Every good hiking disaster story I've heard contains the phrase "and then, for some reason, they left the trail". So what was I doing bushwhacking down a steep slope in a foot of snow late Saturday afternoon?
Christy, Myron, Dorcas, Izaak, Saucony, and I headed for the Black Mountains last weekend for a much needed dayhike. For once, the weather looked great, and we were looking forward to some great scenery and a little bit of exercise. We discovered our first problem after we arrived at the trailhead on Mt. Mitchell Road. Christy had left her boots at home. She decided to try the hike in running shoes, but the trail was covered with 6" of snow. However, she was up to the challenge, though she slid around a lot going up the first hill.
We hiked the Mountains-To-Sea Trail up toward Potato Knob. It was a pleasant, quiet walk through spruce / fir forest with deep snow on the ground. After a short distance, we reached an open meadow. From there, I could see an open, snow-free route up to the ridgecrest. I scanned the route, and it looked like it would be possible to reach the summit of Potato Knob. We decided to try for it.
Initially the climb was pretty easy, but we ran into more snow at the top of the ridge. From there, we followed an intermittent path and occasionally bushwhacked. However, the route got steep and the snow got deeper. Christy was having trouble getting traction, so we went back down. Myron and Dorcas went ahead, using crampons.
Christy and I had a nice lunch on a sunny outcrop with a stunning view. We could see Greybeard and the Pinnacle ahead of us, and the Craggy Mountains to the west. To the east Green Knob was visible, as were Table Rock and Hawksbill towering over Linville Gorge. After lunch, Myron and Dorcas still hadn't returned. We hiked back to the trail, but there was no sign of them. I went ahead on the trail, thinking that they might have come down by an easier route.
I came to another open meadow, and then hiked into a dark and spooky spruce forest. Hiking the trail was tricky, because of the dangerous snow bridges that concealed the crevices between the rocks. I had to test the ground ahead of me with my stick in many sections. At one spot I came to a huge icicle formation. As I neared it though, I slipped on the ice and fell hard. At this point, I gave up my search and returned to Christy.
Myron and Dorcas finally made it down, and met Christy and I on the trail. The climb had been longer and harder than anyone expected. They never would have made it without the crampons. Unfortunately, it had taken quite a bit of time. It was almost 2:30 by the time we resumed our hike to Balsam Gap.
We hiked until we reached the ridge between Potato Knob and Blackstack Knob. Here we found even deeper snow, with drifts occasionally up to our knees. We passed through Rainbow Gap and began the climb to Blackstack Knob. However, the trail was steep, and our progress was slow. We were loosing almost as much ground with each step as we gained. Christy was having the most trouble, with only her wet running shoes for traction. By 4pm, it was apparent that we'd never make Balsam Gap by dark. Even if we did, we'd have a long walk back on the Parkway. However, we didn't have enough time to backtrack, either. After much discussion, we decided to return to Rainbow Gap and bushwhack down to the Parkway.
The woods were very thick, but we were able to carefully pick our way through. The girls were both laughing behind us - either they were having fun, or they were hysterical. All the way down, I kept thinking about a huge wall of icicles we had seen above the parkway from an outcrop. I knew that we would come down near them, and I only hoped that we wouldn't come out right above them. However, we had studied the map carefully, and our route appeared to be the least steep option.
Luckily, we reached the parkway without further incident. We waded through a deep snow drift and headed back up the road. This stretch of the road was snow covered and closed to traffic, so it was a pleasant walk. After a short ways, we reached the massive icicle formation. Beyond that, the slope above us was entirely sheer cliffs. We had chosen our spot to descend wisely. Then we witnessed a beautiful sunset over the Asheville reservoir. We reached the car at 6pm, which was well past dark. In 7 hours, we had covered only about 8 miles.
Looking back on it, this was quite an adventure. We probably should have started earlier, and perhaps saved Potato Knob for another day. However, we did prove that sometimes it is best to leave the trail.
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