Halloween is my favorite holiday, what with all the decorations, kids in costumes, fall colors, and late night loot raids (my kids’ Almond Joys don’t stand a chance of making it past Halloween night). That it takes place during one of most scenic seasons in the Smokies doesn’t hurt either. I wasn’t about to let the month slip by without heading out on a family hike. To make it more fun for my kids, I picked some trails with an interesting and somewhat spooky history behind them.

Our hike combined Big Fork Ridge, Caldwell Fork and Rough Fork Trails to make a 9.6-mile loop hike.

We started our journey at the end of the valley on Big Fork Ridge Trail. As soon as the hike began, one of my favorite trees in the fall dominated the scene: Striped Maples. The leaves appear to take on a glow-in-the-dark quality in fall—the light passing through them fills the forest with an otherworldly glow. And if you use your imagination peering at them from below, they resemble little ghosts!

: Striped Maple Leaf Ghosts

At a small creek crossing a mile or so into our hike, Aidan found an enormous Blackbelly Salamander under a rock. After we appropriately oohed and aahed over Aidan’s awesome (and quite adorable, I might add) find, we hiked on to crest the ridge.

This big guy takes it off the charts with cuteness, in a salamander kind of way!

Blackbelly Salamander (I’ve since learned it’s best to pick up salamanders with a barrier between you and them, like a plastic bag, to protect their skin which they breathe through)

As we walked along the ridge, eventually descending it, we couldn’t help but notice the tree graveyard to the left of the trail. It was rather sad, more so than spooky, as there were countless dead hemlock trees, many of them still stretching high into the brilliant blue sky. Despite their untimely demise, thanks to the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid, their skeletons were still impressiv to see.

Hemlock Graveyard 🙁

We cruised along and Partridge Berry plants lined the trail, their green leaves and red berries a striking contrast to the forest floor. Wait a minute—red and green? This isn’t a Christmas hike, we said!

Patridge Berries

We ate a lunch of pumpkin shaped pasta and homemade pesto by a stream and discovered what appeared to be stonefly shucks (the empty skin of the nymph stage of a stonefly) under the handrail of the bridge crossing it. Another spooky find in the books!

A less than wonderful photo of Stonefly shucks

Satisfied from our lunch, we cruised along and quickly came to the intersection of the Caldwell Fork Trail. Just a few minutes beyond this trail junction, there is a side trail to the left that leads to a small cemetery with two unmarked graves. Three men were buried here after they were killed on April 1, 1865. Two men are buried in one grave (Ellsworth Caldwell and Levi Shelton). Acccording to this website about cemeteries in the Smokies:

It is known that Shelton and Caldwell are buried in one of the graves together. The other grave is unknown. The cemetery is also known as the Civil War Graves and the Confederate Soldiers Cemetery. Shelton and Caldwell were killed March 1865 by Kirk’s Raiders. The Civil War brought many hardships for those left behind. Many people in the Smokies were divided in their loyalties to one side or the other. Some men avoided the duty of war and hid out near their homes. George Kirk, known as a renegade Confederate turned Union, led a band made up mostly of criminals and deserters into the Smokies during the last years of the war. In March of 1865, Kirk and his men came to Cataloochee looking for Confederate supporters. Often this was just an excuse for looting homes and murdering individuals. This particular night they were looking for Shelton and Caldwell. At night when the wives went out to bring supper to their hiding husbands, Kirk’s Raiders followed them and killed the two men.”

Their graves were a somber reminder of an incredibly unfortunate time in our nation’s history.

The two headstones are barely discernible in the leaf litter.

One of the headstones

Another mile or so down, we took a break at campsite 41 (one of my favorite campsites in the Smokies, by the way). Larry read the story of Spearfinger to the kids while we ate a special spooky trail mix I made to share (recipe follows the post). It’s a great Cherokee legend and not too scary for young ears. This website gives a good recount of it, but we read it from a book called Living Stories of the Cherokee. It’s a collection of stories from six Cherokee storytellers and was a fun and educational way to teach kids about the original residents of the ancestral lands upon which we walked.

