Smoky Mts. Deep Creek Area 3 day 17.9 mile Backpack

Join me on this beautiful, mostly creek side, horseshoe shaped hike. We'll start the first day, after our drive from Atl., by doing a short car shuttle to drop off one of the cars at the end of the trail, we'll then dirve the 3 or 4 miles to Deep Creek CG to start the hike. We begin by heading up Deep Creek for 5.2 miles with roughly a 1225' elevation gain to Campsite #56, a hikers only site. It should be nice & cool along the creek as the trail follows by it's side most of the way up.

Day 2 will have us cross Deep Creek soon after starting, turning onto Pole Road Creek trail. This trail goes straight up to Noland ridge with a few switchbacks & will have roughly 2200' of elevation gain in the first 4 miles of the 8.7 mile section. This is the only section where we need to carry enough water to make it up & over the ridge to the next creek, roughly 5 miles. The second half we drop down to Noland Creek where we will follow it to our second nights campsite #64 which is a mulit use camp, meaning it's a shared hiker/horse campsite. They usually have the 2 groups separated, so it's not much of a problem, maybe just a horse manure smell in the air.

Day 3 we'll follow the Creek the rest of the way down to the road for 4 miles to end the hike. We'll do a shuttle to retrieve the other vehicle, pack up then drive into Bryson City for lunch. Driving back to Atlanta after lunch.

I did the first half of this hike 25+ years ago, following the ridge back down instead of the creek. It's a beautiful lightly used area of the park in the summer.

2 nights camping permit.

Please pay me the $8 at the Indian Trail Park & Ride area.