I LIKE HIKING!
Christy and I took her 6-year old nephew, Nathan, on his first real hike this weekend. Christy's sister, Megan, and Saucony joined us as well. We wanted to go somewhere gentle but interesting for Nathan's first hike. We debated our destination all week before finally settling on Pisgah.
Originally we planned to leave Friday afternoon and stay the entire holiday weekend. For one reason or another, we moved our departure from Friday afternoon to Saturday morning, to Sunday. As a result, we found ourselves driving through the Pisgah National Forest Sunday morning looking for a campsite. I had worried about this, and for good reason. Pisgah is a popular area, and Labor Day weekend is one of the busiest times of the year.
We passed numerous campsites along Avery Creek, but all of them were occupied. We headed towards the North Mills River, and I was beginning to worry that we wouldn't find a place. We saw a likely spot a few miles past the Pink Beds, but it had recently been closed to camping. We headed towards the South Mills River, and found a small village of horseback riders. Among the horses and trailers and campers and tents, we found an empty site. It was situated in between two other sites, but we weren't feeling very picky.
It was a pretty nice site, though a bit muddy. Of course, after this summer, everything is muddy. We were near a pretty stream under white pines. We set up camp and headed for the parkway.
We followed a parade of traffic to the parkway and continued past Graveyard Fields. Cars were everywhere at that popular trailhead, but this was only a sign of things to come. We drove in to the Black Balsam parking area, and found cars parked all along the road. The lot was full of course, and there were even dozens of cars along the rocky road heading to Ivestor Gap. We finally found a spot to pull off and gathered our gear.
We headed back up the road to the Art Loeb Trail. We followed it north, climbing through spruce / fir forest and meadows. Along the way, Nathan was thrilled with little things that I never would've noticed. Whether it was a colorful mushroom, or an intriguing spider, or an unusual rock, everything was exciting to him. At one point he expressed his enthusiasm by declaring, "I LIKE HIKING!" I think we could all learn something from this. At least, I know I can. Sometimes we get so caught up in reaching the destination that we forget to enjoy the little things along the way. Hiking with Nathan helped to reopen my eyes to these things.
We climbed to the summit of Black Balsam. The hike was steep in places, but it didn't faze Nathan at all. We had lunch at the top and enjoyed the view. At least we tried to; the mountain was encased in its usual cloud. This thrilled Nathan all the more as clouds rolled over the mountain. We still had nice views to the west and north though. Highlights included views of Big Sam, the Middle Prong Wilderness, Tennent Mountain, Shining Rock, Cold Mountain, and Mount Pisgah.
We continued across the grassy bald and began to descend towards Tennent Mountain. Here we found what we were really looking for: blueberries. There were acres and acres of them. There was quite a few near the trail, but the real bounty was found a few steps beyond. The four of us spent the next hour filling up 2 Tupperware containers. I thought we were doing well until we encountered another group filling gallon milk jugs. They were professionals.
We gathered blueberries until rumbling thunder signified that it was time to go. We had originally planned to hike over Tennent Mountain and return on the Ivestor Gap Road. Balds aren't the safest places in thunderstorms though, so we opted to return the way we'd come. We hiked back across Black Balsam and a sudden downpour quickly soaked us. This subdued everyone except Nathan, who merrily stomped along, jumping in puddles.
We attempted to hike the direct trail down to the parking area, but found it overgrown. We did stumble into a thick patch of blackberries for our trouble though. This provided a nice dessert to the meal of blueberries we'd eaten earlier.
The rain stopped long before we returned to the car. From there we headed to Sliding Rock. I hadn't been there since I was a teenager. We went with the excuse of taking Nathan, but of course it was really the adults that just wanted to cool off. We found a huge crowd when we arrived. We had to wait a good 20 minutes just to get a turn down the rock. We waded out into the water, which was cold, but not as frigid as I remembered from my youth. Christy took Nathan on her lap, since he was a bit timid about the whole experience. I gave them a push and followed behind.
I started slowly, but really took off when I leaned back. Steering was virtually impossible, but I managed to avoid the worst of the bumps on the way down. I hit the final pool with a splash, and surfaced in time to see Christy holding Nathan out of the water. He was a bit traumatized from the whole experience and didn't want to go again. We didn't really want to wait in line again anyway, so we headed to town.
We picked up firewood in Pisgah Forest ($1 per 4 pieces) as well as ice cream. Then we headed back to camp. Along the way we stopped at Looking Glass Falls, along with the rest of the Western Hemisphere. Parking was a challenge, and actually getting to the falls was even worse. A large Hispanic family had taken over the sidewalk, which created a considerable obstacle. We finally reached the overlook, and enjoyed the view of one of North Carolina's most famous waterfalls.
