Scott Mountain Trail

[TNhiker]

Are any of you following @plugitinhikes? Hes attempting the FKT of the Smokies as we speak.

im not necessarily following it, but yeah, he's trying to beat his record from last year....



with his hike, and the 900 club-----only trails that are currently open need to be done.........


at one point---the 900 club was "any trail on the dollar map of the year one started" had to be done..

but they changed that to any currently open trail...


(the dollar map started way is the reason i hiked the bottom part of hughes ridge trail, which was closed right after i started hiking in the park.............i dont recommend anyone hiking that closed portion of hughes ridges as it crosses private property and one could be subject to whatever the locals back there wanted to do to someone for crossing their land)

[TNhiker]

I'm just making an assumption but I assume he is doing a SCAR or a double SCAR. If so, it is along the AT through GSMNP.

i dont know what a SCAR or a double SCAR is, but Benny is doing all the trails in the Park and not just the AT....

[HooKooDooKu]

...i dont recommend anyone hiking that closed portion of hughes ridges as it crosses private property and one could be subject to whatever the locals back there wanted to do to someone for crossing their land)

Looking at the Bridle Path I see on an old Topo that I think is the lower section of Hughes Ridge, it looks like the old trail stays away from the occupied sections of private land in the area. But there are roads and trails in that private area that are still used that look to come right upto the old Hughes Ridge Trial. If you were to try the hike this old trail, seems like you'd stand a really good chance of stumbling onto one of these private roads/trails and take you right to where the land owners are.

Besides, just like Scott Mountain, it's likely become very overgrown. Hughes has been closed for longer than Scott. When I hiked up Chasteen Creek Trail a few years ago, you could clearly see the start of the lower section of Hughes Ridge that's been abandoned (don't recall any "Closed" signs)... and there were 8' tall pine trees growing right in the middle of the path.

I would think the most anyone would want to try would be to follow the old trail out to Becks Bald. I could envision there being some winter time views from up there (and you'd be well above the private land). It looks like you have to drop half of the elevation change between Becks Bald and Tow String Horse Camp Road before you cross into private property.

[TNhiker]

i hiked the closed portion of hughes ridge about maybe ten ish years ago (again, dont have log in front of me)....

but yeah, i saw it on the map and at the top i could see the trail sign on ground and the makings of the trail.......

so, i went back there and went up chasteen over to the closed part and hiked it down to smokemont where it pops out near the church...

it was really easy to follow and not many blowdowns at all, at the time...

i didnt have any views from becks bald, in fact it looked more like just an open field than anything else............and not that large of a field...


i knew that i would be crossing private land and that was a concern of mine of having to turn back if there was signs and all that...

in fact, i had toyed with the notion of hiking up it from near the church that way if i needed to turn around, it wasnt that far of a hike...

but, chasteen would be a shorter up hill hike so i chose that way...

sooooo....

and i can honestly say this-----of all the hikes ive done in the park----this is the ONLY one that i was scared for my life on......

the only time i wished i was packing heat...

sooooooo......

coming down the trail, crossed over becks----and came down where the trail met a dirt road...

thats when i started hearing voices and an ATV coming at me.....

not sure what their intention was, but i didnt want to find out..

oh, and i was hiking alone at the time...

i heard them coming towards me and yelling back and forth...........not sure exactly what they were saying, but i was hearing stuff like "i think he went there"......not sure if they were talking about me but again, i didnt want to find out....

so, i backtracked and sorta hid in the bushes...

and on that backtrack, i found another trail that i figured would be the route as opposed to hiking the road down to somewhere to pick up a trail back to smokemont...


so, i started along that trail and it was on the side of the hill......and it ended up paralleling the road after a touch...

which i could see down and see that there was some sorta camp or something like that right off the road...

with the typical stuff of tarps, a pickup truck and ATVs...

i quickly got the heck outta there and back into the woods (via the trail) and followed it for a little bit before i popped out in smokemont....


like i says---i had no idea if they spotted me or if i was getting way paranoid but there was no way i was sticking around to find out...


i dont know if they were cooking meth back there, or growing pot or making shine----but i didnt want to find out...

i dont care if they were doing those things----i just wanted to hike...

but, as they say, the only good witness is a dead witness....

[JC13]

Gotcha, a SCAR/Double SCAR is a FKT for the AT through the Smokies.

More info here if desired. http://fastestknowntime.proboards.co...128/scar-tn-nc

David Worth holds the supported FKT, 14h50m22s, set May 19, 2011.
Will Harlan has the unsupported FKT, 15h45m07s, also set on May 19, 2011.
Billy Simpson did an unsupported double SCAR in 3d7h25m, Sept. 22-26, 2014.
Scott Simcox reported a new FKT for the unsupported double in 2d17h49m, June 8-10, 2017.

The women's FKT appears to be Vicki Johnson, 18h50m in the mid-1980s, but this is unconfirmed.
Alicia Hudelson ran the route in 19h54m, April 30, 2016.

[TNhiker]

Plug it in is not just doing the AT in the Park----he is doing every official trail..

this is his second time doing it---once earlier this year...

[JC13]

Plug it in is not just doing the AT in the Park----he is doing every official trail..

this is his second time doing it---once earlier this year...

Gotcha, was just explaining what a SCAR was. Pretty cool to do all the trails in a year, even more impressive twice!

[HooKooDooKu]

... Pretty cool to do all the trails in a year...

I was tickled getting it accomplished over 20 years.

[TNhiker]

I was tickled getting it accomplished over 20 years.

likewise....in 12.....

benny has the luxury of owning his own business, which his wife is running while he's hiking...

and he is getting a ton of support with rides, food drops, and such......

[Bmelee]

There are a few people who are doing all of the trails in the park twice per year for the last couple of years. They just don’t publicize it.

[TNhiker]

There are a few people who are doing all of the trails in the park twice per year for the last couple of years. They just don’t publicize it.

That is true...

the difference is this guy is trying to beat his old record of how few days it will take him...

so he can be the person who has hiked it twice the fastest...

at least for the Internet...