Big Duck Hawk Ridge (Part 2 of 3)

Ever since our recent trip to the top of Mount LeConte, my friends had been talking incessantly about exploring Big Duck Hawk Ridge on LeConte’s south slope. The views from Alum Cave Trail of Big Duck Hawk Ridge had been enticing. It looked rugged and rocky and, therefore, worthy of inclusion on our To Do Soon list. The fact that peregrine falcons are nesting on nearby Little Duck Hawk Ridge made this section of the park doubly appealing. I had never seen one of these rare falcons before, so my hopes were high that they’d make an appearance.

Big Duck Hawk Ridge from Alum Cave Trail

I had been distracted by some of life’s obligations, so most of the thought and planning for our trip to Big Duck Hawk had been done by my hiking partners, not me. I’ve been the planner and navigator on many family vacations ever since I was young, so I’m not used to just showing up and having a map and itinerary handed to me, but that’s what happened on this trip. As we stepped out of Greg’s car he gave me a topo map with a blue line showing our intended route. We would start at the Alum Cave Trail parking lot but would immediately hop off the trail, cross the river, and work our way up the south side of Big Duck Hawk to its ridgecrest. We would then follow the crest north and east to its junction with Alum Cave Trail near Alum Cave Bluff. It was pretty much the same route that I would have chosen, so there were no great surprises or debates about the route, but I felt a bit bewildered as we started simply because I hadn’t spent a few days ruminating about the pros and cons of the various routes that we could choose from.

After crossing the creek, we immediately dove into a rhododendron thicket that was actually more help than hindrance. It was thick and low enough to force us to weave and crawl, but the branches provided convenient handles for us to grab as we slithered our way up the steep slope. It’s not at all unusual after a hike like this for our arms and backs to be just as tired as our legs.

Without going into all the gory details, I’ll make a long story short by saying that we spent a lot of time thrashing against walls of brier, bushes, and vines on this small side ridge. At one point I actually found myself looking for a rhododendron thicket because that would be easier terrain. Yes, you know you are having a rough day when a rhododendron hell is the easy route.

The wisest words of the day were spoken by Greg Harrell, when he said, “You guys know I love hiking up ridges, but it’s time to try something new….” So we bailed out of our intended path and found a tiny creek to follow. Hiking up these slippery ravines is not easy, but they often provide a much needed reprieve from the brush and thickets that can form impenetrable green walls. It was a good choice. This small creekbed led us to the crest of Big Duck Hawk Ridge, maybe a tenth of a mile east of our original route.

The crest was exactly what we’ve come to expect of these obscure side ridges in this part of the Smokies: narrow, rocky spines adorned with mountain laurel, sand myrtle, and gnarled spruce and table mountain pines. And the views were fabulous, even though we were only about 4,800’ high. There were plenty of ridges and peaks that were higher than we were, but there’s something about being totally alone on a rarely-visited ridge that makes us feel like we are on the top of the world. These rocky ridges are, in our opinion, one of the great, undisclosed secrets of the Smokies. There are few, if any, official trails that lead to settings such as this. The reason for the secrecy is obvious: these rocky ridges are too fragile and risky to advertise to the general public. There would be too much damage done to both the landscape and the tourists.

It’s a sign of a good trip when most of your stops are for the scenic views, not for resting and recuperating. So this was a good trip. As we sat on a rocky spot surrounded by the ridges and valleys of Mount LeConte, Anakeesta Ridge, and Sugarland Mountain, we looked up and ahead toward our junction with Alum Cave Trail. It was appropriate that the name of the peak where we were headed was Peregrine Peak because that was where we caught a glimpse of them – a pair of falcons circling their domain between Big and Little Duck Hawk Ridges.

[To be continued]