We returned to camp in plenty of time to relax. We indulged in chips and salsa before enjoying a dinner of chicken and rice wraps. We then hung out around the campfire until we ran out of wood. It was a perfect evening, with just enough chill in the air to make the fire worthwhile. Finally we went to bed, serenaded by the rednecks at the next campsite chopping trees. I guess they needed a lot of wood to feed the raging bonfire they built. That and a lot of Coleman fuel. I'll bet they dumped a full can on that fire during the course of the night.
I woke at midnight to a downpour. The forecast had been for a 30% chance of scattered thunderstorms, but this was a deluge of epic proportions. It poured for hours. There was thunder, and lightning, and rain. Lots and lots of rain. It was the type of storm that would've inspired Noah to make a trip to Home Depot.
We had brought a larger tent, since our backpacking tent is far too small for 4 people. This tent features a miniature fly, which was wildly inadequate on this evening. It wasn't long before it was raining inside the tent as well as out. I tried to sleep, but feared that we'd all float away in the night. The water was an inch deep in the corner of the tent when I finally dozed off. Later, Christy couldn't stand it anymore. She was already fighting a cold, and sleeping in a puddle wasn't helping. She went to the car and spent the rest of the night there.
I dozed, but woke to the sound of a tree falling somewhere nearby. This was quite alarming. In fact, it sounded as if it fallen only a few yards away. It would've been poetic justice if it had landed on the aspiring lumberjack's tent, but of course it didn't work out that way.
Somehow we survived the night. It rained until after sunrise. We got up late, since we didn't get much rest. Well, all except Nathan, who had slept through the whole thing. We finally got up and slopped around camp. We did enjoy a breakfast of blueberry pancakes before we attempted to pack. Everything was a muddy mess, and the car had been stuffed on the way in. Getting all the wet gear into the trunk was a horror, but finally we were on our way.
HIGH WATER
We splashed our way back down the forest road to the Pink Beds. Then we headed towards DuPont State Forest. Nathan was eager to do another hike, and I was looking forward to showing everyone some impressive waterfalls.
We followed an SUV going half the speed limit all the way to the Hooker Falls parking area. We arrived a little before noon, and could see that the parking lot was packed. We entered the lot, and the SUV went one way, while we went another. He chose poorly; we found a spot right away, which turned out to be the last one. He was still driving around, hoping that someone would leave, as we gathered our gear. Ah, one of life's little victories.
We hiked across the highway bridge over the Little River. I was astounded by what I saw. The river was well out of its banks. I had been here once before. It had been January, and I thought the water had been high then. Now it was clearly flooding. I was itching with anticipation to see the falls under these conditions.
We hiked up the muddy roadbed towards Triple Falls. We had planned to hike up the river to the base of the falls, but the floodwaters prevented that approach. Instead we stayed on the trail and followed it to the overlook. Beyond we hiked the short side trail to the base of the upper two drops. Nathan didn't like the steep trail down, but he enjoyed the falls when we arrived. I'm not sure which was better; the view of the upper falls as it plunged towards us, or the foam as the river spilled over the final ledge below us.
We took some photos and then continued on to High Falls. We followed a short side trail to the base of the falls and were surprised to have the place to ourselves. High Falls was perhaps even more overwhelming. The river spills over a massive cliff at High Falls. The cliff is tall, but it is nearly as wide as it is high. Normally the water only covers half of the cliff, but not today. On this occasion, the river fanned out across the entire cliff face. The majority of the water stayed to the right though, and here the muddy foam was incredible. A rock outcrop halfway up created a massive rooster tail. The spray was overpowering, to the point that it was impossible to stand at the base of the falls for long. We had to retreat some distance to find a reasonable place for lunch.
Eventually others arrived, ending our solitude. It was time to head back anyway though. We had originally considered a longer hike, but Christy was feeling pretty sick. Instead we turned back. We returned to the parking area on the Galax Trail, which provided a nice alternative to the muddy road we had ascended.
From the parking area we visited one more waterfall. We took a short walk through a shady forest to Hooker Falls. The view of the falls was almost as impressive as that of the ones we'd seen earlier. Hooker Falls is only about 15' high, but the river is very wide as it spills over the high shoal. Normally there is a great swimming hole at the base. We had optimistically brought bathing suits, but it wasn't going to happen on this day. At flood stage there is no real swimming hole. Instead there is a massive hydraulic from which escape would be nearly impossible. We were a bit disappointed, but certainly not surprised. We enjoyed the falls for awhile before returning to the car.
It was a short but scenic hike. The storm of the previous night had seemed like a disaster at the time. The tent had leaked, our gear had gotten muddy, and we had barely slept. Yet all that rain gave us a unique experience. Without the storm, we'd never seen the waterfalls as they were. For all the misery of the storm, it had been worth it. If there's a moral to this story, it's that there can be an opportunity in any situation, no matter how bad it may seem. Sometimes you just have to look for it.
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