Above: Spring camp at McGee Spring in the Great Smokies. McGee Springs lies at the end of a spur off of the old Hyatt Ridge trail. In early spring, it's exceptionally beautiful, with carpets of white-fringed phacelia covering the little cove at the end of the trail where campsite #44 is located. That is Breakneck Ridge in the background of the photo. An old manway cuts off of the maintained trail not far from the campsite and heads west out Breakneck Ridge for a ways before dropping steeply down to Raven Fork. At the bottom of the drop lies beautiful and seldom visited Three Forks Pool, where the Right Fork, Middle Fork, and Left Fork join to form Raven Fork that flows on down the valley to exit the Park near Big Cove in the Cherokee Reservation. This little cove, where the campsite is located drains down the mountainside to join Right Fork.

Below: McGee Springs. This is a real beauty and to me, it rivals the water of Moores Spring far to the west at Gregory Bald. Of all the water sources in the Smokies, the only one that compares to McGee Springs in quality of taste is Bear Creek, below Welch Ridge in the Forney Creek drainage.