Snuffy's South Beyond 6000 Register Snuffy's South Beyond 6000 RegisterSunday, November 3, 2002
Today isn't as pretty as yesterday, but it still looks like a nice fall morning as I leave Hickory for Mt. Mitchell. I'm headed for Black Mountain Campground near Mt. Mitchell Golf Course and the trail up Mt. Mitchell. The sky is bright, but covered with high overcast clouds. The temperature is just over 50 degrees at home.
I reach the parking area across the road from the campgound at 8:45 AM. The campground is already closed for the season, but there are several cars parked in the parking area. The temperature is 45 degrees here, so it will be colder on top. The Mt. Mitchell Trail is 5.6 miles long with a 3,600' climb.
The climb isn't too bad, although it's steep enough that the return trip will be grueling. After an hour I'm at the split in the trail where the Mountains-to-Sea Trail goes left and the Mt. Mitchell Trail turns right. The trails will join again in a mile or so. I turn right on the Mt. Mitchell Trail. Thirty minutes later I'm crossing the creek just below where the trails come back together.
The trail gets steeper after the junction and up to near the four mile mark at the Buncombe Horse Trail. After I cross a creek on the horse trail, I see a few tents pitched in the grassy area around the old Commisary Hill shelter site. I stop for a minute to talk with a backpacker there. He says the temperature was close to freezing last night.
It's still 1.6 miles to the top from here. The breeze picks up as I climb higher and reach the trail to the tower on top of Mt. Mitchell. I stop for a few pictures before climbing the tower. The breeze is really humming at the top of the tower. Looking out at the 360 degree view, you can see that the fall peak is already past on the tops of the mountains, but the view into the valleys below is still very colorful.
I walk down to the visitors center shortly after noon and note the temperature is 42 degrees. Not quite as cold as I though it might be. The parking lot is crowded with folks who have driven to the top. Everyone is bundled up in winter coats. I must look out of place in shorts and a long sleeve t-shirt. I don't hang around long enough to cool down. I head west on the Mountains-to-Sea trail and the Old Mitchell Trail for the Camp Alice Trail that cuts back down the mountain to the horse trail. From there it's a short hike around the shoulder of the mountain to where I came up.
The trail back down the mountain begins to pound me even before I reach the cutoff to Higgins Bald. I stay on the Mountains-to-Sea Trail at the junction since I came up the other way. Higgins Bald isn't much to see and it isn't long before I'm back on the Mt. Mitchell Trail. The last two miles are just long and my knee is starting to twinge a little on the long grade. It's very overcast now and looks threatening on the ridge behind me. I finally reach the car at 3:15 PM.
I decide to drive up the Parkway to Linville and back to Hickory through Morganton.
from my AT journal...
Day 6, Tuesday, October 3, 2000
Double Springs Shelter to Icewater Spring Shelter, 13.8 miles
"About 3 AM the wind comes up. This shelter sits beneath two Hickory trees and for the remainder of the night the shelter's tin roof is bombarded with hickory nuts. What a racket!"
"The hickory nut bombardment worsens as dawn approaches. I get up at 7AM, pack quickly and hit the trail by 7:30 AM. We had a total of nine folks (including me) in the shelter last night and everyone is at least awake when I leave. Today is hump day (getting over Clingmans Dome) and I want an early start. I flush a grouse (third of trip) fifteen minutes up the trail. At 8 AM I begin to smell Christmas trees. The forest is swapping over to fir trees now as I climb the base of Mt. Buckley. I stop at an overlook at 8:20 AM to take some pictures and watch the sun come up over the mountain. What a view! The valley below is covered with fog and the wind is really blowing through the treetops."
"The wind picks up as I approach the Clingmans Dome Bypass Trail. Only 0.3 miles to the top. Suddenly I'm at the tower trail. I've been here before, so I know that I've only have a hundred yards to the top."
"I drop my pack and hustle up to the blacktop leading from the parking lot to the top of Clingmans Dome. There is no one here this early. I walk the blacktop and climb the tower completely alone. I'm at the top by 9:25 AM. The wind is blowing 15-20 miles per hour, but it doesn't seem cold although it can't be more than 50 degrees. I take some pictures and write in my journal for a few minutes before heading down. I've done it! Reached the highest point on the whole AT. Now it's all downhill from here. Right!"
"Reach summit of Mt. Collins at 11:05 AM. Sugarland Mountain Trail at 11:15 AM, where I stop for lunch. I've got 4.5 miles to go to reach Newfound Gap. I reach Indian Grave Gap at 12:20 PM. I take off my shirt and sun for a few minutes before moving on at 12:35 PM."
