IN THE COLORS

Come on, dance with me, dance with me, into the colors of the dusk
And all will be right, dancing like water with the light
Dance with me, won't you dance with me, into the colors of the dusk?

From “In The Colors” by Ben Harper

Christy and I experienced a temporary loss of sanity last weekend. We decided to take both of our dogs backpacking. We chose to do this despite the fact that my backpacking tent is a bit cramped with 2 people in it. How in the world would we fit an 11-year old lab and rapidly growing (31 lbs and counting) Weimaraner puppy in there with us?

Aside from getting the dogs some exercise, my primary goal for the weekend was to check out the fall foliage. After hiking at Grandfather Mountain the previous weekend, I was pretty sure we’d find some nice colors at the higher elevations. I considered several high-elevation hikes, but one seemed ideal. I knew the Shining Rock area often had great fall color. I choose one of my favorite hikes in that area – a loop from highway 215 circling Little Sam Mountain.

We got up early Saturday and headed for the mountains. We were almost to Asheville when I began to realize that I wasn’t feeling well. I seemed to be coming down with a bit of stomach flu, but we had already driven more than a hundred miles. I didn’t want to bail out on the trip, so we continued on, against Christy’s better judgment.

We drove through Canton, and headed up highway 215. I thought we might find some nice color at Lake Logan, but it was still mostly green at that elevation. Beyond, we did find some nice colors along the West Fork of the Pigeon River. We were only planning on hiking about 3 miles to camp, so we weren’t in any hurry. I decided to take advantage of the free time and explore some waterfalls on the way to the trailhead.

The headwaters of the West Fork have a bunch of spectacular waterfalls. Several are visible from the road, but many others require a short walk. Using Kevin Adam’s guide, I picked out 4 that I wanted to visit. Our first stop was a waterfall on the West Fork. This waterfall is visible from the road, at a bridge over the river. We overshot the parking area, and ended up pulling off near the trailhead for the falls on Sam Branch. Then, we walked back down the road to the bridge. Today, water levels were pretty low, despite a fair bit of rain over the previous two days. With the low water level, the cascade upstream from the highway was a bit disappointing.

From there, we backtracked to the car and gathered the dogs and lunch. There was quite a crowd of hikers and photographers here, and we weaved through them to access the trail. The initial path is very steep and badly eroded, and our lab, Saucony, had quite a bit of trouble getting up the hill. She is still a pretty good hiker on easy trails, but steep slopes and big steps cause her problems. I had to lift her up a couple of spots. Boone, the puppy, had no such difficulties. In fact, he pretty well pulled Christy to the top of the hill.

Once at the top of the first hill, the rest of the walk was easy. We followed an old railroad grade on a level course to Sam Branch. We reached the creek in the middle of a long series of cascades. We stopped there for lunch, despite the lack of a good place to sit. Unfortunately, everything was wet and slippery, and the footing near the creek was hazardous. I decided against trying to find a way to the bottom of the falls. However, I did manage a precarious rock-hop to the far side of the creek. Beyond, a short walk through the woods led me to another waterfall on Wash Hollow. This was a neat spot, even though there wasn’t much water coming over these falls.

During lunch, we leashed Boone to a tree. The footing by the creek was a bit hazardous, and we weren’t about to let him run free. After eating, Christy decided to get a head start taking Saucony back to the car. Getting her back down the steep slope to the road would be a challenge, even without a puppy underfoot.

When they left, Boone went crazy. He was whining and yelping and jumping around like a fool. Before long, he was horribly tangled in his leash. Suddenly, he stopped his frantic bouncing around. I started to untangle him, and quickly discovered why he had suddenly calmed down. The poor little guy had the leash wrapped around his sack. One more jump and we might’ve saved some money on getting him fixed.

We rejoined Christy and Saucony back at the car. From there, we continued up the mountain to Bubbling Spring Branch Cascades. I’ve driven right by this waterfall many times over the years, without knowing it was there. It was easy to find with Adams’ guide though, and it was well worth the stop. The view from the pulloff was incredible, despite low-hanging clouds obscuring the surrounding mountains. Even with limited visibility, the colors were amazing. They seemed to be at their peak here, close to 5000’ in elevation.

