Hike: Spruce Flats Falls

Again, Sunday was far too nice to spend it on the couch, so another hike was undertaken. This adventure led to Spruce Flats Falls in the Tremont area of the Smokies.

The original plan was to take the easy trail a mile out to the falls and back, and then hike up the adjacent Lumber Ridge trail until tiredness set in. Well, as it turned out, the mile to the falls was more of a moderate+ type trail. Much more ascending the side of the hills than I had expected. Even so, the trail is very well kept, due I'm sure in no small part to it's popularity.

In the spring, I'm guessing it's a pretty technical hike - there were lots of areas that seemed like they would get muddy. Maybe I should head up there tomorrow and find out :)

I digress. The falls themselves were pretty nice despite the relative lack of water. A random older couple on the trail said that there's normally a lot more water, which means it's probably worth going back in the spring when it's really pouring over the rocks.

The only detractor from the falls is their relative closeness to Tremont Road, and relatively short distance, meaning that lots of people end up showing up as the day wears on. Getting there around 10-10:30 was a pretty good idea. In the spring, even earlier could be wise.

After the rougher-than-expected hike in (it took probably 25 minutes to go the one mile!), a hike straight up Lumber Ridge was unappealing, so we decided to try to find a path we'd read about that lead above the falls.

First mistake: not knowing exactly where said path was. Ended up basically climbing the side of the mountain for awhile following the first "trail" I found. In my defense, the lower parts of the trail were pretty well defined and looked, if not well travelled, at least used recently. Well, that one didn't pan out so much. After consulting the (badly printed) topo map, the decision was made to go back down to the falls. Let me tell you - the way back down was even more treacherous than the way up!

Second mistake: not knowing exactly where said path was, but making a second try for it anyway. This time, I spotted a black and white ribbon attached to a tree on the other side of the falls, and it was fairly easy to reach. Once over there, I managed to find another ribbon a little ways up what appeared to be a trail. Yeh, you guessed it, not really a trail. I think there were only 2 more ribbons before this one gave out. Not that stopped us from going a good ways up looking for more markings. My best guess now is that the ribbons simply marked the path up to a nice little view of the falls from above, and weren't supposed to lead any further.

All of this really confused my poor little Garmin. You can view the GPS information here. Check out the elevation plots at the bottom right of the page. I'm not sure exactly how the graph can even look like that. Sure looks cool though! Also note that the GPS didn't get a signal walk until we got to the falls, so it's missing about a mile of data.

So anyway, after the second wrong turn, it was time for a snack and some debate. The decision was made to follow a trail we saw a random guy walk up previously. This one, of course, was blazed, and located a bit southeast of the falls themselves, across the river. So, after hopping across a little chasm, we went up that trail, and lo! it seems this trail was the one we'd been looking for all along. Of course, at that point, exhaustion was starting to set in, so we didn't take the loop back to Lumber Ridge.

What else happened? Well, if you look at the GPS track, you will see a little spur going almost straight north on the way back. What was this, you ask? Yep, that was me getting us lost. Again. Argh! Not my day at all.

However, despite all that, it was a really fun hike. I enjoy scrambling up the mountainside (perhaps a bit too much). This is a hike I intend to do again, perhaps following this person's 6mi loop.