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Trip into the Smokies with Horace Kephart

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  • Page 5 Smoky Mountain haze is so entrancing. We stayed there one night, sleeping out in the open on the ground. There was a new moon, I remember, and we had a good big camp-fire. Food was getting very scarce. For breakfast that morning we had only sardines, crackers and coffee. We had a long hike ahead of us back to Jack Coburns house on Hazel Creek. We walked about seventeen miles that day. We started out along the trail that leads towards Clingman's Dome, a cool dark trail, so nice to walk through the Balsam and Spruce. This didn't last long, however, for Mr. Kephart led us right through the forest down that mountain-side (Siler Meadows or Siler's Bald). There was no trail at all. It was a thrilling adventure, but with Mr. Kephart as our guide we had no trouble nor fear of getting lost. He knew all that country so well. It was beautiful all the way down, but some of that hike was steep and rough. I needed my stout walking stick. We watched out for rattlers as we got down lower out of the Spruce and Balsam. Rattlers prefer the hardwood timber where more sunlight gets in. We arrived at Jack's house late that evening, having come all the way from the head of Hazel Creek ur> on Siler Meadows down to Jack's place on Hazel Creek and Bone Valley. We were tired after that long hike but happy. The next morning Mr. Kephart took us up on Suga,r Fork to where he had lived and to see the site of the old Westfeldt copper mine. It was such an isolated and dark spot - dense woods - very tall trees - like a wilderness - a lonely place. Sugar Fork is a small stream, so very pretty. We met no one up there. The old mine had been closed for some years. It was quite a walk up there, about six miles. Mr. Kephart, Jack, and Mr. Anderson had their guns (pistols) with them as
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