Myron and Dorcas joined me last weekend for a final hike of 2001. Christy didn't come because she sprained her ankle a couple of days before. I did bring Saucony though, and Myron and Dorcas brought Izaak. The two dogs had a good time getting re-acquainted before we hit the trail.
Our original plan was to hike in the Mackey Mountain area outside of Marion. The forecast was cold, cloudy, and a good chance of snow. As we passed Morganton though, we saw only blue sky. At the last minute we changed plans and headed for Woods Mountain. I had never been there before in good weather, so we decided to give it a shot.
We began the 11 mile hike to the summit around 10:30. Izaak ran off chasing something, but eventually returned, only to run off again. By the time he returned the second time it was after 11. We were less than a mile down the trail. Myron leashed him, and we were ready to hike.
We hiked down the ridge and stopped to enjoy good views of Mt. Mitchell, Green Knob, Mackey Mountain, and Myron's truck in the parking lot. From there we hiked on to another cliff with great views west to Table Rock and Hawksbill. This cliff is closed for Pergrine Falcon nesting from January 15th - August 15th, so we arrived just in time. We had a nice break here before hiking on.
We began a stretch of trail with numerous ups and downs. We passed a number of side trails before passing another outcrop and descending into a gap. This part of the route had a number of blowdowns that slowed our progress.
We stopped for a quick lunch a little before 1pm. I was concerned about getting out before dark, so we didn't linger long. We climbed a big hill, only to find that Woods Mountain was still a couple of bumps away. Myron and Dorcas decided to head back, while I hurried on. I set at turnaround time of 2pm, and reached the summit shortly after that. I found the remnants of an old fire tower there, but no view. Also, the topo map suggests that 2 trails leave the summit to the north, but I only found one. I explored it briefly, but there was no indication as to which one it was.
I headed back at 2:15 and moved quickly in an effort to overtake Myron and Dorcas. I found them waiting for me at a knob around 3:30. We were still 2 1/2 miles from the car, but that seemed like plenty of time to get out. They started off, but I stopped for a minute to put on some fleece and a hat. When I was ready, I had a brief urge to look around but shrugged it off and followed. I caught up with them as we descended a major ridge. Soon we encountered some blowdowns, which didn't look familiar. We stopped, and out came the map and compass. We were heading north and descending, while the section of trail I thought we were on headed northwest and descended. Hmm. Well, one thing was clear. We weren't on the trail. We were on A trail, but not THE trail. The trail was blazed sporadically with white markers, but none were to be found. It was obvious that we hadn't come this way. Myron theorized that we might be on an old trail over a peak, while the current trail was re-routed below us. He suggested continuing down and hopefully rejoining the trail. His suggestion seemed logical, but I wasn't confident enough of our location to be comfortable with it. I knew that if we backtracked we wouldn't make it out before dark. But, I was more concerned about not making it out at all. Eventually we decided to suck it up and head back.
As it turned out, the ridge we were on was a spur that would not have joined back up with the trail. Following it would have left us deep in the Armstrong Creek drainage at night. That area is full of old logging roads and little else. It would've been an ugly situation.
We hiked all the way back to our meeting point before finding the trail. It continued off to the west, but was hidden in some rhododendron. It was a relief to be back on the trail, but it was already 4:30.
We reached the Falcon Cliffs a little after 5. I was a bit ahead of everybody, so I went back out to watch the sunset. I was really glad I did. The sky was lit in bands of blue, purple, and red. To the west, a full moon hung directly above Table Rock. I shot half of a roll of film, and was actually glad that we were running so late. Otherwise, I never would have seen it.
Myron and Dorcas joined me, and we hiked the last mile out in the dark. Luckily the last mile is on an old road, so it was pretty easy to walk in the dark. The full moon helped, and I didn't even bother with a flashlight. We reached the car at 6pm, and headed into Marion for some Mexican food.
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