The old Tellico revisited...... Picture heavy!

[Ghost]

So I was in Hayesville, NC recently and decided I wanted to see the old Tellico and see if trail one was truly paved......

Here is a map for those of you that never had the privilege:



Part of what is the trail 1 road:



I see now why they wanted to do what they did:
This is not in the Forrest but on the road/ trail 1 leading to the pay station.



The old pay station and parking lot:





This power box is almost exactly where they old pay sign use to be:

 

[Ghost]

Entrance to upper 2:



I can remember lining up and looking out the driver window and seeing this:



Part of this trail actually is on private property:



The climb in. This was clearly filled in at some point or scrapped over. It was a rocky steep hill climb back in the day.



This is where the Forrest land starts. You can see they pilled trees and stuff in the trail. I did not go in any further then here on this trail.

 

[Ghost]

Entrance to trail 4: It is here I got my first introduction to what a great group we have at . In '02 I attended my first Crawl with an 84 xj on 33's. It ran fine when I left but here it was backfiring like crazy. GaMike and A-Mechanic would not let me return to camp and escorted me with the easy group. They moved on up the trail and the three of us ran together and actually kept up. Been in love with wheeling and this club ever sense.



Remints of a trail marker:



Trail 4 was an easy trail by Tellico standards but it was rocky and rough:

 

[Ghost]

Trail 1:

So yes part of it is paved:





Trail entrance to lower 2:







My wonderful girlfriend Deanna that went on this adventure through memory lane with me: This is the bridge right at the entrance to Lower 2.



The Tellico river I believe:





The VW is sitting in the entrance to trail 2: The gate was open too..... No I did not go down it. It was getting late.

 

[Ghost]

Trail 5 entrance and where trail 6 came out:





So trail 5 now. This trail was navigable by a stock 4wd and people often towed up to the Tellico river crossing and camped there:



This trial ran right next to the river and was a beautiful drive:



These signs were all along where trail 5 was very close to the river:



Hmm....

This is the spot that we use to cross the Tellico river. It was a river crossing. One of the attempts to keep Tellico open was that S4WD built a bridge over it and proposed to build a second at Fain's Ford.



The bridge in the middle of the forest....



The old exit. This was a nasty climb out back then.



View from the bridge:



Down river:



Trail 5 on the other side of the bridge:



This was a popular place to primitive camp back in the day:



The right is the old trail 5 filled with trees and vegetation:



Trash found a half hour walk into the woods where 4x4's haven't been in years!

 

[Ghost]

More of the $250K bridge:

 

[Ghost]

I never camped here but I don't remember this campground being so nice:







All the pictures I took while out there are here:

http://s16.photobucket.com/user/xjghost/library/Hayesville- Murphy Visit 2-14-15?sort=3&page=1

 

[saybye]

Wow! So glad someone finally did this! Thanks for the share!

 

[IllianaXJ]

Wow. Sucks to see what it has become now. I went back in 2003 and I can remember most of what you are showing in the pics.

Imagine that, trash coming from people other than 4WD enthusiasts!

 

[Lowrange2]

I sure hate that I never got to wheel there.

 

[043500]

Went to 2 crawls there...wish to hell it was still open.

 

[a-mechanic]

Nice work ghost. I remember that run up 4. And most years after that. Thanks for sharing. We seriously need to put together a reunion.

 

[RenegadeStang]

Thanks for doing this. I never did get a chance to run Tellico, but this makes me feel like I had.

 

[Ghost]

Thanks guys. I'm hoping to return in the spring and try to hike in to Fain's Ford and maybe Slick Rock if it's doable.

 

[saybye]

I would love to see what guard rail looks like now, wonder if all the cables are still grown around the trees and if they backfilled it in...

 

[NCCherokee]

I went once with my college club, and I went back one more time with my sister, must have been right around the time they closed it formally, it was a weekday, and we did not cross another person the entire time we were there. It was surreal. I remember camping at that site on 5

 

[Big Hank]

Thanks so much for sharing this. I was there in 2002 with my own for the Crawl, then years later as a passenger. Makes feel sick to know I took it for granted. That first year took over ten hours to drive the 88 MJ down there....

 

[xjtrailrider]

I just missed out on going to Tellico, I had planned on it and then......I did run Mt City just before it closed. I went with Hadfield and ran welder and armor-all, both were awesome trails

 

[MELKORsXJ]

My first Crawl was there in 07... I rode passenger with Juan (blackclassic) as my XJ was stock at the time, and this wheeling thing was new to me. Also went a couple times later with Tyler when his Willys was on 35s before becoming Betty... those trips inspired me to build my Willys. Tellico closed a couple months after I completed it =/