Earlier in the week, Andy sent out an eMail
asking if anyone was interested in
hiking this past Sunday. It seemed that a bunch of us were up for a hike, so we
planned a little adventure to the Roan Mountain Highlands.
As hike day approached, the weather forecast for the Roan Highlands area was
calling for sub freezing temperatures with snow and ice. We decided that we
would have all winter for that stuff, but only a couple of weeks left of fall
color.
Andy anticipated the area of Pisgah National Forest near the Fish Hatchery
should be at about peak color and came up with a new hike suggestion. Bob was a
little disappointed with the scrapping of the Roan Mountain idea, but we were
all still up for the new hike.
Eight of us (6 humans + 2 dogs), met at the Pisgah Fish Hatchery and hit the
trail up John Rock. It was a bit chilly, but we were all dressed appropriately.
Plus climbing almost 1,000 feet in elevation over the first two miles sure gets
the blood warmed up and pumping!
The views from John Rock are excellent; however we didn't take much time to
enjoy them. With 50mph winds beating down on the open rock face there was no
lingering around. The layers of clothing that were shed during the climb up
were pulled back out of the pack in order to venture out onto the rock for a
few
quick photos.
After retreating back into the protection of the forest away from the wind, we
took a break for some lunch.
After the break, we descended down John Rock towards Cat Cap. There are a few
spots along the trail offering up some pretty good views to the east. At Cat
Gap we connected to the Art Loeb Trail towards Butter Gap. The trail goes
around the south side of Cedar Rock Mountain, but Andy knew a side trail that
heads up to the summit.
From the main trail it is less than a half mile, but about 400-ft of additional
elevation to get to the summit. Myron elected to skip the side trip up Cedar
Rock Mountain and instead found a sunny spot to take a nap. The rest of us hit
the mountain!
Andy and I took the lead and closing in on the summit we stopped at an overlook
offering up some great views to the South, figuring this would be a good place
to wait for the others to catch up.
This was a very pleasant spot. The sun was shining, it was mostly protected
from the wind, the view was excellent, and the seepage down the rock face gave
the dogs some needed hydration as they licked the wet rocks.
After about 15-minutes Johnny never showed up. We figured that he must have
given up on the climb and turned back to wait down below with Myron. Just as we
were about to continue on towards the summit, Johnny comes trekking up the
trail.
At the summit of Cedar Rock Mountain is a great campsite where we ran into a
guy
setting up quite a spread. A pair of camp chairs, table with table cloth, wine
glasses, wine, flowers, candles, fresh fruit, etc. It seemed like quite a bit
of overkill for a backpacking destination.
Turns out that his best friend was going to propose marriage
to his girlfriend
after rock climbing up Cedar Rock Mountain. What a great friend to tote
about
60 pounds worth of stuff at least 4 miles and almost 2000-ft of elevation to
help create the proper ambiance for his buddy's proposal.
From the campsite, a short trail leads to the main viewpoint from Cedar Rock
Mountain. This is also the place where the soon to be engaged couple would be
climbing up. We were careful not to disturb any of the roses that adorned the
trail from the rock face to the campsite at the top of the mountain.
Cedar Rock Mountain offers up one of the nicest views anywhere. Unlike the view
from John Rock, this one offers up an almost 100% wilderness view. If you
looked hard enough you could spot the only evidence of man in the form of the
Blue Ridge Parkway traversing below the snow frosted mountaintops.
We descended back the way we came and continued on the main trail towards the
Butter Gap Shelter where we took a nice break. From there we decided it was
time to pick up the pace as it was getting late and we still wanted to check
out
a couple of the waterfalls near the end of the hike.
I was really impressed with Grogan Creek Falls. I know that I have hiked this
section of trail before and can't quite figure out how I missed this trail side
waterfall? I must have been in a complete daze when I last hiked past this.
The final stop of the day would be at Cedar Rock Creek Falls. Myron, Dorcas,
&
Matilda, elected to pass on this one and finished the hike on their own.
There are actually at least 3 significant cascades and small waterfalls along
this section of Cedar Rock Creek. You could spend hours exploring and
photographing the various cascades and waterfalls here.
Since we were running short on daylight, we just hit the main drop. I have been
to this spot about 3 or 4 times and have never seen another person. This time
there were about 15 photographers at Cedar Rock Falls. It was some sort of
digital photography workshop expedition.
It was almost impossible to find a place to shoot without including other
people
in the photo, but I did the best I could to crop them out of view as I snapped
afew quick shots of this very pretty waterfall.
The remainder of the hike was all downhill making for an easy and uneventful
finish to a great hike!
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