Saturday, August 10, 2002
Alice and I drive up the Blue Ridge Parkway to Black Mountain Gap and park at 10:45 AM. There is a short trail beside Highway 128 that leads up to the Mountains-to-Sea Trail. We'll hike west on the MTS over Blackstock Knob down to Balsam Gap and then hike 4.6 miles back up the BRP to Black Mountain Gap.
It's a nice hike over the face of Potato Knob and up through Rainbow Gap to Blackstock Knob. There isn't much of a view on top and we are quickly over the top and descending to Balsam Gap. We reach the Blue Ridge Parkway at Balsam Gap around 1:30 PM. It's uphill the first three miles, but the view over the Asheville watershed resevoir is worth it. We pick blackberries along the parkway along the way, reaching the car at 3:45 PM.
from my AT journal...
December 26, 1998
"Next came a short hike we took on the AT up Roan Mountain, NC, later that year. On the day after Christmas 1998, we set out from Carvers Gap on the NC/TN state line up Roan Mountain. The temperature at Carvers Gap was about 30 degrees with a 25 mile-an-hour-wind.
Cold! When we got up to Roan High Knob Shelter the thermometer read something like 25 degrees at 2 PM in the afternoon. An entry made by a hiker in the shelter journal that very morning recorded the temperature at daybreak as 19 degrees. Dedicated hikers still headed south toward Springer in late December. Dedicated or nuts one..."
"We crossed over the top of Roan High Knob and met the wind head-on at the parking lot on top of the mountain. We didn't stay long, immediately heading down the paved road toward where we had parked and underneath the wind along the top of the ridge."
Sunday, July 22, 2001
Meghan and I leave home at 7:10 AM headed for the Smokies. We stop for gas and then a biscuit at Bojangles before heading up the mountain. We make a stop to buy lunch and a camera battery near Asheville at 8:30 AM.
We hit the Smokies at 9:30 AM, and fall in line behind the traffic for the drive up to Newfound Gap. We climb into the clouds a few miles below the top. At 10:10 AM, we finally reach Newfound Gap and park in the parking area. We hit the restroom before heading up the Appalachian Trail toward Mt. Kephart.
We reach the Boulevard Trail at 11:20 AM and take a short break there. There haven't been very many people on the trail this morning. We've had the mountain to ourselves.
A hundred yards up the Boulevard Trail, we find the trail to Jump Off and Mt. Kephart on our right. We climb deeper and higher into the clouds.
We reach the top of Jump Off and then the top of Mt. Kephart proper at 11:45 AM and decide to have lunch and give the sun a chance to break through. You still can't see more than 100 feet in any direction. The sun peaks through once or twice, but it just can't seem to burn the clouds off.
Meg and I hike back to the AT and walk down to Icewater Spring Shelter. I do a little maintenance on my left foot and check out the trail register at the shelter. Icewater Spring Shelter looks different in summer, almost overgrown. The last time I was here it was snowing with a foot of snow on the ground.
At 1:15 PM, we begin the hike back toward Newfound Gap. There are a number of people hiking up the mountain now that some of the fog has burned off. We reach the truck at 2:30 PM and head back down the mountain for home.
Sunday, July 8, 2001
It takes a lot to get the whole family started early on Sunday mornings. Especially during the summer. We finally get away from home at 8:30 AM headed to Bojangles for breakfast. We hit the drive-thru and a few minutes later we're on our way to Roan Mountain.
We reach Carvers Gap, totally covered in fog, at 10:30 AM. You can't see more than a hundred feet in any direction. The temperature is 63 degrees and the wind is howling thirty-five miles an hour. When the wind blows up here, it really blows. It looks like it is going to be another fogbound hike in the Roan Highlands.
We leave Carvers Gap hiking north on the Appalachian Trail for Grassy Ridge. There are no views from Round Bald or Jane Bald as we climb higher. The only view is clouds swirling by and around you in the wind. The wind is blowing so hard that it's tough to stand still.
We reach the side trail to Grassy Ridge and continue upward. When we reach the top of Grassy Ridge at 12:30 PM, we continue hiking over the ridge in search of a place out of the wind to have lunch. We find a spot beneath some rocks about a quarter of a mile further.
We start heading back down the mountain at 12:50 PM. There still is no view. The top is socked in by the clouds. By the time we reach Jane Bald, the sky is starting to break up a little. You can at least see the valley below you. Still not much overhead. Roan Mountain never shows itself and by 2:05 PM we're back at the car and headed home.
from my AT journal...
