ALONE ON TABLE ROCK
I had Monday off, so I took
Saucony for a hike. I decided to make
one more attempt at finding fall color.
I chose to head up to Linville Gorge, where I hadn’t been in quite some
time. I was guessing that if there was
any fall color to be found, it would probably be in areas around 3000’ to 4000’
in elevation. Since the highest points
in Linville Gorge are around 4000’, I thought I might have a decent shot at
seeing some fall foliage.
The hike I planned was 11
miles, with an elevation gain of 2500’.
Since daylight savings time had just ended, I got up early for the drive
to Morganton. Beyond Morganton, I
headed up highway 181, where I spotted a few stands of trees sporting some
impressive color. Shortly after
beginning the climb up the mountain, I turned off onto a lightly traveled
forest road. I followed forest road 228
towards Steels Creek and an access point for the Mountains-to-Sea Trail. I was on my way towards making record time
to the trailhead when I turned a corner and found myself staring at the back
end of a dump truck. The truck dumped a
load of fresh dirt in the road and slowly ambled forward. I pulled up alongside a fellow on a grader,
and asked him if the road was open. He
paused, spit out a long, vile, green stream of chaw juice, and said that it
was. I drove the Corolla forward,
plowing through all that fresh dirt, and bumped along behind the dump truck
towards the trailhead. The truck
eventually pulled off, and I raced down the final mile of washed out road past
several primitive campsites to the parking area.
Despite the road
construction, I was still on the trail by 9AM.
I followed what was left of the rocky roadbed along Steels Creek. After a couple of minutes, I reached a small
clearing, a campsite, and a cascade with a large swimming hole. The road ends here, but the Mountains-To-Sea
Trail is on the opposite side of the creek.
The water was low due to the dry conditions, so rock hopping wasn’t
particularly difficult. I crossed right
at the mouth of Buck Creek, which was a little bit too far upstream. Once across, I had to fight through a dense
stand of rhododendron to reach the trail.
It’s better to cross a short distance downstream from the Buck Creek
confluence. That approach brings you to
a campsite with easy access to the trail.
It took a few minutes to go
the 50’ to the trail. Once I got on it,
things didn’t immediately get easier.
Instead, I faced an exceptionally steep climb away from the creek. Fortunately the grade eased after a few minutes,
and the worst was over. I followed a
pleasant pine needle-covered trail up the ridge. The path wandered in and out of minor coves, and passed several
flowing springs despite the drought.
About an hour from the car, I reached a dubious intersection. The old road I had been following continued
straight ahead, but an obvious trail descended to the right. Going to the right seemed correct, but
descending didn’t, since I was still in the middle of a long climb. The Mountains-to-Sea Trail is generally
blazed, but no markings were to be found.
I continued ahead into a
clearing. I found a campsite, and an
old road running to the left, uphill, and down to the right. Now what?
I puzzled over the Wilson Creek map, which is utterly worthless, and the
Linville Gorge map, which isn’t much better.
I had a snack, and backtracked to the trail I had passed a minute
earlier. This time, I spotted a faded
double-blaze on a tree trunk. I headed
down the trail, went around a bend, and found a more-prominent blaze on a
tree. I was back on the right path.
I hiked through the woods
for a few more minutes before emerging at a junction of forest roads. I made a sharp turn to the right to follow
one of them, before turning off a hundred yards or so later. I followed a new path up to the left before
reaching yet another forest road. The
map shows the trail continuing directly across the road, but this was not the
case. Once again there were no blazes
to indicate the correct direction. I
guessed to the right, since that direction was uphill, and headed up the road
towards Gingercake Acres. After a short
distance, I found the trail heading up into the woods to the left. I followed it up to a clearing, and
continued up the ridge into the Linville Gorge Wilderness Area.
The climb had been pretty
easy after the initial ascent from Steels Creek, but the hike became difficult
again along this stretch. The trail
became steep again, and the fallen leaves and wet rocks made for difficult
footing. After some strenuous climbing,
I reached the junction with the Table Rock Summit Trail. I was now back on the beaten path. From the junction, it is less than a mile to
the heavily used parking area at the Table Rock picnic area. I wasn’t heading that way though. Instead, I continued uphill towards the
summit of Table Rock.
Several overlooks along the
final climb slowed my final ascent. I
was at one, enjoying the view of Linville Gorge, when three men passed by on
their way back down from the summit.
After they passed by, I couldn’t hear any voices. Could I possibly have the summit of Table
Rock to myself?
I continued to the top,
passing multiple side trails leading directly up to the summit. I continued straight ahead, angling towards
the northern end of the peak. A minute
later, I reached the summit and the site of a former fire tower. From there, I normally head south towards
the highest point of the peak. This
time, however, I decided to follow a faint path out to the northern edge of the
peak. It was a good choice. I passed through some shrubs with leaves
turning red in the late fall sun and reached a cliff. Here was an outstanding view to the north, east, and west. I found myself looking down on the yawning
chasm of Linville Gorge. I followed the
line of the river upstream, before loosing it among the sharp bends in the
northern part of the gorge. Beyond, the
Roan Mountain balds towered over the scene.
To the west, the dark peaks of the Black Mountain Range rose beyond the
deep gash of the gorge. Back to the east,
I looked out across dozens of ridges and valleys in the Wilson Creek area. Immediately in front of me were the sheer
cliffs of Hawksbill Mountain. To the
northeast, ridges turned red and gold from the leaves led towards the rocky
summit of Grandfather Mountain.
I stopped there for lunch,
and basked in the warm sun. After a
week of cold weather, it was a startling but pleasant change. The best part of the view was the fall
foliage that had eluded me throughout October.
Red and purple were the dominant colors, and the best foliage was
decorating the slopes of Hawksbill Mountain.
I couldn’t believe I had it all to myself.
I had arrived at noon, so I
had plenty of time to enjoy the sunshine and the view. It was after 1 before I set out to explore
the rest of the peak. After all, I had
been to Table Rock many times before, but had never noticed this overlook on
the north side of the peak. What else
was I missing? I scrambled along the
summit and took in views of the southern part of the gorge. At its far end, Shortoff Mountain was
visible, as were parts of Lake James beyond.
I eventually reached the southern end of the summit, and began the hike
back down. The descent was uneventful
and easy, with the exception of a couple of PUDS (pointless ups and
downs). Saucony was doing well on this
hike, which was only her second outing since her surgery. On the first hike, she had seemed content to
simply follow in my footsteps. This
time though, she was more energetic, racing around through the woods like the
old Saucony. It was good to have her
back.
It was only 3:30 when I
reached the bank of Steels Creek. This
time, I tried crossing farther downstream.
I attempted to walk across a long, flat rock where the water was shallow. Unfortunately, the water wasn’t quite as
shallow as I thought. My boots filled
with surprisingly warm water before I made it to the far side. Luckily, I only had a couple hundred yards
to go. I returned to the car, and
headed for home. Thanks to the grading
work, the road was in better condition than it had been that morning. I made good time, and got home in time to
have dinner with my wife. That brought
an end to great day of hiking.
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