THE HARD WAY

The Amphibolite Mountains of northwest North Carolina are a little different from the other ranges in the southeast. They are comprised of erosion-resistant rock, resulting in rocky, rugged summits. As a result, hiking and climbing these peaks is a bit more challenging. The most famous mountain in this sub-range is Grandfather Mountain. Imagine climbing Grandfather without the assistance of the many ladders and cables affixed to the route. A similar experience is still possible on a less well-known mountain not far away.

I first hiked Three Top Mountain in November, 2003. On that trip, we had no idea what we were getting into. Just getting to the mountain was a challenge. The summits are owned by the state of North Carolina as game lands, but the surrounding valleys are all private property. Joel did extensive pre-trip research, and found a possible access through a new housing development on the south side of the mountain. We ended up following a steep, narrow ridge from the south to the summit of the western-most peak. It was quite a scramble, often on treacherous, crumbly rock. Most climbers would consider this approach a class III or even class IV scramble, which is virtually unheard of in North Carolina.

When we reached the summit, we realized that there were two higher, more rugged peaks to the northeast. We wanted to climb them, too, but the ridge between us and the middle peak looked terrifying. We decided to quit while we were ahead, but ever since that day, I’ve wanted to reach those summits.

Last weekend provided a unique opportunity. I was scheduled to work in Boone the following week. The chance to hike on Sunday without making a special trip to the mountains was too good to pass up. I contacted a friend who lives in the area, and he invited me to stay over. He had to work on Sunday, but we made plans to hike Snake Mountain, which is literally in his back yard, late that afternoon. I was looking forward to hiking Snake, as it is one of my favorite mountains in the North Carolina High Country. I had most of a full day at my disposal before that though. I gave it a little thought, and realized that this was the perfect chance to return to Three Top.

To make things more complicated, Christy decided to join me in the area. Her triathlon training schedule called for a long bike ride, and she was a little weary of riding the country roads outside of Charlotte. She decided to drive up late Sunday morning and do a 60-mile ride along the North Fork of the New River. I’d hike Three Top and then Snake, before meeting Christy in Boone for dinner. At that point, I’d give the dog back to her. Boone certainly wanted to hike with me, but I couldn’t keep him in the hotel all week!

A late night Saturday led to a lazy start Sunday morning. I made the drive up through Boone and into Ashe County, where I began the tedious search for the trailhead. I had found vague directions on the Nature Conservancy website, but they weren’t a big help. For some reason I was thinking that one of the trailheads was right off of Three Top Road. That access point failed to materialize though. On my third try, I turned onto Eller Road and continued straight ahead onto Hidden Valley Road. This led me into yet another new, yet still relatively undeveloped, retirement and summer home community. I realized I was in the right place when I reached a confusing assortment of signs. These included the usual assortment of “private property” and “no trespassing” warnings, along with a sign announcing that this was an official access to North Carolina game lands. I continued ahead to the end of the pavement and began climbing a steep, gravel road. I passed a number of side roads, but most of the junctions were marked with more game lands signs. At one turn there was a sign pointing in both directions. At this point I decided that going up was probably my best bet. This strategy eventually brought me to a small parking area and a gate at the property boundary. I parked here and began my hike of Three Top a bit before noon. I started down the gated road on a cool but sunny, breezy, and dry spring day.

I really had no idea where I was going. I was on the northwest side of the mountain, so I was nowhere near where I’d started my hike in 2003. I could see the peaks high above me, so I figured that I couldn’t go wrong with heading up. That is probably why I chose the path less traveled at the first junction. After only a couple of hundred yards, I reached an old, somewhat overgrown logging road heading steeply up. The main road continued ahead, gradually heading downhill as it contoured along the side of the mountain. The main road didn’t really seem to be going anywhere useful, so I chose to climb. Later I discovered that this was definitely the hard way.

