GET ‘ER DONE!
Myron and Dorcas made their
long-awaited return to the wonderful world of hiking last weekend. As I write this, they are probably still
recovering, both physically and emotionally.
Such are the hazards of hiking with me.
They’ll probably get me back on the next canoe trip.
Our plan was to hike a
previously unexplored section of the Mountains-To-Sea Trail near Marion. The section in question runs from Buck Creek
Gap (where highway 80 meets the Parkway) to the Black Mountain Campground on the
South Toe River. That section is only
6.5 miles though, and a simple point-to-point hike seemed a little boring, so I
got creative. It’s this creativity that
led to the physical and emotional damage previously alluded to.
The official plan called for
us to finish the hike at the Black Mountain Campground. We drove there to leave a car, and
encountered our first problem when we found the road gated 1.5 miles from
highway 80. Apparently, the road is
closed due to flood damage. We left my
car at the Black Mountain Campground Annex – a crowded parking area full of
cars and tents near the gate. The
“annex” is a good mile and a half from the campground, so if you plan to hike
any of the trails leaving from that area, you’ll need to add 1.5 miles of road
walking to your hike (in each direction).
3 people and 2 dogs piled
into a Honda Civic for the drive to the starting point. Instead of hiking from Buck Creek Gap, we
continued down the mountain on highway 80.
We pulled off just before a sharp turn where Singecat Branch flows under
the road. The plan was to hike a
primitive trail up Singecat Branch to join the Mountains-To-Sea Trail on it’s
way to Woods Mountain. From there, we’d
follow the MST to Buck Creek Gap and on to the South Toe River valley.
The hike along Singecat
Branch started out nice. We crossed the
splashing stream a number of times, and although the water was up, the
crossings were all easy rock hops.
After about a mile, the obvious trail turned to the left, while a faint
track continued steeply uphill along a minor gully. We elected to stay with the obvious trail, and spent the rest of
the day regretting it. We followed the
path into the headwaters of Singecat Branch, where it disappeared. Our options were to backtrack, or head directly
uphill to the crest of the ridge. How
bad could that be?
If you’ve read any of my
other trip reports, you can probably guess how this turned out. Initially we climbed steeply uphill through
open forest. We were almost at the
crest when we reached a dense thicket of Mountain Laurel. We tried to work our way around it, without
any luck. Finally, we had to choose
between turning back or crawling straight through hell.
We hacked, cussed, and
squirmed our way through. Branches
slapped at us, and thorns scratched us, but we pressed on. Myron observed a fascinating characteristic
of Mountain Laurel branches. When
you’re trying to push your way through them, they don’t budge an inch, but when
you find yourself hanging onto one for dear life, it suddenly wants to come out
of the ground.
On a couple of occasions, I
thought further progress was impossible.
I refused to give up though, and eventually stumbled onto a faint path
on the crest of Singecat Ridge. From
there, conditions quickly improved. The
path was obscured by fallen trees, but getting through them was easy compared
to the laurel thickets. Eventually we
reached a clearing, and were rewarded for our efforts with great views of the
Black Mountain Crest. A few minutes
later, we reached the Mountains-To-Sea Trail.
From it, we took a short side trail out to a cliff that provided an
excellent lunch spot. The cliff is a
Peregrine Falcon nesting area, and is closed to hikers from January 15th
– August 15th. If you plan
to hike in this area, I recommend going in the fall so you can enjoy this great
viewpoint.
From the cliffs, we looked
out over lingering fall color in the Armstrong Creek Valley. Grandfather Mountain was visible in the
distance, and Table Rock and Hawksbill towered over Linville Gorge. In the opposite direction, part of the Black
Mountain Crest was visible as well.
After lunch, we hiked west
directly into a brilliant late-afternoon sun.
Thanks to the morning’s misadventures, we were running behind
schedule. With darkness coming at 5:30,
we had to hustle the last 8 miles back to the car.
We crossed highway 80 on the
Parkway bridge, and began a stretch of trail that crisscrossed the Parkway
several times. This section of the
Parkway is currently closed due to hurricane damage. The lack of traffic was one of the factors that motivated me to
hike this stretch of trail last weekend.
We ended up crossing the Parkway 5 times, including one time high above
a tunnel. This part of the hike was
pleasant without the sounds of traffic, and offered some views of the Black
Mountains through the bare trees.
After the last crossing, the
trail descends gradually towards the South Toe River valley. We hiked through a thick forest that sported
some surprisingly large trees. The highlight
of the day came with a rare wildlife sighting.
I turned a bend in the trail, and spotted a large white owl swooping
soundlessly through the forest. I
quickly lost sight of it as it disappeared in a thicket of trees.
The last few miles turned
into a tedious slog. We hustled
downhill, racing the setting sun back to the car. Finally we passed through a wildlife clearing and emerged on
Neal’s Creek Road. We followed it down
past some nice primitive car campsites that are currently inaccessible due to
the road closure. We passed the remains
of what may have been an old fish hatchery on Big Lost Cove Creek before
reaching the main road along the river.
We followed this road for 15 minutes, returning to my car at dusk. So ended a good hike, featuring adventure
and solitude. We didn’t see another
person all day.
At lunch, Myron and Dorcas
had sworn off hiking. By the time we
made it to dinner at Little Sienna in Marion, we were talking about returning
to Singecat Branch and finding the correct route out of the valley. It’s amazing how quickly you can forget
about pain when an exciting adventure awaits.
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