From the pulloff, I climbed under the guard rail and hiked a steep path down to the creek. There I hopped across a minor branch and walked over the base of the falls. Bubbling Spring Branch Cascades is really more of a long slide. It isn’t terribly high, and the creek is fairly small, but it’s a really cool waterfall regardless. Plus, the fall foliage surrounding the falls was intense. I spent a bit of time taking photos here, after waiting a few minutes for two other guys that were doing the same thing.

We made it to the trailhead around 1:30, which I’m pretty sure is an all-time record for us. We parked at the actual Flat Laurel Creek Trailhead, which is a bit more than a mile north of the Parkway. There were several cars already here, but we managed to improvise a parking space. After a few minutes gathering our gear, we were ready to hit the trail!

We followed the jeep road down to the creek, where we found 2 women car camping. They also had a dog, and chaos ensued. We eventually untangled the dogs, and rock hopped Bubbling Spring Branch. On the far side, we established our marching procedures. We let Saucony off her leash, as we never have to worry about having her run off. I took Boone’s leash initially, although we ended up switching off. Later, after Boone tired a bit, we actually let him run free. Despite the sudden freedom, he stayed close to us all day. Luckily, we didn’t spook a deer during the hike. I’m not sure what will happen when we do, but it’s bound to occur eventually.

We followed the old railroad grade through a tunnel of colorful foliage. After an hour or so, we arrived at the bridge spanning Wildcat Falls. Wildcat Falls is a nice cascade, but the sun chose to make its first appearance of the day the moment we arrived. The sun ruined any chance of a decent photo, but it was still a lovely spot. There was some brilliant foliage there surrounding the creek.

After the falls, we climbed gently before reaching a cliff with a great view of the West Fork of the Pigeon River valley below and the Middle Prong Wilderness beyond. We had a nice break here to soak in the scenery. The views were just getting good though. From there, we contoured around Little Sam Mountain and began following high above Flat Laurel Creek. Along here, we had great views of outrageous fall color on Big Sam. The roar of the cascades below motivated me to hurry and set up camp so I could spend some time exploring.

We passed an occupied site, before arriving at a lovely spot near the creek under spruce and fir trees. The spot appeared to be free, although there was a single small daypack propped on a rock there. Christy and I debated the significance of the pack. It was clearly not an overnight pack, and we didn’t think its owner was planning on camping there. But why would someone have left it? We speculated that perhaps they were fishing or exploring the creek, or climbing up Big Sam, and didn’t want to carry it. We asked some people nearby, but they hadn’t seen anyone around.

Finally, we decided to go ahead and pitch our tent. We had almost finished setting it up, when a middle aged man wandered into camp. Sure enough, he and his family had planned on camping there. Apparently they were making multiple trips from their car up at Black Balsam parking area. For some reason, they’d only brought the one small pack on the first trip. I was annoyed, but we didn’t feel welcome there, so we decided to move on. I scouted farther up the trail, and crossed the creek over to the meadows below Big Sam. This area was really busy with lots of people camping. On my way back though, I found a small but nice spot in a mix of meadow and spruce / fir forest close to the stream. There wasn’t anyone around, so we decided to take that spot. I returned to the original camp and picked up the tent, which Christy had taken down. Fortunately we made it back to campsite #2 before someone else came along!

I pitched the tent again before heading out to explore Flat Laurel Creek. Christy (and the dogs) elected to stay behind, and were asleep before I left the campsite. I walked back down the trail a couple hundred yards, passing a significant cascade below. Just beyond, I reached a steep, ugly gully leading down towards the creek. I started down, but the footing was treacherous thanks to the recent rain. Eventually I chickened out, and returned to the trail. After a bit of hunting around, I found a safer descent route through the woods a bit upstream. It was just as steep here, but at least there were plenty of trees to hold onto. At the bottom, I reached a steeply slanted rock above the creek. The rock was exceptionally slippery, and I was moving cautiously, to say the least. When I arrived, there were a couple of teenage boys down in the creek. They saw me, and politely asked if I needed a hand getting down. Lord, it was like I was a senior citizen in need of a boy scout to help me cross the street! I sure hope it hasn’t gotten to that point already!

