Hike Report- GSMNP Cosby Loop Area

The trip included three backpackers. We drove to Knoxville Friday after work and stayed in a hotel since we didn't want to try to set up in the Cosby campsite in the cold and dark. Wimps...maybe... but that hot shower felt GOOD!!!!!

We were up early on Saturday grabbed a drive-thru breakfast at McDonald's and were on our way. After making a wrong turn and about 45 minutes out of our way we got back on track and made it to the Cosby Campsite. After Tammy got us registered we made our way to the Snake Den trail to begin our ascent of Maddron Bald. This was a long, slow climb...for me anyway. This is the most ascent I've ever done so I was quite glad I had only about 23 pounds in my pack. I would have been under 20 but I added a few things I'll go into later. We smelled bear a couple of times and as we approached the summit there was snow left over from a small storm a few days earlier. The view from the bald wasn't as spectacular as I had expected there was a lot of scrubby bushes growing about 6-10 feet tall that obscured a lot of the view.

We stopped for lunch just as we were heading down the other side. The temperatures were quite interesting to me. On the bald it was almost 60 degrees and then down the other side at a creek crossing it was about 45 degrees, away from the water it warmed to the low 50's. We completed about 12-13 miles on Saturday and got into campsite #32 just before dark. We passed a big pile of bear poop right outside of the camp...good thing there are pulleys and lines to hang food from! We had just enough time to set up tents and gather a bit of wood for a fire. There were only 4 other people in the camp so we cooked in the empty central campsite and hung our food bags there as well. Then walked about 50 yards to our own camp and made a small fire.

Sunday morning we hiked about 5 miles out to the Cosby campsite. The colors were beautiful. Down in the valley's everything was still green, farther up the colors were brilliant yellows and reds and at the top the colors had peaked and were shades of rust and brown. Charlotte kept marvelling at the size of the trees...I must admit they were quite large. One that had fallen across the trail and been cut had 400 years old written on it.