Indian Flats Falls - A Tuesday Adventure

My recent trek on the Appalachian Trail in Georgia may have been cut short, but I still had an opportunity to go hiking over the weekend.  My friend Shannon and I headed up the Middle Prong Trail to see Indian Flats Falls on a chilly, overcast Sunday morning.  Since Spring Break season is finally over, we are in that beautiful lull period between vacations and summertime making for an easier commute to the park, as well as for emptier trails.  This peaceful and relatively easy hike began in a nearly empty parking area and really gave us the solitude we were looking for. 

Middle Prong Trail begins at the very end of the gravel road in the Tremont section of the Smokies.  After crossing a large steel bridge, you begin following an old railroad bed up the trail at a gentle grade.  The first 3/4 of a mile on this trail follow alongside the Middle Prong of the Little River - the water on one side and rocks and downed trees on the other.  This scenic first portion of our hike had us seeing blooming doghobble, several varieties of wildflowers, and mosses growing on the rocks and decaying logs.  It was incredible peaceful walking next to the water as well.  When you hit the 0.7 mile mark on this trail there was a bench off to the left overlooking a waterfall.  The waterfall here is actually the remains of a splash dam used by the logging companies.  The trail from here turned a little bit rockier and muddier due to horse use, but still followed the same gentle grade.  Approximately 2 miles in there is a well-defined side trail off to the right where you can find an old skeleton of a Cadillac from the 1930s off in the woods.  According to local lore, the car belonged to a foreman of the logging camp.  The car quit running one day and the men of the work crew got it off the road, and pushed it to where it still remains today. 

The skeleton of a Cadillac. 

After hopping back on trail from our snack break at the Cadillac, we continued up the hill through an area of old fields, once farmed by the Walker family.  A little further up we came to the site of the former CCC camp where at one time a crew of 172 men lived in the area.  These men created trails, bridges, and roads in the park during the late 1930s.  All that remains of the camp today is a brick chimney.  Now that we walked through the camp the trail begins to switchback up the hill and across a wide bridge.  At the bridge you've gone 3.5 miles from the parking area.  The trail switches back a few more times before coming to an unmarked side trail off to the right.  This is the site of Indian Flats Falls.  We took the side trail down about 0.25 miles and were treated to a serene sight - not one other person at the waterfall!  We got a few photos and took a lunch break before heading back down to our car.  After leaving the waterfall, we passed many other hikers headed up to the waterfall for the day.  We were very glad to have gotten an earlier start!

The fallen chimney of the CCC camp. 

Indian Flats Falls. 

Indian Flats Falls is a great beginner hike here in the Smokies!  The old railroad grade makes for easy walking and everyone loves a waterfall!  Since this trail is an out-and-back hike, you'll get approximately 8 miles of hiking in.  Over the course of nearly 4 miles you gain approximately 1000 feet of elevation, so you'll barely gain 250 feet of elevation per mile.  If you want to try this hike, drive to the Tremont section of the Smokies.  Instead of turning left into the Tremont institute, go straight onto the gravel road instead.  Driving approximately 2.5 miles on this road you'll dead end into the parking area.  From here, cross the steel bridge and bear left at the fork in the trail (the right side of the fork is a nature trail).  Elevation and map for this hike are below.  

Map and elevation profile for Indian Flats Falls. 

Have you ever hiked Indian Flats Falls?  What do you think of this area of the park? I'd love to talk with you about your favorite hikes.  Leave me a comment below or find me on Facebook or Twitter to get the conversation started!

West Prong "Loop" - 12/10/11

Dapper Dan and I both had busy weekends, but it’s so hard to just stay off the trail, especially when one has good weather on a winter weekend.  We decided to do a short dayhike and start early.  Our hike would take us on five trails in the Smokies, West Prong, Bote Mountain, Finely Cane, Turkey Pen Ridge, and Schoolhouse Gap, making a loop so we would only need to take one car.  We hiked a total of 14.3 miles in five hours and felt like a million bucks, all before 12:30 on a sunny and chilly afternoon.  

We started off just after daybreak on a cold morning in Tremont in the Smokies.  Our trail immediately began a gentle, but continuous, climb up the side of Fodderstack Mountain. In our first 1.1 miles, we’d see three side connecting trails meeting ours, two of them forming a rough loop to a maintained cemetery and one of them a horse concession.  The ground was frozen beneath our feet and the leaves covered in a layer of frost.  In the first mile we began to break a sweat, which I always find amusing on a cold day, and continued up to our top point.  From here we walked down into campsite 18, a huge campsite directly on West Prong, and then up a short and easy hill to the Bote Mountain Trailhead.  We have awesome views here up to the AT and there was a lot of snow visible up there.  It appeared to still be snowing up there as well, but it could have just been mist.  We get to Finely Cane Trail in less than 10 minutes. 

Finely Cane is normally not my favorite trail.  It’s fairly easy to hike and very easy to follow, but it’s usually a nasty and muddy mess after it has been raining like it had this week.  Thankfully, the ground was still pretty frozen and we had easy and uneventful walking on this trail as well.  The “dark” sides of the hills still had a dusting of snow on them and the stream crossings were low and cold.  We reached the end of Finely Cane quickly and crossed over Laurel Creek Road to Turkey Pen Ridge.  

When reaching Turkey Pen, we were met immediately by two deeper creek crossings, thanks in part to the recent rains and the high water on Laurel Creek.  Thankfully, it was Dapper Dan to the rescue who wanted to keep my feet dry so I wouldn’t get cold.  He piggy-backed me over the two crossings and we started our way uphill.  While going up the hill, you could see back into the “holler” and it was evidently an old homesite with farm land, rock piles and flat land around a creek.  The trail is relatively uneventful until we get to Pinkroot Branch, when I cross and jump directly in to a pile of mud and leaves and cold, stagnant water halfway to my knees.  It was good for a laugh considering the lengths we went to so my feet would stay dry.  With soggy feet and a good laugh, we continue onward to the top of the ridge, then around to the back side of the hill we’re on.  The temperature dropped at least 10 degrees on the other side of the hill and we pressed on, knowing we were close to the trailhead.  

At the Schoolhouse Gap Trailhead, we see the first people we’ve seen all day at close to 11 a.m., heading up for a backpack on Scott Mountain.  We wished them a happy trip and walked down the old wide, muddy gravel road to where Laurel Creek Road meets up at the parking lot.  Close to the parking area, we see two day hikers and we get excited, bringing our people count to four, a stark contrast to the nearly 30 we saw last weekend by this time.  We stopped for a light snack at about 11 at the trailhead and continued onward.  

We crossed Laurel Creek Road for the second time and started up Bote Mountain, another old road that is wide, gently graded, and easy to hike.  By now, the sun is really shining and the skies are bright blue.  We saw our first wildlife of the day as well, a squirrel, about halfway up.  We noticed fresh horse tracks in front of us, but never caught up to the horses.  This 1.2-mile segment ended quickly and brought us back to West Prong Trail for the second time, which we would take out to the car.  At 2.7 miles, we were out in less than 1 hour.  About 0.25 miles from the trailhead, we saw our last set of people, bringing the total headcount for the day to six.  

There wasn’t much scenery or wildlife on any of the trails today, which is common in winter hiking.  The views we did get were from West Prong Trail and Bote Mountain. The skies were clear and the company was fantastic.  The fact we got all of our hiking done that fast and early was a pleasant surprise.