You don’t have to go far from the parking lot to start unlocking the secrets around Cosby – secrets Mike Maples has spent a lifetime discovering.
Maples has been hiking in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park for more than 40 years. He’s written books about different sections of the park, and most recently finished his book on Cosby, which is in Cocke and Sevier counties.
“It’s just a beautiful place that doesn’t get a whole lot of hiking activity, except in the summer months out here around the campground,” he said. “It’s got hidden cascades, treasures – and it’s just not as crowded.”
Maples often explores off-trail, and a has a depth of park knowledge that earned him the nickname “Hiking Jedi of the Smokies.”
Often, he looks for piece of history that aren’t on official park maps.
“You’ve got about 75 homesteads in the area,” he said of Cosby. “Some more modern, some in log cabins, shacks like you see in Cades Cove, anywhere else.”
He took 10News reporter Michael Crowe into the backcountry to see an old home, which he believes belonged to the Carver family. The site was off the official park trails – a single chimney standing in the woods.
“It has a fireplace on both sides, was an 8-room framed house,” he said. “Probably has some very fancy gingerbread molding on it.”
Maples said trips like this are best done in cold weather, when the vegetation is less thick.
But that’s not the only relic of human life in the Cosby Smokies. Tucked a few hundred yards off Lower Mt. Cammerer trail is an old car, which Maples believes was left their by the Civilian Conservation Corps.
“I found it about 15 years ago with a friend of mine,” he said. “And I asked some old timers that live around here, and they didn’t know about it, so it was kind of surprising that it’s this close to the campground and no one knew about it."
The car is in a small clearing, close to what was once a road. Maples thinks the CCC boys left it there after a breakdown, and the woods grew up around it. The CCC helped blaze many of the park’s official trails and roads in the 1930s.
The vehicle is in surprisingly complete shape.
“It’s pretty cool to have the old hood on it, and it’s still got the gas tank,” Maples said. “Because most of the time, you find an old car, all you find is a few fenders, maybe the bottom of the car. There’s a couple at Greenbrier like that, but this one is just – I think it’s outstanding.”
“There’s several of these in the park, but this is one of the better ones of the Tennessee side for sure,” he said. “All it needs is a battery.”
While these reminders of the park’s history are interesting on their own, Maples also appreciates what they represent: the people that helped shape the Smokies years ago.
“Oh sure, these were big families with a lot of kids, and heartbreak and devotion, dedication,” Maples said. “They started work when they were three or four years old planting corn, lived here and died here a lot of them did. So yeah – they were a special breed of people.”
That’s always on his mind in the park – no matter what he finds.
“Some days you find something new, which is great, or you hike up an old road, chase it to the end, and there’s nothing there, just woods,” Maples said. “Still a great day. Still a great day.”
Because as much time as he’s spent in the park, there are still more stories to discover.
You can connect with Mike Maples on Facebook here, and Youtube here. He also often offers hiking advice on the Hike the Smokies Facebook page.