I climbed up the rough road, dodging boulders and fallen trees. The route followed switchbacks, but they were steep, and I gained elevation quickly. Eventually though, the road petered out. At this point, I’d climbed too far to consider going down and looking for another route. The forest is relatively open in this area, so I decided to bushwhack. The climb was even steeper as I worked my way up a narrow ridge. Just when I was beginning to have second (or maybe third) thoughts about this approach, I stumbled onto another old roadbed. I was delighted, as I was now only a couple of hundred feet below the rugged cliffs looming directly above. Now I just had to figure out how to get up there…

I followed the road to the northeast on a fairly even contour. At one point I passed a steep, wet gully heading up. I thought about it, but that route looked ugly. It also looked like the kind of route that could get me in trouble in a hurry. Instead I continued on. A few minutes later the road began a gentle descent. Going down didn’t seem very beneficial at this point. There were no other apparent options though. After another internal debate, I decided to bushwhack again. After all, it had worked nicely the first time, and I wasn’t far below the summit ridge.

This bushwhack was much worse. The slope was brutally steep, and I had to pull myself up through the trees. After only a few minutes though, I was startled to see a pink ribbon on a tree. Just after that, I found another. Apparently I wasn’t the first idiot to try this approach!

I followed ribbons, intuition, and the path of least resistance up the mountain. The ascent was difficult but quick. Before long I found myself on the wooded ridge of Three Top. But where exactly was I? I could see a rugged peak to the northeast, through the trees. But was it the middle peak, or the eastern summit? It turns out that I didn’t really care. I was sweaty, scratched, and bleeding. At that point, I would’ve been happy with any sunny, breezy spot where I could sit and enjoy lunch.

On a whim I turned right, heading southwest. I bushwhacked along the ridgeline, working my way through fairly open hardwood forest. The climbing continued, but it was nothing like what I’d already experienced. Finally I broke out of the trees onto a rock outcrop. From here I had fantastic views of most of northwest North Carolina, not to mention northeast Tennessee and southwest Virginia. The scenery was fantastic, but there was nowhere to sit. A summit loomed just ahead, so I pressed on. I negotiated some tricky footing and lots of scratchy shrubs, and finally emerged on the summit of the middle peak a few minutes later.

The view from the middle peak (AKA Big Rock) was staggering. I was literally surrounded by mountains. To the west I spotted the summit I’d reached on my previous hike years earlier. Beyond were the high, rugged peaks of Elk Knob, Rich Mountain, Snake Mountain, and The Peak. Farther in the distance I could make out the unmistakable shape of Grandfather Mountain and the vast bulk of Roan Mountain. Immediately to the south I gazed across a valley to Bluff Mountain. Farther east was Mount Jefferson, the eastern peak of Three Top, and Phoenix Mountain. To the north I gazed across the North Fork of the New River to Pond Mountain, in North Carolina, Rogers Ridge, in Tennessee, and Whitetop, Mount Rogers, and Wilburn Ridge in Virginia.

I had lunch there, despite strong winds that turned my sunny afternoon chilly. After a bit of relaxation, I contemplated my next move. The western peak was tempting, but the ridge falls away precipitously below Big Rock. The idea of continuing down the ridgeline on crumbly rock without anything to hold on to terrified me. Plus, from my vantage point, I could see a rugged cliff in the gap below that was going to be a formidable obstacle. Instead, I decided to head in the opposite direction.

The route to eastern peak (AKA Huckleberry Rock) looked more manageable. I knew I could get down from Big Rock that way by following my approach route. Instead of heading down to the old road though, I could simply bushwhack along the ridge. Huckleberry Rock features some impressive cliffs, too, but from my vantage point I thought I could avoid them. Meanwhile, another thought had entered my mind. I wasn’t looking forward to going back down the route I had ascended. I wondered if there was an easier route down from Huckleberry Rock? From my vantage point, I could see both of the old roads I had followed earlier. Both of them headed towards Huckleberry Rock’s northwest ridge. I was pretty confident I could find one of them from that ridgeline.

