I made a nervous drive up to the park, nervous because there was already snow and rain on the road, and the clouds were low and enveloping the mountain ridge. I wouldn't be getting any spectacular views today, but I certainly would be getting a good winter experience. I pulled up to the parking spot just as a Ranger was arriving to empty the trash bins. We chatted a bit about the hike, he told me it was maybe a 10 mile trip, but only took 5 hours or so. Seemed reasonable to me. The snow was falling, and the wind was ominously billowing up as I hit the trail. Luckily, the trail is more like a dirt road, wide and easy to follow. I stopped at a few earthcaches and realized that I had screwed up majorly at home. I had all the earthcache sin my GPSr, but was relying on my Nexus 7 for the paperless info. And I had assumed that this area was already loaded in my Nexus since I had a lot of Tennessee and Kentucky loaded in it. Well, turns out I hadn't loaded this area's caches (although I did have some of Cumberland Gap). I tried calling home, but couldn't connect, so I opted to just take several pictures, and make notes on what I saw, hoping this would be enough for me to get credit for the earthcaches.
As I hiked higher, the snow got deeper, and the trees and branches dropped lower under the wet of a wet snow. On the ridge-top it was a winter wonderland with the snow on the trail 6" deep. It was also very windy and cold. Fortunately, my goal for the hike was an incredible Sand Cave where I would be sheltered from the storm. AS I got closer to the cave, the branches and shrubs closed around me and over the trail, laden with damp white snow. A quick flick with my trekking poles though and the snow would come free, causing the branch ti spring upwards. This springing triggered some pleasure center in my brain, because soon I was laughing like a little kid and thwacking every branch along the trail, cackling with glee as the tree snapped into the air, released of its burden.
The sand cave was awesome. Here's an excerpt from my geocaching log for the cave:
A truly amazing place, and a particularly nice destination today due to the wintry weather. The ridge-top was in blizzard like conditions, with gusting wind, and snow stinging the eyes and face. It is easy to see how such forces can assist in the making of the cave, but I was glad to see that the cave was not a wind vortex today. In fact, it was sheltered and dry. A perfect spot for lunch. The dog and I had the place to ourselves, or so we thought. As I was exploring the soft sand, I noticed something purple out of the corner of my eye. Way up in the back left corner of the cave (facing in), was a blue blanket or tarp. I shouted out a greeting, not wanting to surprise someone, but got no response, so I decided to investigate closer. I kept making noise as I got closer, and soon I could see that the object was a blue sleeping bag, and it covered a very person-shaped lump. For a moment, worse case scenarios went through my mind... I gave the sleeping bag a gentle prod with my toe... nothing. I slowly reached down and carefully pinched a corner of the bag, and with a little snap, flung it back to reveal....
.... a couple bags of camping gear. Phew... I was fearing a dead body or something. The gear was in a feedbag of sorts, and I wasn't interested in rifling through it, but the sleeping bag appears to be in pretty good shape and I bet it was left up here pretty recently. Who knows, maybe someone is coming back up to get it. I saw no tracks in the snow on the trails, so if they were out here it must have been before the snows. I re-covered all the gear and went back to eating some lunch and enjoying the cave.
The cave is stupendous. Icicles festooned the lip, the waterfall gushed just outside, and the trees were powder-sugar dusted by snow. But it still was below freezing, so I didn't stay as long as I would have liked. This is one of my new favorite hikes in the area. Just soo good.
I continued along the snowy trail to White Rocks overlook, and the wind actually died down a bit. I was hoping the clouds would lift enough for me to get a little view, but the area was still pretty socked in. Still, how fitting it was to have a white view from White Rocks overlook. So much white! And from the overlook I was finally able to connect with home and give the family an update, as well as get the beta for the earthcaches. Turns out I mostly had all the information I needed, and would be able to fill in my gaps on the descent. Yay! It was just after I hung up the pone that I heard a crack followed by the roar of a giant tree smashing down. It must have been close, but I couldn't see where it occurred from my vantage point on the cliffs. It was kind of magical hearing the tree fall in the forest, all along up there on the ridge-top. I kind of felt like I was a secret witness to the age-old question "if a tree falls in a forest..." well except I was there to witness the event. It also reminded me that it could be hazardous, walking through these snow-burdened woods. On my descent I was much more acutely aware of every snap and crack, and noticed several branches on the trail that had not been there on my ascent. All part of the fun of a winter hike. As I got near the car, I encountered a few other hikers, and was pretty surprised to see them heading up on a day like today. I was also inwardly glad that I only ran into them at the end of my hike and near the car. Part of what made today's hike special was being out in a winter wonderland, all on my own. Making fresh tracks on the trails, and seeing no signs of any other humans. In a densely populated area such as eastern Tennessee, heading out on these foul-weather days is perhaps the best way to get real trail solitude, and I loved it. AS for the geocaching? Well, if you're going to be out caching in white-out conditions, you couldn't do any better than to stick to earthcaches. I logged 7 earthcaches on my trip (3 of those were along the road on the drive in/back), and didn't need to worry about looking for sneaky hides buried under snow and ice.
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