An Elf House in the Tree!!
We’ve all seen the commercials about elves making cookies inside a tree but to most of us it’s been just that……a commercial. Our find on a recent hike definitely brought that commercial to life as we got to have lunch right beside an elf house in a tree!!
Saturday morning came and the weather appeared to be on our side until late afternoon (when snow was to move in) so we chose a hike close to home that would count toward our current mileage goal. We laced up our Merrell boots, grabbed our hiking packs and lunch and hit the road to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park area in Townsend, Tennessee. We found parking at the Townsend Wye entrance, tossed on our pack and started up the Chestnut Top Trail toward Schoolhouse Gap.
The trail climbs fairly steadily up the mountain and you overlook the Little River and Townsend for much of the way up before turning back towards the interior of the park. Much of the trail is narrow with steep drops to one side. There are also many areas where trees have fallen across the trail and exposed roots are present on much of the upper portion so boots are highly recommended.
The end of the trail at mile 4.3 leaves a couple of options. A left turn will take you down Schoolhouse Gap Trail for 2.1 miles to Laurel Creek Road between the Townsend Wye and the entrance to Cades Cove. A turn to the right (which we took) takes you 0.2 miles to the park boundary at Scott Mountain Trail and our find of the day…..the real life Elf House!!!
The Elf House sits just across a gravel roadway from a privately owned cabin on the boundary. Next to the house is a wooden picnic table and barrel. We took the time to relax here and have lunch and prior to leaving made sure to collect the additional couple of trash pieces we saw as we always try to leave our destinations better than we find them!
After a short rest and lunch we started back down the path we came towards the trailhead. About half way down the ridge the weather began to quickly change and we started to see snow falling on the next ridge over. The wind picked up and we could hear the howl as it ripped through the trees! Fortunately we were quickly descending in elevation and were able to get back to the car before any rain or snow moved in.
A couple of final notes on this hike. First would be that I would recommend this trail for Spring AND Winter as both will provide vastly different experiences. The amount of rhododendrons alone should provide amazing views as they come into bloom. A winter hike, when the leaves are off the trees, allows virtually uninhibited views of the Little River, Townsend and other ridge lines. Second is that, at the time of writing, the Scott Mountain Trail is closed from Schoolhouse Gap Trail to Back Country Site 6 near the Rich Mountain Loop which we did just a few weeks back.
Take a moment and leave us a comment if you’ve hiked this trail and let us know what you thought. Also we’d love to keep in touch so subscribe to the blog to stay up to date on future adventures and reviews. Until next time……