Day 8, Thursday, October 5
Tri-Corner Knob Shelter to Davenport Gap (Mountain Moma's), 15.7 miles AT, 18.1 miles total
"What an absolutely unbelievable day! I get up at 7 AM, pack and leave Tri-Corner Knob Shelter at 7:45 AM. (It seems like everything around this trip so far has revolved around the number 40 or 45.) The first climb up Tri-Corner Knob gets your heart pumping right out of the shelter. I reach Snake Den Ridge Trail (Inadu Knob) at 9:25 AM, Camel Gap at 10:20 AM and Cosby Knob Shelter at 11:00 AM."
Sunday, August 26, 2001
Alice and I leave home at 10 AM headed for the Blue Ridge Parkway. We're headed toward Craggy Dome, just south of Mt. Mitchell. It takes an hour and forty-five minutes to reach Balsam Gap on the Parkway. The Mountains-to-Sea Trail crosses the BRP at Balsam Gap, and that's where we park.
We head south on the MTS trail toward Craggy Dome, four miles away. It's only 62 degrees here, a lot cooler than at home this morning. Great hiking weather, except for the low ceiling. Every hike I've taken this summer has been in the clouds and this morning is little different. We pass the Glassmine Gap view and climb higher toward Bullhead over the next hour or so. We're headed higher into the clouds and haze. The top of Bullhead is almost closed in by the fog, and there is little view below us.
Blueberries along the trail are ripe though, and we stop along the way to partake. We pass a few hikers headed south toward Glassmine, but otherwise we have the trail to ourselves. After another overlook, the trail up Craggy Dome leads left off the Mountain-to-Sea just before the MTS Trail crosses to the north side of the Blue Ridge Parkway. The trail up Craggy Dome, if you can call it that, is little more than overgrown path that quicky disappears ahead of us in the growth. I hadn't planned for such an overgrown path. We're wearing shorts and if you think I'm unhappy, you should see Alice's face.
I bushwack up the trail though, trying to stomp down a path through the briars and weeds so we won't get too scratched up. I reach an open spot just before the summit and turn to look down on the Parkway below. Alice catches up and we rest for a minute before tacking the last steep part of the trail to the top.
The top of Craggy Dome is covered by a head-high thicket of rhodendron. There is a rock in the middle of the path, that once you climb up on it, you can see that you are on top. It's 2:15 PM. I wade a little further to see if there is an open spot, but I don't see one. I find two iron pipes, one set in concrete marking the summit.
With no real view to enjoy from on top, we head back down the mountain to the Parkway. We rest at the overlook and have a snack before heading back up Bullhead.
It has cleared off now, but very hazy from the top of Bullhead. More blueberries, then we head back to the car, reaching it at 4:45 PM. On the way home, we detour down through Black Mountain and Carolina Hemlock Campgrounds to find the trailheads for the Mt. Mitchell trails.
from my AT journal...
>Day 7, Wednesday, October 4, 2000
Icewater Spring Shelter to Tri-Corner Knob Shelter, 12.6 miles
"A mouse after something wakes me up at 6:30 AM. I embarrass him when I shine my flashlight on him. He runs away. He's back five minutes later though as soon as things quieten down again."
"I'm up at 7:00 AM and together we pack up and watch the sunrise. The sun is coming up over the mountains below us. It struggles to get over the ridges, but finally blinds us as it climbs from behind the ridge below. Most beautiful sunrise I've seen in years."
"I eat a cold breakfast, crackers, and a snackbar, and hit the trail at 7:43 AM. It takes thirty minutes for me to hike over to Charlies Bunion. This is one of the most awesome places and views I've ever seen. I carefully climb around the wet ledge and take some pictures. I hope I don't meet a bear here. Nowhere to hide!"
"The Kirk's pass me an hour later as I'm taking a break. I pass them back as they rest and admire the view at Bradley's View."
"I take a POBO and snack break at 10:40 AM and take some pictures at a rock ledge overlook. I reach Peck's Corner at 11:30 AM and stop for a break at 11:50 AM at a marvelous view at Eagle Rocks."
"The climb out of Copper Gap is not too bad, but at this point anything uphill sucks. Mt. Sequoyah isn't too bad either, but then I drop back down to Chapman Gap. And Chapman Gap comes right before...you guessed it. MT. CHAPMAN! Six hundred feet climb. Long, but not too steep, but long and rocky. Thank goodness I don't have to go all the way to the top. It turns out to be a long climb, but suddenly it's over. I reach and climb Tri-Corner Knob and reach Tri-Corner Knob Shelter at 2:15 PM! What a day so far. 12.6 miles in 6 1/2 hours. Getting better at this, but my feet hurt. I drop my pack and quickly get out of my boots. No new blisters, but my feet are very tender."
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