SUZY

 

 

Last weekend I attended Spencer’s 26th birthday party.  It wasn’t your standard birthday party though.  It was held on Suzy’s Knob, which is east of Shortoff Mountain just outside of the Linville Gorge Wilderness Area.  Getting there requires a fairly short but steep off-trail hike.  Despite this, there was quite a turnout for the party.  Spencer and Stephanie, Dave and Rachel, Jo and Mary Leigh, Cameron (Spencer’s sister) and Joseph, Jacob, Marco, Preston, Kyle, and his dog Ziggy all made it up the mountain on Saturday afternoon for the party.

 

The dogs and I arrived a little late due to some obligations at home.  There were 5 or 6 cars in the parking area.  I started out my hike following an old logging road.  I had plotted out a route that would contour around and approach Suzy’s Knob from the south.  It was a good plan, but impatience made me abandon it.  Instead, I took a more direct route up the steeper east side of the mountain.  Before long I found myself in a burned area that would extend all the way up the mountain.  I followed a mountain biking trail for a time, but eventually grew impatient with its meanderings, too.  So I just headed straight for the summit.

 

The burned forest provided constant views during the ascent.  The best vista was behind me, over Lake James towards the South Mountains.  I took one substantial break to water the dogs and wipe off some sweat before resuming the climb.  It was a hot, sunny day, and the lack of shade made for a grueling climb.  Before long I reached the main ridge line, and I heard voices ahead of me.  I paused to catch my breath, because its bad form to be panting like The Little Engine That Could when you reach the summit.  I caught up with most of the group a couple of minutes later.  Surprisingly, they had just arrived. 

 

It was great meeting a bunch of cool new people.  I was a bit of an outsider, as I only knew Spencer and Stephanie prior to the trip.  I wasn’t an outsider for long.  My new friends were extremely welcoming, and they proved to be a lot of fun to hang out with for the weekend.  It was great sharing drinks – I brought Dark Corner moonshine and made Appalachian Margaritas, while somebody (I forget who exactly) actually had a cooler full of PBR.  That was really refreshing after a hot, sweaty hike up the mountain.

 

We spent the evening relaxing around the campfire with an assortment of beverages.  Sunset was nice, but the moon (nearly full) stole the show.  It rose through a patchwork of drifting clouds.  I found myself in an artistic mood, and attempted some night time photography.  The most interesting results came when I had Cameron, Mary Leigh, and Rachel swing a multi-colored lantern in various patterns while taking a long exposure.  That was a fun little experiment.

 

 

THE GATES OF HELL

 

 

It was after midnight when we began discussing a hike to Russell Creek Cave, which is down in the canyon between Suzy’s Knob and Shortoff.  It was dark and everyone was drunk, but that didn’t dissuade Spencer, Stephanie, Dave, Cameron, Joe, Preston, Kyle, and possibly a few other people (all apologies to anybody I missed – my memory is a little fuzzy) from making the trek.  Russell Creek Cave is notoriously difficult to reach.  The obvious route, up Russell Creek and Cave Branch, is frequently described as the bushwhack to hell.  This cave has been on my to-do list for several years, but the horror stories have kept me away.  Fortunately, Spencer knows a better route.

 

We followed the ridge north before descending a gully.  The gully was slippery and choked with deadfall, but passable.  Farther down there is a small stream, which I somehow managed to fall into.  Falling into streams, rivers, and lakes is a drunken Team Waterfall tradition, so somebody had to do it.  Amazingly, I managed to find the one spot that was more than a few inches deep and went in almost to my waist. 

 

Spencer nailed the navigation, and led us directly to the cave.  It’s a magical place, with a huge entrance and a fairly deep passage.  The cave was guarded by a deadly serpent (a rattlesnake, in fact), but he allowed us to pass.  We relaxed in the cave for an hour or so, and somebody built a small fire.  I attempted some photos from inside, but struggled to come up with anything useful.  Spencer suggested shooting from outside, so I went to work.  We did a lot of experimentation, but I eventually had to ask everyone to leave the cave to eliminate the blurring.  Out of all of the photos I took there, I was only pleased with one, but I think it is one of my best ever.  I call it “The Gates of Hell”:

 

https://flic.kr/p/tL2dty

 

Shortly after I took it I dropped my lens cap in the creek.  Somehow Stephanie spotted it.  Thanks Steph!

 

We took a slightly different route back, which was steeper but had fewer obstacles.  We returned to camp around 4am and I was beat.  The dogs and I headed for the tent for a nap before Sunday’s hike.

 

 

HEART OF STEEL

 

 

Jimmy Buffet once said, "There's a fine line between Saturday night and Sunday morning".  He was right.  I managed to sleep for about 4 hours, but the dogs were restless and barking at who knows what.  Once the sun came up it quickly became too hot to sleep.  I found Jo, Mary Leigh, and a few other folks up around the campfire.  Somebody brought me coffee, which was a lifesaver.  Eventually everyone else straggled out of bed.  I had brought 7 quarts of water with me the previous afternoon, but it was all gone.  Even after Joseph gave me part of a bottle I was concerned about the dogs.  I decided to head down ahead of everyone else so that I could water the dogs and repack for our hike to Steels Creek Falls.

 

The hike down was fast and uneventful.  I found a truck and a horse trailer in the parking area, but didn’t think much of it.  I made more coffee and loaded up on water.  After repacking, I ate lunch and relaxed with a book.  Everyone else arrived a bit later.  Most of us celebrated with a beer, while Kyle’s dog celebrated by rolling in a huge pile of horse shit.  I suppose that’s one way to cool off!

 

From there, Spencer, Stephanie, Joe, Cameron, Kyle, and Preston followed me over to the trailhead for Steels Creek.  The campsites along the creek were full, but the trailhead parking area was almost empty.  We followed the old road up to the first swimming hole.  It was pretty crowded, and the rope swing didn’t appear to be functional.  We decided to hike on towards the falls.  We crossed the creek upstream from the swimming hole, which was awkward.  For future reference, I found it easier to cross immediately downstream from that point.

 

A short bushwhack brought us to the Mountains to Sea Trail.  We followed it briefly, climbing and then descending back to the creek.  At that point we left the trail and headed upstream.  A slippery crossing led to a neat rock bench above the rushing stream.  The hiking was actually pretty easy – much easier than when I’d hiked here 5 years earlier.  There is actually something of a beaten path in places along the creek.  Before long, we reached a monster swimming hole at the base of an impressive cascade, where the creek tumbles down between two huge boulders. 

 

This swimming hole was too good to pass up.  Most of us took turns jumping off the surrounding rocks into the icy water.  Afterwards, Spencer, Cameron, and Joseph decided to continue upstream to Steel Creek Falls.  It was getting late though, so I decided to turn back there.  I relaxed a bit with Stephanie, Kyle, and Preston before starting the hike back.  The hike out was uneventful, and I was thrilled to find out that Spencer, Cameron, and Joseph made it all the way to the falls that afternoon.  It’s a really cool waterfall, and I’m glad they got to experience it.




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Steels Creek was the perfect ending to a wonderful weekend.  Thanks to everyone for making it happen!