My first trip to Eagle Creek was rough and at night in the pouring down rain. We left Cades Cove picnic area about 1:00pm or so. We didn't know it till we got to hiking that there was a small boy lost between the picnic area and Spence Field likely around the Bote Mountain trail junction with the Cades Cove trail about three quarters up.
We had planned on spending the night in the south shelter on Spence Field and going on down into Eagle Creek the next morning. The trail into Eagle Creek heads up at the spring at the shelter & wasn't a well established trail till you got to the old rail road bed. There were so many searchers up on top including National Guards that we decided to go on down the NC side. Even the final leg of the Spence Field Trail trail above the Bote Mountain split had a lot of jeep traffic. I was with my dad and his friend and I was about 14 I guess. They both had hiked in there before and into Hazel Creek so they knew the area. We were dead tired when we got to where we planned to camp. The next trip a year later was a lot easier.
As for the boy they never found him. He was somewhere between 6 & 8 years old. Just a shoe was found I think. But he could have been 10 feet off the trail and no one would ever seen or heard him. The rains the night he got lost and the next night made it even harder and dogs couldn't track then either.
I never went back over there just a few day trips up to Spence Field or Thunderhead years later. Last trip to the field I was coming down and almost out when a paniced woman came running up the trail. She asked me if I had been to Spence Field and if I had seen two boys. I asked how old and she said 8 & 10 I think. I asked her when did they leave she said that morning. I had to bite my tongue. Most people don't understand the dangers. A guy on horse back headed up the mountain and I told her to get to the ranger station. They didn't make the local news that night so I reckon they found them. They were very lucky kids.
There’s a freeper who’s relative hiked that portion of the AT and swears they met Eric Rudolph on the trail. Disheveled look, long hair/beard, no gear and way up on the trail. Makes sense as that is only a couple of days long hike from the Snowbird mts. where he was hiding out.