On Friday I went scouting the Boogerman Loop in Great Smoky Mountains National Park for a Friends of the Smokies hike in April. Hannah E., an AmeriCorp intern came with  me.

I have probably done the Boogerman Loop in Cataloochee more than any other hike in the park. It's easy, historic, fun and a loop hike. Why did I need to scout it again? Am I glad I did! 

The Boogerman Loop  is a "C" shaped trail which starts on Caldwell Fork Trail. I like to go to the top of the loop, crossing on all ten bridges before starting Boogerman Loop. Another good decision. [For those who really know this hike, my bridge numbering does not include the small bridge over a puddle, only the bridges over Caldwell Fork.

The first bridge, which is supposed to be the longest wooden bridge in the park, is deteriorating. The railing wobbles, the creosote coating on the surface of the bridge is wearing off and the wood is chipped in places. I was not happy crossing the bridge and knowing I would have to cross it again. I was not going to pull out my camera and take more detailed  pictures while on the bridge.

The second bridge tilts to one side. Like all the other bridges I encountered, the walking surface was once scored with grooves to make it less slippery but now the lines have been worn away. I wonder why the Park never went into putting chicken wire on slippery surfaces, like I've seen in New Zealand Parks.

Bridge 3, 4, and 5 were fine. Their surfaces could have been scored as well but that's a detail. Bridge #6 was closed - period. See above.

There's a crack in the middle which I now realize you can't see well in the photo, but trust me, you don't want to use the bridge now. So to recoup the day, Hannah and I went back to the first Boogerman Trail intersection and walked to almost the second intersection with Caldwell Fork and walked back.

Boogerman Trail was still as wonderful. The big trees, stone walls, burned tree that you can walk into. All the good stuff was there. Without leaves on the trees, we had great views. I calculated that taking this route, we did 8.6 miles and about 1,800 feet of ascent.

Those numbers don't include the walking to the closed bridge #6.

With Friends of the Smokies, we would skip that. Or would we? Maybe Friends of the Smokies hikers need to know viscerally that Smokies Trails need our help. The Park can't do it alone. So another plug for the Trails Forever program. 

According to a recently-released National Park Service  study, Great Smoky Mountains National Park is not only the nation’s most visited national park, it also tops the 397 national park units in visitor spending.  The study estimates that in 2010 the Park’s 9 million visitors spent over $818 million in the gateway communities surrounding the Park.

The study also estimates that 11,367 local jobs were supported by Park visitor spending.

That's not surprising. Other than books, maps and maybe a T-shirt, there's nothing you can buy in the park. You can't get a cup of coffee or a bed. By the time, the Smokies became a park, the gateway communities, especially Gatlingburg, were tourist towns. So it was decided that tourist accommodations were going to stay outside the park.

All those folks who may see the National Parks as a money drain may want to reconsider and see them instead as money and job generators.

The entire study can be found at:
http://www.nature.nps.gov/socialscience/docs/NPSSystemEstimates2010.pdf

No matter how much I think I know about Great Smoky Mountains National Park, there's always something new to learn. That's why I suggested that the Great Smoky Mountains Association take a trip to the Appalachian Club and Spence Cabin.

These two structures were part of Elkmont Historic District, not only before the Park came in but for years afterwards.

The Appalachian Club (see above) was built in 1934. It has been restored  but not upgraded to modern standards.

And the Park is now renting it for weddings and family reunions. I've known about it for quite a while, before and after restoration but I had a chance to get a tour yesterday and go inside. The Appalachian Club was quite snooty in its day and would never let me inside in the 1930s and beyond but I got in now.

It's a huge room with two fireplaces, couches and rocking chairs. They have tables and chairs for a sit-down meal. It was quite dark when we had our tour and the photo doesn't do justice to the dark wood and huge stone fireplaces.

But if this is too large for your function, there's always the pink and green Spence Cabin. This was a private home and the Park is rehabbing it for day use, now. I love the color.

The house backs up on a stream with a paved area. You could bring a folding chair there and just sit and watch the rushing water. They'll finish the restoration by Spring and will have a big opening, I'm sure.

Today was not a day to be outside but seven Friends of the Smokies got soaked to the bone on the Mingus Creek Trail in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

It was billed as a hike and shop hike but the rain scared so many people away. What a shame!

We went anyway. We started at Mingus Mill which was closed. Even the bathrooms at the mill were close.