: Such a beautiful campsite (#41)

: Reading the story of Spearfinger to the kids

: Paige had the ability to make a leaf levitate–talk about spooky! 😉

: Spearfinger lives!

: So spooky!

: Our spooktacular trail mix

: To go with our story, I made “witch’s fingers” out of Bugles and white chocolate dyed red! 🙂

Moving along again, we nearly missed the turnoff for the giant Tulip Poplar tree. It’s difficult to appreciate the girth and height of this giant in the forest until you’re standing next to it, but it is truly one of the biggest trees I’ve ever seen in the southeast.

The kids and Larry couldn’t even circle around the entire trunk!

From this point, it was another mile or so of climbing to the top of the ridge, but the time went by quickly as we looked for more large trees off the trail. We also looked for signs of bear, as I had seen some along this stretch last summer when I was hiking by myself (a sow with two cubs—talk about being spooked!). We weren’t lucky enough to see one on this hike, unfortunately.

: My sweet girl

: Paige and I thought this looked like a rhinoceros’ profile!

: He wasn’t quite brave enough to go all the way inside!

: This aster was still hanging on, thanks to the warm fall we’ve had

: Tiny treasures abound in the forest

: This birch tree was growing on a nurse log, which is a decaying log that provides the perfect medium for new things to grow.

: Paige and I thought this rhododendron leaf colors looked like a tricolored popsicle!

: People used to think Heal All cured disease of the mouth since the flowers resemble one

: Spooky fungus on trees!

At the ridgeline, we connected to the Rough Fork Trail and began our descent back down towards Cataloochee Valley. A mile from the end, we came across a haunted house in the woods. If truth be told, it’s not really haunted. It’s just the old Woody homestead, and it is actually lovely and quaint. It was being renovated, but we were thankful for the opportunity to still walk around inside and find a cool bat hanging out against a wall.

One last fun treat while we sat on the porch of the Woody house and talked about what it would be like to live in these tranquil woods.

The Woody House

Our bat friend on the wall in the Woody House

As we sat on the porch of the house eating our last fun treat of the day, I read a story from my favorite trail guide in all the land, Hiking Trails of the Smokies, otherwise known as “the little brown book.” You can purchase it at any park visitor’s center. The story tells of the “Wild Man” of Cataloochee. You can also Google that phrase and learn about who he really was, but the “little brown book” does a great job of telling the tale.

Before we knew it, we were back to the start, with countless cars and people filling our vision, waiting for the nightly Elk rut show to start. We heard the haunting sounds of males bugling in the distance, wrapping up our perfectly spooktacular day in the Smokies!

Big ol’ bull elk, watching over his harem

Trail Report Card:

Overall Grade: A+ when you hike it in the fall along with the spooky theme! This hike isn’t full of long range views, waterfalls, or the like, but it’s my favorite hike out of Cataloochee Valley. The history, combined with the mixture of forest types is a treat any time of year, but especially in fall when it lends itself to being “spooky!”

Mileage: Our total hike was 9.59 miles.

Type of Hike: Loop. We hiked it in a clockwise direction which I recommend, since it avoids the steep uphill on the Rough Fork Trail.

Suitability for Kids: The ascent is gentle to moderate in most places, climbing 1819 feet in total. The descent on the Rough Fork Trail is the steepest section. Overall, I think this is a great hike to take kids on, assuming they can handle a hike of this distance.

An alternative to this loop is a short out-and-back option on the Rough Fork Trail, to the Woody House and back. This hike would total roughly 2 miles.

How to Get Here: Take I-40 to exit 20 (NC 276) west to Cove Creek Road. Stay on Cove Creek Road. to the entrance to Great Smoky Mountains National Park (there is a sign on the side of the road, indicating that you’re entering the Park’s land). From the park sign, drive three more miles down a curvy, gravel road to the junction with Mt. Sterling Rd. and Cataloochee Rd. Turn left on to a paved road which will take you into Cataloochee Valley. Go all the way to the dead end of Cataloochee Rd. and park in the parking area.