MESSIN’ WITH TEXAS
I traveled to Texas for the
first time last week, courtesy of another job assignment. Where in Texas? I’ll tell you but you have to promise not to laugh.
I flew into Dallas, and
drove through Fort Worth on my way to Waco.
Hey, I said you couldn’t laugh!
Ok, ok. Insert your own joke
here.
I drove through the town of
West, Texas, on the way there. Oddly,
West, Texas isn’t in west Texas. Yeah,
I know, nothing is in west Texas. It
must be weird being from there though.
If you’re from there, and you’re out of town, and somebody asks where
you’re from, do you say “West, Texas”?
If you do, they’re going to think you live out in the desert
somewhere. How confusing.
West, Texas, is a pretty
small town. Wouldn’t it be neat though,
if another, smaller town grew up on its outskirts? Perhaps to the west? They
could call it West West Texas.
Actually, it would be even better if it were on the other side of
town. Then it could be East West
Texas. If such a place existed, I might
have to move there, just for the address.
Ok, maybe not. Let’s not get
carried away here.
Waco really wasn’t a bad place.
I got a room at the Hilton downtown.
Unfortunately the Janet Reno suite was already booked. Regrettably, I never made it out to the
compound to take the tour. I guess I’ll
have to save that for next time. If you
go, I definitely recommend partaking of the many fine refreshments served at
the gift shop. Whatever you do though,
don’t drink the Kool-Aid.
My trip to Texas did have one
redeeming quality. No, I didn’t get to
go hiking. The best hiking in Texas is
in west Texas, and I don’t mean the town.
From Waco, it’s a long drive to Big Bend National Park and the Guadalupe
Mountains. I didn’t do any hiking, but
I did get to visit a college friend I hadn’t seen in 8 years or so. He lives in Houston now, and doesn’t make it
back east very often. I met up with
him one evening in College Station, which is conveniently located about halfway
between Waco and Houston. We had a
great time that evening, catching up on the last 8 years and recalling the good
times from our days at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC.
Last weekend, Christy and I
headed up to Boone for the first time since the end of football season. Our primary motive was to see the band
Lefty, which was playing at Murphy’s Saturday night. A friend of ours plays keyboards for them, and we’ve been itching
to see them for some time. Coincidently,
this friend, Jimmy, is the younger brother of the friend I’d seen in Texas a
few days earlier.
We got to Boone early, so
Christy and I drove up to Howard’s Knob to enjoy the view and kill some
time. Somehow, I’d never managed to
bring Christy up there. I guess we’ve
always just had other things going on when we’ve been in Boone. We lingered up there for a while, enjoying
the profuse wildflowers in bloom. The
Mayapples were out, and the woods were thick with Great White Trillium.
We had a great time that
night. Lefty put on a fun show. Interestingly, the band’s guitarist is
missing his right forearm. Aside from
seeing Jimmy, I really wanted to see him play the guitar. He played it, and he played it quite well. It was a great show, and I’m looking forward
to catching them again sometime soon.
If you’d like more information on the band, go to: http://www.lefty-music.com/index.cfm.
We finally made it over to
Price Park campground late that night.
The next morning we stopped at the Boone Bagelry for a late breakfast on
our way to the trailhead. We met Bob
and Laura 30 minutes later, at Rich Mountain Gap. Our plan was to climb Snake Mountain. I hadn’t been up Snake in nearly ten years, and I was looking
forward to getting back up there. Best
of all, Christy had never been there. I
couldn’t wait to take her to one of the finest mountaintops in the southeast.
We parked at a wide spot in
the road near the gap just before 11:30.
Our first challenge was crossing a barbed wire fence guarding the cow
pasture at the base of the mountain.
This is probably private property (as is much of the mountain), but it’s
not posted. We eventually found a place
where part of the fence was missing, and began climbing. The ridge is quite steep, so we chose to
angle off to the east, rather than climbing straight up. This worked well, as we soon found ourselves
on a faint path. The path led us into
the woods, and we climbed moderately towards a distant ridge. Eventually we reached a clearing, with a
view of the prominent east ridge in the distance ahead of us. Our path headed that way, but it looked like
the long way up the mountain. After a
brief debate, we decided to climb. We
turned back to the left, heading back towards to main southern ridge.
Our progress was fairly easy,
as the woods are open. It was still
pretty steep though, so we weren’t setting any speed records. Plus, I was nursing a bit of a headache,
which must’ve been a product of the loud music or the lack of sleep from the
night before. Or, it could’ve been all
that beer. Did I mention that Murphy’s
has Dead Guy Ale on draft? Currently,
Dead Guy Ale is my all-time favorite microbrew.
A steep pitch brought us to
the crest of the ridge. From there, it
was relatively easy hiking. We passed
through a superb garden of wildflowers before emerging from the forest into a
grassy meadow. The meadow covers the
narrow ridge, except for a prominent spine of rock along the very crest. I found hiking along the rocks easier than
wading through the grass. Before long, we
reached the summit, where we were greeted with startling views. The best were to the south, where
Grandfather Mountain loomed beyond the bulk of Rich Mountain. Also in that direction, we could see Sugar,
Beech, and Roan, as well as Howard’s Knob, where we’d been the day before. To the west, we looked out over a fair piece
of eastern Tennessee.
The last time I’d been there
was with Joel, some 8 or 9 years earlier.
That day, Joel was trying out a new diet consisting largely of chocolate
Easter eggs. I don’t remember much from
that hike, except for Joel nearly passing out when we reached the summit. At the time, I’d feared that he had
succumbed to some sort of diabetic coma.
Joel wasn’t diabetic before that hike, but after all those eggs, I
thought he might be.
We had long lunch break
there, relaxing in the sun. The weather
was absolutely perfect, with barely a cloud to interrupt our 70-degree
day. It wouldn’t have been a sin to lounge
there all afternoon. Bob and I wanted
to hike the rest of the ridge though, and surprisingly, the women agreed to
come along. We picked up a new trail
along the ridge, which originates at a new upscale housing development on the
west side of the mountain near Trade, TN.
We followed the trail, with its fresh yellow blazes, along the
ridge. Initially we hiked along a
carpet of golden Trout Lilies through a young forest of Beech trees. It wasn’t long though before we reached
another great view. This one provided
vistas east, west, and north. Ahead of
us, in the distance, we could make out the meadows of Mount Rogers. Off to our right, we could see the dramatic
peaks of Ashe County, including the sharp pyramid of The Peak, the rugged
summits of Three Top, and the more gentle contours of Elk Knob.
Eventually Bob and I left
Christy and Laura behind. We continued
out to the end of the mountain, where the scenery only got better. We followed a razor-edge ridge, with
dramatic drop-offs on either side. One
great viewpoint led to another, and it seemed like this wonderful mountain
would never end. Eventually it did
though. From there, we headed back the
way we came. Once we started down
though, we decided to accelerate the process.
We followed the south ridge all the way down, which was probably a
mistake. The descent was very steep,
and it wasn’t long before I remembered why we hadn’t come up that way. One band of cliffs provided a challenge,
but we were home free by the time we reached open pastures. We reached the road a few minutes later, and
headed for the cars.
Our hike on Snake was
outstanding, and its one we’ll definitely have to repeat soon. At the very least, I hope its not another 9
years!
Back to North Carolina's High Country
Back to North Carolina
Back to Hiking and Backpacking Trip Reports
Please remember to Leave No Trace!