50 CMC members and friends traveled to the Fontana area for a weekend of hiking and socializing. Everyone stayed at Fontana Village, except for one person at Cable Cove Campground and two at the Fontana Village Campground below Fontana Dam. Our first get-together was Friday evening when 28 of us drove to Robbinsville for supper at the new Chinese Buffet Restaurant (pretty tasty food!). After supper, some folks went over to the campfire to hear the guitar player.

Saturday dawned cloudy with a forecast of rain later in the day when a cold front was forecast to pass through. Three different groups went out hiking Saturday in different nearby parts of the GSMNP.

On Saturday night, 43 CMC members and friends enjoyed supper together at the Fontana Village Restaurant, and had a chance to fill each other in on the hiking events of the day.

On Sunday morning the cold front had passed through, and we were greeted by cool clear weather with mists rising from the lake. Two groups went on the Sunday trips, as described below:

Proctor and the Little Fork Copper Mine (Saturday)

Fifteen of us got on the boat at 8:00 a.m. It was a cloudy morning with some rain showers, but we took a tour of Procter, the Ritter Mill, North Procter, greater Medlin and the Higdon cemetery. The old trail into the copper mine was wet and muddy. Unfortunately, an error on the part of the leader made part of the trip in wetter and muddier than it needed to be. After lunch at the Kephart cabin site, we explored the upper mine tunnels and admired the cave crickets. Then it was back down the road to Proctor. About two miles above Proctor we had some very heavy rain which lasted almost an hour. Much of the mud acquired on the old road to the mine was washed off during this time. After sitting on the Calhoun house front porch for half an hour we went down to the landing to find the boat waiting. On the way back the rain stopped and we were treated to some very beautiful cloud formations. We stepped off the boat about 5:30, soaking wet but happy. (DW)

Shuckstack and Lakeshore Trail (Saturday)

Eleven hikers drove to the AT trailhead on the other side of Fontana Dam, and hiked up the nicely-graded AT to the summit of Shuckstack. The cloudy weather turned into medium rain for a half hour, but had stopped by the time we had our lunch stop at Shuckstack. But we had hiked up into the clouds, so the usually fabulous view wasn’t there. One of our hikers climbed up the fire tower far enough to determine that it was not possible to hike above the cloud layer. After returning to the trailhead, we hiked east on the Lakeshore Trail far enough to find the first of the 1930s automobiles. See the website for a photo. We got back to our cars after about a total of 10 miles of hiking, 5 minutes before the biblical deluge began. (BB)

Twenty-Mile Trail (Saturday)

Nineteen CMC members and friends participated in the leisurely paced hike on the Twenty Mile Trail in GSMNP. We carpooled from Fontana Village, going west on NC 28 6.4 miles to Twenty Mile Ranger station. This is a marvelously scenic drive that also passes the site of the quarry where stone for Fontana Dam was obtained.

The hike is gently uphill on an old road bed that parallels Twenty Mile Creek. The group stopped to see Twenty Mile cascades soon after the start of the hike. We also encountered light rain during the first hour of the hike and no doubt presented a memorable scene in our rainbow of ponchos. We hiked about 5-6 miles.

Our return drive to the village included passing a long convoy of Honda sports car convertibles in a myriad of colors. Lucky guys! (DH)

Proctor and the Lakeshore Trail to Fontana Dam (Sunday)

A cold front had moved through during the night, so the five of us had a day of beautiful weather. We first took the boat over to Proctor. We had only one hiker from yesterday, so we did the Procter and Ritter Mill tour with an extended visit to the old dry kiln. After a visit to the Proctor cemetery we walked up Sheehan branch on the relocated Lakeshore Trail to a cool and breezy lunch in Sheehan Gap. The new Lakeshore trail has not yet been chopped up by horses so we enjoyed gentle gradients and an excellent treadway over to Eagle Creek. Then it was up and down as we crossed the finger ridges, a two-mile respite on old NC 288 and a few more finger ridges to the AT junction which we reached at 4:30after about 9.5 miles of hiking. (DW)

Proctor and Ecoah Branch Historic Tour

25 of us took a very enjoyable boat-and-walking historic tour of Proctor and the Ecoah Branch copper mine. Our trip was led by Lance Holland, a well-known local historian, who gave an excellent description of the area and sites we were touring, and in addition proved to be a great story-teller. We too enjoyed the sunny cool weather, quite a change from the rain of the day before. Lance drove the big pontoon boat, and our first stop was the abandoned townsite of Proctor. After touring the townsite and the mill site, we had lunch at the picnic tables next to the restored Calhoun house. After lunch, we took the boat over to the head of Ecoah Branch above Eagle Creek. This trip was interesting in that we were heading directly into a strong breeze which caused mild whitecaps on Fontana Lake. When we tied up, we toured the site of the abandoned Fontana copper mine, including the (fenced) mineshafts, winch, etc. Additional parts of the townsite and other artifacts are still underwater, as the reservoir has been dropped only about 30 feet of the planned 70 foot drop this winter. (BB)

Half Day Sunday

HALF DAY No. 8082 Sept. 28 Sams Gap to Streets Gap 1:30 PM Hike 5.3, Drive 65, Rated C-B Jane and Lew Blodgett - 274-8763 Pleasant in-and-out walk on the AT with excellent views from an old pasture just above Streets Gap.

All Day Wednesday 

ALL DAY No.   No. W0304-227  October 1 Crabtree Bald 8:30am Hike 7, Drive 70, rated B-AA Jay Bretz, 828-658-1220 Williambretz1220@msn.com  This is a rescheduling of a favorite club hike. Few hikers were able to do it in February due to rain and cold. This trail takes us through pasture and woods to the 5,320 foot summit. of Crabtree Bald. Views of all the 40 mountain peaks in WNC that are over 6,000 feet. Fairly strenuous but gradual 2,355 foot climb. First meeting place: Westgate. Second meeting place: Pilot Truck Stop on NC 209, exit 24 off I-40. Topo: Fines Creek. 

Post Hike Report: 18 hikers enjoyed a unique hike to Crabtree Bald, with some new features not usually seen on CMC hikes. The day started cloudy and we hiked up into the clouds. Luckily, during our lunch stop on the summit of Crabtree Bald, the skies cleared and the magnificent scenery became visible during the hike down.

The trip up was unusual for the herds of cows/steers/bulls everywhere, including on the trail (old road). They didn't care for us and kept going up the trail ahead, until they finally got tired of it and let us hike past at a switchback. We found more on the trail on the way down too. The other unusual feature was that Jay Bretz, our hike leader, provided a bottle of Champagne and one of non-alcoholic wine for beverages for the hikers at the summit, to celebrate the birthday of Adrian Lotherington...he has raised the requirements for hike leaders dramatically! Bruce Bente

ALL DAY No. 8069 September 24 Bill Kimball Trail 8:00 A.M. Hike 6, Drive 45, Rated B-B Ned Stallard, 697-1579 Starting at Raven Cliff parking lot we hike down to and along the scenic Saluda River, and return with a strenuous climb around "El Lieutenant". First meeting place: Fresh Market, Hendersonville.Second meeting place: Raven Cliff parking lot at 8:30.