The crag in fog March 26, 2012
Posted by Jenny in bushwhacking, hiking, Smoky Mountains.Tags: Charlies Bunion, Lester Prong, Newfound Gap, Porters Creek
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The ridge was a tapestry of rock, myrtle, and fog
My good hiking buddy Chris and I decided to visit what is called by some the “Real Bunion” and by others “Rocky Crag.” The Real Bunion designation comes from looking at the USGS Mt. Guyot quad, which puts the “Charlies Bunion” label squarely on a ridge that practically no one ever goes to, in contrast to the destination of that name that is visited by many people.
Taken on a different day, obviously. Profile of the ridge we climbed.
We picked a date. The forecast called for 30% chance of rain showers. In one sense we lucked out—it was raining hard on the drive over, but the rain stopped before we met at Newfound Gap. In another sense, we didn’t luck out at all—we were shrouded in dense fog throughout most of our hike except where we dipped down below about 4500′.
Our original plan was to go out on the A.T. to Porters Gap and drop down the East Fork of Porters. But the unfavorable conditions and the likelihood of slow going in streams running high led us to opt for a shorter route via the Dry Sluice manway. The steep upper slopes were decorated with white foaming rivulets everywhere.
Water plunged down everywhere on the steep slope.
The footing on the upper manway is never easy, and the wetness made it extra slippery. But we descended without incident, as the expression goes. (“Incident” always means something negative, for some reason.)
Chris on the upper manway.
Once we reached Porters Creek, we walked through carpets of wildflowers: up at this elevation just getting going, so down at Porters Flats the blooms must be going crazy.
Dutchman's breeches.
I didn’t succeed in keeping my feet dry doing the rockhop up Lester Prong.
Distinctive cairn beside Lester Prong.
We turned up our tributary and reached the beautiful cascade not far above the junction.
The cascade was looking its best in the high water conditions.
The rock beside the cascade makes a lovely staircase for climbing. I apologize for the blurry photos—my fingers were frozen and I had a hard time holding the camera steady.
Chris climbs beside the cascade.
Just above the cascade, we followed a nifty corridor of open woods between big communities of rhodo. We reached the ridgetop and followed it over its lumps and bumps.
The first knob along the ridge.
What’s great about the ridge is that despite the steepness and the exposure, you always have friendly Anakeesta handholds or convenient vegetation to hold onto.
Typical ridge section.
We worked our way steadily toward the prominent crag.
Looking back down the ridge.
We will come back on a sunny day when the myrtle is blooming.
Chris has some great photos of the outing here.
Chris relaxes on the crag.
No more bushwhacking for a bit November 5, 2011
Posted by Jenny in bushwhacking, Smoky Mountains.Tags: knee problem, Lester Prong, Porters Creek
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A favorite bushwhack this year was another variation on Lester Prong, back in early April
My knee problem of the past few months has reached the point where I’ll have to consult a specialist. The brace I’ve been wearing hasn’t prevented it from popping out of joint, and today, on a hike up Lester Prong to the Jumpoff, it popped out severely enough that I had to turn around a short distance up the Dry Sluice manway. I’m glad my four hiking companions were able to continue without me, and I look forward to hearing how it went. I’ve been there twice before, and none of them have—I wanted to share it with them.
I’m determined to get this problem solved, one way or another. If it by chance means surgery, I’ll do that, because I will not let this part of my life stop. I believe I’ll be able to continue with trail hiking in the meantime. It’s bending the knee at the strange angles required by off-trail that causes the problem. But then, a lot of strange things are required in that kind of hiking—that’s why I love it so much.
I’ve had some fabulous bushwhacking experiences this year, as much as anyone could ask for. Today, on my way out, I stopped beside Porters Creek and meditated a short while. I’ll be back.
