"Conan The Librarian" wrote ...
Daniel-San wrote:
"Conan The Librarian" wrote ...
Inside the park you have easy access to the Little River all along the
road, as well as at the Elkmont campground parking lot which is a good
place to begin exploring.
Sure sounds like it...
My only experience there has been that I spent a day on that section of
the Little River last year and a few hours on it earlier this year, but
it's beautiful water, and it also has some willing fish. One thing I'd
advise is to hike for a good distance before you settle in to cover the
water.
I thought I had hiked far enough last year, but came to find out that I
had been following another fisherman upstream all day. I still caught
fish, but I also had some outright refusals, which I never encountered in
the rest of my trip.
That stretch is also relatively open water for the Smokies, meaning you
don't have to crouch and flip/bow-and-arrow/rollcast around overhanging
branches the whole time. You'll actually be able to make some longer
casts if the situation calls for it.
March '03 was a hike up Forney Creek, and then down thru Andrew's Bald.
(Trip report, if you're desperate for some bad writing:
http://forums.backpacker.com/message...ssageID=152946) The whole trip,
my friend and I were kicking ourselves for not having brought and fishing
gear. I'd like to do the trip again -- with the appropriate rod/flyz/etc --
but I don't think we're gonna have time to do a full blown BP trip.
Just to whet your appetite, here's a couple of shots I took last year:
http://uweb.txstate.edu/~cv01/little01.jpg
http://uweb.txstate.edu/~cv01/little02.jpg
I thought your wife was the photog, and you were the super-mo-dell? Nice
shots.
Also, you'll be close to Cades Cove and Abrams Creek. I fished the
"spring creek" section (above the footbridge in the Abram Falls parking
lot) earlier this year, and it was tough fishing (very wary fish and not
much in the way of cover compared to other Smokies streams I've fished).
But, Abrams further along the Falls trail is supposed to be some of the
best fishing in the park. The trail itself is absolutely gorgeous,
whether you fish or not. It's worth it to make the hike to the falls as
well. IIRC, the hike was about 1.5 hours round-trip.
I'm following you around now on my old Smokys map. This looks G-R-E-A-T.
Oh yeah ... if you don't have it, you might want to look into the
National Geographic trails map of the Smokies
(http://makeashorterlink.com/?D2EF3285D). It's printed on a coated paper
that's waterproof. I carried mine with me all the time.
Yeppers. Same one. I have TI maps for places I've only contemplated
visiting. Great maps, and with some bit of skill at reading topos, you can
sort of take the trip without going. Well...only if you're a map geek. Not
that there's anything wrong with that.
You can also go to the National Park Service GSMNP page to get a pdf
map of the park that's handy for playing around with. I used it to zoom
in on some areas and get a feel for where the trails ran. I then printed
out some of these and put them in a ziplock to carry in my vest. See here
for the file: http://www.nps.gov/grsm/pphtml/maps.html
Unfortunately, the Cades Cove loop is a circus; cars were almost
bumper to bumper after about 10:00 a.m. on a *weekday* when we were
there in late March.
Yeah, the price of the most popular park, I guess. I was there a few
years ago in early March for a BP trip, and Clingman's was insane.
SWMBO and I made the mistake of going up to Newfound Gap during our
trip in March. There was also some construction work going on in the
parking lot, and it was absolutely ridiculous. You could barely find a
place to park, and you were standing shoulder-to-shoulder at the overlook.
Strangely, when I went in late June last year, there were folks there,
but nothing like this year's crwod.
So, if I were in the Townsend area for two days, I'd definitely take
one full day for hiking and fishing the Little River above Elkmont. The
other day might be for exploring further into the park. Maybe check out
the Little Pigeon in the Greenbriar area or the Chimneys area, or drive
over Newfound Gap to Bradley Fork on the NC side. Just get a feel for
areas you'll want to return to.
{{{seeing my future}}} "...you will be spending time with a book.... a
gazeteer..."
Er, if you're like me, it will be several books, the Delorme for NC,
plus a few topo maps. :-}
Yep.... I take full advantage of the REI map section. I have a collection of
various guides to various activities for various areas. I'm a various guy, I
guess...
But some people think I overdo my prep for these trips. :-)
Not possible. For a BP trip, I've been known to pack, unpack, and repack
multiple times to get the gear load 'just right', culling and adding as
appropriate.
Thanks for the info, Chuck. Assuming all goes according to the as yet
very vague plans, I'll post pics somewhere.
My pleasure. Just keep in mind that last year's trip was my first
flyfishing trip to that area (though I used to go to the park as a kid).
So I am definitely not an expert. I just did some reading, asked a bunch
of ROFFians, and did some exploring. (And I actually was staying in
Robbinsville all the time. I took a couple of days to explore Big
Snowbird and drove to the park other days.)
And yes, pics would be appreciated. I'm living vicariously right now
through the rest of youse, as it will be next year before I get back
there. Until then I just have to live through these:
The Bradley Fork of the Oconaluftee (this is my wallpaper, and it's
also where I caught the second biggest fish of my trip:
http://uweb.txstate.edu/~cv01/bradley01.jpg
Newfound Gap looking back into NC:
http://uweb.txstate.edu/~cv01/newfound.jpg
The view from the Cherohala Skyway near Robbinsville:
http://uweb.txstate.edu/~cv01/cherohala02.jpg
Just above the lower falls on Big Snowbird:
http://uweb.txstate.edu/~cv01/snowbirdfalls01.jpg
Very nice pics. One of these days, I'll have to scan the negs from my trip
and post them somewhere. I'm no pro, but some of those shots are nice.
(Everyone gets lucky, eh?)
Chuck Vance (oh, and take a 3-wt. rod if you've got one; about a
7'6" one will do nicely)
I have a 6'9" and a 7'0", both 4wts. Actually, the 7 footer is a
3/4...hmmm....maybe time to pick up some 3wt WF line.
Thanks again,
Dan