THE TURKEY PEN ROLLERCOASTER, CLAWHAMMER & THE AVERY HORSESHOE

Work has been a little slow lately (as it typically is at this time of year), so I’ve been hitting the trails more frequently. Last weekend I managed to get away for my first backpacking trip of 2012. Bob decided to join me for a trip in the Pisgah National Forest near Brevard. The route I came up with was a creative one. We decided to start at Turkey Pen Gap and hike along the South Mills River upstream. We’d then climb up to Wagon Road Gap and join the Turkey Pen Gap Trail, which follows a ridge over to Black Mountain. From there we’d cross Clawhammer Mountain and contour around the Avery Creek drainage before descending to the Coontree Picnic Area on highway 276. I wasn’t exactly sure where we would camp, but thought I remembered seeing a passable site near Clawhammer Mountain on a previous hike. Our backup plan was the shelter near Buckhorn Gap.

Originally Bob and I planned to meet at the Pisgah Ranger Station at 9am on Friday. However, at the last minute Bob begged for 30 more minutes of sleep. Instead of sleeping in, I decided to make use of that time.

I first heard of Seven Falls a year or two ago on a message board. Seven Falls is actually a defunct (?) residential community outside of Hendersonville. The property contains at least one significant waterfall (could there be six more?). The waterfall is on private property, but my sources indicated that it wasn’t posted. Of course, you never know when something like that might change. I decided to swing by there and have a look on my way to meet Bob.

I ended up running late, but decided to scout out the area for a future visit. However, when I reached the area, I realized that the waterfall was visible from the road. Even better, it was early enough in the morning that the falls were completely in the shade. A closer look only required a short walk, so I parked in front of a gate and jogged over to the falls. My timing was good. Aside from good lighting, spray from the falls had frozen on the surrounding rocks, which added to the scenery. I took a few quick photos before hurrying back to the car.

I was only a couple of minutes late meeting Bob. From the ranger station we drove up to Coontree Picnic Area, where we left Bob’s vehicle. We then took my car over to Turkey Pen Gap. The dirt road leading to the trailhead was a little rough, but I only scrapped the bottom of my car once. Unfortunately we followed someone pulling a horse trailer the whole way, which made for a slow, tedious drive. It also got my dog Boone even more jacked up than he would’ve been.

Aside from the horses, the trailhead featured a couple of dayhikers and a mountain biker. It was a surprisingly busy place for a Friday morning in January, but the weather was perfect. The day was already warming up nicely, and the forecast called for unusually warm weather all weekend. There was a fair chance of rain forecasted for Saturday afternoon, but we hoped to be out of the woods before it moved in.

We started our hike around 10:30, behind the dayhikers but just ahead of the horseback riders. Eventually we got far enough ahead of the horses that I was able to release Boone from his leash. He ran at full speed for awhile before finally calming down.

We reached the river after a few minutes and crossed it on a swinging bridge. Boone was not a fan of the bridge, but eventually followed us across. From there we hiked upstream, sometimes along the river, and at other times on the ridge above it. There was a dusting a snow in some of the shady places along here, as well as a fair bit of ice. The snow and ice seemed way out of place on such a warm day.

We passed some fine riverside scenery as we hiked. Early on we passed a beaver pond that was partially frozen. We also walked by some really pleasant campsites.

We reached the Wagon Road Gap Trail a little before noon. We contemplated having lunch by the river, but ultimately decided to get the first climb of the trip out of the way first. The climb up to Wagon Road Gap was a bit of a grunt, but it didn’t last long. At the gap we joined the Turkey Pen Gap Trail. Wagon Road Gap features an open hardwood forest, and we couldn’t pass up the abundant sunshine and gentle breeze. We had lunch there before beginning the most rigorous part of the hike.

The Turkey Pen Gap Trail is sometimes called the Turkey Pen Rollercoaster because it follows the ridgeline religiously. Instead of contouring around the numerous knobs along the ridge, it goes up and down each one. It usually does so directly – the builders of this trail didn’t fool around with switchbacks. We were both grumbling about this as we hiked, but I guess we both needed a good workout. There weren’t any real views along this trail, but the forest was mostly hardwoods, and with the leaves off the trees we were able to enjoy partially obscured vistas the whole way.

