PROFILE OF AN OLD MAN
I
recently realized that it was the end of January and I hadn’t hiked in the snow
since the previous August. With winter
nearing its end, I needed to get in a snow hike! A minor storm was expected in the mountains
of northwest North Carolina on Thursday and Friday of last week. The highest elevations were only expected to
get a couple of inches of snow, but I thought that might be enough.
Bob
joined me for a hike at Grandfather Mountain.
We met in Icard, and Bob drove from
there. When we reached the High Country I
was disappointed. There was very little
snow. However, when we reached the road
leading down to the Profile Trailhead, we found it gated. The road is steep, and it was
snow-covered. Woo-hoo! Our snow hike was on – if we could find a
place to park.
We
drove back up the road a short distance to The Pedalin’
Pig, a BBQ restaurant. They have a huge
parking lot, and there were two other groups of hikers parked there and gearing
up. One guy was training for a
backpacking trip in the Smokies the next
weekend. The other group consisted of
several young German guys from Florida.
Bob found the owner of the restaurant and requested permission to
park. He was a little grumpy about it at
first, but ultimately gracious. Since he
was kind enough to let us park there, I’ll give him a little plug. The Pedalin’ Pig
clearly has the best BBQ in the greater Banner Elk area. And they are vegan, vegetarian, and
gluten-free friendly, too!*
Our
hike started with a 100-yard walk down the shoulder of highway 105. It’s a very busy road, and with 2 dogs on
leashes, this sucked audibly. We were
relieved when we reached the gate and the snowy road down to the parking
area. Bob filled out our permit and we
hit the trail.
We
followed the Profile Trail downstream along the Watauga River before making an
easy rock hop to the far side. From
there, we followed the snow-covered trail farther downstream. Eventually we left the river to begin our
climb of the mountain. We crossed a
couple of small, icy streams, but the trail was in pretty good shape. There were some icy places, but there was
enough snow on top of it to provide traction.
A
long steady climb brought us to the Foscoe Viewpoint,
which looks out over the town of Foscoe, the Watauga
River valley, and the mountains farther north.
From there we climbed past a designated campsite to the Profile view. From there we had an impressive view of a
cliff that appears to have the features of an old man (if you use your imagination). This view was apparently the inspiration for
the name of the mountain.
More climbing on switchbacks led to a steeper
ascent to Shanty Springs. Here
we found flowing water and an impressive cliff covered in ice. I was concerned about the climb from there to
the crest of Grandfather Mountain, which is in a steep, rocky gully. There were some icy spots, but they were easy
to avoid. We finally reached the crest
and turned left. More climbing brought
us to the spur trail to the Watauga Ovelook, but we continued
ahead towards Calloway Peak. A minute
later we reached the first ladder. It
had been years since I’d hiked this trail, and I remembered one ladder between
Calloway Gap and Calloway Peak. It turns
out there are actually three. Either my
memory is bad, or two ladders have been added in recent years.
The
first ladder is only a few rungs, but it is still a major obstacle for two
dogs. Luckily they were able to find
their way around it. Bob and I climbed
up to join them on top of a rock outcrop with a fantastic view to the west and
north. A short but steep, icy descent followed. I was working my way down carefully in an attempt
to stay on my feet. The dogs tried to
follow. Boone lost his footing and slid
into Kona, and both of them slid into me.
All three of us landed in a pile of snow at the bottom. I came up chuckling, and continued laughing
until I turned the next bend in the trail and found myself at the brink of a 50’
cliff. Ha, ha, ahem….Ho boy! I tiptoed past the cliff to the base of the
next ladder.
I
am completely baffled as to what purpose ladder #2 serves. It is a short little thing, wedged between
two boulders. Without it, an easy scramble
would allow hikers to pass through. As
it is, the ladder just gets in the way.
It makes things awkward for a person, particularly when one of the
boulders is covered in smooth ice. I
still could’ve gotten through, but the dogs were another story. Without the ladder, I could’ve easily boosted
them through the gap between the boulders.
