SALVAGE OPERATION
On
Saturday evening I began thinking about our hiking options for the following
day. Since our backpacking trip hadn’t
panned out, I was determined to come up with a spectacular dayhike
to make up for that disappointment.
Fortunately we were camped in the middle of the Black Mountains,
surrounded by some of the best hiking in the southeast. The problem wasn’t coming up with a great dayhike,
it was picking one from the many attractive choices in the area.
I
considered a bunch of possibilities, but the choice was obvious. J Bob loves peak bagging and solitude almost
as much as giant trees. One of my
favorite hikes in North Carolina has both of those features (along with a few
big trees). It follows a prominent ridge
south from the Parkway, over The Pinnacle, Rocky Knobs, and Greybeard. It isn’t a well-known hike though, and it was
one that J Bob hadn’t done. Bob J had
hiked it several times, but he didn’t seem opposed to the idea of doing it
again.
We
were up a bit after 7 on Sunday morning.
It was a fairly warm morning for early April. We had breakfast and broke camp before
heading up to Mount Mitchell State Park to use the facilities. From there it was a short drive back down to
the Parkway. I parked on the shoulder
just beyond the Old Toll Road. The Old
Toll Road started out as a logging railroad.
Later it transported tourists up to Mount Mitchell, first by train, and
later by automobile. These days it’s a
rocky grade popular with hikers, mountain bikers, and hunters.
We
started our hike by passing the gate leading to the Old Toll Road. Just beyond we picked up an obvious trail
leading up towards The Pinnacle. We
followed the ridgeline, which is also the boundary of the Asheville
Watershed. Hiking isn’t allowed in the
watershed, but fortunately the trail stays on the crest of the ridge. The path up to The Pinnacle is steep, but it
passes through a beautiful forest of northern hardwoods and spruce & fir. After 30 minutes or so we made the final
scramble up to the summit. From the top,
a staggering view unfolded in front of us.
Waves of mountains rolled away from us to the south and southwest, while
the Craggy Mountains defined the western skyline. To the north, the rugged peaks of the Black
Mountains formed a majestic wall worthy of the highest peaks in the Eastern
U.S.
We
loitered up there for quite awhile. The
Pinnacle might be the definition of a place that is hard to leave. I’ve been there many times and I never get
tired of it.
Eventually
we had to head down. Since my last visit
a couple of years ago, more trails have emerged on the mountain. Once upon a time, the trails on the north and
east sides of the mountain were faint and primitive. Now the main trails are obvious, and others
have appeared. There are now two descent
routes on the east side of the mountain, though they merge half way down. We picked one of them and descended through
another beautiful forest. The
wildflowers were just beginning to emerge at this elevation, but we did find
some that are noteworthy. There were a
few Trilliums out, along with lots of Bluets.
We
passed through some campsites before rejoining the Old Toll Road. We followed the Old Toll Road South, passing
a couple of trailers and old campers. This
area is popular with bear hunters, and a lot of the land here is owned by a
hunting club. Despite this, it appears
that the Old Toll Road is treated as if it were public
property.
Just
beyond a trailer we passed a side road that leads to the Heartbreak Ridge
Trail. From there we continued to follow
the road. A bit later we reached a 4-way
junction. A side road descends to the
left here, while a gray blazed trail climbs to the right. We headed up the trail, bound for the next
highlight of the hike.
Rocky
Knobs is a relatively obscure summit, but I don’t know why. It’s probably because the trails leading to
it don’t appear on any maps, and the route isn’t described in any guidebook
that I know of. Still, the galax-lined trail to the summit is gorgeous, and the view
from the top is stunning. It’s nearly as
good as the vista from The Pinnacle, and it provides a different perspective on
the scenery. I can’t imagine that there
is a better view of the Craggy Mountains.
From
there, J Bob and I followed the ridge south.
Bob J decided to skip the Greybeard portion of the hike, as he’d been up
Greybeard recently. The initial descent
from the summit was hairy, as we negotiated a steep slope of open rock. Once off the peak, the hiking was easy along
the ridge. Once again we followed the
boundary of the Asheville Watershed along a primitive trail. Although this trail isn’t on any maps or in
any guidebooks, it seems to be fairly well traveled. That may be due to heavy use from the
substantial bear population in the area.
The
final climb to the summit of Greybeard is steep, but from the top we were
treated to one more view of the Black Mountains. After a short break there we headed down, eventually
reaching a shelter maintained by the Montreat Trails
Association. We took a side trail beyond
the shelter and reached Walker Knob a few minutes later. Here we were treated to one final view. This vista stretches to the south and west,
giving a different perspective from the views we’d enjoyed earlier. Roads and buildings in Black Mountain are
visible from here, but the waves of mountains stretching to the south are an
impressive sight. On this occasion I noticed
that Little Pisgah Mountain, Bearwallow Mountain, and
Shumont Mountain are all visible from here. Those peaks surround Hickory Nut Gorge
southeast of Asheville.
We
backtracked to the shelter and rejoined the Greybeard Mountain Trail. We followed it down to Flat Creek, where the
dogs spent a few minutes indulging in the cool water. It was a hot day, and they had already
finished the 3 quarts of water that Boone had carried. We crossed the creek on an old railroad bed,
leaving the Greybeard Mountain Trail, which was recently rerouted. After a short distance we passed the old
route of the Greybeard Mountain Trail, which is now closed. We continued ahead on the railroad grade, and
emerged on the Old Toll Road a few minutes later.
From
there, we simply followed the Old Toll Road back to the car. This part of the hike was a bit tedious, as
the Old Toll Road is wet and rocky. It’s
not a bad trail though, and it’s fun to imagine what the route was like 90
years ago when trains were running through these mountains.
We
found Bob J waiting for us shortly before we reached the Parkway. That ended another visit to one of my
favorite areas. As usual, we were
treated to spectacular scenery without seeing another person the entire
day. I was glad that we were able to
salvage our aborted backpacking trip with a great dayhike.
Kona
did great on her first full weekend of hiking.
On Saturday evening after our hike she was chasing Boone around our
campsite. She did run out of gas a
little bit on Sunday afternoon, as she plunked down in the middle of the trail
a few times (including once in a mud puddle).
I think the extreme heat had as much of an effect on her as the length
and difficulty of the hike. She’s a
trooper though, and she hung in there until the end.
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