We reached a series of springs just before joining the Black Mountain Trail below its namesake summit. At this point we had a decision to make. If we wanted to camp somewhere in the vicinity of Clawhammer Mountain we need to carry all of the water we’d need from the spring. If we wanted to push on to the shelter beyond Buckhorn Gap that wouldn’t be necessary.

The shelter near Buckhorn Gap is nice enough, but I wanted to enjoy the scenery from Clawhammer. Plus, it was after 4pm, meaning that we probably wouldn’t get to Buckhorn Gap much before dark. Bob was game, so we spent some time getting water. This was tricky. Although the springs were flowing well, the streams are very broad and shallow. We eventually scooped up enough water for the evening and we resumed the hike. My pack was a lot heavier with 7 quarts of water! That was probably a good bit more than I really needed, but I hauled enough for drinking, cooking, and dog.

We followed a narrow path over the wooded summit of Black Mountain and descended past some interesting boulders and rock overhangs. Some of the overhangs were adorned with icicles, and we could’ve camped under the largest one. As it turns out, we probably should have.

We passed a good view point on the descent, but the best was still ahead. We reached a spectacular cliff a couple of minutes later in the gap between Black Mountain and Clawhammer Mountain. From there we had a great view of the Davidson River headwaters, including Looking Glass Rock, Pilot Mountain, Cedar Rock, and John Rock. Higher up we spotted ice along the Blue Ridge Parkway, with Black Balsam Knob and Tennent Mountain beyond. Closer at hand, the bowl of Avery Creek stretched away below us.

The only problem with the view is that we were looking directly towards the setting sun. The cliffs promised a great vantage for sunset a bit later, but first we needed to find a campsite. Unfortunately, there weren’t any suitable spots near the overlook. We continued on the trail, which follows a very narrow ridge up Clawhammer Mountain. The potential campsite I thought I remembered failed to materialize, and by the time we reached the summit of Clawhammer we weren’t feeling very picky. There was a wide spot in the trail at the summit, and the prospects for a decent site didn’t look very promising further on. We decided to squeeze our tents along the edge of the trail, figuring that we probably wouldn’t run into anyone else up there that late in the evening, anyway. On our hike we’d only seen two dayhikers along the river and one mountain biker on the Turkey Pen Gap Trail. It certainly wasn’t a good campsite, but I figured we could make it work for one night.

After pitching the tents we hiked back to the cliffs for dinner. I arrived just in time for sunset, which was lovely. After some photos I rehydrated one of the dinners (vegetarian chili) that we had taken to Wyoming last summer. Bob had a freeze dried meal, and afterwards we enjoyed the stars and the nearly full moon. I made some hot cider and spiked it with whiskey, but I really didn’t need it to keep warm. We were quite comfortable out on the cliffs even though we really weren’t bundled up.

It was well after dark when Bob spotted an odd light below us. We watched it bobbing along for a couple of minutes before I realized that it was someone mountain biking the logging road that runs below Clawhammer Mountain. The light was quite bright, so obviously they’d come prepared to ride in the dark.

We headed back to the tents around 9 and slept great all night. The temperatures were ideal (upper 30’s) and there was a pleasant, soothing breeze. I added a fleece extension to my sleeping bag, which created enough room for Boone to join me inside. This was rather unnecessary given the unusually warm weather, but it made him happy. That sleeping arrangement worked out well, except for a couple of occasions when he stuck a paw where it didn’t belong.

We got up at sunrise on Saturday and walked back to the cliffs for breakfast. I had cold granola cereal and hot coffee as we watched the rising sun illuminate the icy cliffs of Looking Glass Rock, Cedar Rock, and John Rock. The view was even better that morning despite building clouds, which were rolling in over the high peaks to the northwest.

We loitered there longer than we should’ve but eventually returned to camp. We took down the tents, which were completely dry. We finally hit the trail after 10am, which was a good bit later than I’d originally planned. Still, it was worth spending the extra time at the overlook.

We descended to Buckhorn Gap and a junction with the Buckhorn Gap Trail. There I noticed an unusual trail sign. The sign indicated that hiking and mountain biking were allowed, but horseback riding, ATV riding, and rollerblading were not. Rollerblading? I’d never seen that one before. Who would even attempt to rollerblade down a rocky, uneven trail anyway? For that matter, just getting to Buckhorn Gap involves traveling several miles on trails and / or gravel roads.