Undaunted, we climbed up to see the slave cemetery. Back down and on the Mingus Creek Trail to the Mingus Family Cemetery. The picture above is of us at the junction to the cemetery.

Not all were veteran hikers. A couple of people had been on most of the Friends hike. One was completely new but she did fine and enjoyed the history. But we all had a good time. We talked about the history of the Park, looked at gravestones and compared different sections of the Smokies.

Back at the cars, we drove to Oconaluftee Visitor Center and had lunch on the porch. One of the rangers joined us. Then we went shopping at the bookstore. I bought a couple of gifts and a great shirt.

Florie Takaki was the ranger on duty. She told me about a new volunteer opportunity for next year - Luftee Rovers. You walk the Oconaluftee River Trail, the Mountain Farm Museum and help visitors during elk jams. Sign me up! That's the job for me.

I always feel good after I lead a Friends hike so I must be doing something right. Join Friends of the Smokies, if you're not yet a member and contact Holly Demuth, the North Carolina Director of Friends. She's on the Friends website.

The picture is of a slave cemetery in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Are you curious about it?

Come to a hike sponsored by Friends of the Smokies on Tuesday  December 6, 2011. This is an easy hike, suitable for almost everyone.

I'll lead this 4-mile hike along the Mingus Creek Trail, interpreting the historic Mingus Mill, the Mingus family cemetery and a slave cemetery. The hike is easy to moderate in difficulty, and has a total elevation gain of 700 feet.

We'll also visit the nearby Oconaluftee Visitor Center, featuring interactive exhibits that tell the cultural history of life in the Smokies.

The Great Smoky Mountains Association bookstore and shop within the Visitors Center features local foods, T-shirts, calendars and other fun gifts to help the Park and add a little Smoky Mountain cheer to holiday celebrations.  Friends of the Smokies members receive 15% off bookstore purchases with a valid membership card.

Yiou need to sign up, real quick. See the Friends' events page.

Diamond Brand Outdoors will be celebrating the new edition of Camping and Woodcraft by Horace Kephart published by the Great Smoky Mountains Association. This will be on Thursday November 17 from 6 P.M. to 7:30 P.M.

Included in the new edition are over 40 historic photographs taken by Kephart and George Masa.

 Many of these images were recently discovered and never before published.  Also included is a new cover image featuring the work of Elizabeth Ellison and a 80-page biographical introduction by Kephart scholars George Ellison and Janet McCue, librarian at Cornell University, that provides new insights into Kephart’s life and literary career.  Regional historian and Western Carolina University archivist George Frizzell will join the Ellisons.

George Ellison, a writer-naturalist who resides in Bryson City, will provide a brief overview of Kephart’s life (1862-1931) and commentary on the evolution of Kephart’s text (1906-1922) from outdoor manual into a compendium of practical advice and regional lore that has made it one of the enduring cornerstones in American outdoor literature.

George Frizzell, from Western Carolina University, will provide archival images of places and events associated with Kephart’s life and outdoor pursuits set against a background of everyday life as it was being lived in Western North Carolina during the early 20th century in Kephart’s self-styled “Back of Beyond.”

Elizabeth Ellison, whose gallery-studio is located on the town square in Bryson City, will discuss the artwork featured on the covers of Kephart’s work now being reissued by GSMA.

And who knows? Diamond Brand might even have refreshments.      

I made good use of my day in the Smokies. I scouted the Friends of the Smokies hike in the morning and went up to Clingmans Dome in the afternoon.

It was foggy, dark and cold by the time Hannah and I parked. We walked to the Clingmans Dome Information Center and found a group of workmen installing an exhibit on the history and natural history of the "top of old Smokies." I was pleased that they included the Mountains-to-Sea Trail.

We met Christine Hoyer and Tobias Miller at the start of Forney Ridge trail. The picture above is (from left to right) Christine, Hannah, and Tobias.

We all walked down to Andrews Bald while they showed us the major work that was done to rehabilitate the trail.

Christine had before pictures of Forney Ridge. I remember it as wet, slippery and rocky.

And I never thought anything about it. I was up above 6,000 feet and I was happy to have a trail at all.

But now, using money from the Trails Forever program, and using volunteers, the trail has been completely redone. This project took five park employees and five volunteers over three seasons to work on the 1.8 mile trail. They moved rocks, trees, and gravel to create a "stairway to the Dome." And they did it all without closing the trail.

These small pictures can't do justice to the improvements that hikers will see. A wonderful job on top of old Smokies.

