A Lodge Called Folkestone - The Western Mountains

A Lodge Called Folkestone

The Dream, The Challenge, The People
by Bob Kranich

(Excerpt 18)

“The Lodge Called Folkestone”. You may wonder why the first half of the book is about my many adventures throughout the USA. Well, this first part explains just why my interests changed from hot rodding cars to backpacking. How the idea of a lodge came about, and just how the lodge came to be in North Carolina and next to the Smoky Mountain National Park, Deep Campground to be exact.

They seemed to know where they were going, so I just followed. We got up high, way above tree line, and came to an old shack. We ate our supper, and bedded down inside, everyone on the floor in their sleeping bags. It was cold, and I took off my wet gear and hung it up to dry.

The next morning, when we awoke, we saw that it had snowed all night. It was beautiful. The sun was out, you could see forever. Instead of drying, my gear had frozen. After breakfast, I had to put my frozen clothes on. It was all I had. They started out, and I tried to follow, but they all, including the girls, were out hiking me. I finally had to ask them to wait for me.

We got to the top, and the trail was obscured by the snow. We could see where we needed to go down to the tree line. It was not rough, just a smooth slope of snow. They were kind of hesitating, not quite knowing how to proceed, and I got an idea. I said, “I might not know how to hike in the mountains, but a Florida city boy like me sure knows how to go down. I dropped my pack down off the hip belt and onto my shoulders, sat down on my rear, and started to snowshoe and part slide down the snow covered slope. They followed my lead, and all six of us were laughing and sliding down towards the tree line.

We got down in the trees, found the trail, rested some, and then hiked out to the train tracks. When we got there, their leader said that we will just have to wait for the train. We could see that the Animas River was really raging. A short time later, here comes a Sheriff Patrol vehicle bouncing down the rough trail running along the railroad tracks. He pulled up, and got out. “How you fellas doing? You know that the tracks are out, and that means the trains not running. We’ve got trouble up and down the entire railroad system. I can take some of you out now, and I will come back for the rest as soon as I can. Have you seen any other hikers?”

“No sir,” we answered him.

Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming: This park is only ten miles south of Yellowstone National Park. One of the sights that really impressed me was the very large herd of elk, hundreds of them, right next to the park entrance. It seems that there is an elk preserve adjacent to the park. The tall, majestic Teton peaks look like pyramids and have some glaciers in the higher elevations.

I parked, camped, and the next morning, I set up my pack for three days. I didn’t want to go hiking in the higher elevations. It just looked too ominous, but at the same time dynamic and beautiful. I decided to hike at the base where I would have the continuous view of the mountains.

I soon found myself hiking through beautiful meadows, and along a small meandering stream. The trail wasn’t too steep either up or down. I camped, and the next day decided to go for a half day longer, and then double back. I camped in the same location that night. The next day I was crossing a long area of flat rock that had lots of large cracks in it. Sometimes I had to jump across. As I was doing this, the wind sprung up, and it was so strong that I dropped my pack on my shoulders, put my arms out, and literally flew along. It was exhilarating.

I got back that evening, camped, and the next day headed up to tour Yellowstone National Park.

Mt. Rainier National Park, Washington State: From a distance Mt. Rainier looks like a giant looking over the hills at you. You see it from many miles away, and it is impressive and overpowering.

The first thing I did was visit the Paradise Ranger Station and visitor center which is situated at the 5,550 feet level. It’s barely in the tree line and near a glacier, and even in summer, there is snow in the area. I looked around in the bookstore, and purchased a Geological Survey map of the entire Mt. Rainier National Park. I also purchased a trail guide. In it was shown the Wonderland Trail that encircled the entire mountain. This really sparked my interest. I decided that I would go around the entire mountain! I got out the guide, and marked the trails on the Geological Survey map. This map was one inch equals a mile, which is a good scale. In the trail guide, they recommended taking ten days to make the entire circle. I couldn’t pack in that much food, so I looked carefully at the ninety-mile trip. I decided that I would have to do fifteen miles each day. It was possible. So I marked out, and located the place I would camp at each night. I proceeded to obtain my hiking and camping permit.

I camped over that night next to a ranger station. I decided that it also would be a safe place to leave my Ranchero pickup truck while I was hiking for a week. I started out, and within the first mile I came to a stream crossing, and guess what? The log bridge over the stream was not in place. In fact, I could see it down stream, in the middle, stuck on a rock. I would have to wade the stream, and it looked at least twenty feet across. Since I didn’t want to get my boots wet so early in the hike, I took them off and waded in. Ouch! That wouldn’t do. Not only was the stream bed all rocks, it was very cold (glacier fed), and strong. I waded out and put my boots back on, and found a stout stick to stabilize me as I went across. My boots and I were now broken in.

From the Author:

This is a new book. It is about the Lodge I built in the Smoky Mountains, near Bryson City, and Deep Creek campground, North Carolina. Having been from Florida, I know that a lot of Floridians love to visit the Smoky Mountains National Park. Therefore hopefully you will enjoy my story of the building of “A Lodge Called Folkestone”.