The bushwhack to the eastern summit was relatively painless. Along the way I was treated to lots of blooming Spring Beauties. In fact, the biggest difficulty I had in getting to the eastern summit was avoiding trampling the many flowers blooming along the ridge. Before long I emerged from the woods onto an old, narrow road. I laughed out loud. A morning of bushwhacking, and there is a road up here? I turned right and followed it up to the summit of Huckleberry Rock. From the summit, I scrambled across boulders and cliffs to continue farther out the ridge. The view from out here was nearly as spectacular as from Big Rock, and Big Rock itself looked very impressive from this vantage point. From where I was, I could hardly believe I had climbed it!

I loitered in the sun for a bit before heading down. I decided to follow the road down, hopeful that it would take me back to where I started. I knew it followed Huckleberry’s northwest ridge. As long as the road eventually dropped into the valley to the west, it would take me close to where I started. However, if it turned the other way, I’d have a problem.

A few minutes later I was startled by two hikers on their way up. We chatted briefly, and I asked them if there had been a white Toyota parked where they had started. They confirmed that there was, which was quite a relief. I resumed my descent, walking quickly now. Before long I left the ridge to contour through the valley below Three Top. Along here I passed lots of streams and small waterfalls, as well as quite a few early wildflowers. Some time later, I reached the junction where I’d headed steeply up at the beginning of the hike. Again I had to laugh at myself. I really had done this hike the hard way. Huckleberry Rock is actually a very easy hike, as the old road goes all the way to the summit. Big Rock is harder, but getting there from Huckleberry Rock would’ve been much easier than the approach I chose!

There is a lot of useful information on Three Top here:

http://www.summitpost.org/mountain/rock/252741/three-top-mountain.html

I wish I’d checked the summit post site before my hike!

I reached the car a few minutes later and called Bill. I was running late, and his work had taken longer than expected, too. We decided to reschedule our Snake Mountain hike for later in the week, as we weren’t sure we had enough time to do it that evening. A bit later I met Christy at the Mellow Mushroom in Boone for dinner. She’d had a miserable bike ride. She had chosen to ride the road from Todd to Fleetwood along the South Fork of the New River several times because it is mostly flat. Unfortunately, strong winds had made her ride much more difficult than she had expected. I ended up doing that same ride the next day, after work. The winds hadn’t died down one bit, and one 20-mile roundtrip between Todd and Fleetwood had been more than enough for me!

I spent Sunday night with Bill at his place on the back side of Snake Mountain. Originally we planned to reschedule our hike for Monday, but work interfered. Thursday didn’t work out either, so we’ll have to get up there another time. Still, it was nice to catch up with Bill, and his place provided an enjoyable place to relax Sunday evening.

After a long week at work, I was ready for some quiet time in the woods Friday afternoon. It had rained that morning, and more storms were threatening, but I was determined to spend a little time outside. On the way home, I stopped in Blowing Rock to do the short hike to Glen Burney and Glen Marie Falls. They aren’t the most exciting waterfalls around, but it’s still a nice hike. Plus, I remembered seeing hundreds of Dwarf Iris along that trail on a spring hike there years ago.

The waterfalls were nicer than I remembered. The extra water from the morning’s rain probably helped. Plus, the foliage isn’t thick yet, so it was a little easier to see the waterfalls. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to get good photographs of either of them. The vantage point from the base of each waterfall isn’t really the best, and the view from the hillside is somewhat obscured at both waterfalls.

I was treated to some nice wildflowers. Violets were everywhere, and I spotted the first few Trillium of the season. The hundreds of Dwarf Iris failed to materialize though. I did see a few – three, to be exact. Either I was a little early to catch them this year, or I had simply confused this hike with another one.

I’m already looking forward to returning to the area. Three Top is definitely high on my list of peaks to visit again, and I’m looking forward to getting back to Snake Mountain, too.

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