Unfortunately the ladder was blocking the route, and the dogs were too
big to slip through. They may have been
able to find a route around the east side, but I decided to backtrack to the
rock outcrop we had just passed for lunch.
It was pushing 2pm, and I hadn’t eaten anything since 6:30 that
morning.
Bob
decided to push on, since the summit was maybe a hundred yards away. Climbing back up the icy chute we’d slid down
earlier was challenging, but I managed to crawl and pull myself up using
boulders and trees. Once on top I was
able to enjoy the sunshine, warm soup from my thermos, and great views. The best vista was north, to Snake Mountain,
The Peak, and Elk Knob, with Whitetop and Mount
Rogers in the distance. Also of interest
was Hanging Rock, a dramatic outcrop that overlooks Banner Elk. It was directly below me. Temperatures were probably in the upper 20’s
in the shade, but the sun was strong and there was very little wind.
Bob
returned 15 minutes later. He reported
that the final part of the route was extremely sketchy. He had put on his microspikes
due to the icy conditions. He also
reported that there was a third ladder just before the summit. He said that he didn’t think the dogs could
make it up the ladder or around it. He offered
to hold the dogs while I finished the hike, but I knew that they would whine,
cry, and bark the entire time I was gone.
I didn’t want to subject Bob to that.
Plus, I’ve been on Calloway Peak many times over the years, and the view
from there isn’t much better than where we already were. I was satisfied with what we’d accomplished.
Bob
ate his lunch and we started down. We
took a quick detour out to the Watauga View, which provides a more southern
view than our lunch spot. We hadn’t had
any problems with footing on the hike up, but I anticipated slippery conditions
on the way down. I put on my Yaktrax
before resuming the hike.
The
descent was more of an adventure than I expected. We’d seen a few other hikers on our way
up. There were a couple of other groups
on the mountain in addition to the folks we’d met in the restaurant parking
lot. However, we encountered many more
hikers on their way up as we were descending.
By many more, I’m guessing at least 50 or so. Most of them looked like students at
Appalachian State. One of them was
wearing shorts. There were quite a few
other dogs, too, which was fun for Boone and Kona. I was pleased to see that I wasn’t the only
person that wasn’t strictly complying with the rule that dogs are required to
be on leashes.
All
of those hikers really packed the snow down.
On the way up, those few inches of powder on top of the ice had provided
plenty of traction. Once that got packed
down, there wasn’t much left except ice.
That really slowed our pace. Even
worse, one of my Yaktrax was broken in the front. I was basically walking on one and a half
Yaktrax. Meanwhile, the microspikes Bob had bought from LL Bean kept flying off of
his feet. Every few minutes he would
have to track one down and put it back on.
He eventually gave up on them, but found it impossible to stay on his
feet without any extra traction devices.
His boots didn’t have much tread on them, and conditions were very
slippery. Luckily he had one Yaktrax
(1/2 a pair) in his pack (the other one had broken just like mine). He put it on, which helped some. Even with it, he took several tumbles on the
way down. Fortunately we made it down
without any injuries.
We
ran into the German guys from Florida again on our way down. They had tried to hike to McRae Peak and the
swinging bridge, but the trail was too icy.
We
reached the trailhead at 5pm, 7 hours after we started. That’s a pretty slow pace for a 7 mile hike,
but it is a big climb and conditions really slowed us down. When we reached the gate at the entrance to
the trailhead parking area we found a couple of cars and a State Park Ranger
with his blue lights on. At first I was
concerned that someone had called for a rescue.
A lot of the hikers we’d passed really weren’t equipped for the
conditions. Actually the two cars were
blocking the gate, and the ranger was waiting for their owners. He wasn’t happy. I was glad we’d parked at the
restaurant! So here’s your PSA for the
day – never block a gate with your car, and if you park at a private business,
ask for permission first.
It
was a great winter hike, offering everything we’d hoped for. Maybe next time we’ll have some BBQ after our
hike.
‘*
By which I mean that they are friendly towards vegans, vegetarians, and people
allergic to gluten. But that doesn’t
mean that you will be able to eat much of anything there.
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