ME AND THE DEVIL BLUES
Last
Saturday I headed up to Boone for another football game. I got an early start, since kickoff was
scheduled for 3:30 and I get grouchy if I don’t get in a full 6 hours of
tailgating. Christy didn’t make this
game, as she her first post-shoulder surgery triathlon scheduled on
Sunday. The good news is that she let me
take her car. The Honda Element is a
much more useful vehicle for tailgating than my Corolla.
I
took Boone with me, since my 85 pound chick magnet loves all the attention he
gets when we tailgate. First I took him
to the neighborhood pond for a pre-dawn walk, since his behavior tends to be
much better after he’s been exercised.
Rain began to fall shortly after we returned, which caught me by
surprise. The forecast for Boone
actually looked quite nice for the whole weekend.
The
clouds began to break shortly after I arrived in Boone. I picked up Eric at the mall, and we started
tailgating shortly before 10am. The
highlight of this particular tailgate was the best cornhole
game of my life. Somehow I managed to
sink 8 tosses in a row. That was quite a
bit better than my previous best of 3 in a row.
Of course we weren’t playing for anything. I’d never manage that if I was playing for
money.
Lunch
was grilled jerk chicken, with actual Jamaican jerk sauce, along with black
beans and rice. The game was a thriller,
as ASU unveiled a surprisingly stingy defense in a 14-12 win over
Chattanooga. The offense didn’t do much,
but we returned a fumble and an interception for touchdowns. I can’t remember the last time ASU won a game
without the offense scoring a single point.
Near
the end of the game a light but chilly rain began to fall. This came as a surprise, as the forecast
hadn’t mentioned any chance of rainfall.
After the game Eric and I had burritos at the Black Cat. We then parted ways, with Eric heading for
home while I drove towards Linville Gorge.
By the time I left town a steady rain was falling. As I drove southwest the conditions continued
to deteriorate. Before long, I was
driving through torrential downpours, with thunder,
lightning, and dense fog for good measure.
For the first (but not the last) time, I began to wonder if camping was
a great plan.
The
rain finally quit when I reached Gingercake Acres, a
residential area on the edge of the wilderness.
Conditions didn’t improve though, as a heavy fog set in. It was so thick, I
could only see a few feet in front of the car.
I was moving at a crawl, as some parts of the road are on the edge of a
cliff. Part of the problem is that I
wasn’t just trying to follow the road. I
was also hunting for a campsite. On
several occasions I thought I spotted side roads that might lead to campsites.
Each time I turned part of the way in, and then got out to investigate. Only one led to an actual site, and it was
occupied. I know I missed a couple of
good sites, unseen in the fog.
Eventually
I turned down another road, which brought me to an old logging road. I walked down this a short distance and found
a decent flat spot to pitch the tent. I
eventually got camp set up and went straight to bed. It was incredibly humid following the rain,
so I tied both tent flaps back to improve the ventilation. Despite the stuffy conditions, I went to
sleep immediately. Fortunately Boone was
pretty worn out from the long day, too.
I
must’ve been really tired, because I was only semi-conscious of the distant
thunder and flashes of lightning. I
didn’t actually wake up until I felt something wet dripping on me. It was pouring again, and of course both tent
flaps were still open. I had a hell of a
time getting them untied, and ended up with a good bit of water in the
tent. Boone was not amused.
It
poured all night. My alarm went off at
7:30, but it was still raining. I dozed
until 8:30. At that point it was only
drizzling. I skipped breakfast and broke
camp. Then I drove over to the Sitting
Bear Trailhead. On the way there I
passed a large brown owl sitting in the middle of the road. I slammed on the brakes and grabbed the
camera just as he flew away.
I
met Jack at the trailhead and we discussed our hiking plans. Our original plan had been a loop hike from
the Sitting Bear Trailhead down to Devil’s Hole. From there we’d cross the river and then hike
the Linville Gorge Trail south. We’d
head back out of the gorge on the Spence Ridge Trail before hiking the Ledge
Trail to the summit of Hawksbill. From
Hawksbill, we’d follow Jonas Ridge back to the parking area.
I’d
checked the river gauge on Saturday morning, and it had been running below 100
cubic feet / second. That’s pretty low,
but I wasn’t sure how much the water had risen following Saturday night’s rain. We decided to head down there anyway, knowing
we’d need a backup plan if crossing the river wasn’t possible.
It’s
been about 15 years since I’d last hiked Devil’s Hole. The trail was in great shape, and wasn’t
nearly as steep as I’d remembered. About
half way down we began following a small stream. Well, normally it’s small, but today it was
swollen with runoff. There were several
crossings, and rock hopping was tricky due to the high water. We also passed a couple of pretty cascades
that would probably be insignificant in normal conditions.
Before
long I gradually became aware of a distant roar. It wasn’t long before I realized that the
roar was the river. I figured we must be
almost there.
I
was wrong.
We
continued hiking, and the roar grew louder. Finally the river came into sight, down a
steep hill below the trail. When I saw
it, I began laughing. The river was a
raging wall of brown water racing between rock walls. A series of standing waves was below us, and
I actually saw a small tree get swept past.
Attempting to ford the river would’ve been suicidal.
We
looked at the river for a minute, before Jack turned to me and asked, “Are you
going to change into water shoes, or do you think we can rock hop it”?
That
evening when I got home I checked the gauge, and noted that the river peaked
shortly before we arrived at around 3,000 cubic feet / second.
We
scrambled down to the river’s edge for a closer look and photos. We hung out for a little bit, admiring the
raw power of nature. We didn’t linger
long though, as it was a difficult place to relax. Conversation was impossible, and we knew that
one slip would mean going for a fast, violent ride to Lake James.
We
hiked back out, climbing up to Jonas Ridge.
From there we headed north, climbing steeply towards Sitting Bear. Shortly before the rock formation, we found
an overlook with a nice view south down the gorge. It was a cloudy, hazy day, but the view was
still great. From there, Hawksbill,
Table Rock, the Chimneys, and Shortoff stretched out
from us. In the other direction, Devil’s
Ridge tumbled down towards the river, which we could clearly hear from our
perch.
We
had a quick lunch and then climbed up to an even better viewpoint. From there, we continued on to Sitting
Bear. We explored around it for a few
minutes, and I once again failed to get a decent photo of it.
We
headed back from there, as I wasn’t inclined to hike up the incredibly steep
stretch of trail leading up to the top of the mountain. Instead we followed Jonas Ridge south. We eventually reached a 4-way junction, and
continued ahead towards the summit of Hawksbill. Once on top we explored around a bit and took
photos. I was surprised to find some
fall color up there already. I can’t
remember ever seeing that much fall color at 4000’ in late September.
We
had another break on Hawksbill and enjoyed more great views of the gorge. Before long fog began rolling back in,
obscuring the summit of Table Rock. We
took that as our cue to head back. The
return hike was quick and easy, and we were on the road before 4pm.
We’ll
definitely attempt the loop we’d planned again.
Maybe next time we’ll be able to cross the river!
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