We climbed away from Buckhorn Gap and reached the shelter a few minutes later. The shelter was deserted, and we took Boone down to the stream for water. Bob and I had enough to finish the hike, so we didn’t get any for ourselves. From the shelter we climbed steadily up Rich Mountain. Near the summit we found a campsite with a partially obstructed view of the Avery Creek valley. Somewhere along here we spotted the Pisgah Inn and the Parkway up near Mount Pisgah. A bit later we saw the Cradle of Forestry through the trees in the valley below.

We reached a junction with Avery Creek Trail at some power lines and climbed up Buckwheat Knob. The wooded summit featured another campsite, and we stopped there for lunch. Although there was no view, it was a pleasant spot in open forest with a fantastic breeze.

A long descent to Avery Creek Road followed. There were some folks camping nearby, but we crossed the road without running into them. There was a bit of confusion at the road, as the Bennett Gap Trail ahead wasn’t signed or blazed. To add to the confusion, the Trails Illustrated map is slightly inaccurate here. It correctly shows two old roads departing the road at this point, with the trail following the higher one. However, it shows a gate blocking the lower road, when in fact the gate blocks the upper one. We continued ahead on the upper road, and eventually began passing red blazes, indicating that we were on the correct path.

The road gave way to trail, which led us through an overgrown meadow. Beyond the meadow the trail followed a cool, narrow ridge through a tunnel of laurel. The laurel was just tall enough to block all views, at least until we reached a short spur path that led to a clearing. That spot offered one final view of the Davidson River headwaters. The vista was similar to the one between Black Mountain and Clawhammer Mountain, featuring a close up view of Looking Glass Rock, Pilot Mountain, Cedar Rock, and John Rock. I was thrilled with it though, mainly because I didn’t expect much in the way of scenery along this trail. For some reason I’d never hiked this particular trail, and I’d been unaware of what I’d been missing.

A bit farther on we found another outcrop with additional views back to the northeast. From there we could see Clawhammer Mountain and Buckhorn Gap. Beyond that point we descended a narrow path down a series of rocky ledges. We reached a junction at the bottom of the descent and encountered a mountain biker heading the other way. We wanted to see him ride up what we’d just descended, but he was already dismounting. As we were leaving, another group of mountain bikers that had been behind us began walking their bikes down the descent we’d just negotiated.

We made one final climb before descending to a junction with the Coontree Loop Trail. We followed this trail down through open forest in the Coontree Creek headwaters. Before long we found ourselves walking downstream along Coontree Creek, which is merely a babbling brook at this elevation. The creek grew as we descended though, and at one point it dropped away from us as the trail stayed higher up on the ridge. It looked like there could possibly be a small waterfall or two hiding down in there, and I was tempted to explore. However, that was the point when the rain finally began to fall. Although the rain was light and somewhat pleasant, I decided to save exploring for another day.

We rock hopped the creek several times on the way out. Eventually we passed the junction with the other half of the Coontree Loop and I knew we were getting close to the end. At the final creek crossing I noticed an old roadbed heading north, away from Coontree Creek. I suspect that it might connect with the trail to Moore Cove Falls, though I’m not certain about that.

We reached the car a few minutes later, around 3pm. From there we drove back over to Turkey Pen Gap, where we found an overflowing parking lot. I couldn’t believe how crowded it was there on a rainy afternoon in January. I guess the unusually warm weather had everyone out, despite the rain.

Our trip was a good one, including highlights such as the South Mills River, the overlooks near Clawhammer Mountain and along the Bennett Gap Trail, and Coontree Creek. We enjoyed a good bit of solitude, and some unusually pleasant weather for January. Best of all, I was able to explore some trails I hadn’t hiked previously, including the western portion of the Turkey Pen Gap Trail, Buckwheat Knob, the Bennett Gap Trail, and part of the Coontree Loop Trail. I’ll definitely plan another hike on the Bennett Gap Trail, as that was one of my favorite parts of the hike.

Back to The Pisgah Ranger District

Back to North Carolina

Back to Hiking and Backpacking Trip Reports

Home

Please remember to Leave No Trace!