Sept. 1 until the end of February, the Forks of the River parking lot at the end of McClure Lane is home to pick-ups with gun racks. But from March until the end of August, it will open up as a hiking and biking annex to Ijams.

Sadly, tranquil spring and summer time trips to the Forks of the River preserve could be interrupted by crow hunters. Sport hunting for crows (no one actually eats crow, do they?), is allowed June 1 until the end of February on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. According to one staffer at the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, some hunters consider crows to be "a nuisance animal."

And Slightly Further Away, Two Big Hike Alternatives to the Smokies

For a quick, strenuous excursion to the mountains, try a sweat-breaking hoof up a nearby section of the Appalachian Trail. It begins at the Waterville exit off 1-40 at the North Carolina-Tennessee line. Coming from Knoxville, look for signs to Big Creek Camp Ground. After exiting at Waterville, turn left to cross underneath 1-40. If you take a right, you'll cross over the Pigeon River and head toward the Big Creek entrance to the Smokies. Drive up a dirt road for about a half mile and look for a trail heading up from the road on the right.

This is the AT and it's marked by white rectangles painted on trees that line the path. Stretch those calves, let the dogs loose to get a drink in the nearby creek, then begin to climb up Snowbird Mountain. The trail switches back several times before traveling just below the ridge and basically traces the state line.

If you hike all the way to Wildcat Top, you'll gain about 2,000 vertical feet and leave the sounds of I-40 far below. To the south, you'll be able to see the northern edge of Smoky Mountain National Park. It's a nice view, made even nicer by the absence of Smoky Mountain tourists.

On the other end of the park, near the tiny town of Tapoco, hikes in the Slickrock Wilderness Area offer views of the Smokies' southern edge. Take the incredibly curvy U.S. Route 129 over Deals Gap heading toward Robbinsville, N.C. Just past Tapoco, look for a bridge on the right. Cross over the Cheoah River and drive up a dirt road, which forks heading to Deep Creek on the left and the trail head for Hangover Lead and Slickrock Creek to the right.

The road to Deep Creek appears to be worn bare by logging trucks. And as you drive toward the Hangover Lead trail head, more logging activity appears in several places. Luckily, you're headed toward a wilderness area that's protected from saw blades. Where the road comes to a dead end, the Hangover Lead trail climbs straight up the ridge toward Saddle Tree Gap. A less demanding trip down toward Slickrock Creek also begins here.

If all you're looking for is a Sunday afternoon butt burner, head up the Hangover Lead trail. This steep, ridge-running path offers views of the Smokies to the north and a break in the trees about 20 minutes into the hike grants a nice view of the entire Slickrock Creek watershed. Think of it as a tiny, non-Smokies slice of the Smokies and tread lightly.

Also, be sure to pick up a trail map from one of the local outdoor stores or by sending a $4.75 check to the Cheoah Ranger Station (Rt. 1 Box 16-A, Robbinsville, N.C.). The Forest Service will send back a nice map of both the Slickrock and Citico Creek wilderness areas. These tracts are prime backpacking territory, with the Hangover Lead trail head providing a nice spot to begin a multi-day loop. Travel time to the trail head from Knoxville: Just over two hours.