I made it down without assistance or injury. The effort had been worthwhile, as the scene was breathtaking. A long, sliding cascade tumbled down above me. In the opposite direction, I gazed down the valley past incredible reds, oranges, and golds towards the distant peaks of the Middle Prong Wilderness. I spent quite a bit of time exploring and taking photos here.

The climb back up to the trail was rough. I hadn’t felt much effect from the stomach flu I’d picked up until then. By the time I reached the top, I had a miserable ache in my legs and back.

I recovered back at camp. Christy and I dined on chili that we washed down with wine. That was an odd combination, but it worked. It wasn’t long past dark when the growing chill chased us to the tent. It was a bit of a Chinese fire drill, but somehow we all managed to squeeze inside. We situated the dogs between us, and Boone was tired enough that he didn’t spend much time harassing Saucony. I slept fairly well, although I had one dog or the other laying on top of me at various points. In fact, I must’ve been in a deep sleep, as I didn’t even notice that it had started raining until after my sleeping bag had gotten damp. I eventually woke up enough to close the fly, before drifting back to sleep.

We got a late start the next morning thanks to the rain. We got up after the rain ended, and we feasted on egg and sausage burritos. It was a great breakfast, even though I forgot to pack the salsa. It was after 11 when we finally broke camp, but the sky was still choked with low, grey clouds.

We followed the Flat Laurel Creek trail upstream, eventually crossing the stream on stepping stones. Just beyond, we turned right onto the Little Sam Trail heading south. I knew this path would take us to the Mountains to Sea Trail, even though I’d never hiked it before. I’d had no idea what I’d been missing! First we hiked through a lovely northern hardwood forest, before descending to cross the creek again. After a short, steep climb, we joined another railroad grade. Before long, we were following a ridgeline with a great view to the southwest. The clouds were beginning to lift, and Mount Hardy emerged from the murk. We gazed out over incredible fall colors towards rows of distant peaks. Golden hardwoods mixed with the deep green of spruce and fir, while the occasional red or orange maple added a brilliant splash of color.

We hiked on, and reached a camping area near a huge boulder. Just beyond, we joined the Mountains to Sea Trail. After only a few minutes on the MST, we arrived at the junction with the trail to The Devil’s Courthouse. We contemplated our options, knowing that the Courthouse would be crowded with people who had made the short walk up from the Parkway. Still, the view from there is compelling, and we decided to check it out.

Reaching the Courthouse required a bit of a climb. We crossed high above the Parkway, going over a tunnel in the process. From there, we had our first view to the southeast. Beyond, we met the path coming up from the Parkway. This trail was quite busy, but it was short. We reached the top, which wasn’t completely overrun. We had lunch there, and took in some of the best views of the trip. The clouds were clearing rapidly, and the fall foliage was breathtaking. Looking southwest, I could clearly see Lake Jocassee and the mountains near Cashiers and Highlands. Farther west, Tamassee Knob and Mount Hardy looked close enough to touch. My favorite view though was north, back towards the West Fork, Little Sam and Big Sam. This is where the best colors were, and it was cool looking back at where we’d just been.

It seemed like everyone at the overlook wanted to pet Saucony and Boone. Petting Boone is a bit hazardous, as he is still teething, but that didn’t discourage everyone. Eventually we managed to escape from the overlook, and return to the trail where we belong!

The rest of the hike was enjoyable as well. At one point, we passed through a cool, dark spruce fir forest. Then, from a small clearing, we were treated to a parting view of The Devil’s Courthouse. A long descent followed, before we finally reached highway 215. At that point, Christy waited with the dogs, while I walked down the road to retrieve the car. The road walk only took about 5 minutes, and soon we were on our way home. On the return to Asheville, we drove the Parkway for variety. I knew this would be slow, but the scenery made it worthwhile. I stopped a couple of times near Graveyard Fields to photograph the intense fall colors there. Once beyond Graveyard Fields, the colors faded, as the mid-range elevations were still mostly green. Those areas should be ripe for fall foliage hunting by the weekend of the 18th.

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