Joyce Kilmer Weekend

October 22-23, 2016, a group of 15 women Tennessee Trail Association members met at Rattlerford Campground in Robbinsville, North Carolina for a weekend of hiking, camping, eating and sitting around a big fire. It's traditionally been known as the Joyce Kilmer Weekend because the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forrest is close by and is the first hike of the weekend. To save time in our emails to the group and each other, I refer to it as "JK".
Organized bi-annually by Nancy & Gloria Dale, everyone gets to see two contrasting seasons of the year. October bring the gorgeous fall leaf colors and April brings new spring growth and greenery. Last week was my first JK trip so I can't compare it to the April trip or any other one but I can imagine that they are all rather awesome.
We all stayed at the group campsite #3. Nancy & I left Nashville & drove to Deals Gap North Carolina which is a mountain pass bordering NS/TN state line near GSMSP and near the Little Tennessee River. On this road you will find the Tail of the Dragon, the name for the road on Hwy129 & NC28, one mile south of TN/NC state line. There are something like 318 curves in 11 miles on the road. Photographers line the sides of the road, take your pic as you are driving by, upload it to their website so you can buy it.
On Friday, we hiked the figure-eight Joyce Kilmer National Recreation Trail which is two loops that covers 2 miles. The 1.25 mile lower loop passes by the Joyce Kilmer memorial plaque (see pic below). The .75 mile upper loop goes through Popular Cove where you find a grove of large forest trees. This was an easy trail and a good way to get indoctrinated into the area. Joyce Kilmer was a poet who wrote the poem "Trees" (1913): "I think that I shall never see a poem lovely as a tree. A tree whose hungry mouth is prest Against the earth's sweet flowing breast. A tree that looks at God all day, And lifts her leafy arms to pray; A tree that may in Summer wear a nest of robins her hair; Upon whose bosom snow has lain; who intimately lives with rain. Poems are made by fool like me, But only God can make a tree."
Friday night was fajita night where everyone brought something related to fajitas. It was delicious especially the margaritas. Nothing like a roaring fire with margaritas.
On Saturday, we all headed up to Wolf Laurel Trail and Stratton Bald Trail. At the trailhead, we saw a lot of hunters with their dogs who are used to tree a bear which is killed by the hunters. The Wolf Laurel Trail leads from the trailhead to Stratton Bald Trail. To get to the trailhead, we had to drive on gravel roads. The reason we went this way is so that whoever wanted to do the shorter hike could return to the cars and drive back to camp. The rest of us would walk the entire 7.8 very strenuous miles to the road near the campsite. The total mileage was about 10.4 miles. We were all quite exhausted and hungry by the time it was over.
On the way up to Stratton Bald, we saw beautiful fall leaf colors. Lots of reds, yellow, and oranges. It was so gorgeous. The temps were dripping and during part of the ascent, the ground was covered with frost and the trees were iced over. It was like I was walking in a gigantic freezer. The limbs were covered with ice and so were the leaves and flowers. Crackling sounds were heard until we reached Stratton Bald.