If you want to see the trail for yourself, don't wait too long. Clingmans Dome Road closes December 1.

I went into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park for a long, long day. It was so long that it may take two blog entries to explain it all.

Hannah E., Americorps intern for Friends of the Smokies, and I scouted the hike I'm going to lead for them on Tuesday Dec. 6. We parked at Mingus Mill and searched for a slave cemetery just up from the parking lot. It only has six mounted graves with stumps and no identification.

We then walked up Mingus Creek Trail and crossed Mingus Creek several times. This trail has wonderful spring flowers. There were still a few blue asters around - late bloomers.

Without the distraction of flowers, we could see lots of fungus. The trail had obviously been a road.

At about 1.2 miles, we turned off Mingus Creek Trail on an unmaintained trail, also an old road. After walking another 0.8 mile and crisscrossing a couple of more creeks, we saw the Cemetery sign.

This is the old Mingus family cemetery, also with stumps - see the photo above. Looking at this sad, weedy cemetery, I don't think that there are any family reunions at this cemetery.

But enough about dead people.

When we got back to Oconaluftee Visitor Center, there was a group of children visiting the park as part of Parks as Classrooms. Here, the kids were having lunch between activities. This program brings teachers and children, mostly from local schools, to the Smokies. Many local kids have never been to the Smokies. I have a feeling that some of their teachers had not either.   

Friends of the Smokies is now offering regular monthly hikes in the North Carolina part of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The hikes started small - maybe five or six people - but now we are generating a waiting list.

When Friends announced the Road to Nowhere hike from the Lake View Tunnel, they were mobbed by members who want to go. Where is this place? I've heard so much about it.

It was the longest hike we had planned, almost 10 miles, but obviously members thought it was worth the effort.

We started at the end of Lake View Road out of Bryson City on the Lake Shore Trail and followed the hike, as described in Hiking the Carolina Mountains, pg. 247.

It was a beautiful, sunny day. We had lunch on a bridge above Forney Creek. I explained the North Shore Road issue, as we went along. At each stop, I fed hikers a little more of the story.

But mostly we enjoyed each other's company and the last of the tree color.

Then we turned off Lake Shore Trail to go up to the Woody Cemetery. (That's not in my book.) The picture of the group is at the cemetery. There's only one Woody buried in the cemetery so why is it called, the Woody Cemetery?

Steve Woody, a descendant of a family who lived in the park, was with us but he had no idea. His family came from Cataloochee. We got out of the woods at about 4 P.M. and stopped in Bryson City for a hot drink.

The next Friends of the Smokies hike will be on Tuesday December 6. It will be the shortest hike that I've led so far. So call the North Carolina Friends office and sign up - 828-452-0720. I hope to see you on the trail.

More details on the hike later but it will be good.

After 10 years, the National Park Service has decided that the reintroduction of elk is a success. Or to be more exact, they found that the elk have had no significant impact on the environment. So the elk reintroduction is no longer considered an experiment.

The research findings from the experimental elk release indicated that the elk population was sustainable, had minimal impacts on the Park’s resources, and human-elk conflicts were manageable. So they can stay.

Of course, the elk are staying. There would be a lot of disappointed volunteers and visitors if the elk had to leave. From about 50 elk, the park now has about 140 and growing.

Some have moved to Oconaluftee Visitor Center where they're creating traffic jams there and eating corn at the Mountain Farm Museum.

If you want to learn all the ins and outs of this Environmental Assessment, go to the park website. Then scroll down to the Elk issue. It's worth your time to learn how this all works.

Horace Kephart has been called the John Muir of the East and the savior of the Smokies. Several of Horace Kephart's books have never been out of print since they were first published in the early 1900s.

Now Great Smoky Mountains Association has published a new edition of Camping and Woodcraft, a remarkable historic tome of useful information, lore, stories about surviving and enjoying the woods.

Kephart tells you how to dress a deer, make a risotto over a campfire and what to do if you have an earache or toothache. He encourages light backpacking and describes a 7 lbs. kit.

In addition -- and alone worth the price of the book -- George Ellison and Janet McCue, two Kephart scholars, have written an 80-page introduction on Kephart's life.

See my review in National Parks Traveler.

You can buy the 888-page book ($14.95 for soft cover and $25 for a hardback, special collector's edition) in all the Smokies visitor centers, area bookstores and outdoor stores and on the GSMA website. But you can't get it at Amazon.