REDEMPTION

 

 

I first hiked to Mackey Creek back in February, 2002.  Mackey Creek drains the next valley east of Curtis Creek, outside of Old Fort, NC.  On that first hike, Dave and I reached the creek, which is a beauty.  It’s a big creek, but wild and remote.  Unfortunately we weren’t able to explore very far.  The water was up, it was cold, and making progress upstream or down would’ve required wading.  I vowed to go back.

 

Somehow it took me more than 7 years.  In April, 2009 Jack and some other friends accompanied me on an attempt at exploring the creek.  Initially we tried to access the area from downstream, but found the access questionable.  A dirt road follows the creek upstream through private property before ending at a gate.  Both sides of the road were posted with no trespassing signs, and there were a few houses along the way, too.  We abandoned that approach and drove over to the Curtis Creek Campground.  From there we hiked up Hickory Branch to the ridge north of Lead Mine Gap.  Then we attempted to descend an old trail down to Mackey Creek.  This was the route I’d taken in 2002, but this time we lost the trail part of the way down.  We wandered around in a mess of fallen trees for a while before giving up.

 

That failure has bugged me ever since.  Had the trail been swallowed up by Mother Nature, or did we just miss a switchback and lose it in the deadfall?  Making another attempt has been in the back of my mind for 5 years.

 

Last weekend was the perfect opportunity to give it a try.  I wanted to do a hike, but didn’t have any specific plans.  I drove up to Curtis Creek Campground on Saturday morning.  The campground was busy, but as usual the trails were quiet.  In fact, I didn’t see anyone else all day.  That makes me wonder – how many of the folks that camp at Curtis Creek go hiking?  What do they do all day?

 

I got started just before 9 and quickly discovered that it had rained the night before.  The trail was brushy – particularly above the waterfall on Hickory Branch, and the vegetation was soaking wet.  It wasn’t long before I was drenched.

 

When I reached the view of the waterfall on Hickory Branch I paused.  I hadn’t planned to stop for photos, but the light was good and the waterfall was more impressive than I remembered.  There are now at least 3 paths leading down from the trail to the base of the falls.  The 2 most direct routes are steep, treacherous, and rather hard on the hillside.  The best approach is to backtrack a short distance and contour around on a more gentle approach.  This path brought me to the creek just downstream from the falls.  From there some minor rock hopping and scrambling got me to the base.

 

I managed a few photos before the sun rose above the ridge behind the falls.  That rendered photography hopeless, but my timing had been good.  I returned to the trail and climbed up above the falls.  After a couple of creek crossings I reached a spur trail to the upper falls.  This waterfall is actually on a fork of Hickory Branch.  It isn’t much though – it’s on a small stream, and the waterfall is always covered in deadfall.  The most interesting feature is the numerous large trees in the valley just upstream.

 

From there switchbacks took me up the ridge between the two forks.  There are a couple of limited views along here, but the vegetation is thick enough to obscure the best vistas.  A little over an hour after starting out I reached a gap on the ridge.  A trail runs north and south here.  I headed south, determined to the find the trail down to Mackey Creek.

 

My map shows the trail forking after a short distance, with the left fork descending to Mackey Creek and the right fork following the ridge to Lead Mine Gap and beyond.  I didn’t see any sign of the right fork.  I stayed on the obvious trail, which drops off the ridge onto the east side.  I passed a huge oak tree before curving left onto a spur ridge.  The trail was pretty easy to follow, though frequent blow downs obscured it at times.  Occasional flagging kept me on track, and I moved slowly to make sure I didn’t miss a switchback.  The final half of the ridge is exceptionally steep, but the switchbacks moderate the grade.

 

I reached Mackey Creek a few minutes later.  The trail crosses the creek at this point, but an old railroad grade continues upstream.  Just ahead it passes a likely campsite.  I decided to go the other way though.  The creek is large, and even in July there was too much water to rock hop.  I waded across in my boots, since I figured they’d be getting sooner or later.  I picked up an old railroad grade on the far side and headed downstream.

 

I followed the creek through a wild, remote forest.  Before long I spotted a tributary stream cascading into the creek.  Just beyond I reached a huge fallen tree spanning the creek.  The trail crosses here, but the log looked slippery and my boots were already wet.  I waded across again and resumed the hike.  Before long I spotted a pretty cascade below.  I bushwhacked down to the creek and found a nice spot for lunch.  I took advantage of a passing cloud to take photos.

 

Afterwards, I returned to the trail and continued downstream.  Before long I reached a water intake facility.  Mackey Creek is one of the water sources for the city of Marion.  Just below the intake is an impressive cascade.  I wanted a better look, but I didn’t see a route to the base that wouldn’t require hardcore bushwhacking.  Since I was solo, I decided to save it for another day.  I continued down the trail, which was now a gravel road.  Unfortunately, the road stays high above the creek, which runs through a minor gorge.  There are some substantial cascades down there, but I couldn’t tell from my elevated vantage if there were any significant waterfalls.  Once again, descending would’ve required hardcore bushwhacking.  I guess that’s just another reason to return!

 

A steep descent brought me to another creek crossing.  Just upstream is a footlog high above the creek.  The “bridge” has a hand cable, but the log is skinny.  I waded again.

 

I continued down the road to a gate.  Just beyond the gate are signs indicating the National Forest boundary.  Just beyond was a small parking area on the east side of the road (room for 1-2 cars) and a small field on the west side.  The field is marked with a “no parking” sign and a “danger no trespassing” sign”.  A bit farther down the road is another set of signs indicating the National Forest boundary.  I’m not sure which one is correct, but the difference is significant.  If the boundary is before the gate, the only possible parking area is on private property.  I was hoping to determine if this trailhead is accessible to public, but I’m still not sure.

 

I doubled-back from there.  I hiked back upstream to the confluence of Laurel Branch.  My map shows a trail following Laurel Branch, connecting Mackey Creek and the Mackey Mountain Trail.  The description on the map is confusing.  It describes the Mackey Creek / Laurel Branch junction in two different sections.  In one place, it says to hike downstream along Mackey Creek, cross Laurel Branch, and look for an old logging road on the left.  The other description says to hike upstream along Mackey Creek, cross Laurel Branch, and look for an old logging road on the right.  So….I wasn’t sure if the trail was on the north or south side of Laurel Branch.

 

I found a faint hint of an old logging road on the south side.  It wasn’t much, but I tried to follow it.  It took me up onto the hillside above the creek.  Before long, I found myself following the pipeline from the water intake.  It brought me to a gully that was choked with doghobble.  This was clearly not the route, so I dropped down to Laurel Branch.  I found another old road, but it died out after a short distance.

 

I returned to the main trail along Mackey Creek.  I crossed Laurel Branch, but didn’t find any hint of an old logging road on the north side.  If that route still exists, it’s probably on the south side, but I certainly didn’t see it.

 

I hiked back by the same route.  When I reached the first creek crossing I decided to explore upstream.  I followed an old railroad grade a short distance to the confluence of the main creek and a major tributary that runs off of Mackey Mountain.  There is a lovely 10’ cascade here, so I stopped for photos.  I then crossed the main creek and the tributary.  On the far side I found old railroad grades heading up both streams.  Both were marked with ribbons.  I walked a short distance along each, but didn’t see any waterfalls or significant cascades.  I plan to return on another hike to see where those trails lead.

 

I returned to Curtis Creek Campground by the same route.  Thunderstorms began to threaten towards the end of the hike, but I made it back to the car before the rain arrived.




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