Backpacking the Great Smoky Mountains: 8 Day Hazel Creek/Bone Valley Adventure

This is an 8 day backpacking loop I did in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. My route was a loop out of Elkmont (Little River Trailhead). I went up the Goshen Prong to the Appalachian Trail, took that over to Clingman's Dome, and dropped down along Forney Creek. From there, I went over to Hazel Creek, where I passed by a campsite where a person was killed by a bear a few weeks prior. I spent a few nights in the Bone Valley Creek area, which has an old cabin and cemetery dating back over a hundred years. I started to get a lot of rain, which unknown to me was the remnants of a hurricane, which caused all the creeks to swell. From there I went up to Picken's Gap and down Pinnacle Creek, which ended up being a slog and bush whack. My map showed it as an un maintained trail, which is accurate, I saw no sign of maintain ever. I couldn't cross Eagle Creek which was swollen, and had to make camp and wait a day for the water to go down. I had 15 cold crossings of Eagle Creek the next day, many of which were up to my belly button, and made my way back up to the AT and the Spence Field Shelter. From there I followed the AT past Rocky Top over to Miry Ridge, and dropped back down to the trailhead. I had great fall colors, lots of solitude, and just an awesome time in the wilderness.

Видео Backpacking the Great Smoky Mountains: 8 Day Hazel Creek/Bone Valley Adventure канала MyOwnFrontier