I enjoyed sitting beside Porters Creek for a few minutes today
East Fork of Porters and its side valleys September 17, 2010
Posted by Jenny in bushwhacking, hiking, Smoky Mountains.Tags: Dry Sluice manway, East Fork washout, Porters Creek, Sawteeth
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East Fork, April 1987
The photo above shows the East Fork of Porters Creek as it looked nearly three years following a massive washout that occurred July 1984. (If you click on the photo for the zoom, you’ll see the hikers descending it and get a better idea of the scale.) By sheer chance, the Smoky Mountains Hiking Club had descended the East Fork the day after the washout occurred, after climbing the Jumpoff via Lester Prong, and I was fortunate to be on that outing, as well as the one pictured above a few years later, when we came down after going up the USGS Bunion.
Yesterday I went up the East Fork. This is what it looks like now at a comparable elevation. I’m sorry the pictures are blurry. I have my new camera, but I obviously need to change the way I hold it when I take pictures! (Maybe something to do with it being a lot smaller than my old one.)
Looking down the East Fork 26 years later
The regenerative power of the Smokies is pretty amazing! You’ll notice the spindly trees that are growing in along the banks. The photo below, taken lower down, gives a better sense of the young tree growth.
Spindly young trees along the creek
But my main reason for exploring up the East Fork was to see if I could find a certain side valley that I’d mentioned in my hiking journal back in the 80s. In April 1985 the SMHC went up the stream to look at the washout, and my entry described a place where the washout forked and five people went to the left and the rest of the group went to the right. The five who went to the left were Matt Kelleher, Rob Hawk, Brian Worley, Andy Zenick, and myself. I’d described a very exciting climb up a steep rocky draw with some interesting scrambling. But when I looked at the map, I couldn’t figure it out at all. It looks like all the steep terrain is to the southeast, going up to the Sawteeth. The north side of the stream is a flank of Porters Mountain, not as steep—and no clear side valley is shown.
Map showing East Fork with side routes drawn in (the one I did is to the north, other interesting-looking ones to the south)
So I went up the Dry Sluice manway, following the famous cairns, and stayed to the east where the manway follows the South Fork of Porters.
Not all the cairns are as obvious as this one!
It’s been a long time since I’ve been up the manway past the Lester Prong junction, and I was struck by how much slower it is than it used to be in the 80s, partly because it is much more overgrown and partly because at many stream crossings you have to hunt around a bit to see where it goes. I remember it as having been nearly as easy to follow as a maintained trail.
I climbed up the draw, pushing through quite a bit of nettles, blackberry, and witch hobble. At around 4600′, I passed a side valley on the left that looked as though it might be the bottom of the route described in my journal.
Side valley leading northeast from East Fork
I wasn’t sure if that was it, so I continued on. I came to some blowdowns that presented serious obstructions.
This was lots of fun to get around
And this was even more fun!
And so I worked my way up to Porters Gap. I am thinking that this route is not quite so much of a bargain as it used to be as an alternative descent route to the Dry Sluice manway.
At any rate, I did not see any other side valleys that looked like possible candidates. So now that I know where it is, I plan to go back and climb up it. From the map above, you would think it would be a totally wimpy route. Here is how I described the upper section in my journal: “I climbed up the steep chute that must have been a turbulent watercourse during the flash flood. All around, I saw rocks in different sizes and shapes, no plants, nothing green. When I arrived at the top of this chute, I saw an ugly brown scar that fanned out above me. We were climbing up bare plates of exposed rock, inching our way upward like flies on a wall. I found myself on a massive slab tilted at an uncomfortably vertical angle…” And so we climbed to the ridgecrest, which was actually the upper ridge of Porters Mountain, reaching it close to the A.T.
But still, I find myself gazing curiously at the extremely rugged terrain of the Sawteeth. I think the first ridge on the right after the forking of Porters looks doable, and maybe some of the draws further east—I saw yesterday where that valley comes in at around 4200 (it forks further up). The valley below the “BM” on the map looks too steep, but the others look not too bad, or maybe you could escape to one of the neighboring ridges if it got too steep (as the easternmost one does at the top). Something to think about!
So many places to explore…
Cardinal flower (red lobelia) seen on lower Porters Creek trail
